European Gateway Organizational Culture

European Gateway is a Sales Consulting Firm that was co-founded by Jepson Alum ’13- Djordje Hinic. Djordje’s official title is Vice President of Operations and he leads the office in Belgrade, Serbia. There are two other offices in Copenhagen and London, but I am not working directly under them. The Serbia office has about 11 clients and I am working for three of them. Their clients are all software companies ranging from a competitor to Uber to an event management platform. Each employee has specific clients that they work to book and take meetings for. I am lucky enough to be working under Djordje, as he has taken a considerable amount of time to mentor me and make sure that I have a complete understanding of the company and everything that comes my way. I could tell from day one of my internship that Djordje is someone that everyone in the office respects and admires. Business Development Reps are expected to book about three calls per days and Djordje holds them accountable in way that they want to succeed so that they do not disappoint him. Although I am not in the office physically, I can hear them making jokes in the background and everyone always has a smile on their face. I can definitely tell that it is a pretty relaxed work environment as everyone seems as though they are friends, yet know when they need to work hard. He is also always encouraging his employees- myself included which I think is crucial in a sales role. A large part of the day is spent cold calling potential clients and Djordje understands the importance of celebrating the small victories. When employees book a meeting he makes sure to tell them “really well done”, which can be a helpful reminder after being yelled at by strangers over the phone. I can definitely tell that Djordje was a Jepson student because of his leadership abilities. The main weakness that I have noticed within the company so far is the lack of American employees. While it is a European based company, several of their clients require that we prospect their softwares to companies within the United States, which becomes an issue when there is a nine hour time difference between Belgrade and Los Angeles. I know that Djordje is working to open an office in Los Angeles and I think that it would be incredibly beneficial to have people calling on that time zone in an effort to book more meetings.