When walking through the halls of Softheon’s headquarters, one person is sure to greet you with a smile and a hello – Justin Petragnani.
Justin’s outgoing and enthusiastic personality makes him an invaluable addition to Softheon’s sales team. His interest in the industry started from a young age, inspired by his father’s background in business as a Vice President of Production and Distribution.
“Sales really appealed to me because I get to take all of my natural energy and charisma and funnel it into a constructive and meaningful goal,” Justin said.
Justin’s professional journey began at Binghamton University where he joined the business program and majored in Finance & Management Information Systems. Taking advantage of the scenic upstate New York region, he grew to love the outdoors by skiing in the winter and mountain biking in the summer.
To kick-start his career, Justin applied to an internship position at Softheon. “I’m a people person,” he said. “I love talking to people and when I saw the Sales and Marketing Internship, I had to apply.”
During the summer of 2016, Justin began his internship shadowing several of his peers on the marketing and sales teams. He learned how to manage Request for Proposals (RFPs) and demo preparations. He recalled, “My internship experience was valuable. I got to work with a great group of individuals and my fellow interns were extremely smart.”
Once Justin completed his studies at Binghamton, he accepted a full-time position at Softheon. “I loved the culture at Softheon during my internship and I accepted the offer immediately,” he said.
He started as a Client Success Manager and quickly found his place on the sales team because of his prior knowledge from the summer program. As a leader in business development, he spends a lot of his time cultivating new prospects and deals, conducting demos, communicating with leads, putting together pricing contracts, scheduling phone calls & follow ups, and meeting with potential clients.
As an efficient self-starter, Justin has a passion for presentation. With his internship and Client Success experience, he developed strong partnerships with Softheon’s clients, which is one of his favorite things about the position.
“I find it interesting the way people present things because the way people receive messages is very different, even on the same topic.” He explained “Our products are the same, but the way you deliver it, makes all the difference.” He enjoys helping potential clients understand what we do and see their need to partner with Softheon. He told us “I’m a dynamic learner. It’s important to think on your feet and use what you learned yesterday to improve yourself today.”
We asked Justin to tell us about his biggest accomplishment thus far at Softheon. He said, “Training Alexzander Greenfield was a great experience.” As a mentor, Justin trained Alexzander for his first three months and enjoyed seeing him grow into a successful Client Success Manager. Knowing what it’s like to be a member of the Client Success team, Justin was able to share his insights on how to be an effective communicator.
Another achievement Justin mentioned to us was how he made his first deal. His first sale was when Softheon added a new line of business with a health plan, “I like to be able to gain the client’s trust and work with them from start to finish.” In addition, Justin appreciates the fact that sales are not a checklist, “it’s not a to-do list all the time, and when a sale does finally get implemented, it’s nice to be the one who made it happen.”
We asked Justin to describe his favorite project and he explained the process behind building the executive overview deck. “It touches upon everything that we do between sales, implementation, and products, etc. It was made from scratch into something that is now reusable.”
Lastly, Justin expressed that his favorite characteristic of Softheon is the people he works with on a day-to-day basis. “Softheon has a great and smart group of people that I’m honored to be able to work with every single day.” As Justin continues to work towards his goals, he hopes to one day implement and sell one million dollars in products and contracts.
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