Life at Kion: Chris

Last updated on February 4th, 2023 at 3:32pm

Meet Chris, a member of our Operations team, who talks about keeping our sales machine running, his favorite Kion benefit, and the allure of teleportation.

1. Tell us about your role at Kion.

I lead Sales Operations at Kion. Sales Operations is often a catch-all, so I describe my job to my friends as the grease in the internal wheels to make sales run smoothly. At Kion, this means supporting the Lead-to-Invoice process, Salesforce and Sales Tool Administration/ Integration, Forecasting, Contract Review, Data Validation, and Data Analysis.

2. How did you find Kion?

Kion actually found me! Our Recruiting Manager, Juliana, reached out when I was looking for a change from my previous job. Throughout the interview process, Kion reminded me of a previous startup I had worked for, so it was an easy 'yes'. A year and a half later and still no regrets.

3. What behavior or personality trait do you most attribute your success to and why?

My wife jokingly says the whiteboard that I have on the wall next to my desk. But it is partly true. It helps me get requests, ideas, and thoughts out of my head and into the world. I have definitely been teased about how tiny I can write on a whiteboard.

4. How do you prefer to start your day?

A few calm and quiet minutes outside while Roscoe (our dog) does his morning business.

5. What's one thing you're learning right now, and why is it important?

I am doing a poor job at it, but I am trying to learn Korean to better communicate with my mother-in-law. Her English is good, but she is self-conscious about it.

6. What parts of our mission do you connect with?

While I am not on the technical side of the house, the idea of making the cloud simpler and easier resonates with my role. At the end of the day, part of my job is to make Salesforce and our sales tools simpler and easier for our sales team. If the level of effort is too high, then it becomes difficult to get the data I need, and processes will break down as people look for shortcuts.

7. What sets your role at Kion apart from previous positions?

There is a lot to build out as the company is scaling and I get to build much of it from scratch. As part of that, I am able to be more proactive about projects.

8. Which benefits are your favorite and why?

This is hard to pick. But I would say PTO. (I did just come back from a week-long vacation.) Between the Volunteer Day, the Floating Holiday, Normal Holidays, Sick Days, and Normal PTO, I do not have to worry when I need to take some time off, especially for all the weddings this year.

9. What's your favorite Slack channel at Kion?

Tunetamers (the music channel) – I am not great about posting, but I love to explore new music from others that I might not otherwise hear.

10. What's your favorite way to unwind after a long week?

I am an extrovert, so being around friends and family is great. Obviously, that has not always been possible in the past 2 years, so playing video games can help as well. Typically, single-player, story-driven games.

11. If you could snap your fingers and become a Super Hero, what power would you have and why?

Teleportation. It would make traveling so much easier. No more long flights. Poof, you are there. I would see so much of the world, meet so many people, and try so many different types of food.

Want to join Chris on the Operations team? We're hiring!