Riona Rodrigues

About Riona Rodrigues

As a B2B Sales & CRM professional with a background in customer service leadership, I am passionate about helping institutional clients, researchers, and universities succeed by delivering solutions that support high-quality research and impactful publication outcomes. I thrive at the intersection of customer experience, consultative sales, and technology-enabled academic support. My career began in customer service, where I developed strong communication, empathy, and problem-solving skills. Over time, I stepped up to mentor peers, enhancing service processes, and driving client satisfaction. Today, I bring those strengths into B2B sales, where I focus on building trust, understanding client needs, and aligning solutions that deliver real value. In my current role, I partner with institutional clients to streamline pre-publication workflows and adopt scholarly and SaaS-based research support solutions. I enjoy working closely with clients to understand their objectives, identify opportunities, and guide them toward the tools and services that best support their research and publishing goals. Strong client relationships and active listening are at the core of my approach.What I bring:• Consultative, insight-driven selling• Experience in scholarly publishing; research workflows• CRM & pipeline management• Strong client communication & stakeholder engagement• B2B institutional sales & ; account management• Growth mindset; continuous improvement.I am currently pursuing my MBA at UMass Global, strengthening my strategic thinking, leadership foundation, and commercial acumen. My goal is to continue building a career in scholarly technology, SaaS, and EdTech, supporting research institutions through meaningful partnerships and scalable solutions. I am always open to connecting with professionals in research solutions, higher-education innovation, SaaS, and, publishing tech. Let’s connect and explore how we can collaborate, share insights, and create long-term value together. Empowering researchers. Driving client success. Fueling growth through meaningful relationships.#B2BSales #AccountManagement #SaaS #EdTech #ScholarPublishing #CustomerSuccess #InstitutionalSales #MBAJourney

Experience

1. Sales Associate B2b

   Cactus Communications

   Nov 2025 — Present · Mumbai, IN

   Manage institutional sales relationships with universities, research institutes, and libraries-Drive the sales cycle for Editage Plus and Paperpal, from lead generation and product demonstrations to trials, follow-ups, and renewals- Organize and conduct virtual product demos and walkthroughs for faculty, researchers, librarians, and editorial teams, highlighting use cases and value propositions-Coordinate trial access, activation, and onboarding to support user adoption and facilitate informed purchasing decisions-Engage with key academic stakeholders (librarians, deans, editors, faculty) to understand requirements and recommend suitable solutions-Support pricing discussions, proposal sharing, and consortium partnerships with leading institutions-Collaborate with internal teams (legal, training, product) to close deals and ensure smooth customer handover-Collect customer feedback and testimonials to support renewals and strengthen long-term institutional partnerships.

Education

• St. Xavier's College

  Grade 12 , Science

  2017 — 2019

• St. Xavier's College

  Bachelors in Science with Honors, Lifescience and Biochemistry

• University of Massachusetts Global

  Masters in Business Administration , Business Administration and Management