Campus Series: Chris Pardi – The Power of Preparation

Your manager can make or break your career. While choosing the right job is important, Chris Pardi argues for the equal importance of choosing the right manager, when considering ultimate job satisfaction and career progression.

In this episode of The Campus Series Podcast, Chris, a Lecturer in Marketing and Sales at the University of South Carolina, discusses the ways finding the right manager, properly preparing for your position, and prioritizing continuous learning can strongly impact your overall career growth.

Guest-At-A-Glance

💡 Name: Chris Pardi

💡What they do: Lecturer in Marketing and Sales

💡Company: University of South Carolina

💡Noteworthy: A former VP of Marketing at Fisher-Price, now sharing his wealth of sales and marketing knowledge in academia.

💡 Where to find them: LinkedIn

Key Insights

The Importance of Choosing the Right Manager

Chris Pardi emphasizes the importance of choosing the right manager when starting a new job. He believes that a good manager can significantly influence your happiness and career path. Pardi advises students to ensure they have the opportunity to talk to the person they will be reporting to directly. This is because a manager can greatly influence your happiness and career path. He also advises students to ensure they are a good fit with their manager, as this can significantly impact their job satisfaction and career progression.

The Power of Preparation

Chris Pardi stresses the importance of preparation in achieving success. He believes that being prepared, whether for a prospecting call, a meeting, or a test, can significantly improve outcomes. Pardi leaves his students with the message that preparation is a skill that will serve them throughout their lives. He believes that the more prepared you are, the more successful you will be.

Mentorship and Continuous Learning: Chris Pardi’s Career Advice

Chris Pardi highlights the value of having a mentor early in one’s career. He believes that having someone to guide you and give you advice can make a big difference in your career progression. Pardi also emphasizes the importance of continuous learning. He advises students to treat their jobs as opportunities to acquire different skills and strengthen their resumes. He believes that exploring different areas and acquiring a diverse set of skills can make you more promotable in the long run.

Episode Highlights

The Importance of Choosing the Right Manager

The Power of Preparation

Mentorship and Continuous Learning: Chris Pardi’s Career Advice

Transcript:

kristen-wisdorf: [00:00:00] Welcome back, hustlers. It is Your Tech. Sales is for Hustlers special campus series. I’m your host, Kristen Wisdorf. I am joined again by Ms. Kelsey Edmonds. Kelsey, welcome back to the podcast.

kelsie edmonds: Hi, Kristen. Happy to be here. Looking forward to the conversation today.

kristen-wisdorf: Yeah, rockstar co-host here, Kelsey. Um, and we are super thrilled because today we have Chris Pardi who is, uh, marketing and sales professor at the University of South Carolina joining us. Welcome to the podcast, Chris.

Chris Pardi: Thank you. Excited be with guys today.

kristen-wisdorf: We’re excited to chat and pick your brain and go into all of your experience. You have a lot of experience working with some major, major brands that I know our listeners are gonna love to hear about, and then of course, what you’re doing at South Carolina.

So let’s just dive right in. Um, Chris, why don’t you take, let’s call it 60 seconds, give or take, and give us your highlight reel. Tell us just, [00:01:00] you know, at a high level, what do we need to know about you?

Chris Pardi: Okay. Highlight level would be, uh, I’m a University of South Carolina graduate, so returning to my alma mater to be a full-time lecturer has been a, a real dream come true. I started my career in sales with Eastman Kodak. Uh, Went to Ohio State for grad school. Uh, then I joined Fisher-Price in a marketing capacity, made my way up to VP of Marketing, then moved over to sales.

My last job before leaving for academia was heading up the Fisher-Price Sales Team for Walmart.

kristen-wisdorf: Wow. Okay, so you, I think you’re originally from New York, is that right?

Chris Pardi: Correct. I grew up in Rochester, New York, a suburb called, uh, Pittsburgh, New York, which, uh, a lot of corporate executives from Kodak, Xerox, and Bausch and Lomb at the time, and [00:02:00] then choose to follow the weather and came to South Carolina for college.

kristen-wisdorf: Okay, so that’s what brought you down to South Carolina for school in the first place, is you wanted to leave the snowy weather of Rochester, New York.

Chris Pardi: Yeah, well, a little bit. I was, uh, I was very good at math and science in, uh, high school and actually thought I would become an engineer. And I had an uncle that was a executive with, uh, floor, I think it’s called Floor. It was Floor Daniel at the time now it just called Floor in a big engineering firm in Greenville.

And he said, why don’t you come take a look at Clemson and you can have some internships here as an engineer. And I came and he said, Hey, let’s go see the University of South Carolina while you’re down here. And I fell in love with the, with the place. It happened to be homecoming weekend, which probably didn’t hurt.

