STEVE SHERWOOD
With a background leading commercial teams, building sales capability, and partnering with executive leadership, Steve brings both strategic insight and practical execution to revenue and growth challenges.
About My Work
I’m a senior sales and revenue leader who has spent more than two decades working with technology businesses to build predictable revenue, strengthen customer loyalty, and align commercial teams with strategic outcomes.
I’ve worked across a range of environments, from fast-paced MSPs to cloud and SaaS-aligned businesses, helping leaders unlock growth by embedding structure, accountability, and clarity into commercial operations.
I’m passionate about outcomes that matter: forecast accuracy, team performance, customer retention, and sustainable revenue. I focus on real results, not buzzwords, and I bring a calm, practical leadership style to every opportunity.
Professional Experience…
I’m comfortable stepping into fast-paced, complex environments – stabilising performance, building structure into go-to-market execution, and strengthening customer retention and expansion. I bring a calm, practical leadership style, with a strong focus on clarity, accountability, and outcomes that matter: predictable revenue growth, improved profitability, and better customer experience.
Head of Sales & Marketing
I lead sales and marketing for a cloud managed service provider specialising in Microsoft Modern Workplace, Azure and cybersecurity. I am responsible for end-to-end revenue performance across new customer acquisition, retention, expansion and marketing, owning a $4.5M recurring revenue portfolio. As a member of the senior leadership team, I contribute to commercial strategy, pricing discipline and operational improvement across the business.
Key responsibilities include leadership of cross-functional sales, account management and marketing teams, ownership of go-to-market strategy, commercial governance, customer lifecycle management, and alignment of sales and marketing execution with business growth objectives.
Achievements include delivering a 150% uplift in new customer acquisition through structured go-to-market execution, improving overall client profitability by through portfolio optimisation, lifting Net Promoter Score from +11 to +36, reducing out-of-contract revenue by 14%, and introducing structured onboarding, AI-driven customer journey mapping, and website modernisation to support scalable long-term growth.
Jul 2024 – Present
Sales & Marketing Manager (Contract)
I was engaged on a fixed-term contract to lead sales and marketing transformation during a period of repositioning and growth. The role focused on strengthening market presence, improving demand generation, and implementing foundational sales and marketing structure.
Key responsibilities included leading a company rebrand, implementing CRM processes, and delivering digital demand generation across LinkedIn, Google and Meta to support pipeline growth and customer acquisition.
Achievements include delivering 140% year-on-year customer growth, with the initial fixed-term contract extended on a month-to-month basis due to performance and impact.
Channel Development Manager
At Westcon, I managed a $10M vendor portfolio across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, working closely with vendors and channel partners to drive revenue growth and joint go-to-market success.
Key responsibilities included building partner enablement programs, executing vendor go-to-market strategies, improving joint sales and marketing performance, and strengthening commercial alignment across the partner ecosystem.
Achievements include delivering 118% of FY22 target, receiving the 100 Percent Club award, contributing to securing Distributor of the Year for a managed vendor in 2023, and improving inventory flow and vendor performance across the portfolio.
Head of Sales & Customer Experience
I led sales and customer experience for the business, owning $3.5M in revenue and managing a team across sales and customer engagement functions. The role focused on improving commercial governance, sales efficiency, and customer outcomes.
Key responsibilities included leadership of sales and customer experience teams, oversight of revenue performance, pricing and contract governance, and embedding structured customer engagement and sales processes.
Achievements include reducing average sales cycle length by 17%, improving profitability by 7%, and achieving a 9/10 employee engagement score through strong leadership, coaching, and team development.
Key Account Manager (Contract)
Auckland, New Zealand Jun 2018 – Jun 2019
Key Account Manager & 2IC
Auckland, New Zealand | Oct 2012 – Apr 2016
I managed enterprise and mid-market customer portfolios with a focus on stabilisation, revenue growth, and customer advocacy, while also leading and mentoring account management teams. Across both permanent and contract engagements, I was responsible for driving commercial outcomes, strengthening senior stakeholder relationships, and embedding structured account management disciplines.
The role included ownership of customer portfolios totalling up to $4.5M, leadership and mentoring of account managers, identification of upsell and cross-sell opportunities, and direct engagement with executive and senior customer stakeholders to drive retention and expansion.
