Check out weeks 1&2, 3&4, 5&6, 7&8, and 9&10 here!
On Monday I made my way back to Armonk for the second Global Sales School training as part of the Summit program. The experience was remarkably different from the first time I went to Armonk for orientation; instead of an uneasy feeling, wondering who I would meet and what the week would hold, I instead felt only excitement. Seeing my fellow Summits from across the country is always fun and learning about what they have been working on since we last saw one another.
This week of training was focused on prospecting (sound familiar…?) and how to conduct an initial meeting with customers in the grocery industry. Just like how I felt different coming back to Armonk, I also felt significantly different going into this round of role plays. Rather than entering with a mindset of needing to score the highest, I maintained a perspective of continuous improvement and had a much more relaxed week.
The first day we conducted two calls and were all wiped out afterwards; clearly, we need to build up our stamina as we get ready to go out into the field. During those calls we were expected to incorporate a financial analysis to learn the value of financial selling. This is not something I have worked with extensively, so it was certainly a challenge and by the end of the week I was far more comfortable making it part of my conversations.
It was also fun to learn more about how to tailor the conversation depending on who you’re talking to. From professionals in merchandising, to the CFO, we got to engage with a variety of roles. I am continually impressed with the level of training we receive and how dedicated our advisors are to our success.
While I didn’t have any formal requests for shout outs this week, I wanted to say a big thank you to the guys in the cover photo with me! These are my teammates who make each challenge a blast and I always know that we’ll have fun.
After having Labor Day off, I was back in the office spending my time connecting with other IBMers in the financial industry, working on a new sales play with a manager I met a while back, and getting ready for some upcoming projects with my team.
One of the most exciting meetings was about regulatory compliance at a major bank. Hearing the client team discuss what we could do to help the organization and how to strategically approach it was awesome. What made the entire experience was the location. We were sitting in a corner office on the 43rd floor of a building in the financial district where I could see the Statute of Liberty and helicopters zooming by. I felt like it was straight out of a movie.
On Wednesday I visited the 590 Madison office for the first time this summer for a session on how the software development life cycle works, how to leverage our CRM system, and how IBM is involved in a variety of community service. I also had the chance to visit the Promontory (an IBM company for financial regulatory compliance) office and meet with a seller for a career advice conversation. I can’t express how willing nearly every IBMer I’ve reached out to has been about talking to me and sharing advice. I am constantly learning.
Yesterday my fellow Summit, Max, invited me to a session about IBM’s partnership with Skytap. Skytap is a company that provides cloud environments for developers to use in testing and running their enterprise applications. Much of the discussion was technical and it was enlightening to hear about all of the intricacies.
Next week I am off with over one hundred fellow Summits for a “Top Gun” class where we will learn more about the products that IBM has and engage in more technical discussions. Have a great weekend and I look forward to letting you know how these next weeks go!
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