Team Cake: This is Angelika

Name: Angelika Caron		
Role: Business Development Manager	
Making Cake since: September 2022
Location: Wortegem-Petegem

How on earth did you end up working at Cake, all the way from the small town of Wortegem-Petegem? 

I was working as a freelance sales development representative. Suddenly, a headhunter who was appointed by Cake contacted me. First, I was suspicious. I was happy with my job at the time, so I wasn’t particularly interested at the beginning. Also, I’m usually skeptical about switching jobs, as I don’t want to find myself working at a company whose sales mentality doesn’t match mine. Then I met Tom, head of sales at Cake. He gave me an overwhelmingly positive feeling about the company and one meeting later I signed my agreement. 

Tell us something about your work environment.

Most of the time I work in my home office in Wortegem. 1 or 2 days a week, I work at my sister’s place. She has a larger office at her place, so it’s fun to work together once in a while. Since I can work from home, I can be quite flexible in managing my schedule, so I can pick up my children throughout the day whenever necessary. 

How many kids do you have? 

I have a son of 10 years old with my ex-partner. My current partner has a 7-year-old son and one daughter who’s 10 years old. All three of them switch between our place and their dad and mom’s place every other week. It’s a good rhythm that works for all of us. We don’t want to change it. Can you please write down that I don’t want any more children? 3 is plenty. 😄

OK, done. What does your typical day look like? 

I usually start to work between 8 and 9 a.m. I first check my email and messages on LinkedIn. We use LinkedIn every day. Not only for the search for new prospects but also for information about sales and marketing. After checking and replying to my messages, I plan out the rest of the day. I prioritize and divide my tasks into different focus blocks of 3 to 4 hours. During lunch, I listen to podcasts. 

What kind of podcasts? 

I tend to tune in to podcasts about sales and marketing. That helps me to keep sharp while increasing my overall sales knowledge. One of my favorite podcasts is about SDR Leadership. 

Have you always had an interest in sales and marketing, even as a child? 

Oh no, I wanted to be a tour guide when I was young, as I was very interested in languages and history. That’s also why I studied languages at school. After my graduation when I met my partner, we got a child and bought a house. At that time, it was not realistic anymore to go travel around the world as a tour guide. In order to pay off my mortgage, I got a retail job as a shopmanager at Kruidvat and Q8.

Suddenly I realised I was at a point in my life where I didn’t want to be. I kept thinking about how to get out of this situation, and eventually, I took a radical decision: I divorced, quit my job, sold my house, and started renting a new place. That is also when I started working in the world of sales: cold calling. I learned a lot simply by doing. The most important thing is that you have to go for quality, not quantity. I mainly hunted for big corporations and large contracts. Not the quicks wins. It takes longer to catch a “big fish”, but the results are also a lot bigger. 

Any golden sales advice?

It’s not bad to say you don’t know something. It’s okay to be honest and say it when you don’t understand something. Never say you understand something when you don’t. Also, be truly interested in your customers and try to help them find what they really need, even if it’s not the product you’re selling. 

So, now that you’ve been here for a few months: Do you enjoy your work at Cake? 

Oh yes. The level of my colleagues at Cake is so high. Everyone at Cake knows exactly what they are doing. That is super motivating and brings out the best in me. I really mean when I say that I am improving and learning new things every day. That is a huge positive factor for me in my professional life.  

I presume that you also like to relax. What kind of vacation do you like? 

I prefer to travel by plane, just to save time, and then rent a car to explore the surroundings. My favorite countries that I’ve traveled to are Italy, Spain and Romania. I like a mix of beaches, culture, nature as well as food and drinks of course.

Alright, now we are talking. What kind of food do you like? 

I don’t have a specific dish in mind. I like everything except vegan food. For me, the combination of the taste and the moment you’re in is important. I don’t enjoy eating alone. In my opinion, good companionship is the most important part of a meal. A family should always eat together. 

If you could name anyone, who would you like to have dinner with?

Oh, in that case, I’m going to go with a cliché answer and choose Brad Pitt. I have no idea what he’s like, but he is incredibly handsome and I hope he is cool and not a difficult eater. This might make me look like I idolise famous people. In general, I have a lot of respect for successful people. Everything comes with sacrifices. Successful people had to work very hard and undoubtedly had to sacrifice a lot to get where they are. 

Because I love to eat food, that also means that I have to work on my body quite a bit. Once a week, I try to go running and I do gym training with a personal coach as well. Some call exercising a hobby, but I don’t. I just have to work out because otherwise, I’d get way too big. 😅

How do you relax? 

Oh, through music; definitely! I listen to music a lot. Here, check out my favorite Spotify list. We don’t watch TV at home, as I see little value in that. TV creates an extra dimension of hustle and bustle. Music is a perfect way to relax in this hectic world we live in.

Oh, I totally get it Angelika! Well, welcome to Cake!