Tom Gassman
Describe your current position at memoryBlue. What does a typical day look like?
As an Inside Sales Executive, I focus my time and energy on researching targeted companies, identifying decision makers, uncovering areas that they need help with, and ultimately addressing their challenges with our solutions.
My job involves the full sales cycle, from research and initial contact to proposal and closed deal. And the steps vary depending on whether I’m dealing with a publicly- traded or private company. I also follow up on strong inbound leads and referrals.
Most of what I do involves a real nuanced approach. No one gives me a script to read. I have to feel out the client and make a lot of quick decisions and judgments.
What made a sales career appealing? Did you always want to go into sales?
I’ve known I would be in sales since I took a marketing class in 10th grade. Sales runs in my family — my dad was a car salesman (and now owns a small business), and I knew my path would involve some kind of sales. Since I was a kid, I thought it was the coolest job and a great fit for my personality. I’m a talker. I like having conversations. I like debating things and giving (and listening to) new perspectives.
Growing up, people always said I should go into sales. I learned from my dad that a sales career is one of the only careers in which you’re 100 percent self-reliant. I really like that because I’m a hard worker and a self-starter.
What were you doing before memoryBlue?
After I graduated from college, I sold jewelry for Jared, which has a unique approach to sales. Before long, though, working retail got old, and I wanted a sales job that involved more strategy and was something I could really run with and own. So I posted my resume to a few sites and received a cold call from a recruiter at memoryBlue.
Why did you decide to take a position with the company?
In part, I joined memoryBlue because the salary was better than any I could make at Jared in retail sales. But there was more to it than that. I saw a tremendous opportunity to take my career in the direction I imagined.
I also really liked the culture and environment — and felt like I fit in. It sounds corny, but memoryBlue is all about grooming people for success. That’s what we do. We all view sales as a craft that has to be developed over time. We have a great deal of camaraderie and the ability to help each other grow.
In some ways, our youthfulness is a double-edge sword. We want to recruit young, energetic people, but some Vice Presidents of Sales get nervous when they find out they’re talking to someone just out of college. So, ultimately, we look for people with ambition and then offer a lot of training. It also helps tremendously that, given the age of the people we hire, we’re all tech-savvy.
Do you look up to any one person in the professional world?
The sales coach, John Costigan. John is the CEO of Costigan Training and an incredibly skilled sales professional. I truly appreciate his direct, no nonsense approach to sales and his techniques have dramatically improved my game.