Alumni Stories
Why be a Professional Sales Major? Watch the videos or read some of the bios below. The following students agreed to tell a little about what happens after graduation.
VIDEOS:
Bruce S. – Enterprise Rent-A-Car
More bios:
Bio: Andres Cohen Gradutate: Fall 2007 Location: Panama, Central America Occupation: Department Store Manager
After graduation I came back to Panamá (the country) to work with my family in a retail store called Doit Center. Long story short, part of my training was to be project manager of the next store, so basically I helped build a store from the ground. It wasn´t easy but very fun. Now I´m the manager of the store.
All I wanted to say is that the sales management class I took and final project where we managed a company for the enire semester taught me a lot. Many decisions I have to make everyday are very similar to the type of decisions I had to make with my imaginary company.
I encourage you to keep doing the sales management simulation because it was probably the tool that taught me the most when it comes to management and decision-making.
Bio: Brian P.(NCSC Competitor)
Graduated: Spring 2004
Location: Miami, FL
Occupation: Paramedic
I worked for TekPartners for 3 years doing Information Technology Recruiting/Head Hunting. I left that company over 1 year ago after closing $150,000 in revenue in a little over a month. I was really taking off, but I felt like everyday was “groundhog day”. I started dreading going to work and I think it was because cold call selling on the phone was not a challenge for me anymore. I decided to leave and parted ways leaving back a lot of friends at the old job.
I have always found ways of getting out of my comfort zone and attempting things out of the ordinary ie: door to door sales, information technology which I knew nothing about, and now I am 2 months from completing Paramedic school.
Ok, so it sounds completely absurd, but I have accomplished things that I never thought I could do, which is how I felt about sales before I was a top sales person at Southwestern and TekPartners. For example, I have intubated someone that was dying and helped save his life. Yet, with all of the medical knowledge I have gained, the most useful tool I have is my ability to communicate. Medical assessments are just like sales. You have to be able to ask the right questions to understand the needs of your customers before you can sell them a product/service. In medicine, I have to be able to ask the right questions before I treat a patient. If I don’t ask the right questions, I could potentially give them a medication that could kill them.
So, I am on a new journey at this point.
Bio: Gabrielle L. (NCSC Competitor ) Graduated Spring 2005 Location: Atlanta, GA Occupation: Production Underwriter
I currently work for Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies, a Warren Buffet Insurance company, specializing in analyzing and underwriting property and casualty risks. My job is to increase the amount of new business while minimizing the amount of risk that the company acquires by insuring an account. I have worked in the insurance industry for the past two years in an underwriting capacity, and have used the skills I developed in the Sales Program to solicit and retain a number of accounts.
Bio: Lauren W. Graduated Spring 2006 Location: Cheongju, South Korea Occupation: English Teacher
I am currently a english teacher in Cheongju, South Korea. My last year of school and 6 months after I worked as a Store Manager of the Waffle House on Capital Circle SW – I left even though they were going to promote me to be over two or three stores. The quality of life was just not worth the money, no matter how much I would have been paid. I am seeing the world now and I am loving it! I have all my pictures on www.myspace.com/gatitafiera0426 if you want to check them out. Korea is beautiful and the people are very nice. I am going to learn Korean while I’m over here and who knows what I will do next. The economy is so bad that I might just stay here a few years or try to work for an international company. I guess I will just see where life takes me. I am still considering looking for a sales type of position – I just have not found an international company that is appealing enough.
Bio: John S. Current Location: Orlando, FL, Graduation Year: Spring 07 Current Position: Account Manager, Gallo Wines
Since graduating from FSU in the Spring of 2007, I have been working as a sales consultant for E&J Gallo Winery. Gallo is listed as the largest wine supplier in the world with wineries from California to Australia. My job is to work with large retail chains such as Wal-Mart and Publix to increase sales and distribution of the wines in are collective portfolio. I do this by consulting with the key business decision makers on the legal aspects of alcohol regulation while developing specific marketing plans to increase product sales. I am also involved in a local charity called the Give Hope Foundation as the assistant marketing director. We are currently in the process of co-branding our foundation with a company called Urban Flats, which could greatly increase our financial resources and allow us to help more families afflicted with cancer.
