Our team was strengthened at the beginning of August when Mika Chlebnikov started in IT solution sales with the title of Ambasciatore, Sales Manager. In his new role, Mika will work with customers of both Above IT and Below IT. Above IT supports IT management with cloud, Microsoft, and security solutions, while Below IT is responsible for everyday IT services for end-users.
“I am interested in finding the customer's true pain point and thinking about how it could be solved. My role is to open the door and bring in the right experts.”
Mika has extensive experience in the IT industry. Over the years, he has seen the field from the perspectives of technology providers, partner networks, and customers alike. Microsoft solutions, cloud services, cybersecurity, and IT services, in particular, have become familiar through account development and solution sales.
He ended up in the industry almost by chance. In the late 1990s, he was recruited by a company importing industrial computers, marking the start of a career that has progressed through roles such as product management and sales to his current position.
However, Mika does not want to be profiled as an expert in a single technology. He is primarily interested in what needs to work better in the customer’s business or daily operations.
– I’m interested in finding the customer’s true pain point and thinking about how to solve it so that daily life becomes easier, time is saved, or operations become more efficient, Mika describes.
The solution might be found in Microsoft 365, cloud services, automation, or cybersecurity. However, in Mika’s view, technology is not the starting point of the conversation.
Trust is built before the solution
Mika describes himself as a calm salesperson. Instead of being overbearing, he wants to build trust and understand what is truly important to the customer.
– This is a trust-based business. The customer must be able to trust that they are being proposed solutions that are genuinely beneficial, not just whatever happens to be available.
– Customers have always been able to trust that I keep my promises and act transparently. However, the best results are not achieved alone, but as a team. Having a strong and capable team behind me makes it possible to keep those promises.
This philosophy has followed Mika throughout his career. For him, success does not necessarily mean a large deal. It can just as easily be a small thing that solves a customer’s problem quickly.
– I get a kick out of being able to help. The size of the deal doesn’t really matter in that regard.
A door opener between the customer and the experts
Mika feels that his title, Ambasciatore, describes his work well. He acts as a bridge between the customer and the IT experts: listening, identifying needs, opening the dialogue, and bringing in the right people.
– I see my role as opening the door. Once the customer’s problem has been identified, we have top experts here who know how to start building a solution for it.
This was one of the reasons why the Above & Below IT Group felt like a natural environment. It is not enough for the customer that a solution is sold and delivered. The environment must also be capable of further development.
– Customer needs change and technology evolves. That is why a partnership should not stop once a service has been implemented.
In his new role, Mika gets to combine his commercial experience and build accounts where solutions can also be developed over the long term.
Networks brought him to the company
The people at Above IT were already familiar to Mika through his networks, and the company had caught his eye on LinkedIn several times. When discussions began, they progressed quickly.
Mika considers networking an important part of the job.
– You never know when an acquaintance made over the years will lead to a new conversation. In my career, many things have started exactly that way.
And after the workday?
In his free time, Mika is enthusiastic about drone photography and flying, especially on holiday trips.
The family also includes a slightly more unusual four-legged member: a Lagotto Romagnolo, or Italian truffle dog, brought from Italy.
The dog is trained to find truffles, and according to Mika, the talent is definitely there. However, there is one small problem.
– We just need to make it to the forest with him at the right time. For several years now, the snow has arrived before we did, Mika laughs.
So, the investment in the truffle dog is still waiting for its final ROI.
Until then, Mika’s focus is on customers – and on what could be made to work a little better in their daily operations.
P.S. Follow Mika on LinkedIn and get in touch if you have any IT matters on your mind!
Mika Chlebnikov
+358 (0)40 823 1064
mika.chlebnikov@aboveit.fi