Motivation or Competition?

When you work with a team, it can be hard to imagine the personal effort behind each person’s results. We spoke with our senior account manager, Gleb Borovikov. He left his own agency and joined Serenity with his own ideas about how account management should work. For a long time, the transition was difficult. Now he is one of the agency’s top account managers, setting new records every quarter.

My name is Gleb, I am 38, and I have worked in marketing since 2009. I ran my own agency focused on the restaurant industry. When the pandemic began, the agency became unprofitable, so I handed it over to someone else. I decided it was time for a change, and discovered Serenity while looking for a new role. Over ten years at my previous agency, I worked with many clients and closed more than 90% of deals, so I thought I was an excellent account manager.

But the confidence I brought to Serenity worked against me. I made no sales during my first three months. There was a lot to learn: I encountered an unfamiliar company structure, rules, standards, mission and vision. I had never worked at an agency like this, and so much new information left me overwhelmed and slowed me down. It was difficult.

Early in my time at Serenity, a message appeared in the team chat saying that account manager Ilya had doubled the profit from his clients. I thought, “Wow, I want to do that too.” But time passed and I still had no sales. Naturally, I became discouraged. I also have narcissistic personality disorder, which makes it hard for me to settle until I reach a goal. It hurt my pride, so my first goal was to outperform Ilya. For nine months, I worked hard, tried to adapt to the new environment and find my own way of working with clients.

Eventually, after a long effort, I did it: I became the top salesperson and held first place for two and a half years. Now my goal is to improve my results each time. To me, champions are not simply people who come first; they are the ones who keep coming first and prove their performance again and again.

I was assigned my first client during my first week at Serenity. It was one of the smallest accounts (the client had already been with the agency for three years at that point). They are still with me, and I do not want to give them up, even though they bring in modest revenue.

I see my first client as a litmus test: when they are happy with the results, I know I am doing my job well. I believe a professional should give the same level of care to large and small clients alike. I think this approach helps me stay among the leaders in sales and account management quarter after quarter.

I hear “no” 20 times a day. That is difficult for anyone. When a prospect declines to work with us, I take it personally; it can feel as though they are rejecting me, not the agency. Therapy helps me stay motivated and keep moving forward. I have been working with my therapist for four years. Therapy matters deeply to me: it has helped me understand life and human relationships better, and gives me a way to decompress.

Account management is difficult, but I get a huge amount of satisfaction from reaching goals alongside talented colleagues. We work in a highly competitive environment, so every win and every new client contract is a real achievement, not just another routine event. I am glad to work with this team because I know I have a strong group of people behind me. That gives me more confidence in client meetings, and clients can feel it.

When Gleb joined Serenity, he had to adapt to an unfamiliar structure, and his first sale came only after three months. He did not give up; he kept working towards his goals. He is now one of the agency’s top account managers and has held that position for more than two years.

We give talented people the opportunity to work with major brands and earn well. If you would like to join our team, email us: hr@serenity.ru.

And to learn more about the company culture Gleb mentioned, read our article about self-organisation.