And I decided to change into business after meeting up with physics my senior year in high school. And I’m glad I did.

kristen-wisdorf: [00:03:00] Yeah, I, I have a feeling it does that to some, um, other folks in your position. Physics that is

Chris Pardi: Exactly.

kristen-wisdorf: Yeah. Um, well, what was it like, you know, going so far outta state for school and going to such a, I mean, I would, I would consider South Carolina a really big, kind of traditional school spirit school.

Chris Pardi: Yeah. I mean, I had nothing. But a, a wonderful experience. You know, I always tell people that you can make a, uh, large university small by being active and joining organizations, uh, but you can’t necessarily make a small school big. So, uh, university of South Carolina is currently rated, you know, top in the nation and freshman experience.

Uh, and I think that. Was the case. I don’t think there was a ranking back when I was there, but it, it was a wonderful experience. Um, I joined a fraternity, which helped me kind of find a, a group of friends. And, uh, so it was a, it [00:04:00] was a great experience. It was a little different coming from the north to the south at that time.

But, uh, wonderful, wonderful to be back here.

kelsie edmonds: That’s awesome. You know, I heard a statistic to your point there of, you know, physics being a little bit tough there and then switching over and you know, was that point for you where I don’t, I don’t. Know that I wanna do this anymore, let’s, let’s make a switch. I think 80% of college grads end up changing their major.

And so for you, you know, Chris, you started heading into the, um, business world. What was that indicator for you that the business world and, you know, potentially even sales was a direction that you would wanna move in?

Chris Pardi: So that’s interesting. I mentioned earlier that, uh, coming from Rochester and that that suburb Pittsburgh, uh, talking to family friends and getting their advice about, uh, majors and. Paths to go. Um, and they kind of suggested business and they always said, you know, start off in sales, uh, and then move into marketing.

And that was kind of the advice that I got from multiple executives at both Xerox [00:05:00] and Kodak. And I kind of followed that advice. Um, the interesting thing is that one point I actually. I come from a long line of educators, so teaching was always something I would potentially consider. And actually, I mentioned the fraternity.

One of my fraternity brothers had me attend some of his, uh, education classes, and I thought about potentially switching over to that since I, I found that, but then I said, you know what? I wanna make some money. And business seemed like a more. Better path to do that than education, but always in my mind, and that’s kind of what one of the reasons I potentially said long-term, I might wanna become a college professor down the road.

I so,

kristen-wisdorf: That’s very cool. You also started at, I mean, right out of college with such a huge brand with Kodak, obviously like a, a hometown brand. They’re originally from Rochester. Right. Um, it is [00:06:00] that how you decided to work there after school? Did you know someone there? Were you like, I wanna get back there cause I’ve always known Kodak.

Talk us through that journey and how you found your first job outta school.

Chris Pardi: Okay. That’s a great question. Um, so how I found my first job out of school was, uh, a girlfriend of mine, uh, in high school. Her father was a sales executive with Xerox Corporation. I think he, I don’t know his exact position, but he was, was high up there at least a vp, and he always said, well, when you graduate you can come work for for Xerox.

And I’d planned on doing that. And then my senior year we had an assignment to research the company would we potentially working for. And uh, Look at competition and all those things. And I noticed that in the copier world, Kodak had a division. So I actually reached out to a, uh, friend of mine’s father who said, yes, we have a copy division.

I [00:07:00] could put you in touch with them if you’re interested. And I kind of put my name in that hat and started interviewing and decided to go with, uh, with Kodak. So I, uh, just kind of. Not necessarily stumbled upon it, but that project kind of led me to kind of explore that marketplace a little bit more. And I always thought Kodak was a great company, so.

kristen-wisdorf: That’s really cool that you doing research on where you thought you were gonna work or, or at least interview, led to you finding another opportunity with the company you did ultimately work for. And I think that that’s a lesson that a lot of. Students can take away now, or seniors or incoming seniors can take away that.

You know, you might be really excited about one specific company or brand, but see who else plays in that same space and do your research ’cause it can open up so many doors and things that opportunities that you don’t even know exist today.

Chris Pardi: I, I agree. And I would, I would add on top of that, right? I tell the students that are interviewing at companies [00:08:00] to research their competition because at the end of the day, if you’re in sales, you really need to believe in your product. And, um, finding how they, how they market it, what their point of differentiation is, how much marketing support you get from a sales side.

And those things can help you make the choice, am I going with the right company? Right. I mean, that was, you mentioned the, the brands. I’m a, I’m a big believer in brands. Um, and well-established brands help you from a marketing perspective and give you credibility from a sales perspective. So I ask students to, you know, do their research before they go with a company, because at the end of the day, I believe if you don’t believe in your product, customers have keen sense and kind of sense that.

kelsie edmonds: From your perspective, you know, as students are doing this research on what companies they should be going to, you know, what are some key indicators or things that you think they should be looking out for in this evaluation process?

