Sara Telford

Questioner
DISC Type : c

Managing Director at Vanz.io

Greater Brighton and Hove Area, United Kingdom

Overview

Sara Telford is a results-driven business leader and Managing Director with a strong track record as a versatile CFO. A Fellow of the Chartered and Certified Accountants, she excels at scaling companies, building high-performing teams, and driving growth across diverse industries. Colleagues frequently describe her as an inspirational, inclusive, and empowering leader.

Sara focuses on creating environments where people can thrive, even amidst rapid change. She brings a calm, people-first approach to leadership, which has been instrumental in her success leading business transformations and navigating volatile markets.

Unique fact: While COO at Equity School Travel, she created and executed a plan that returned the loss-making business to profitability within two years.

Personality Overview

Value Seeker

Cautious & Analytical

Price-Sensitive

They are more likely than others to negotiate on pricing and terms.  While they don't hesitate to ask questions, they are generally risk-averse and tend to be late adopters. They generally do not appreciate an overfriendly approach and prefer to stay to-the-point.

Topics They Care About

Recruitment Technology
As MD of Boxharry and co-founder of Vanz. io, she is launching new recruit-tech to give agencies better visibility on Google for jobs.
Business Turnaround
Has direct experience creating and executing plans to return loss-making companies to profitability, achieving this within a two-year timeframe.
Building Finance Functions
Successfully built an entire regional finance function for an EMEA business, hiring 30 team members and implementing systems like Netsuite and Adaptive.

Media Appearances

Sara has no verified media appearances

Work History

2-2025 - 7-2025
Managing Director at Vanz.io
1-2025
Managing Director at Boxharry
3-2024 - 5-2025
Chief Financial Officer at Bramble Energy Limited
6-2020
Snr. Director of Finance (CFO) EMEA at Avalara
6-2020 - 11-2023
Chief Financial Officer - EMEA at Avalara

Education

2000 - 2003
Fellow of the insitute of Chartered and Certified Accountants (FCCA) from A.C.C.A.
2013 - 2015
Association of Corporate Treasurers from A.C.T.
1997 - 2000
Politics and Economics from University of Sussex
9-2009 - 9-2010
Yellow Belt from LEAN
Bachelor's degree from University of Sussex

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 24 Location : Greater Brighton and Hove Area, United Kingdom Job Level : Mid-senior Designation : Managing Director at Vanz.io
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Insights For Selling To Sara

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • If you have a lower priced product compared to the competition, call out the same
  • Share as much information as possible regarding your product
  • Keep some extra margin in hand as they will likely negotiate the pricing

DONT's

  • Don’t depend too much on anecdotal evidence, it reduces their confidence
  • Don’t overhype the product/pitch, keep it measured
  • Don’t try to be too friendly or informal with them

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Sara is

  • Confidence that the product provides ROI, effective pricing and process adherence matter the most to them.

  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Sara

  • It doesn’t come naturally to them but they can say no if they are not convinced.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Sara move?

  • They can move at a reasonable pace while making their decisions if they have the necessary information.

  • Can Sara take some risk or not?

  • They can take risk if they are convinced that they have analyzed the circumstances well.


You And Sara

Personality Compatibility


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