At Pwrteams, we’re excited to welcome colleagues who bring fresh perspectives and proven expertise to our international team. This time, we’re introducing Tom Stewart, our new Account Executive Lead, UK. With over 14 years of sales experience across SaaS scale-ups and innovative technology companies, Tom has partnered with some of the world’s most recognisable brands to drive growth and build trusted relationships.
Joining Pwrteams at a pivotal moment, Tom will focus on strengthening partnerships with organisations in the UK market, helping more businesses access high-quality tech teams from our hubs in Bulgaria, Poland and Ukraine. In this interview, he shares what drew him to Pwrteams, his approach to building lasting client relationships and what excites him most about shaping our UK go-to-market strategy.
Welcome to Pwrteams, Tom! What drew you to join the company?
I was attracted by what I’ll call the positive-side of "start-up energy" at Pwrteams, meaning the agility, openness to experimentation and ambition, whilst being embedded in an innovation powerhouse such as our parent company, Nortal, with all the opportunities that brings.
A smart, fun (and very international) team is also hugely appealing, and finally, as a salesperson you want a strong offering that clients love, solving a growing problem (quality tech talent shortage), and all those boxes were comfortably ticked.
Looking back at your 14+ years in sales, what are some pivotal lessons you've learned about building lasting client relationships?
Not just in sales, but in any career, the relationships you build (as long as they are healthy) can really be your rocket fuel – I’ve been lucky to maintain strong relationships with the majority of people I’ve had the pleasure of working with (colleagues and clients alike), and if the care is taken to maintain that network, it opens up many wonderful, and often unexpected, possibilities.
As a guiding principle I’d say simply keeping your word (plus building a reputation for that), and being as honest as possible with clients at every stage, pays dividends in the long run. If you chuck in a dose of humour on top of all that, you can’t go too far wrong.
As Pwrteams expands its presence in the UK market, what are your immediate priorities as Account Executive Lead?
Thanks to a strong existing base of very happy Pwrteams clients in the UK, I’ve put some initial focus on deepening my understanding of why Pwrteams has been such a good fit for those organisations, finding time to speak to the CTOs we support and ask why they chose Pwrteams over the many other options in what is admittedly a crowded marketplace (tech staff augmentation). Hearing this "from the horse’s mouth" means I’ve been able to build up a true picture of who we need to connect with (and will gain most from Pwrteams), then figure out which channels allow that, and start opening up those conversations.
What excites you most about helping shape Pwrteams’ go-to-market strategy for the UK?
Although Pwrteams (and the companies which formed it - Skelia and Questers) has been doing what it does for almost 20 years (under different brands), there’s a sense of building momentum right now thanks to a number of elements coming together - the rebrand, exciting innovation with the service (watch this space!), a strong future-facing strategic plan and new colleagues with fresh perspectives joining our ranks.
Listening to the (often gushing!) praise from the clients we’ve served up to now, and knowing what’s on the horizon, it feels we’re in a very strong position regarding not only the UK, but all our key markets.
In your view, what will be key to building strong, long-term partnerships with UK clients?
We need to keep close to the tech community in the UK and understand the forces they are dealing with better than the other players in the market – the world seems very unstable right now, and the CTO universe is also undergoing big shifts, (not least with AI’s influence), so it’s critical we maintain our understanding of that changing landscape, and can keep evolving to deliver an excellent solution.
If you had to describe your approach to sales in one sentence, what would it be?
Stay curious... so much of sales is about posing the right questions to people, "peeling back the onion" more than others might do to deepen your understanding. If you're a naturally curious person (and can lean into that), you've got a big advantage, and clients will love working with you.
Outside of work, what helps you recharge? Any hobbies or passions we should know about?
A good book and a strong cup of coffee or a cold beer and a footy match both hit the spot.
Keen to work alongside inspiring professionals like Tom? We're on the lookout for talented professionals to join our team. Check out our vacancies and send us your CV.