Bio: Kate T. (NCSC Competitor)
Current Location: Phoenix, AZ
Graduation Year: Spring 2007
Current Position: TV/Interactive Account Executive for KTVK-3TV a Belo Corp Subsidiary
Kate graduated in the spring of 2007 as one of two students chosen to represent FSU in the National Collegiate Sales Competition. Kate developed her sales acumen and enthusiasm for the complete sales process through preparation and participation in the competition and an international internship experience in London. In her position with Channel 3 in Phoenix, Kate acts as a marketing/media consultant by helping local businesses utilize the power TV and Internet advertising. She is also responsible for maintaining relationships with existing clients and creating new business opportunities. Kate’s passions include riding motorcycles and helping entrepreneurs build their business. She has traveled to 12 different countries and wants to add Germany, Switzerland and Costa Rica to the list as soon as possible.
Bio: Nicole P. Current Location: Tampa, FL Graduation Year: Spring 2004 Current Position: Media Buyer
What I’m doing is actually quite the opposite of Sales, instead having Sales people call on me! I moved to Tampa right after graduating (2004) to work for West Wayne, Inc., an advertising agency. We’ve since changed our name to 22squared (website is www.22squared.com ), it’s pretty cool. I am a Media Buyer + Planner and work primarily on Publix Super Markets, which is currently the agency’s largest client in this office. I’ve also worked on other accounts such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau, PODS and First Tennessee Bank. To sum up my job in a few words: I work primarily with Account Executives/Sales Managers/Sales Reps to negotiate and place the most efficient and effective media schedules for the client on TV, Radio, Cable, Magazine and other Non-Traditional Media. This includes client presentations, creating sponsorships for client benefit and building and maintaining relationships with the sales reps.
Bio: Liz D. Current Location: Princeton, NJ Graduation Year: Spring 2007 Current Position: Sales Associate
Elizabeth is an Associate Account Manager at TANDBERG, a leading global provider of tele-presence, high-definition video conferencing and mobile video solutions. Elizabeth’s combined education in the Florida State Sales Program and professional experience has given her the ability to perform successfully at her current role. Elizabeth works with state and local government, medical, K-12 and higher education markets daily to cultivate business relationships and uncover new opportunities for these markets to leverage visual communications in daily business activities. Elizabeth comes from EMC, the world’s leading developer and provider of information infrastructure technology. As a leading performer of the Enterprise Sales Associate team, Elizabeth mentored less tenured Sales Associates by working with them on effective messaging, technical acumen and quoting. Acknowledged by the Vice President of Sales, her account mapping efforts have been recommended as a best practice model for the Sales Associate Program. Prior to graduation and her professional career, Elizabeth worked at 180 Consulting, Tallahassee’s premier government consulting firm, as an assistant to a team of lobbyists specialized in representing technology firms such as EMC, Dell and Cisco Systems. This is where Elizabeth’s interest in selling technology originated. As a member of 180 Consultant’s team, Elizabeth witnessed the challenges and successes in strategic selling to the public sector and applies this experience today at her current role at TANDBERG. Elizabeth DeZemler resides in Jacksonville, FL.
Bio: Ashley J. Current Location: Nashville, TN, Graduation Year: Spring 2002 Current Position: Professional Clothier for Tom James Company
I’ve been a partner with the Tom James Co. for five years now and absolutely love my job. We make high-end custom clothing for men and women both for business attire and casual purposes. I visit my clients throughout the day either in their home or office and consult with them on their clothing needs. I then show them cloth and measure them for their clothing. Once our factories have made the clothes I go back to deliver it and the process starts all over again. I’ve realized many successes with this company including being a top rookie in my first year, incentive trips, stock, and most recently hitting President’s Club in March 2008 and being in the top 10% of our company. I’ve also been given the great opportunity to be in leadership and grow and develop a team of other salespeople. Currently I have one person on my team with another to start in October of this year.
Bio: Samantha H.
Current Location: Chicago, IL
Graduation Year: 2007
Current Position: Search Coordinator
I am now with Avenue A – Razorfish which is a digital advertising company in Chicago that is owned by Microsoft. I am a Search Coordinator, that means I work on a single Fortune 100 account primarily in their search engine marketing, but coordinating their search marketing with all their other digital advertising efforts. Avenue A – Razorfish was recently named the largest internet advertising company in the US. They also have several offices in Europe and the Pan Pacific region. Some of their clients are Carnival Cruise Lines, Sony, Coors Light, Hotels.com, and many, many more big name companies! 40% of Fortune 100 companies are their clients! This is a great opportunity working in big advertising!
Prior to taking this position I took an internet advertising position with a startup company in Chicago. Since I started, the company was bought by RH Donnelley and my position changed 3 times due to the rapid growth from a small start-up to a player in a big corporation. I was a Business Strategy Analyst, which is the furthest position from sales. The skills I learned in the sales courses have come in handy several times as I was often giving presentations to the executives of the company and selling people on my strategy ideas.