Chris Pardi: So I always talk to them about [00:09:00] understanding the, their place on the marketplace, understanding their products versus the competitors, right? From a sales perspective, um, I also firmly believe in. You stay at a company for your boss, right? Um, so make sure you have the opportunity to talk to the person that you’re going to be working for directly, um, because a manager at the end of the day has a lot to do with your happiness, your career path, and all those things.

So, you know, A lot of times companies will hire people and you don’t know exactly who you’re going to be reporting into. So I always like them to try to figure that out and make sure that that’s a good fit, because it’s a big influence on your happiness and your career path. So that’s one of the big things that I ask them to do.

kristen-wisdorf: That’s so smart, and I love that you brought that up because one of our, you know, we asked this in a lot of our fireside chats and panels. What you know, do you recommend working for a great boss at an [00:10:00] okay company? Or an incredible company or brand with a not so great boss. And most people, I mean, they recognize that your, your boss or your manager is really important.

But I think especially earlier in your career, people can get a little starry-eyed with the specific company without really understanding who they’ll be working for, who they’ll be learning from, and who will mentor them.

Chris Pardi: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, it’s, it’s always a balancing act, right? And you, you, you, you probably want to be somewhere in the middle on that. Um, at the end of the day. Early on, you know, I think it’s more important to find somebody that will mentor you and give you guidance. Especially these days. It’s we’re, we’ve moved from a society, you know, I was at Fisher-Price for 28 years.

Um, nowadays the average term, I don’t know what it is, it’s three, four years at a company, right? So, uh, especially early on, find somebody that will help you. Uh, and [00:11:00] that experience, if you learn a lot of things, can open the doors to bigger companies, bigger brands.

kristen-wisdorf: Yeah, yeah. We’re totally in a, we like to call. It a tour of duty economy now where people don’t necessarily, you know, go and stay and retire at the same company. They do a tour of duty and then they move on. And I think that’s, that’s the way it’s been for a while. Um, but I agree. I think you, uh, you know, especially students who are getting ready to graduate or maybe folks who already have graduated but are.

Looking to start their sales career. It’s good to look at what foundation are you getting and what mentorship and leadership and coaching and development are you getting because you can parlay that into the next tour of duty in the next one and the next one.

Chris Pardi: Exactly, and those skills will last you through your career, right? Even things like time management, priority management, understanding what’s important now that a good mentor can help you with. So I, I, I agree completely and I love that tour of duty term.

kelsie edmonds: So, you know, one of the things we’ve been focused on [00:12:00] here is more like the skills within your career. I wanna take this, maybe flip it to the outside, you know, what are some skills that in your, you know, 28 plus years, um, you know, working in the sales and marketing area into teaching now, you know, what are some of the life skills that you’ve been able to take away from your experiences so far?

Chris Pardi: You know, I think, uh, I do think a lot of both, uh, sales and marketing, right? I talked about priority management. There is never enough time to get. To everything you need to do, um, in a sales or marketing role, at least at, at Mattel, right? We worked, uh, Mattel Fisher-Price. Mattel owns Fisher-Price, so we worked, uh, a lot of hours in understanding kind of what’s important now was very important.

And that’s kind of a, that’s a Lou Holtz term for priority management. He talks about when and what’s important now, and I think that is a life skill that. Prioritization and making sure you’re working on the right things is very important. Right. [00:13:00] Uh, another thing I, I tell all the students and I told all the people that work for me, uh, bad news doesn’t get better with time.

Uh, so when something happens, uh, it’s important to let your company know, let your customer know, and. Solutions a lot of times to problems come from getting different perspectives and letting people in on the problem. And so, uh, early on in my career, you know, I think that’s one of the things people coming out into from college where you’re graded on how well you do, uh, and getting everything right.

When you go into the business world, problems will arise. You may not have caused them, but you have to solve them. So, uh, bringing other people into those help you with those solutions early on is better. I mean, there were multiple times when I called my customer and said, Hey, we have a problem, and they came up with a solution.

[00:14:00] If I would’ve hid that for longer, their solution might not have been viable. Even three, four days later. Now that doesn’t mean you don’t have to try to solve it and come up with options to suggest it, right? I always made people say, all right, you need to tell me the problem and what your thoughts are, and then we can work on it.

And I think that’s, uh, probably, uh, that applies to business and life, right?

kristen-wisdorf: Uh, absolutely. That is a great lesson for life. A hundred percent.

Chris Pardi: Yes.

kelsie edmonds: And I, you know, I think to that point, we, especially here at memory Blue, we have so many recent college grads that are coming in and one of the top things that I’ve seen in my management so far is there is an incredible amount of resources surrounding you. And honestly, no matter what job really you step into, for the most part, there are training programs, there are mentors, available managers, team members who have done the same things that you are and people that have elevated.

