Nimit Bhatt
What led you to a career in sales — and to memoryBlue?
I went to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and majored in political science — I was full on pre-law. During my senior year, I took the LSATs and was ready to go to law school, but a summer internship turned me off of law. I didn’t know for sure what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted something technology related but didn’t have a good sense of my options.
Then a friend told me about memoryBlue (he was working there at the time). Out of the jobs I looked at, I thought memoryBlue offered the best chance of advancing my career. I heard stories of how people started there and ended up working at big tech companies. As long as there was room to grow, I didn’t mind starting at the bottom. Ultimately, I wanted a launching pad, not just a job.
Describe your current role. What does a typical day look like?
As a delivery manager, I train account executives, work with them one-on-one, advise them when they hit rock bottom, and help bring them back up. I get exposed to everything from network security to data storage. My points of contact are often the VP of sales, sometimes the CEO or CMO — all good contacts for growing my career.
Essentially, I’m responsible for the strategic success of a campaign, which involves keeping clients happy, bringing ideas to the table when things aren’t going well, and giving account executives the support they need to improve.
I try to get here each morning before everyone else so I can plan my day. Then I do my rounds, check in with the team, and start my mix of in-house and client meetings, plus any other internal projects. Right now, for instance, I’m working on a metrics reporting system for us to use internally to track client retention.
With the account executives I manage, I do a daily huddle at 2 p.m., where everyone talks about the day and shares what they’re working on. The huddle helps us maintain a team atmosphere and know that we’re all in it together. I also do a daily huddle with Marc Gonyea, memoryBlue’s co-founder, at 4 p.m., and try to learn everything I can from him and to go over the ups, downs, and challenges of my day. He’s a huge help, and we have a lot of back-and-forth communication all day long.
What makes this job (and memoryBlue) a good fit?
In college, I took on leadership positions, serving as president or manager of clubs and other organizations. So the fact that this is a management position really appeals to me.
I always knew that whatever I ended up doing, it would be fast-paced and high stress — something like the New York Stock Exchange, where people are moving quickly, responding to data, and making decisions on the fly. memoryBlue is a lot like that. People aren’t afraid to take risks. It’s a collegial culture and atmosphere, and a positive kind of stress. Marc and Chris have done a fantastic job harnessing the passion and energy of people right out of college.
You play a big role in training account executives. What makes the training at memoryBlue so unique?
Our training program is special, I think, because of what we’re able to provide. Each quarter, we read a book about a sales technique or philosophy. We have assignments related to the book and split up into groups to present on certain chapters. Our training is ongoing and feels a lot like graduate school. We bring in speakers, share articles, do a lot of peer reviews, and have an atmosphere of continual, lifelong learning.
Has anyone inspired your approach? If so, how?
I follow Simon Sinek and his philosophy on sales and marketing: start with why. I saw his TED Talk when I worked as an account executive, and it changed my whole view of sales. He says people don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.
I’m also a huge tech geek and have followed Apple for the longest time. When I read Steve Jobs’ biography right after he passed away, I started to see myself as more of an entrepreneur, someone who could work my way up in a smaller organization or startup, as opposed to a big corporation, and help grow the business and wear a lot of hats.