Harry Procter
Sales Consultant
What does your role at LAKE involve?
I work in LAKE's SAP Business One practice, as part of the sales and marketing team. My focus is on helping potential new customers from Food and Drink and Manufacturing sectors assess the value in Lake solutions and then helping them on their transformation journeys. First contact is usually made by my colleagues and then I work with the customer to explore their requirements, goals and ambitions and then map these onto SAP Business One.
Customers seem to appreciate this consultative approach because it ensures that the issues they're facing and goals that they have, are properly addressed when building their new solution. From this point on, we make sure that SAP Business One is the correct fit for them and that the commercials all line up.
At the end of the initial exploration stage in the sales cycle, we move on to the implementation project, and for the first year or so, I remain as the customer's Customer Success Manager to ensure ownership of project delivery and continuity of care. At this point I will be assisting with future changes or growth of the system such as the addition of new integrations or extended functionality.
How long have you been with LAKE and what did you do before you joined?
I have been with lake since 2019. Before joining, I worked in ERP software sales.
What do you enjoy most about the work you do?
The range of people that I get to interact with every day. Finding out what's most important to them and exploring their requirements. I find the problem-solving side of this particularly enjoyable.
If you had to pick out three achievements or pieces of work that you're particularly proud of from your time at LAKE, what would they be?
Getting new customers on board and building the customer base have to be my numbers one and two. Building and creating the efficient team here at LAKE through lockdown and Covid times and maintaining effective teamwork has to be up there also.
What does your background, experience and knowledge mean for customers?
I've been working with ERP systems since 2015, so this gives me a depth of understanding of business processes in and around ERP generally. It also gives me a focus on the food and drink and manufacturing sectors. I have built up a knowledge of these industries that breeds clarity when it comes to talking to them about their plans and requirements.
What excites you most when you think about LAKE's future plans and the future of business systems in general?
The level and breadth of it. In the past, solutions delivered accounts, sales and purchasing systems and were quite focused on transaction processing. But requirements are changing as businesses are adapting and growing. I'd say the exciting part is that the software and our services are speaking more and more to that wider business - helping business owners and managers get full visibility of performance to help them make better business decisions, not just to help them survive but to thrive and grow.
What do you do when you're not working?
Quite a lot of running, trail running, rock climbing and mountain biking. That and going to gigs, I love jazz gigs. Between that and playing the guitar and piano, that takes up most of my time.
What is one item on your bucket list?
I'm really keen to do an ultra-marathon, and then there's also a multi-pitch climbing route just outside Chamonix in the French Alps that I've been wanting to do for four years now.
What would your specialist Mastermind subject be?
I've been told that I'm a walking talking Shazam, so I'd go for music trivia - as long as they don't ask me anything about classical music!
