Career Change From Sales to Sales Operations– Fiona’s Success Story

Fiona shares how she achieved a career change from sales into a Salesforce-powered sales operations role after a career break.
Career Change From Sales to Sales Operations– Fiona’s Success Story

Fiona

  • Course:Salesforce Admin Course
  • Region:EMEA
  • Sector:ISV
  • Job Title:GTM Operations
  • Works:Proven Works
  • Lives:Home Counties

Fiona made a career change from sales in the telecoms industry into sales operations within the Salesforce ecosystem, successfully relaunching her career after a break and repositioning her commercial experience into a strategic GTM operations role.

After completing an engineering degree and a Master’s in IT, Fiona spent 10 years at BT working in sales and marketing. But following the birth of her second child, she stepped away from corporate life. What followed were two career breaks — and ultimately a focused career change from sales into sales operations using Salesforce, Pardot, AI and business development skills.

Previous Role: Sales & Marketing at BT (Telecoms)
New Role: GTM Operations Specialist (Sales Operations) at ProvenWorks, a Salesforce ISV

 “I just knew that I’d found the right path for me to take.”

Fiona decided to make a career change from sales because…

“I did an engineering degree, a master’s in IT, and then I spent 10 years at BT doing sales and marketing. But following the birth of my second child, I decided to take a career break.

When I was returning to work, I was aware of Salesforce, but I unfortunately did not find Supermums at that point. I registered on a website called Career Returners and found a job working in a school where I ended up administrating a CRM system there and doing a lot of other things.

After about three years, I decided I needed to move on, and I took a second career break where I renovated my house, which was a lot of fun and very stressful. And just as I was finishing that process, I got an email from Career Returners and came on a call like this. That was around 18 months ago.”

Fiona decided to upskill with Supermums to support her career change from sales into sales operations because…

“I followed that up with a call with Lyn, and I registered on the Supermums Ultimate Admin course last year. I finished the course and I really enjoyed my placement. I was working with a charity called Survival International.

Throughout the course, I just found the community. I was told that there was a community, but it’s true, there is a community, and it’s very welcoming. I attended as many events as I could. I live just outside London, so it’s quite easy for me to travel to a lot of the events.

I met so many people and made so many contacts. I think I had about 120 people on LinkedIn, and I think I’m approaching about 600 now in just over a year, which I’m astonished with. And I just knew that I’d found the right path for me to take.

I worked really hard on my project, and I think that counted for me — something I could put onto my CV.”

Through structured Supermums Salesforce training, a real-life charity placement, and mentorship, Fiona built technical credibility in Salesforce Admin training while leveraging her commercial sales background. This combination positioned her perfectly for a career change into tech-focused sales operations.

Fiona was able to launch her career in sales operations successfully because…

“Through the community events I met lots of other people, and that’s actually how I got my job. So I’m currently working at a Salesforce ISV called ProvenWorks. I’m working hybrid, which works really well for me — three days a week at home and two days a week in the office.

I’m using my Salesforce admin skills that I’ve learnt. I’ve been using the AI skills that I’ve been learning. We use AI every day in the office. ProvenWorks have got four products on the Salesforce AppExchange around data integrity. So I’m working on the go-to-market operations for that. I’m doing some marketing, I’m doing some business development, I’m working with the team on different projects at the moment. I’m really enjoying it.”

Rather than returning to a front-line sales role, Fiona transitioned into sales operations within the Salesforce ecosystem. She now uses Salesforce, Pardot and AI daily to support go-to-market strategy, data integrity, marketing automation and business development for AppExchange products.

“I had an amazing mentor during my time at Supermums doing my project, who worked at Salesforce. She and Jose, who was my project supervisor, were both references for me when I got my job, which was just amazing.

Coming from a career break, you want relevant references. You want things that you can do now. Having learned all these new skills, it was really important that your references can reference what you can do now as well.”

Fiona has now successfully achieved a career change that offers her..

“I’m working hybrid, which works really well for me.”

“I’m using my Salesforce admin skills that I’ve learnt. I’ve been using the AI skills that I’ve been learning.”

“Anyone coming from a career break feels like a little bit of an imposter, and it takes a while to get over that.”

Fiona’s career change from sales has enabled her to step into a strategic sales operations role inside the Salesforce ecosystem. Instead of starting again, she repositioned her commercial understanding of customers and revenue into a data-driven, tech-enabled operations role — creating a flexible, future-focused career path.

Final Thoughts on a career change from sales

“Attending events can feel like a huge step out of your comfort zone. But one thing that was a real takeaway for me was when you go to the first event, you don’t know anybody in the room. But the second time you go, you meet some people that you met before.

When you go and think, ‘Oh, everybody knows each other here,’ actually it can make a huge difference. The first time you’ll feel that, but the second time you’re like, ‘Oh, I recognise you,’ and you talk to people — and the community genuinely is very friendly.”

For anyone considering a career change from sales into a more strategic, tech-enabled role, Fiona’s journey shows how Salesforce Admin training and community support can open the door to sales operations careers within the Salesforce ecosystem.

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