When I joined Yardi Systems just over a year ago, I was already an old hand with regard to the Santa Barbara, Calif.-based property and asset management software supplier's products and culture. I spent about seven years as director of payables and receivables at Kimco Realty Corp., a New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based real estate investment trust. One of my responsibilities there was implementing Yardi's automated rent collection and invoice processing solutions. In the process I became well acquainted with several Yardi executives, implementation specialists and product developers. I was always very impressed with their dedication to clients and how they helped property management companies find ways to improve their business.
It was a natural move, then, to become a strategic client account executive at Yardi's office in Glen Head, N.Y., in 2012. In this position I sell Yardi's full-business suite of commercial real estate products, including Yardi Voyager™, Yardi CRM™, Yardi COMMERCIALCafé™, Yardi Advanced Budgeting & Forecasting™ and Yardi Procure to Pay™. I also oversee product implementation and support for clients. I really enjoy carrying out Yardi's primary mission, which means helping companies streamline their business processes with our products.
My introduction to property management came when I temped with Kimco to put myself through graduate school. I climbed the ladder steadily after joining full-time, eventually reaching the director position and managing about 15 payables and receivables specialists.
With a sales territory that encompasses the northeastern U.S., heavy travel is a routine part of my Yardi job. Maintaining this rigorous schedule presents its challenges. I'm on the road visiting clients and prospects about two weeks every month. It's not always easy getting airports, train stations and subways to cooperate with my schedule, but I always get through it.
Once at my destination, I demonstrates Yardi's solutions with a presentation tailor-made for a client's business challenges. These sessions, usually done before top executives, can be exacting, high-pressure situations, and my accumulated professional and educational experience has left me well equipped to handle them. I have bachelor's and master's degrees in performing arts, and I teach Theater History and Beginning Acting as an adjunct professor at a college in Brooklyn. This background helps me develop focusing techniques and stay poised before a crowd, and I draw on that to present our solutions effectively.
Not surprisingly, I have noticed some significant changes over my decade-and-a-half of work experience. I have seen the real estate industry moving toward a more green approach. Going with paperless and Web-based solutions has been a principal trend over the last 10 years or so. Companies have become much more aware of how technology can help them incorporate sustainability into their business strategy, rather than just let it be a footnote or a nice-but-not-necessary element.
Another great technology trend that's happening now is the ability of companies to access their property management data via mobile devices and tablets. Being able to do business on the move without losing access to any of their operational data will really help our clients, and the industry in general, move forward in new and exciting ways."
Stacy Fuller is a strategic client account executive at Yardi Systems, Glen Head, N.Y. Tags: