Jennifer Zahos

	Business Development Manager Symantec
	Time at memoryBlue:	12 Months
	Prior to memoryBlue:	Virginia Tech

Why did you choose to launch your sales career with memoryBlue?

The position I held prior to memoryBlue was what I would call a job, not a career.  Although I enjoyed what I was doing in this job, I really wanted a career and decided it was time to make a move into the high growth field of high tech sales.  As I started to research possible opportunities, I discovered memoryBlue and was blown away by the company’s unique training program.  Based on that, plus the company’s excellent reputation, I was confident it would be the ideal avenue to launch my sales career.

In what ways did your memoryBlue experience set you up for a successful career in high tech sales?

The training that memoryBlue provided was critical for a number of reasons. It helped me become more comfortable and articulate when speaking with executives, enabled me to understand how to identify real business opportunities, and how best to identify a customer’s requirements to avoid touting a solution feature that may not be relevant to them. Working at memoryBlue also afforded me an opportunity to associate with other memoryBlue sales executives, who have turned out to be people I consistently reach out to for career guidance.

What are you doing now?

Thanks to a memoryBlue alum who is working at Symantec, I am now a Symantec Business Development Manager. As the Global Business Development Manager for Bank of America my goal is to understand the ever changing requirements of a large international organization, align those requirements with Symantec solutions and generate additional revenue for Symantec.

How does your memoryBlue experience help you in your current position?

In addition to providing an environment where colleagues are encouraged to stay connected—which resulted in my current position at Symantec—the experience gave me the sales backbone to ask the right questions to determine a customer’s needs, goals and requirements. memoryBlue taught me to identify customer opportunities by asking the right questions at the right time, instead of using the “show up and throw up” method used by many salespeople.

What is the highlight of your career to date?

Prior to joining Symantec and after my memoryBlue experience, I secured an inside sales team lead position with Metastorm where I built and managed an inside sales team.  After four years, I was promoted to a Metastorm Sales Associate position, where I lead and ran the entire sales cycle.  Within the first 90 days of this promotion, I successfully closed a significant deal, which in an environment known for having long sales cycles was quite an accomplishment, and one that I am proud to say I achieved thanks to memoryBlue.