As part of our series of profiles introducing the sales team, we’re delighted to catch up with Paren, who has been with Chrysalis since the early days. He’s a key member of our team and we love his positive energy.

How did you come to join Chrysalis, Paren?

I have had a career that’s evolved. I started at a digital marketing agency, helping businesses with their online presence. One of those businesses was a dentist, and then I got another dentist and another. So I accidently became a specialist, working with dental practices. I think this attracted the attention of Chrysalis, and in 2015, they approached me to join. I’ve been here ever since.

What’s your role at Chrysalis?

I think my job title is National Account Manager but we’re not big on job titles. Basically, I look after the accounts that are most suited to my skills and they can be anywhere from Glasgow to Bournemouth.

How do you think your experience can help your customers?

Dental school doesn’t teach business skills, and yet every dental practice needs to operate like a business, because they have overheads to cover. With my business experience, and particularly with my digital marketing background, I can help practices to find their way around online advertising, using our payment options to bring more patients into their clinic. Because I have worked in the dental sector now for many years and spoken to many, many dentists and practice mangers, I feel I understand the challenges they face and I can do my part to help them.

What do you bring to the team at Chrysalis?

One of the things I love about Chrysalis is that we all have different skills and we help one another out. So my digital advertising background allows me to advise other members of the sales team so that they can make a difference to their customers. I also feel my input is valued by the central marketing team.

What do you think makes Chrysalis different?

It’s partly that blend of skills I talked about earlier. Not just that we have those skills but that they are valued and we have the freedom to use them to help the clinics we look after. I don’t think any other companies in this sector are so agile, cooperative and entrepreneurial. We can be responsive to our customers’ needs and offer them customer care well beyond the finance products we provide.

You’re doing well at Chrysalis, Paren, what’s your secret?

Ha ha, there’s no secret, I work hard and I like people. I’ve always been the same. Years ago, I won a trip to las vegas for my sales success, and when I was working in digital marketing, I won an incentive by Google, as one of their top affiliates, and got to see the World Cup in Brazil and had a VIP tour of the Google offices. What I like about my job now, is that I can really make a difference, helping clinics to make the most of the opportunities our payment options offer and getting them online with their advertising.

What’s your favourite part of the job?

I like that no two days are the same and I like that no two clinics are the same. I can have two clinics in the same town and have a completely different relationship with both. With one I might be speaking to them every week and with another, we just check in once every few months. I also like to be able to help the clinics that need it with business advice. Increasingly, I find clinics are open to offering their patients payment options and I love their reaction when they see the difference it makes to their revenue and cashflow. Finally, I like working for Chrysalis because their values are the same as mine. We are transparent and have integrity, and we’re in it for the long term – I’ve been with Chrysalis for 10 years now!

Finally, Paren, what do you do when you’re not at work?

I suppose I am one of those people who works hard and plays hard, if that’s not too much of a cliché. As many of my customers will testify, I will always answer the phone to them, even when I’m on holiday. My family is very important to me and I have two young children, so I’m kept busy. I believe in keeping fit and healthy too, so when I do pick up the phone to an out of hours call, I’m quite often at the gym!