Achievements included delivering up to 164% of annual sales targets, achieving 120% of target during a contract engagement, recognition as Top Account Manager for three consecutive years, and lifting customer advocacy with Net Promoter Scores exceeding +30.
Senior Account Manager
Melbourne, Australia
As a Senior Account Manager, I was responsible for managing a portfolio of enterprise customers across Victoria, including complex, multi-stakeholder organisations. The role required a strong focus on renewals, relationship management, and coordination across internal technical and service delivery teams.
Key responsibilities included management of eight enterprise accounts, ownership of a portfolio exceeding $2.4M AUD, and leadership of internal account engagement to ensure consistent service delivery and commercial outcomes.
Achievements included high renewal rates, sustained portfolio performance, and successful long-term account relationships with enterprise customers including GM Holden and SEEK.
Business Account Manager & Second-in-Charge (2IC)
Auckland, New Zealand
At Vodafone, I managed a large SME customer portfolio while also acting as second-in-charge within the team. This role combined direct revenue responsibility with leadership support and coaching for other account managers.
Key responsibilities included management of a $4.8M SME portfolio, coaching and support of eight account managers, and contribution to team performance and customer retention strategies.
Achievements included receipt of a national Sales Achievement Award and maintaining the lowest churn rate in the country during the award period.
Corporate Client Manager
Auckland, New Zealand
In this role, I managed large corporate accounts across retail and distribution sectors during a period of significant change in the telecommunications industry. I supported customers transitioning from traditional telco services into more integrated ICT solutions.
Key responsibilities included management of complex corporate accounts, stakeholder engagement across customer organisations, and coordination of service transitions.
Achievements included successful migration of multiple customers to ICT-based solutions and strengthened long-term client relationships during a transformational period for the business.
Business Development Manager
Auckland, New Zealand
This role focused on new business development within the SME market, requiring strong prospecting, relationship building, and solution-based selling skills.
Key responsibilities included expanding the SME customer base, managing the full sales lifecycle, and supporting junior staff development through knowledge sharing and mentoring.
Achievements included consistently ranking in the Top 5 nationally for sales performance and contributing to sustained regional growth.
Work related skills and experience…
Sales & Revenue Leadership
Leading sales and commercial teams to deliver predictable revenue growth across cloud, managed services, and technology environments.
Go-to-Market Strategy & Execution
Customer Retention & Expansion
Commercial Governance & Forecasting
Account Management & Enterprise Engagement
Team Development & Performance
Microsoft Cloud & Managed Services
AI-Enabled Sales & Marketing
Achievements…
Executive Diploma in Leadership
Leadership & executive capability development
Diploma in Business Management
Commercial management and organisational leadership
Diploma in Digital Transformation
Technology-led business transformation
Sales Operations – The Complete MasterClass
Sales operations, forecasting and pipeline discipline
The Complete Digital Marketing Course
Digital channels, demand generation and analytics
AI Essentials for Business
Applying AI to sales, marketing and customer engagement
Certificate in Financial Management
Commercial and financial decision-making
Certificate in Marketing & Marketing Management
Marketing strategy and execution
Leadership 4.0 – Becoming an Effective Manager and Leader
Advanced people leadership and performance management
Extensive IT Vendor Training
Microsoft Cloud, managed services and cybersecurity
King’s College Auckland
Secondary education
Kumeu Emergency Network
Community emergency response and coordination
Kumeu Community Action Group
Local community support and engagement
West Auckland Emergency Response Committee
Regional emergency preparedness and response
Rotary International – Social Media Trainer
Training and support for digital and social media capability
SME Sales & Marketing Support
Advisory and hands-on support for small and medium businesses
What People Say…
I believe commercial success starts with clarity of purpose, disciplined execution, and people who are aligned around shared outcomes. Sales teams perform at their best when they have clear goals, reliable processes, and leadership that connects strategy to front-line execution.
I also believe technology organisations win when they prioritise customer success. Investing in retention and expansion is just as critical as acquiring new business, and long-term growth comes from strong relationships built on trust and value.
If this resonates, let’s talk about how I can help your business grow.
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