And it’s just so many resources that I don’t necessarily see people taking advantage of. And that’s one way as managers, you know, we can push them towards some of those resources and getting them [00:15:00] to use them. But you know, looking back at your career, are there any resources that you didn’t take advantage of early on that maybe wish you would have?

Chris Pardi: You know, um, Fisher-Price did a good job of, uh, quite honestly rotating you through different jobs. Uh, very early on in your career. You probably were on a brand for a year and a half to two years, and then they moved you on. That was really twofold. One, give you exposure to different areas in the market, but also give you exposure to different people in the organization.

So that, that was great. You know, I think that I. Probably, I didn’t necessarily have a mentor in my, probably first seven years at Fisher-Price. Uh, was, was very successful in my first, first years, but I, I wished I had more of a mentor right out of the gate, and I think that is important, right? Somebody that can help you, guide you [00:16:00] and give you advice.

I probably found my mentor, I guess about four actually, when I think about it. It was probably about four years into my career. But having that person, somebody I could bounce ideas off of and everything else really made a big difference in my career moving forward. I think. So I think that’s good advice to any college graduate or anybody starting at a new job even.

Right. Find who you can choose to mentor you. Um, and then I’ll, I’ll kind of expand upon another area. Um. I have done kind of later in my career, did a lot of, uh, reading. Now I’m doing more audible, but I’ll consider that reading, um, of books and all those things. You know, I think it’s important to keep learning.

And I, another piece of advice I tell, uh, low recent or kids going into the marketplaces, right? You’ve spent time at a university where you take different classes to acquire different skills and strengthen [00:17:00] your resume or your skills, right? Treat your job as the same. Thing, explore different areas, right?

If you’re in marketing, what is marketing research like? Because the more opportunities and the more skills you acquire. Long run that makes you more promotable to the senior level. So if you’re in sales, try a stint in marketing. If you’re in marketing, try a stint in sales. If you’re in marketing on the product and brand development side, try a side on customer marketing, right?

Because that just adds to your toolbox and the tools that you can use to bring perspective to the other jobs. And then ultimately, uh, to tools you bring into. Jobs at the next level, which makes you more employable for the next level or for other companies in the, uh, tour of duty economy.

kelsie edmonds: Yeah, and I mean too, nowadays students with the, the different technologies that exist, especially for different sales and marketing [00:18:00] companies, like that’s leveling people up in itself. So you have to find a way to make yourself. As a person, more valuable to a company when there might be people out there who have more resources than you, who have better tools or have just had access to it.

And so I think that’s just such a powerful point in terms of like, make yourself more valuable to your company and it’s through the things that you know and what you can bring to the table.

Chris Pardi: That’s right. And you know, it’s interesting, you, you talk about all the tools, right? We have chat, G B T, which could write a sales pitch for you. Write a cover letter, write a email, um, you know, in this new knowledge at the, you know, education used to be learning facts, learning figures, learning how to learn. Education needs to move more towards, uh, emotional intelligence, working as teams and all those things because, you know, things like chat, G b t can’t solve problems. Um, and so I, you know, I, we like to spend a lot of time at Carolina, uh, [00:19:00] teaching kids presentation skills, working in teams and all those, you know, doing role plays, sales role plays and all those things because, you know, knowledge is important.

But I, you know, I call it IQ versus eq, right? I think EQ is becoming more and more important, and I, I think statistically they say about 80% of your success comes from your, from your eq.

kristen-wisdorf: You know, on the, that note of, um, you know, what you’re doing with your students now to teach them and to prepare them. I wanna take it way back to your, let, let’s go back to your first job outta school with Kodak. When you were, I think you said you were in the copy division. Um, What was it like? What was a typical day like?

What do you wish you knew going into that job that you had to learn the hard way? Like talk to us a little bit about that first real sales role, um, outta school.

Chris Pardi: Okay, well, let me give you, let me kind of set the stage a little bit because, um, Kodak [00:20:00] was a challenger. In the copy products area, we sold high volume copiers, one’s more, you know, used in the print area of an office. Um, and I was assigned Toledo, Ohio. Uh, there was another sales rep. In that office, but we were kind of a satellite office to the, the, to the Cleveland office.

So, uh, the gentleman there was a longtime employee of ibm Kodak had purchased ibm, so he was really a, a mentor for me in that office. And he’d actually go on some sales calls, helped me on the sales area. Uh, one of the things that was interesting was I was, Kind of more of a technical expert than him, especially since he’s kind of sold ibm and then was transitioning into Kodak, going through the Kodak training.

