Guest Speaker David Pratt, From a Students Perspective

Molly Becker

Robert Nadeau

Professional Selling Skills I

9 April 2012

David Pratt

            David graduated from Plymouth State University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing. After graduation he went into sales, with his first job consisting of 100 to 150 cold calls a day. He then went to a company called One Communications and stayed there for about a year. While at One Communications he got an offer from their top competition, thinking the “grass is greener on the other side” he took the job. He was there for two years finding that in fact it was not the job he was expecting it to be. A man name Chris Patton was putting together a start up company called Monument Valley and heard about David through networking. The company was very new, only two years old and was located in the Boston area. David began working for Chris as a sales prospect; it was a perfect place for him to network. He became a team leader and currently has two people on his team.

David was very easy to listen too. He graduated from Plymouth five years ago therefore relating to him came very natural. He pressed upon the importance of networking and having a LinkedIn account. It was really interesting listening to how much he actually uses LinkedIn on a daily basis in order for him to be successful at his job.

            A typical day at Monument Valley for David is pretty simple. David’s job is to staff salespeople for firms, specifically concentrating on software companies. David is the middle person who finds potential salespeople and sets them up for interviews for the software company he is prospecting for. David starts by preparing his day, it is very important to manage his time. He has a team meeting discussing sales funnel, closing sales, and game plans. After meeting with his team David sets up interviews. At this point in his career at Monument Valley David is lucky to have more people reaching out to him then he has to reach out to them. He uses LinkedIn to search for companies within his reach, consists of 0-200 employees. LinkedIn is also used to find candidates for small firms. He even took the time to give us students the LinkedIn lowdown and showed us just how easy and beneficial it is to use.

Guest Speaker Bob Williston, From a Students Perspective

Bob Williston, PSU alum and Sales Executive at Cisco gave tremendous presentations in two classes on March 15. He was highly engaging and extremely well recieved by our students. Here is just one students experience.

Brandon Kingsley

Professor Nadeau

Guest Speaker: Bob Williston, Cisco and  PSU alum

Out of all the speakers that we have had in Professor Nadeau’s class this was by far the most engaging and someone that I felt I could relate to. He was a Plymouth State University alum as a English Major in 1994. Who would have thought he graduated with that, seeing the position that he is in today. This was very comforting to hear, because I along with many of my fellow students don’t have a good idea what we want to do after college. This gave me a piece of mind that I can work hard in college in a degree that I enjoy and not necessary have to worry about the exact job I will want or think I will have after college, because as Mr. Williston said “ I had no clue when I was at Plymouth State College”. He did not have a career job right after college he worked for his father’s funeral home and that is when he met the CEO of a Sales company, and got offered a job. Since then he has had a number of sales jobs and for the past 14 years he has had many positions with his current company Cisco.

            What I took away from Bob Williston presentation today is not how great Cisco is, but how great you can be as a person and how you can be successful in careers after college. He spoke many times about how you need to find a job or thing that you are phenomenal at and go with it. Don’t try and be someone you are not, I feel that many of us fall into this trap at some point, I know I do. When someone talks to you about a position or career in a company and you think that would be so great. But we think that sometimes in the wrong way. You could think that “wow” sales people make big bucks and seem to live a life that you would want, when that really isn’t your ‘rock star’ talent.  I personally don’t think that I would want to have a job like Mr. Williston has, but we all have to be a sale’s people in no matter what type of business we are in. He explained that we are constantly having to sell ourselves to our professor or are bosses. With that he taught us some great things, for example working around the dreaded ‘NO’, networking with people and business. The three big keys in business are: relationships, trust, and listen, these three topics are the foundation to our success out there in the business world.

            In concussion I learn some great foundational idea’s that I will be able to apply in everyday life. When it comes down to it be yourself, find something you love and are phenomenal at and don’t be someone you are not. 

Monday April 9th, Plymouth Welcomes Nancy Sampo

Every guest speaker is an opportunity to learn, and expand your professional network for internships and careers!  On Monday April 9th, Nancy Sampo, the President of Enviro-tote will be lecturing in Hyde 216 from 6:15 to 7:15.  This is a unique learning experience and can benefit your professional career.  All sales students are encouraged to attend, see you there!

Tuesday April 3rd, Plymouth Welcomes Back Jon Hall!

Guest Speaker PSU alum Jon Hall, Executive Vice President at FM Global, will be speaking to PSU sales students from 11am to 12:15 in Hyde 213 and 3:30 in Hyde 220. Jon is a dynamic speaker, and you will learn a lot from him.  FM Global is a leading commercial property insurer of the world's largest businesses with more than one-third of FORTUNE 1000-size companies as clients.  All sales students are encouraged to attend!

Women's Sales Panel

Julie Handman  (PSU 2011),  Nicole Spada (2008) and Katie Bates (2007) were the first Women's Sales Panel on March 29 in Hyde 220. Over 50 students listened as these 3 speakers shared their perspectives in the transition from college to careers   in the fields of medical devices sales, software sales, and social media development in banking. In the photo above students network with our guests after the presentation. 

Bob Williston Guest Speaker March 15th

On Thursday March 15 Bob Williston, class of 1994 spoke to two classes at Hyde Hall. He was extremely well received. Bob is the Enterprise Account Manager at Cisco Systems, a high tech company. Cisco has been rated #20 in the top 100 companies to work for. Here are some comments from our students.

• Wow, he was so dynamic. I learned a lot about b2b sales.
• Incredible energy, our 1:15 minute class felt like 10 minutes.

Stay tuned, we'll have photos, and student write-ups regarding Bob's presentation after spring break. 

Guest Speaker: Paul Alves CEO of Agent Sales Works

Written by Caitlin Swanson

            I never know quite what to expect of our guest speakers, just that they will be extremely influential and great public speakers. I always expect great people skills and a natural ability to convey a message to an audience (aka: sell their idea). Paul Alves did not fall short of this in the least. He had so much valuable information to offer us and his delivery was filled with passion!

            The first thing that I identified with was his point about ALWAYS doing the right thing because it will always come back to you. So to me that means, always be polite, even when your potential clients answer is no. You never know where you will run into that client again or who they know so it is best to always be cordial and professional. Sales is full of ups and downs but it is how you handle that adversity that will ultimately set you apart from your coworkers. If you mope around and hang your head when you hear no three times in a row, it will make it much harder for you to bounce back. But, if you remain positive, learn from past experiences and have confidence in yourself, I believe that could make all the difference. How you handle rejection and adversity will come back to you!! So do the right thing, follow up with a prospective client, extend the opportunity for to reach out in the future, build rapport and maintain and develop your relationships. As Mr. Alves said, you never know where that person will be in the future, they could get a job with a different company who is in need of your product or service and remember you because you stood out among all your competitors. That applies not only in your career but in all aspects of life; do the right thing because it will always come back to you.