Behind the Vision: Austin, Senior Account Executive

We know a lot of companies say this, but here at Brighter Vision, we think our customers are the greatest. Since the Brighter Vision process is designed to be so customized and personal to you and your vision, we get to know our customers pretty darn well – so we figured it’s only fair we return the favor!

Introducing Behind the Vision, where you can get to know a Brighter Vision employee a little better and get an inside peek at the team helping you grow your practice.

This month, I got to catch up with Austin Kirkland our Senior Account Executive! Austin has been a part of the Brighter Vision team for almost 3 years, but outside of work, he is a photographer! In fact, he was just commissioned by the Denver Parks and Recreation to shoot all their cityscapes for their 2021 print materials. If you’re interested, you can see his work on Instagram at @austinkirklandphotography!

Please share a couple of facts about the career journey that brought you to Brighter Vision.

I have been working in sales/account management for my entire career. However, my very first “adult job” was in a very high-pressure corporate environment. After 6 months of that, I promised myself I would never work for a company that didn’t align with my moral compass.  Fast forward a few years, after moving to Denver, I found myself jobless due to an unforeseen closure of the company I was with.

After searching for months, I came across Brighter Vision – a company that specializes in working with behavioral health professionals (something I’m personally passionate about and advocate for).  Not only that, but the culture here is PHENOMENAL. I’ve never heard of, let alone worked for, a company that cared so much about their employees as they do their clients.

How long have you been working at Brighter Vision?

I have been working for Brighter Vision for nearly 3 years. I began my career here in November of 2017.

What is your role here at Brighter Vision? How do you spend your day?

I am a Senior Account Executive.  I spend my days enjoying consultations with prospective clients – going over our services, pricing, learning about them, and seeing if we are a good fit for one another.  When I am not doing that, I spend the majority of my time helping current clients of mine if and when they need assistance. Additionally, I have my hand somewhat dipped in the marketing side of things – helping Brighter Vision become more successful by helping our clients become more successful.

Can you tell us about one of your favorite or most memorable Brighter Vision clients?

My favorite client of mine is one that I met at a conference.  I was deep in thought responding to an email when she came up to my booth and said “boy, you really have a resting stress face.” It cracked me up! I am well known for having an “intense” face when I’m deep in thought.

Austin’s “resting stress face”

Eventually, she was on-boarded as a client and I still have the pleasure of speaking with her occasionally.  She’s exceptionally funny, and someone that always sticks out in my mind as a favorite client.

What’s one of your favorite Brighter Vision websites right now?

Without a doubt, that has to be Affinity Counseling Group. I am a sucker for a clean design, with nice colors.

Brighter Vision’s website for Affinity Counseling Group

What are your hopes for Brighter Vision in the future?

I have been fortunate enough to be a part of a quickly growing company. I hope that Brighter Vision continues on this trajectory helping thousands of more therapists be able to be successful. 

The more successful we are, means the more successful our clients are, which means more people are getting help, which in turn has a positive effect on the country, if not the world.

If you could give Brighter Vision therapists one tip about how to best use their Brighter Vision website and marketing tools, what would it be?

Blog. Blog. Blog. The reason this comes up constantly with regards to marketing is because by blogging, you are in turn, updating your website. The more often you update your website, the better it will rank. It’s a huge factor in how Google ranks websites: How often your website is updated.  Fortunately, Brighter Vision has come up with a solution for this: Social Genie. 

We have blogs already written for our clients.  All a client needs to do is schedule a day and time to have a blog post, and it will post automatically. This keeps the website updated, the SEO cruising, all without using up a therapist’s precious time.

If you could suggest one of our blog posts to read TODAY, which would it be?

A must-read is Social Genie 2.0. It provides a very good description of what that product is, how it will help therapists easily market themselves, and overall gives great tips/tricks in general on how to better market yourself online.

If you had to pick a new mascot for Brighter Vision, what would it be?

As cliche as it sounds, a dog. A good dog is loyal, always tries to do the right thing, cares about its family, and is innovative (especially when trying to get treats!). That’s Brighter Vision. We are loyal to our clients, we ALWAYS try to do the right thing (can’t stress this enough), we care about our clients and our employees, and we are innovative with our technology and processes.

Austin’s dog, Zuesy

Thanks so much to Austin for spending the time with us today and telling us what he loves about being a part of the Brighter Vision family and his own vision for the future.

About Natalie Northrop

Natalie is a Junior Product Marketing Specialist at Brighter Vision. She graduated from Miami University with a degree and passion in Digital Marketing. When she is not working, Natalie enjoys showing off her rollerblading skills and playing soccer with friends.