Campus Series: Mark Weber – How to Win in Sales and Influence People
Take it from Mark Weber – no matter what line of work you ultimately choose, you’re going to need sales skills.
Picking a career is not an easy task. But fortunately for students at The Catholic University of America, they have Mark Weber, Executive in Residence/Director of Sales Program, to guide them towards success.
Mark spent more than 30 years in high-tech sales leading sales teams and hiring sales representatives. Now he’s a different kind of leader, helping college students get into the business and, even more importantly, thrive in the industry. With his ongoing support and professional input, it’s safe to say that he grooms the next generation of sales superstars. Despite being a salesman at heart, he focuses on teaching his students what B2B selling is really about, rather than trying to get them into sales. It’s then up to them to make the final career decision.
In our first episode of the Tech Sales Is For Hustlers: Campus Series podcast, Co-hosts Kristen Wisdorf (Head of Client Services and Delivery) and Libby Galatis (Campus Recruiting Manager) sit down with Mark as he shares why so many different personality types can succeed in sales, how he advises his students faced with a choice between future employers, and how he translates the lessons he learned as a sales leader into his educational curriculum today.
Guest-At-A-Glance
Name: Mark Weber
What he does: Mark is the Director of the Sales Program and Assistant Professor of Practice at the Catholic University of America.
Company: The Catholic University Of America
Noteworthy: With over 30 years of experience in technology sales and engineering, he’s a great role model for his students who want to pursue a career in sales too.
Where to find Mark: LinkedIn
Key Insights
⚡ Great salespeople don’t really sell, they provide value and give knowledge. Mark explains that a lot of his students don’t understand the difference between B2C and B2B sales at first. That’s why his first mission as their professor is to teach them what sales is really about. It’s about solving customer’s problems, creating value, and above all, developing a relationship with them. Once students realize that sales is actually a relationship job, they have a much better chance of thriving in the industry.
⚡ Being a successful salesperson is not about having a specific type of personality, it’s about hard work. Despite popular opinion, Mark explains that all personality types work in the sales industry. No matter if you’re an extrovert or introvert, with hard work and perseverance you can become a great salesperson. He does share that there are some personality traits that could set you apart from your peers, such as being competitive and comfortable being measured. “If you like getting a performance review once a year, rather than daily, it’s probably not the right business for you.”
⚡ The first job right after college should be in a company that is willing to invest in you and teach you the ins and outs of the business. Mark’s advice to students fresh out of college is to prioritize company culture over the salary. “I teach these kids that you need to go to a company that is going to help you prepare for the next many, many, many years. Who’s going to invest in you? Who’s going to train you?” He goes on to explain that the people you work with are just as important as the job you’re doing. Since your managers will influence your day more than anything, you need to pick them carefully too.
Episode Highlights
Business students are not always aware of the difference between B2B and B2C sales
“They don’t know what sales really is. They really don’t understand that it’s really a problem-solving job. It’s a relationship job. And at the end of the day, great salespeople don’t really sell. Their customers want to buy from them. If you do a great job, you’ve created value. You’ve given them the knowledge and they want to buy your solution.”
Key questions to have in mind right after college
“The number one thing I asked him, where do you want to live? Because some of these kids, you go live down in Austin, Texas, and you’re from New York City. You’re unhappy. It’s not fun. So where do you want to live and where are you comfortable living? So that’s my number one. And then that’ll eliminate a lot of companies and focus on the right companies. And I’m a high-tech guy. You guys are mostly high-tech, but just not every kid is interested in that. So what industries are you interested in? So, we have a bunch of my students that go into financial services or go into medical device sales. Harder to get in right out of college, but there is a path to get there.”
Mistakes can shape you as long as you learn from them
“So, the bid’s due this day and they turn the bid in at four o’clock as the bid said. It turns out they turned it in at four o’clock West Coast time. And it was due at four o’clock East Coast time. We were disqualified for a $50 million contract. My goal was a million dollars. It was a $50 million contract over three years. I remember that one clearly. So, what you remember is details matter, not all details matter. Now when you really back up years later, you look at it, it was just a simple human mistake. No, there was no bad intent. It wasn’t really that careless. It was just: stuff happens.”
Transcript:
Mark Weber: [00:00:00] We’re going to require every business school student to take a sales class. One reason is, even if they have no desire to be in sales, they’re going to be around sales people if they’re in any type of company. Even if they’re in marketing or engineering or wherever, salespeople are going to be there and they have to have an appreciation for what those people do.
[00:00:21] A lot of it’s presentation skills, a lot of it’s just putting yourself out in front of your peers, role-playing. Those things are transferable to being an engineer, transferable being an accountant, right?
[00:00:33] Transferable to any of these jobs. So I think it will benefit any student.
[00:01:24] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:01:24] All right. So today everybody, we have a special guest joining us for our very first Campus Series edition of the Tech Sales is for Hustlers podcast. We have the renowned Mark Weber joining us. Hi, Mark.
[00:01:38] Mark Weber: [00:01:38] Hello, Kristen, how are you?
[00:01:39] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:01:39] I’m lovely. We also have Libby Galatis.
[00:01:42] Mark Weber: [00:01:42] Hey, Libby!
[00:01:43] Libby Galatis: [00:01:43] Hey, Mark. How are you doing today?
[00:01:45] Mark Weber: [00:01:45] I’m good.
[00:01:45] Libby Galatis: [00:01:45] Good.
[00:01:46] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:01:46] All right, Mark, as the very first guests of our Campus Series , we wanted to bring folks like yourself on board to chat with us a little bit about your experience in sales. You work with a lot of young people who are getting into their first sales career, studying it in school, or even earlier people who are considering it and think that maybe it’s the right fit for them.
[00:02:07] So we want to start, this is the first question I ask everybody I interview, all the students I interview. Tell me about you. It sounds simple, but I want to know like your 62nd highlight reel, who is Mark Weber, off LinkedIn, off resume? Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
[00:02:24] Mark Weber: [00:02:24] Oh sure. Married my college sweetheart, 35 years married, five children in their twenties, four of five in high-tech sales. One still in college. And that will be the best sales rep of all of them.
[00:02:39] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:02:39] He’s learned from everyone else.
[00:02:41] Mark Weber: [00:02:41] Yeah. My Dad was in sales, so I saw that lifestyle and knew this is what I wanted to do. We’re big time Virginia Tech people.
[00:02:49] I teach at Catholic University now. I spent 30 years plus in high-tech sales, leading sales teams. so I got a chance to lead some big sales teams and hire lots of reps and, just have a wonderful career. Now I get to hang out with college kids and help them get into this business. So that’s me in 60 seconds.
[00:03:09] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:03:09] That’s incredible. So I guess let’s talk a little bit about you at Catholic right now. You are a Professor there, you run the Sales Program. Talk to us a little bit about what you do with the sales program, what you do with students there and how you got into that part of your career.
[00:03:25] Mark Weber: [00:03:25] You bet. I mean, how I got into it was not like, you’d think, like by design. Oh my gosh. I can’t wait to be a professor. Actually, my wife thinks it’s hilarious that I’m a professor, but because she’s more the academic. I’m more the practical person, really. A friend of mine is the provost there and asked me to teach a sales class and make one up.
[00:03:44] That was five years ago. I thought I’d do it for one semester. Fast forward. Now we have three sales classes. You can minor in sales, and 50% of our business school last year took sales jobs and that doesn’t count all the liberal arts kids at Catholic University engineers counting majors, arts and sciences who took sales jobs. Why? I think we’re telling ’em what a great career and how fun it is and really what sales is all about.
[00:04:13] So that’s what we do there is we’re really not trying to get kids to go into sales. We’re trying to teach them what B2B selling is, and then it’s their choice if it’s for them or not. So that’s what we’re doing is shining a light and telling them what it’s about. And then they choose.
[00:04:29] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:04:29] Yeah, that’s great. I think a lot of students end up getting into sales, whether they intend to or not. And so it’s great that there’s now more programs and you’re running a program to prepare people for something that they inevitably might get into anyway. so you’re teaching them before they actually have to jump into that sales job and kind of struggle.
[00:04:49] You’re preparing them before that actually happens.
[00:04:52] Mark Weber: [00:04:52] I agree because what’s happening. What we’re really doing is, we’re taking a lot of the mystery out of it. Some kids go into it and don’t know what they’re getting into. We make sure they know what an SDR is going to do. Right? They’re going to pound the phones. We make sure they understand the career progression as that’s not the end job.
[00:05:10] that’s a Rite of passage to get to be an inside rep, to then get to be an outside rep, to then get the sales leadership. So we really make sure they understand that it’s not about that first job. That’s a wonderful job. Companies that like you guys that give kids their first sales jobs are a blessing, right?
[00:05:28] Cause you train them and teach them, but there’s fewer mistakes on hiring when you go to like the programs like myself or other programs, Virginia tax program, because we’ve taken a little bit mystery out of it.
[00:05:40] Libby Galatis: [00:05:40] I mean, you’ve grown this program so much in such a short time, and I know that you were a key component of getting these students eager and excited about it, having their friends start to talk about it. I mean, memoryBlue has hired so many Catholic University students in the last couple of years. It’s crazy. why do you think students might hesitate to take a sales course or hesitate to, start that journey of just learning more about it to see if it’s something they even want to do or not?
[00:06:04] Mark Weber: [00:06:04] Well, I think a couple of reasons, Libby. One is, they don’t know what sales really is. They really don’t understand that it’s really a problem-solving job. It’s a relationship job. And in the end of the day, great salespeople don’t really sell. Customers want to buy from them. If you do a great job, you’ve created value.
[00:06:25] You’ve given them knowledge and they want to buy your solution. So once you take that away, then it’s not B2C sales, like they’re used to, you know, walking into some high pressure situation. It’s not a car salesman job, it’s not a, this, and I’m not disparaging CarShield is just different than you to be sales things like you guys do and you teach is different and they don’t know that.
[00:06:47] And so that’s what we do a lot of. And the other thing I think we do Libby thats helpful is make sure they know it’s not one personality that is successful in sales. People think it has to be people like me that are driver drivers, extroverted times three, no way, all personalities work.
[00:07:07] And we take that and make sure they understand that. And we know one of my sons, a very successful outside sales rep, he’s an introvert, an engineer. But he knows how to build rapport with one, two people and solve their problem, get the right answers. And he’s an introvert and he’s an unbelievable. Lots of personalities work in this business.
[00:07:28] And I think they don’t know that.
[00:07:30] Libby Galatis: [00:07:30] I definitely agree with you. I think that there isn’t a specific profile a person that is meant or born to be in the sales role. Sales is something that you can definitely learn, obviously you’re teaching classes and helping develop those skills with the students. With that said, though, I do think that there are certain qualities of successful salespeople that sort of have to be in place in order for somebody to thrive in these kinds of environments. What would you say are some of those qualities that your most successful sales students have? If they’re not personality traits, but just in general skills that they sort of bring to the table that set them apart from their peers.
[00:08:03] Mark Weber: [00:08:03] Libby, I a hundred percent agree, not one personality, but there are traits that are very similar. I can’t teach you to be competitive. If you don’t like competition, if you don’t want to win, right? Because if there is a winning and losing aspect to this job every day, right? You get that appointment. You close that deal.
[00:08:24] You get that meeting. Those are little wins. If you don’t get a thrill out of that and want to be on the top of that leaderboard, might not be for you. If you don’t like getting measured. Cause you get measured all the time in this business, right? Probably not for you, if you like getting a performance review once a year, rather than daily, it’s probably not the right business for you.
[00:08:46] Those kinds of personality traits, you can’t teach people. They have a lot of that and they’re comfortable with that. They’re comfortable and they want to be paid for their results. They don’t want to be paid like everybody else. They want to be rewarded for winning, right? And I don’t mean it’s all about money, but that is the trophy in selling a lot in this business.
[00:09:07] You know, you get more rewards financially, but similar traits. I don’t know if you agree with all those traits. I mentioned, I’m sure there’s a hundred more but competitive for sure. Keeping score and willing to get measured.
[00:09:20] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:09:20] Yeah, that’s great. And you mentioned money and it’s so interesting. We interview a lot of students they are excited to talk about money and ask about it. And I have to let them know , like, this is encouraged. You should be asking about money in this interview. This is a sales job. So I think it’s great when people find a home that matches with their personality and their traits and then they want to build those skills over time and they’re coachable.
[00:09:43] So if someone is competitive, and money motivated, and wants to be measured, and but they’ve never considered sales before. right? They’re a student and maybe they have a family member, an uncle or an aunt who said, I think you’d be really good in sales. Where would you tell them to begin?
[00:10:00] If they’re a college student and it’s not their major, what would you tell them to look into or consider when preparing and starting the interview process with potential sales companies?
[00:10:10]Mark Weber: [00:10:10] the best place to start is with people that you know are in the industry. So look at your family and friends. So I have these students do a lot of informational interviews, not people that are going to go get a job with, but people that they just want to understand, what is it you do every day?
[00:10:27] Because they’ve never really dug into it. I mean, they’re family, friends, lot of these people are in sales and they’ve never asked them the details. So what is your day like? What do you do? how do you do this job? So those informational interviews are “aha moments” as to this is not like consumer sales.
[00:10:44] This is way different. These are customers they’d been selling to for one in 10, 20 years. They’ve been selling to the same people. So long-term relationships. They understand that. So I think that’s one of the key things that they do. The other thing I make them do is I really make them understand where their passions are.
[00:11:03] Do they want their day to be different every day? Some people don’t, some people like going to work at the same time and going home at the same time and kind of having a structure. Sales is not that, every day is going to be different You got to thrive on that and enjoy that different moment.
[00:11:23] I mean, every call you make every situation, every conversation is going to be different and that’s not routine. Some people like routine, that’s not this. So you got to make sure they understand what the day’s like, and the best way is talk to the people they trust.
[00:11:37] Libby Galatis: [00:11:37] No, definitely. I mean, it’s hard because so many students don’t realize how essential these kind of skills are. they take your class, they build this sense of confidence. They’re able to project themselves. They learn how to role-play, get themselves basically out of their comfort zone and whether or not they decide to pursue a career in sales, I would argue that most career paths, they can jump into those skills are essential. They’re are going to set them apart from their peers. So do you think that it would be beneficial for most business students to start by just taking a course and checking it out to see, where it takes them? I mean, how transferable do you think these skills are?
[00:12:10] Mark Weber: [00:12:10] We’re almost at that point at Catholic, where we’re going to require every business school student to take a sales class. One is, even if they have no desire to be in sales, they’re going to be around sales people if they’re in any type of company. Even if they’re in marketing or engineering or wherever, salespeople are going to be there and have an appreciation for what those people do.
[00:12:34] Also Libby, I think your comment on what we would teach in those classes, a lot of it’s presentation skills, a lot of it’s just putting yourself out in front of your peers, role-playing, Those things are transferable to being an engineer, transferable being an accountant, right?
[00:12:50] Transferable to any of these jobs. So that’s why we’re looking at implementing it across the board. But again, it’s not just business school kids at Catholic that take my class. 35% of them are from other departments. Some of my best kids have been political science majors and opera major, there’s psychology majors, they’re thinkers, they’re relationship builders.
[00:13:13] I think it will benefit any student taking a sales class. And I required my kids, even with the ones who went to Virginia tech to take the sales class from Brian, at Virginia tech. Right. I mean. It’s very helpful, eyeopening. Although they have been in my class for 30 years. So
[00:13:28] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:13:28] That’s a great point. So speaking of, you have four out of five of your own children are in high-tech sales. You’re preparing, the students at Catholic University for this role. So once they, dip their toe in, they take one class or maybe multiple classes from you, how do they prepare when it’s time to graduate?
[00:13:44] Right? Like how do they determine what is the right company for me? Let’s say they’re evaluating offers. They’re looking at different companies. If you were advising a student or one of your children, what would you say to look for in that first job out of college, that first sales gig?
[00:13:59] Mark Weber: [00:13:59] This is what I do, and I’m not saying it’s what everybody should do, but I have them fill out a profile with me before I help. And I actually, I’m the one that works with every student to help place them, to help guide them to different companies. They can find their own too, but we just have a bunch of really great companies that come and recruit.
[00:14:20] And our sponsors, as you guys being one of our top sponsors. But what we do is, the number one thing, I asked them, where do you want to live? Because, some of these kids, you go live down and I don’t know, Austin, Texas, and you’re from New York City. You’re unhappy. It’s not fun. Right. so where do you want to live and where are you comfortable living?
[00:14:39] So that’s my number one. And then that’ll eliminate a lot of companies and focus on the right companies. And then I really, I’m a high-tech guy. You guys are mostly high-tech, but just not every kid is interested in that. So what industries are you interested in? So we have a bunch of my students that go into financial services or go into medical device sales. Harder to get in right out of college, but there is a path to get there.
[00:15:02] Right. And that could be in memoryBlue, get sales experience to then go into medical devices. But we really figure out what industries they’re interested in. You do those two things. And you kind of narrowed down where they want to be. They might be willing to be in DC now, but they want to end up in New York City.
[00:15:21] So what you shouldn’t do is get them into federal sales. Although we’re federal around this town, but we’re not going to transfer it to New York. So you want to get them into some more commercial environments that could transfer back to New York, so location’s important to me.
[00:15:36] Industry’s important. But then not every kid is ready for this company. Some are ready for, a different company. So then I got kind of up to me to make the magic and focus them in different places.
[00:15:48] Libby Galatis: [00:15:48] So you’re really guiding the next generation of sales superstars. The people that are taking this first step, I mean, so many firms are bending over backwards to hire these students. And I think a lot of individuals they don’t realize the value in the skills that they’re building in your classes and how important that is and how successful it sets them up for that next step.
[00:16:05] With that said, when you start your career and you begin in that first position how important is that role like that first job you take once you graduate? How essential do you think that step is in playing in the long term grand scheme of their career? And I guess what should they really be looking to do in that first job once they take that step after graduating
[00:16:23] Mark Weber: [00:16:23] I mean really the first sales job, I tell them is not going to be that fun. I mean, if you get with a good company, it could be fun, but still prospecting all day long is not the most fun job. Why do they give it to the rookies? Because it’s hard, right? And it’s not as productive. So they have somebody younger do that and it’s more repetitive, but if that’s the job you want you shouldn’t take that job because that’s not a lifelong job. That’s a rite of passage.
So I teach these kids that you need to go to a company that is going to help you prepare for the next many years. Who’s going to invest in you? Who’s going to train you? And, I try to make sure they don’t look at the dollar signs as much when they get offers.
[00:17:11] 5, 10 grand one way or the other in your first job is not that relevant. What’s relevant is where you’re going to be in five years. And what kind of compensation and what job you’ll be in five years, who’s going to set you up for that? Does that make sense? Right? Because you could go and make 10 grand more at this company, but you’re in that job for three years.
[00:17:30] Right. And then everybody else goes right zooming by you. So we really look at trying to look at the long-term. I actually review almost all the offers for my students and coach them on that. You guys might not like that as an employer, but you do hire a lot of my students so it works out, but I think they like it.
[00:17:46] They like help. So I think that answered your question. maybe it didn’t, I don’t know, did it?
[00:17:50] Libby Galatis: [00:17:50] No, it did. I mean, that was great. I think something that I think is extremely valuable when students are considering that first job out of school is being uncomfortable.
[00:17:58] That’s a huge part of sales. And I know that you teach that to your students in your classes too. Just pushing them into these roles where they have to take that step up and grow and kind of expand and being in discomfort, I think is essential to that sort of growth. And I guess going off of that, you had, an extensive background within sales, you’ve worked in a lot of different environments, like you said, you’ve kind of moved around to a variety of different companies and you’ve have this wealth of experience.
[00:18:21] What would you say has been the most challenging role that you’ve taken on within your career? You’re most like uncomfortable that you’ve been, that you felt that you grew the most in?
[00:18:29] Mark Weber: [00:18:29] I think the hardest job I ever had was my sales job. Once I went into sales leadership, I’m not saying those jobs were easier, but it’s the sport I played better. I liked leading, managing, putting that baseball team together – who plays second, who plays outfield, whatever. So that was my gift.
[00:18:46] I really liked that part of the career, but my sales jobs, they’re hard. I mean, you’re out there kind of on your own a lot of times. But really I would say the hardest job I had was when I believe my team did everything right. We had the right personnel, we were doing everything right, and we didn’t win.
[00:19:08] And that’s part of sales. It could be the market opportunity. It could be the customer you were focused on, didn’t have the money or the budget. It could be your product came up a little short, but you, as a sales team did everything right. And didn’t win. That’s tough. It’s tough to handle, right? It’s really hard to figure that out.
[00:19:28] But on the opposite end, if you’re in this business a long time, Libby, you realize that there’s a lot of opportunities that you might not have should have won, but maybe somebody left that job that was a roadblock and all of a sudden your champion becomes in charge. Right?
So there’s a lot of goodness that happens that maybe you didn’t earn all those victories to somebody else could’ve won. I think it just all works out. It’s just the painful ones where you put your life and hard work into it and you don’t win. Let me follow up and make sure I make another point on the previous question though. I don’t have to convince these kids on the career path as much anymore because I have 230 alumni now out there that I bring into the classroom.
[00:20:14] So I can bring those 2015 kids that graduated back into my class who have been an SDR and inside rep and are now outside reps. And these kids are all kids they played lacrosse or field hockey with. And so I’ve got a lot more sales kids selling my sales kids than just me. You guys have the same thing.
[00:20:35] Your alumni are world renowned. I mean, they’re all over, right. I love your marketing tool of What’s the average MIT person make after 10 years, what’s the average memoryBlue person. That’s a great pitch. Right? So I’ve got a lot of people that I use to help explain the business.
[00:20:55] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:20:55] That’s such a good point, right? Alumni is the real story. Students can see themselves in these people who’ve been in their shoes. And so, you know that if you bet on yourself, you could probably end up like them five years from now when you work hard.
[00:21:10] Mark Weber: [00:21:10] You can’t change though work ethic, and attitude and the willing to learn. Right. And I believe that’s why you’re hiring students. Not. I’ve trained them to be sales kids or whatever. I mean, you’re hiring them because they’re going to work hard and they’re going to learn and they got a damn good attitude means they’re going to get their butt kicked, but they’re going to enjoy the victories even more.
[00:21:30] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:21:30] Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we look for people who are coachable and want to come in and be a sponge. Mainly because we hire people who this is their first sales career, but are willing to celebrate the really exciting things and take that, the losses, like you said, the defeat and use it as fuel for the next call that they’re about to make you can’t dwell on them.
[00:21:50] But I am going to dwell for a second. So tell the listeners, when you think back to your career in sales, what do you think was like the most painful loss you had with one of your prospects or the deals you were working.
[00:22:04] Mark Weber: [00:22:04] I remember it like it was yesterday. I was a sales rep living in Virginia Beach, calling on the United States Navy, for Hewlett-Packard, it’s 1989. Yes. Most of you weren’t born, but I had been selling them these Unix complicated, big workstations, which were a hundred grand each, for each desktop.
[00:22:29] So they weren’t cheap. Right. I still remember the part numbers, by the way, if you want to know all the part numbers, the one megabyte memory card costs $7,000. Okay. So just to time myself, They’re using all our products, but they have to put out a bid for a multi-year contract. It’s all written around us and we’re teaming with a company.
[00:22:48] and so, the bid’s due this day and they turn the bid in at four o’clock like, the bid said, turns out they turned it in at four o’clock West Coast time. And it was due at four o’clock East Coast time. We were disqualified for a $50 million contract. My goal was a million dollars. It was a $50 million contract over three years.
[00:23:19] So yeah, I remember that one clearly. So, what you remember is details matter, all details matter. Now, be it, when you really back up years later, you look at it, it was just a simple human mistake. there was no bad intent. It wasn’t really that careless. It was just: stuff happens. I still don’t accept stuff happens.
[00:23:42] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:23:42] Man that kind of lost, that does stick with you. And I imagine you, and some other folks on the team probably learned from that. So next time a student gets upset when you know, professor won’t let you turn in the assignment late details matter. It’s you’re just setting them up for the long game.
[00:23:59] Mark Weber: [00:23:59] By the way we lost, they picked somebody else. Six months later, it didn’t work. They came back and we won. So, there’s a happier ending later on, but those six months were some of the worst in my sales career.
[00:24:11] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:24:11] Yeah, excruciating.
[00:25:28] Okay. Well, let’s talk about something more positive. What do you think is the most memorable or your favorite win? I mean, you have a lot of experience. Does one kind of rise to the top?
[00:25:41] Mark Weber: [00:25:41] You don’t like this answer, but the answer is no, because I was a sales leader most of my career, six, seven years as a rep, and you add 30 years as a sales leader. So really most of my career was, handing out the trophies, not getting the trophy. And that’s what I enjoy. I really enjoyed, getting excited about.
[00:25:59] And so I was a piece of a lot of victories, but I wasn’t the guy on the front line for most of those. So I can’t go, man, I remember when we won the hundred million dollar contract at Apple, which we did at NetApp, but really I was cheering and given the trophy out to somebody else. So that’s not a good answer, but I rather give out the trophy than get it. So it was what I enjoyed in life.
[00:26:21] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:26:21] Yeah, Actually, that is a good point. When you’re considering the first job out of college you want to consider who you’re going to be working for and who the cheerleaders and the sales leaders are because you want someone who is going to support you and train you and hand out those trophies.
[00:26:37] So is there anything you tell students when considering, the leadership or the manager that they’d be working for what to pay attention to?
[00:26:44] Mark Weber: [00:26:44] Well, sure. I used to tell a story all the time. NetApp, the place I worked the last 13 years of my career was, listed as best place to work in the United States, number one. And top 10 forever. And our number one competitor EMC was a very good company, but, a little more rough, little tougher Bostonian culture, nothing negative.
[00:27:03] I’m just saying. But if you had a bad manager at NetApp, it was a not a fun experience. And there were bad managers. If you had a good manager at EMC, you had a great career. Right. And it was wonderful. So company matters and culture transcends. But your boss is going to influence your day more than anything.
[00:27:21] Right? So picking on who you want to be around, who’s going to teach you, who’s going to invest in you. And I think that’s just as important. So I teach my students that you’re not just buying into a company you’re buying into people that you’d be working with and they could change. Right. So that’s why you still want to be at a good company cause leaders to change, but you can’t hide how good it is to work for somebody good. They can make your day good or really bad. Right. So I think picking the right person to work for is critical.
[00:27:47] Libby Galatis: [00:27:47] So I guess jumping off of that because I agree, I think when you’re, especially in a position where you’re having to learn, basically from the ground up, most recent graduates are starting this first position and they’ve never picked up the phone and made a cold call in their life. having a strong management team and somebody to coach you and support you as essential.
[00:28:05] What questions do you think students could ask when they’re interviewing to be able to figure out whether or not somebody’s, would be that strong leader for them? What would be some questions that you would suggest in order to assess that?
[00:28:16] Mark Weber: [00:28:16] I think you start off with, I don’t want to call them generic, but some broader questions and see where people take them. So tell me about a few students you’ve hired that have done really well. Or tell me about a student that maybe wasn’t off to a good start that got off to a better start and really accelerated.
[00:28:33] Because then that person will tell a story rather than give you a bunch of bullets. Right. They can give you a bunch of words, but I’d rather hear stories that they implemented. Oh, well, this person didn’t get off to a good start, but here’s what I helped them do. Or here’s how we coach them or train them, So I always get them to try to tell real life examples, forget the names of the people, but you want to know how that leader helped people. How they invested in people, how they spent time with them. And what kind of time? Was it just accounting? How many calls you make what’d you do today? Blah, blah, blah.
[00:29:09] That’s more of the accounting spreadsheet stuff or more, what did you think you did well today? How do you think I can help you? More of those helping comments rather than accounting comments. Does that make sense? I mean, I’d rather have real stories on how they’ve helped people.
[00:29:23] Or who didn’t make it. You want to ask the negative too? Why does some of your didn’t make it, what happened?
[00:29:29] Libby Galatis: [00:29:29] Definitely. And I guess with that, any person that’s beginning that journey and they need that support that coaching from that strong leader. I would say like our sales reps at memoryBlue, a lot of them face very similar challenges when they first start, they go through very similar experiences and dive head first into that adversity.
[00:29:46] And that’s why we have our support within our teams and our culture is so important. And I’m sure you have similarities with certain students that you’ve seen go through your classes and hiccups that they might be making. What are some common challenges that you would say your sales students experience when they go through the process of taking a class with Mark Weber?
[00:30:02] If this is their first exposure into a sales, like role environment, getting educated in general.
[00:30:07] Mark Weber: [00:30:07] I stay in touch with all these alumni. Because one is, I want them to be my recruiters for the next kids to come to their companies, right? And two, I want to know how they’re doing and how I can help them. So I get that feedback quite often. And the common challenge now is currently the climate we’re in. Being an SDR, rolling out of bed and sitting at your desk next to your shelf, next to your bed and making, prospecting all day is not that fun because you don’t have other people around you,
[00:30:33] You don’t have that bullpen feel. But I don’t hear that about you guys. Cause you’re in the office, right? You’re going in there, even though you’re maybe 50%, but they feel like they need that peer group to learn from, to hear about the dissect calls, to figure out how to grow and they can’t do that by themselves.
[00:30:51] So that’s the common thing now is prospecting by yourself on your own is not fun Your environment. I get happier, aside from the pandemic. What I hear is the people, the leadership that is the best at not criticizing, but coaching and that’s a fine line on criticizing versus coaching kids to get better.
[00:31:14] I know that’s ears, right? Are you receptive to hearing that feedback? But I think, you guys are experts at bringing in, 200 college grads every year and figured out how to get them better. Not everybody’s an expert at it. I think that’s why people appreciate your culture and your environment.
[00:31:30] That you’re good at it. You’ve done it so often. but I think criticism versus coaching is a fine line and you gotta find the right person to do that.
[00:31:38] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:31:38] That’s great. That’s such a good point. Being able to be coached is just important as how hard you work, especially when you’re starting your sales career. So speaking of starting your sales career, when you’re preparing for your first job, what would you suggest to a student to get ready for the role?
[00:31:58] Are there any videos sales books, podcasts that you’d recommend for people to prepare themselves?
[00:32:05] Mark Weber: [00:32:05] I mean, everybody ask me what my favorite sales book is all the time. And my favorite sales book is not really a sales book. It’s a life book. And my second favorite sales book is not a sales book. It’s another life book. Yeah, I mean, it’s pretty simple. You’ve probably read it 10 times.
[00:32:19] I’ve read it every year. Right. And that’s “How to win friends and influence people”. I mean, it’s just such a life skill book, right? Heck you want a happy marriage? You better read that damn book. You want a good relationship with your spouse or whoever? It’s all your friends. It’s a Lifebook I love it. I think you should read it every year.
[00:32:40] I think I listened to it on Audible. Another book I like a lot is it’s pretty simple read. It’s called the Go-Giver. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it. It’s just a little simple story about how to have the, an attitude and it’s not a sales book, but it’s a lot of salespeople love this book and it’s about how to have a giving attitude, right?
[00:32:59] Because if you’re a giver, which are really what sales people do is they’re adding value, they’re bringing knowledge, Rather than if you go into a situation as a salesperson and you think about taking. How do I get my commission? How do I sell? How do I get a purchase order? That’s a taking attitude.
[00:33:16] But if you’re a giver and you add value and knowledge, you’re going to end up receiving. So it’s a pretty simple book you could probably read in a couple hours, but it’s called the Go-Giver. I like those. Yeah. How do I prepare kids to be ready? I’m all about study and study.
[00:33:31] I think if you’re not a student of the game you’re not going to win. I believe the people that work the hardest usually end up doing the best. I mean, look at what they do for lawyers or CPAs. You take these bars or you take the CPA test. Salespeople should act the same way, right? You want to be the best at your craft.
[00:33:48] You study, you better know your damn product inside of now. You better know the script you’ve been sending out. You better know the different ways, that people are going to answer. I just think it’s the same thing. If you want to be the best at your craft, you better be a student of it.
[00:34:04] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:34:04] That’s great. And that’s something that coming off of life in school and finishing college people should be able to apply what they’ve done for so many years to their first job out of college. I think it’s easy to forget that it doesn’t stop once you graduate, you continue to study and
[00:34:21] Mark Weber: [00:34:21] A Lot of these students have natural skills. I get it. And their gut. just, their instincts have gotten them here. I do not believe that will make them great salespeople. They didn’t have to have value and have knowledge. And you only get that by studying, right? And working hard.
[00:34:39] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:34:39] Yeah. Study and work hard. That’s what it comes down to. I love it. I love that suggestion. The Go-Giver as well. I’m going to add that to my list. Libby, did you have any other questions?
[00:34:48] Mark Weber: [00:34:48] Why is memoryBlue the greatest place for all my students?
[00:34:53] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:34:53] I try to be so avert. Yes, Mark. Tell us why you recommend memoryBlue to your students.
[00:34:58] Mark Weber: [00:34:58] I love your culture. What’s not to like about bringing in a ton of great potential sales talent and they get to be around each other. They get to learn from each other. I think you guys have really refined the craft of teaching people. How to sell, right? How to prospect, how to ask questions, right?
[00:35:18] How to have certain dialogues? You guys are one of the best in the industry at training and teaching people that So what’s not to like, you get some of the best training you, get paid well, you’re in a great culture. And it’s launching your career and the hardest job a lot of times is how you get that first sales job and you guys do that for a lot of people.
[00:35:37] So I love that. Right. And people have fun. My alumni who’ve been through your company only can say positive, wonderful things. So that’s why I keep sending more.
[00:35:47] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:35:47] Yeah, we appreciate it. We have great alumni from your program and from your university. And it’s amazing that they have someone so committed and who’s such a good resource for them. Especially if they don’t have family who are in sales, it can be, the first time they’re going through something like this. So to have someone like you, who’s going to review offers with them and prepare them for interviews and make them think about things that outside of a base salary, that they otherwise wouldn’t is a great resource for students.
[00:36:13] Mark Weber: [00:36:13] Thank you. It’s fun. You gotta think about it. It’s like my mission, right? It’s just, it’s a ton of fun.
[00:36:18] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:36:18] So we’re going to hit you with some fun and inspired questions. Just answer the first thing that comes to your mind.
[00:36:25] Mark Weber: [00:36:25] I’m for this.
[00:36:27] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:36:27] So you already told us your favorite book, “How to win friends and influence people”, It’s a classic and it will always be one. Okay. This one’s very appropriate, given the time that we’re in right now.
[00:36:38] What do you think are the pros and cons of working from home?
[00:36:41] Mark Weber: [00:36:41] I mean, the pros are clearly you have more time in life, right. I mean, you do right. You don’t have to commute. You don’t have to get dressed. You don’t have to go out to eat. you have more time. The cons are, I need people for energy. Most people need people for energy. Salespeople need people for energy and it has to be live. And so I don’t care. This should go back to real people. I think we’ll go back to some hybrid model, eventually, won’t be a hundred percent one or the other, I need people. So that’s negative. You don’t have real live contact.
[00:37:11] Libby Galatis: [00:37:11] All right. And from there we have another fun one. if you could have one billboard anywhere, where would it be and what would it say?
[00:37:19] Mark Weber: [00:37:19] One billboard anywhere. So I’ll do it professional. I mean I tell her that sales is the greatest profession. Right. So I’d put that up and I’d put that on, the entrance to any at all colleges, right? I mean, just so they understand what sales is about. Mostly I do it for Catholic youth kids or Virginia tech, that I’m pretty passionate. So sales is the greatest profession.
[00:37:43] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:37:43] I love that. Who is the most influential person in your life?
[00:37:46] Mark Weber: [00:37:46] I would say my wife, I’ve been hanging out where they’re all through college and got married right out of college. And, there’s not many things I can do or say that she doesn’t know. And she influences me positively every day. I mean, really positively every day. And she said, I mean, long-term, clearly it was my dad because he was ex career sales guy.
[00:38:05] And he’s the one that gave me this love of this profession.
[00:38:08] Libby Galatis: [00:38:08] That’s amazing. I think we talked about this a little bit earlier, a lot of students, their parents, or their family members, they don’t really know the value and a career in sales. A lot of them have these like negative connotations and ideas behind what a profession in this industry looks like.
[00:38:20] So having that support system of people like you, to educate them and bring that kind of exposure is incredible in just expanding the industry as a whole.
[00:38:30] Mark Weber: [00:38:30] It’s the lifestyle. That I saw in my dad, he’d worked 18 hours one day, but drive home and get home at midnight, And then the next day he was sales guy that didn’t have an office in town, so he’d work from home, but he’d be at my baseball game at four o’clock. Right. We still worked probably 60 hours a week or something, but it was that lifestyle of flexibility on when he put those hours in.
[00:38:53] And he got results too. So. that lifestyle, as sales is just wonderful. It’s a great family job, right?
[00:39:00] Libby Galatis: [00:39:00] Definitely. With that lifestyle and with a career in sales, we talked about wins and losses and what impacted you the most. Would you say that you’re somebody that loves to win or hates to lose and why?
[00:39:11] Mark Weber: [00:39:11] I love to win. I’m not a defense guy. I’m always been an offense guy. Perfectly frank, this is a really weird thing to say. I don’t remember losing very often and I’m sure I lost all the time, but I just forget it. My brain purges the negativity. It’s just the way I work. I remember all the victories.
[00:39:28] I don’t remember losing and I mean, not in sales, I mean, in any sport, right. Whatever it is, playing corn hall, playing ping pong. I just remember the winds. I don’t remember losing
[00:39:38] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:39:38] I love that. You have to have a short memory in sales to be able to move on to the next one.
[00:39:42] Mark Weber: [00:39:42] Yeah. I don’t know why my brain works that way, but it does. And it’s a blessing for this industry, right. I don’t have that pain of loss in my head.
[00:39:50]Kristen Wisdorf: [00:39:50] Alright, Mark. This’ll probably be our last one. What are you world-class at? What’s your sales or just your personal superpower?
[00:40:00] Mark Weber: [00:40:00] You talking about in the sales world, are you talking about how good of a ping pong player I am?
[00:40:05] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:40:05] I know many salespeople who loves ping pongs. You pick.
[00:40:10] Mark Weber: [00:40:10] I’d say what I was best at when I was leading teams is picking talent. That’s really, what I did as a sales leader is picking talent and then putting them in the right position. And I kind of always thought of it like a baseball. I coached a lot of baseball. I gave this presentation one time and , uh, sometimes you have to play a lefty at shortstop.
[00:40:30] And if you know anything about baseball, that’s heresy, right. Cause then they have to turn their shoulders and it takes a second. But if you have five lefties, And they’re the best five guys. And you got to put them at some of the best bishops. Sometimes you got to do that, but you have to know how to hire the right talent and then put them in the right position.
[00:40:46] And that was really my gift. And then let them do their job. Get out of the way sometimes either a coach, but I can’t feel ground balls or hit for them. They have to do that. I’ve done what I can, now I’m putting them in the game. And they got to hit the ball. They got to feel the ground ball.
[00:41:03] And you got to cheer for them or coach them when it doesn’t go well, That the next place comment. that’s what it is. baseball’s a very good example. There’s 162 games, It’s not one game. It’s not one play. And sales is the same thing. It’s a long game. And you gotta be willing to get back up and play the next day.
[00:41:19] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:41:19] Yeah, it’s not one deal. It’s not one call. There’s another one coming.
[00:41:22] Mark Weber: [00:41:22] So long-winded answer, but I think picking talent and putting them in the right place.
[00:41:26] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:41:26] That’s great. Libby, is there anything else for a wrap up?
[00:41:30] Libby Galatis: [00:41:30] No, I think we’ve gotten a lot of really valuable insight from you, Mark, your career has been so incredible. You’ve been such a leader and, pioneer for Catholic University and then expanding this program to be as awesome as it is. So, we really appreciate you taking the time and letting us pick your brain a little bit, because you have a wealth of knowledge that I know a lot of people would find really valuable..
[00:41:50] Mark Weber: [00:41:50] Kris and Libby, I appreciate you guys asking me on and I’m always happy to help. If I can be of any service to you guys, but only thing I asked back, hire more of my students.
[00:41:59] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:41:59] Deal.
[00:42:00] Mark Weber: [00:42:00] Come on! I got more Let’s go.
[00:42:03] Kristen Wisdorf: [00:42:03] We’re ready. We’ll take them. Well, thank you so much, Mark. We appreciate it. Students are very lucky to have you in their corner, so thanks for your time.
[00:42:10] Mark Weber: [00:42:10] All right, God bless you guys. Take care. All right.
[00:42:12] Bye.