After his first year as the general manager of the Chicago Bears, Ryan Poles stands ready with the first pick in the 2023 NFL draft as he continues to lead the team’s dramatic rebuild.
From his first press conference on the job, Poles was clear about his goals when he took the biggest job at Chicago’s storied football franchise — to “acquire young, fast and physical football players” and to “take the North and never give it back.” And with the NFC North looking ready for a shakeup after a chaotic 2022 season, Poles and his crew look ready to capitalize.
But the Bears aren’t the only Chicago team with big goals in 2023. Beyond Finance, Traffic Tech and Aprimo are drafting their next round of great talent, too.
Whether coming out of a challenging season or looking to expand during a market downturn, teams across Chicago continue to thrive and are looking forward to great things in 2023. Built In Chicago learned more about the opportunities that abound for ambitious new hires.
Traffic Tech is a third-party logistics company that helps customers move goods to safely transport them via air, ocean, rails and roads.
What are the biggest projects that are priorities for your team in 2023?
One of our biggest priorities in 2023 is investing our time and resources into the training and development of our team members. At Traffic Tech, we are committed to the professional growth of our teammates and want to make sure that every team member has a growth plan for the year ahead. Above that, we are focused on adding bodies to our world-wide offices that align with our growth strategy and will help us achieve our company goals.
With offices around the globe and in a ton of major cities, there is truly no limit to where you can go with Traffic Tech.”
Describe the career growth opportunities associated with these projects that await new hires.
The career growth at Traffic Tech is limitless. We empower our people to truly take charge of their career and drive themselves toward a leadership position. As we add bodies to the floor, we allow for more opportunities in leadership and are constantly looking for the next big leaders in our company. As our company begins to grow exponentially, we provide employees with the opportunity to relocate. With offices around the globe and in many major cities, there is truly no limit to where you can go with Traffic Tech.
What qualities and skill sets do you look for in a new addition to your team?
Effort and attitude. These two skills are the most important quality in my eyes. If we notice that a rep brings great energy and has a hunger to learn, the sky’s the limit for their growth with us. When our collective team is coachable and team-oriented, we do our best work. Since this is not an industry where a single individual is responsible for achieving the goals of the company, we need people who can work as a team and rely on those around them to achieve our overhead goals.
Beyond Finance helps clients overcome debt through customized financial products.
What are the biggest projects that are priorities for your team in 2023?
We have some exciting initiatives planned for the new year. We’re gearing up to deliver projects that will optimize our current client marketing funnel and are looking forward to testing new and innovative ideas that will transition leads from our online marketing to our over-the-phone sales process in the most seamless way possible. On top of this, we’re planning to test into new marketing channels — things we’ve only just started to explore. We’re particularly excited about digging deeper into social channels.
Another huge initiative for us is client retention. We have a unique business model where we enroll clients in a years-long program during which we only collect success-based fees. Because of this, we’re working to create a best-in-class client nurturing strategy to offer the absolute highest level of service and keep folks in our program.
New hires can have a massive impact on the business with their new ideas for testing and solving problems.”
Describe the career growth opportunities associated with these projects that await new hires.
Our team offers a fantastic environment for anyone big on data-driven testing and continued learning. And because we’re a growing company, new hires can have a massive impact on the business with their new ideas for testing and solving problems — ultimately becoming indispensable members of our team. We also offer growth opportunities for new hires to specialize within one marketing channel or work cross-functionally across multiple channels and teams to drive projects forward.
We’ve seen incredible results when we allow our people to take the lead and own their projects. We emphasize strong, quick and effective execution, which means focus on and constant prioritization of the highest impact work. We know this kind of ownership and this focus on execution are both incredibly important and key to driving our results.
What qualities and skill sets do you look for in a new addition to your team?
The first thing we look for is a go-getter attitude. We want people who are excited by the business, hungry to learn more and really want to have an impact. It’s also important for someone to have a skill for — and really, a love of — solving problems. Instead of giving up, members of our team should be enthusiastic about collaborating and finding solutions.
And last, but definitely not least — data- and results-driven. Our team members always look at the data to make informed decisions and figure out next steps. It really is great if someone understands the ins and outs of processes, but this should never mean getting bogged down in details and losing sight of outcomes. We look for folks who can plan effectively, but also pivot when necessary to reach our team’s collective goals.
Aprimo offers a marketing and digital asset management SaaS solution to support content planning, creation and distribution.
What are the biggest projects that are priorities for your team in 2023?
With a potential recession on the horizon, there are a few key pivots in strategy that most technology companies are considering. First is emphasizing upsell to existing customers. It’s much easier to sell to your established customer base than it is to acquire new customers. Second is market targeting for selective new name growth. Certain industries and companies are more prone to spending on technology projects during a recession. Other industries benefit from a down market. While it’s easy to step back as a B2B company and tell your board “we’re being impacted like everyone else,” it’s harder to achieve growth by saying we went after sub-segments and select markets that do well in this market.
It’s easy to survive like a turtle. But if you want to advance, be the chameleon.”
Describe the career growth opportunities associated with these projects that await new hires.
Most people get fearful or concerned during a recession, especially with the news of layoffs in the tech industry. It’s natural to want to protect and keep what you have or to keep your head in the sand. It’s easy to survive like a turtle. But if you want to advance, be the chameleon. The individuals who come forward with new ideas or step out beyond the confines of their job description will learn to thrive in a down market. For example, a sales rep who manages a customer base might be focusing on campaigns or messaging that aligns the solutions they sell to the challenges of the economic downturn. Producing new messaging is not typically in the sales rep wheelhouse, because that’s marketing’s job, right? But those opportunities are how an individual can set themselves apart and adapt to a changing environment.
What qualities and skill sets do you look for in a new addition to your team?
Relationship skills, communication skills, attitude and drive are all critical to success for my team. However, what I value most is an ability to learn and adapt to change. Specifically, my team needs to show their ability to adopt new technology and learn about our products and services quickly. Change comes fast at a SaaS software company. Your ability to convey how our solutions provide value and to know exactly what they do for your customers is rooted in knowing and learning the core technology.