I knew more about the, the copiers, so I would actually go on sales calls as kind of the technical expert with him. Um, [00:21:00] the interesting thing was I loved that job for a couple reasons. It was, uh, probably 60 to 70% account management. Uh, you know, like Jeep, the Jeep Plant, uh, Dana Corp. Uh, Libby Owens, uh, Corning, uh, were some of my clients gm.

Uh, so you’ve got the account management side, and then you had the prospecting and going after new business. And I really liked that mix because it gave me an opportunity to kinda learn both of those from a sales side.

kristen-wisdorf: What was it like? You said, you know, Kodak was the challenger in the market. What was it like working for the company that was kind of pushing and challenging, I guess you could say the mainstay, um, uh, you know, solution in that space?

Chris Pardi: Uh, you know, quite [00:22:00] honestly, you, you had a couple things going for you. Um, in many ways, Kodak had a. Superior product from a durability and longevity perspective. And I go back to, with Kodak, they put you in, and I don’t remember how long it was, it was, it was a four month training program, maybe even a little longer.

And you learned how to sell against the Xerox machines. And I, I, I’ll never forget, the main point of differentiation was the paper path where. The feeder takes the paper out and then moves it all the way through. The different processes to the output was at Kodak, it was basically all metal. At Xerox, it was plastic and uh, you can imagine over a lot of times in use, the metal outperforms the plastic and has a greater durability.

So that was kind of the main point that we always emphasized. We had the positive of a great brand behind us with [00:23:00] at least, uh, maybe a superior product. Um, especially for certain applications. Xerox had a few more bells and whistles on them, as I recall, but a lot of people didn’t necessarily need those bells and whistles, so they armed you very well with how to sell against the competition.

And combined with a strong brand you never felt like. I’m not a, I’m not selling a good product. And that kind of goes back to what I said earlier, believing very much in your product. And I believed in Kodak copiers.

kelsie edmonds: You mentioned a really big name there in terms of like, uh, business you had worked with 3m. I’m interested to hear probably your most memorable experience, um, or deal necessarily while you were at Kodak.

Chris Pardi: Wireless at Kodak. So a, a very interesting thing, right? Um, the account management side is, has its challenges and all those things, but, uh, probably the harder side and the side that. Most people don’t like [00:24:00] doing in sales is the prospecting and generating new business, right? So I, that was an area that I had to push myself to do, um, on the extrovert introvert scale, right?

I’m probably an ambivert somewhere in the middle. So the prospecting part was always a little more challenging. So I had decided that I would, uh, you don’t do what you don’t. Put on your calendar. Right. So I decided I was going to do a, uh, prospecting couple days on local print shops and just kind of go knock on doors.

And I went to a place, it was called Heck Printing. Knocked on the door. The, it was a print shop. Uh, he did not see an older gentleman. And when you’re 24, 22, most people are older Gentlemen, he might have been young compared to me now. Um, he said yeah, I know, [00:25:00] I know Kodak. Leave the brochure. Get outta here.

I’m busy. And I was like, well, but I Do you have a second? I just wanna give you a quick rundown of, you know, what we can do for you and potentially our product. I know your product. I’m busy. Get out. And I remember walking to my car saying, well, that wasn’t good. Right? Um, and you never know. When you’re catching somebody or what’s gonna come in the future.

And for perspective copiers and the, you know, this is 19 89, 19 90, um, the copiers I sold were about a hundred thousand dollars. So they were a lot of money. There were some cheaper ones, but the primarily ones were a hundred thousand plus. And it must have been. Three weeks later, I got a call saying, Hey, I think I’m gonna order two of these machines.

And I said, okay, let me, let me come down. Right? And, uh, just, [00:26:00] it, it, it always sticks with me because I thought, God, what a waste of time. What a terrible call. Uh, that was going to go nowhere. I didn’t even call to follow up like I should have. Right? And, uh, there it was a big sale.

kristen-wisdorf: But also like a great reminder, I mean, this is what we do at Memory Blue. We do net new prospecting for our clients, and you certainly can’t get that. Um, that callback or the sale or the next step unless you make the first call. Right. And it’s so, it’s just a good reminder that you, you certainly can’t get anywhere if you don’t pick up the phone or walk into the business, whatever it is, uh, in the first place.

So I love that story.

Chris Pardi: Yeah, and, and you know what’s interesting about that, right? You, if it’s not something you like to do, scheduling and making time for it is important. And you know, once you start, like that was why I kind of would block out times to go At certain businesses, it’s a lot easier. Your [00:27:00] second call is a lot easier.

The first one’s always the toughest to make in the day.

kristen-wisdorf: Yeah, we call it eating problems for breakfast, so do the hardest thing in the morning just to get it out of the way. Eat it. And then the rest of your day is kind of smooth sailing.

Chris Pardi: That. That’s right, that’s

kristen-wisdorf: Yeah,

Chris Pardi: love that. That’s great term. So you learn something. You learn something whenever you talk to somebody.

kristen-wisdorf: Yeah.

