In celebration of Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting women in leadership at Fluent who inspire us to learn, innovate, and connect every day.
Meet Andrea Haldeman, SVP of Sales at Fluent
Andrea has worked in data-based marketing solutions for 30 years, serving in a variety of individual contributor & leadership roles. She loves the creativity that working with data affords when crafting a marketing solution. When she’s not geeking out over data, Andrea and her husband enjoy boating, fishing, hanging out on the beach, and running around with the kids and grandkids. While she currently resides in Perdido Key, Florida, Andrea visits our NYC offices often to collaborate and strategize with her team.
We sat down with Andrea to learn more about her career and tips for becoming a strong, female leader.
1. What are the key attributes that make a successful leader?
- Look at the big picture, then set the vision & expectations and get buy-in
- Listening….Listening intently
- “Perspire”– work hard & set the example
- Don’t “bark” at people – treat everyone with respect and be your team’s biggest fan
- Transparency & Consistent Feedback– everyone should always know where they stand – when they are excelling and when they are missing the mark
- Build a team– even in an individual sport like sales, it’s critical to build a team that shares information, covers for one another, cheers on successes, collaborates, etc.
2. Do you have any advice for women starting to navigate a male-dominated work environment?
There are two things: FIRST – Stop focusing on it being male dominated! Instead, focus on what you can do to contribute to the success of the company and the success of others. Through that, you will build relationships that will last throughout your career and create opportunities to expand your scope of influence. SECOND – find opportunities to help other women succeed. Mentor. Support someone on a project. Brainstorm. Etc. Essentially, take action to help other women succeed vs complaining about every little infraction, real or perceived.
3. What does innovation mean to you in a fast-paced business world?
Understanding what clients need, and then leveraging internal assets to develop scalable & repeatable solutions to help them grow their business. Only today, we need to do it faster, with more precision, and digitally first.
4. How has sales evolved with the development of new tools and technologies?
While we have new tools that we can leverage, B2B Sales, as a practice, still retains the fundamental goals that it always has: help our clients make money, save money, or save time. To do that, we need to have a natural curiosity to understand the client’s business and learn their challenges. Through that dialog, we can craft a solution that precisely meets their needs.
5. Is there any advice you would give to your younger self, knowing what you know now?
That there was wisdom in the ill-received guidance that a boss gave me one time. He told me that “every day above ground is a good day”. In other words, don’t sweat the small setbacks. Learn from them, but keep on moving (and looking) forward to get to your goal.