Chris Pardi: two great terms here.

kristen-wisdorf: There you go. Um, well, I think it’s very interesting. So you did account management, you did the net new prospecting.

Talk to us a little bit about the next path in your career journey and ultimately what made you decide to leave Kodak and move on.

Chris Pardi: Uh, so there were, there were, were, were two things. Um, as I mentioned earlier, talking to, um, people that I grew up with, friends of family and parents of friends, as I mentioned, they always said, I ultimately, I studied marketing. That was where [00:28:00] I wanted to go. And they said, start off in sales. Go back, get your mba.

Then you can move from there, either back into sales or into marketing or another area. Right? An MBA’s a good way to kind of pivot. So they said get, get about two years experience and then go back and get your masters. And so being in state, I applied to Ohio State, uh, got accepted and. Decided that’s where I was gonna go, kind of sight unseen.

The in-state tuition was very appealing versus some other schools. I, I looked at, I thought about coming back to Carolina since I loved it, but the in-state tuition made a lot more sense for Ohio. Uh, so then I did, uh, two years coming out of Ohio State. Um, a family friend who was an HR for a company and then started,

I don’t know if you used the term, I guess, recruitment business. Uh, head hunting is what we called it at the time. Um, [00:29:00] actually got a call from Fisher Price saying they were looking for somebody that had a couple years experience, either in sales or marketing, and since he was located in Rochester, from somebody at, uh, either Kodak or Xerox because they knew they had good training programs.

And we’re right up the road. Fisher Price is in East Aurora, Aurora, suburb of Buffalo. So he said, I have just the guy. And that’s how I started, uh, the interview process with Fisher-Price was I got a call from, uh, actually a family friend.

kristen-wisdorf: Which started with a call from a recruiter,

Chris Pardi: He, the family friend was a recruiter. That’s how he

kristen-wisdorf: yeah. That’s incredible. I think, I mean, I think a lot of times people will get calls from recruiters and it’s worth taking the conversation ’cause you don’t know where it’ll lead.

Chris Pardi: You know, 100%. And that is another thing that I, I did not, I was very happy at Fisher-Price. I, I, I was there obviously 28 years. Um, but I did not [00:30:00] have a recruiting network. And I tell people now, uh, my students, you know what? Talk to recruiters. Don’t do it during your day, day job. Great. Don’t, you know? But it’s, it’s important to have those connections, right?

Especially, um, companies have layoffs. You never know what opportunities they can present to you. So having a 10 minute conversation can lead down the road to, to somewhere else, and kind of establish that network. I didn’t do a good job of that. Um, probably ’cause I was always happy and not necessarily wanting to leave, but I look back and say that’s something I should have done a better job of.

kelsie edmonds: I mean, growing your network is never a bad thing. There. Um, and when it comes to, you know, progressing your career forward, and to your point, you know, layoffs happen. Like we, we don’t know where the economy goes here and there, and so things that we maybe weren’t expecting five, 10 years ago are happening today.

Chris Pardi: Or just a opportunity that. Letting [00:31:00] people know. And, and I talk about that to students as well, right? Uh, from a marketing side and even from a sales side, I hired people from our forecasting department to come into marketing. I hired a, uh, woman that was in our, uh, sales forecasting area that went over to marketing and then wanted to come back into sales.

Uh, I hired her because I knew what her. Career objectives were where she wanted to go. So both internally, make where you wanna go next, let people know that, right? If you wanna go in, if you’re in marketing and wanted to go into sales, talk to some of the sales executives, say, Hey, down the road I might be interested in something.

Because the reason when I had a job opportunity when on the Walmart team opened up, she was one of the first people I called and she ended up taking the job and doing great. So,

kelsie edmonds: You know, and I think, sorry not you off.

Chris Pardi: Nope. So, [00:32:00] you know, I, I, I think it is important to network both internally and externally at, at your company and the more people treating your job like a, a university, right?

Letting know them know potential areas of interest is important. You know, at Mattel we had a career action plan, which was very good. You’d sit down, fill out a form as to other areas you’d be potentially interested in, uh, pursuing. We did that yearly, and it was always separated from your performance review.

It was a separate career action planning. And you’d say, you know, What areas? When I was in marketing, I always had licensing, sales, and then customer marketing were the three areas that I would be potentially willing to explore. So a lot of companies don’t do that, and I give ’em a Mattel kudos ’cause they have kind of a great programs in place for that type of stuff.

But if your company doesn’t have that, develop your own, like what are other areas of international assignments? Where do you want to go [00:33:00] and what your goals are, uh, to add more things into your toolbox.

kelsie edmonds: I was gonna say, this ties so heavily to kind of where we were talking about making yourself more valuable, you know, building these relationships with other departments, whether it’s the department that you have a direct relationship right now, could have in the future or just. Maybe not at all. You know, you’re, you’re still building your own, uh, net worth if you will, in terms of like your, your network.

Chris Pardi: Yep. And you know, that’s, you know, two things and going back to a little bit, um, you have to manage your own career. Companies can do a good job, but at the end of the day, you’re the one that needs to manage your career. So understanding what path you want to go and in life, right? Where your path may change many times, but if you’re not working towards something, uh, you kind of drift around.

And so working towards a goal is, is very important, right? I’m an assistant marketing manager. I wanna be a marketing manager. [00:34:00] I’m calling on growth channel accounts. I wanna be on a major account. What’s that path and how do you get there? And how do you let people know your intentions? Because without that, you won’t be top of mind.

kelsie edmonds: I, uh, was reading the other weekend, I saw this quote that said something along the lines of, if you’re thinking about it, you’re probably ready for it in terms of like, if you weren’t ready, the, the opportunity or even the thought wouldn’t be present for you. And I think there are so many people that are like, you know what?

I would love to be in this area, but it’s, there’s something holding them back from going that direction and you know, just knowing that if you’re thinking it, It’s probably meaning that you should be exploring that in some way, shape, or form. Yes. You might have something to learn, but I, I find that interesting and I think a lot of students, even recent college grads hold back a lot, um, when comes to exploring opportunities.

Chris Pardi: I, I, I agree. And I think the other area that’s interesting, kind of tying into that is being willing to [00:35:00] take risks, right? Um,

Very often you’re content in your job and things are, are going well and, you know, switching over from marketing to sales was a bit of a risk for me. Um, but I thought long term it was going to help me. One of my goals potentially was to, uh, manage a country. And to do that you really needed some of the sales experience.

So, Making the switch was a a risk. Um, But I took it and you know, I, I talked to like Steve Tosky, who’s one of the presidents of Mattel, he talks about one of the risks he took was moving a young family to Australia to become a general manager there. Hadn’t been to Australia and those things, right? But he was willing to, to do that because that was a tool that would help him get to where he is today.

And now he kind of heads up the whole commercial side of, of Mattel and he actually spoke to my class and [00:36:00] kind of laid out, that is one thing he never. Regretted was taking risks in some jobs. The other thing he, piece of advice that he gave to my class was, you know, don’t be afraid of the assignment where other people have failed or the difficult assignment because if you can make that work, wow, what a point of differentiation.

And I thought that was, uh, was a great piece of advice.

kristen-wisdorf: Yeah, I love that we have all of our new hires read, uh, the book, the Dip, and all about creating, um, uh, you know, you becoming valuable in like, scarcity and you wanna be a, you know, a resource that, um, Okay. You wanna be a resource that stands out. And I think like taking on the difficult assignments and proving that you can succeed is how you do that.

And you create yourself as a resource or a scarce resource. Um, I love how you said take risks. I mean, I think that applies to everybody, especially, you know, [00:37:00] you were at, um, Fisher price for, I you said 28 years, right? Um, so I’m sure there were a lot of risks you took along the way, but even for folks who are maybe getting into their very first, uh, you know, full-time sales job and, and kind of kick starting that career, sometimes the risk is relocating for the job.

Sometimes it’s. Working for the, you know, taking the recruiting call and working for a company you hadn’t considered working for. And I think it’s just a great reminder and lesson for people that, um, those little risks exist all over your entire career, but especially early on when you know it’s time to leave school or get into your first sales job.

Chris Pardi: Yep. And you know, it was, it was a big risk coming here too. To teach. Right. Uh, I left a, a great company, a great job to do something probably a little more on the, uh, extrinsic side of the rewards than the, uh, the intrinsic. And I, I, uh, don’t look back. I, I, I love Mattel and still have a lot of great friends, and the people are great, [00:38:00] but, uh, uh, it was a, it was a real risk.

I had done much college teaching, but. It was something, life is an adventure and you might as well kind of take some opportunities and take some risks because the end of the

kristen-wisdorf: Yeah.

Chris Pardi: doing that can lead to, to great, great new things and happiness.

kristen-wisdorf: And betting on yourself too, um, you know, I think is kind of part of that, that risk taking. So let’s talk a little bit about your transition to academia and going back to your alma mater, it’s almost like a little bit of a full circle moment, I imagine for you. Um, What are you doing at South Carolina?

Talk to us a little bit about the classes you’re teaching and what you’re educating, um, your students on.

Chris Pardi: Okay. I’m talk about two things, right? You, you mentioned, uh, full circle, so I had mentioned it a little bit, but, uh, I don’t know how I must have put a job alert or something for I’d done a little adjunct work, uh, while I was at, uh, Fisher-Price, and I must have put a job alert for [00:39:00] University of South Carolina Marketing.

Faculty, professor, whatever it was, and a job alert came and I said, oh, why not? You’ve always wanted to do this. I, it, it was something and I, I applied and next thing I know Beth Inger, heard you mentioned earlier, called me and we had a conversation and it led to, uh, to me coming here. But one of the crazy things was I had a professor my senior year who.

Came from the professional practice. I don’t remember if it was Kodak, I’m sorry, uh, Coke or Pepsi that they had worked for and they were coming and doing some adjunct teaching at the university. And I thought, I like this guy. You know, maybe someday I’ll do that. And I asked Beth what classes I was going to be teaching and she said, well, right now we’re thanking you for marketing 4 57, which is the introduction to sales class.

And I said, Oh my God, that is that class that I took where I had that professor [00:40:00] and I thought maybe someday I’d like to do that. So, uh, for me that was like, uh, the full circle I had to say yes at that point. Um, so it, uh, it was an interesting thing. Then the next thing I did was I went and looked and saw how I did in the class, and I, and fortunately I got an A in it, so you know, if I’d gotten a C in it might not have been so great.

kelsie edmonds: That truly is full circle moment right there for you. Um, so I’m curious, know, we spoke a lot about, um, and I wanna stay focused on the students somewhat here, but you know, you’ve had experience in sales, you’ve had experience in marketing, you know, given your choice with the students, would you have rather.

You know, taught in the more of the sales aspect or more of the marketing aspect.

Chris Pardi: so I am teaching the sales side, right? teaching the introduction to sales and then the sales management side. Um, you know, I, I really like the, the sales classes that I’m currently teaching. Uh, for the aspect of there, there are 30. Students [00:41:00] approximately in the class. I get to know them all very well.

We’re able to do role plays, sales exercises. You know, I kind of do a teach for 15 minutes, do an exercise that reinforces those, do sales role plays, do improv, uh, some other, you know, skills telling, storytelling I do a truth or truth or lie storytelling event, right? Because how do you tell stories and how do you make class engaging?

And I really like kind of that class size ’cause you can get to know the students one-on-one and also make the class kind of very hands-on versus a lot of the marketing introduction classes at least are very much the, the lecture format done. Some of that too. But I kind of like the, the sales and I, I love the teaching the sales process.

Right. So, um, so what I’m doing now, as you mentioned, that was kind did full circle, answered that. The second question, what am I, I teach the introduction to sales and then the sales management class at, uh, [00:42:00] at the university and then part of the, uh, Carolina Sales Institute, which is the sales club for students.

And, uh, you know, going to the national competitions where I met Caroline and those things. So those are kind of the, the three focuses.

kelsie edmonds: It would make sense, you know, a sales professional, they’re wanting to have that closer relationship. I mean, we’re in the business of relationships at the end of the day, so being able to build and have an impact on those students’ lives and, you know, you get to see things play out, you know, at a, at a larger level too, when the students are probably coming back and, um, telling you about their experiences and the companies and different things that they’ve, they’ve gone on to.

Chris Pardi: Yeah. And that’s one of the things I, I enjoy most, uh, is the relationships kind of beyond the classroom with the students. Uh, you know, this, uh, this weekend I got a text from a woman, a young woman that’s now with new course steel. And she had driven from Birmingham to see some friends in Atlanta, [00:43:00] and they were two former, both all of ’em were three former students of mine.

And they sent me a picture of the weekend saying, Hey, we were just talking about you hope all, all is going well. Right? So even mentoring the, the students once they, they leave in our, in the workforce.

kristen-wisdorf: I have to ask, what has changed from when you took the class to now you teaching the class, whether it’s the students, the curriculum, the how people view sales like has has much changed. If so, what?

Chris Pardi: Uh, you know, I, I would be lying to you if I could tell you I remember much from the class. It was, you know, I took that when I had hair and was, uh, at least 20 pounds lighter. So, um, I think what, what has changed at the university level? Is, I think there is more interaction between faculty and students. [00:44:00] Uh, very much so.

I, at least I did not get to know my professors well. And you know, that’s another thing I love about South Carolina now is what all of our marketing faculty get to know the students very well, and there’s continued contact, uh, even after they graduate. Um, so I think that aspect has changed. I think.

Students are a little more focused than they were, right? I think that the world has become more competitive. It used to be. You know, internships, right? That’s another thing that has changed. When I was in school, not many people did internships. Right now it’s kind of a, a rite of passage or something you wanna add to that.

So that even gives students more perspective, which they’re bringing in back into the classroom. So I think the, the interaction, uh, has increased at the university level, and that goes to kind of teaching the emotional intelligence that that is important. I think there [00:45:00] is more, uh, hands-on learning. Than there was in the past.

I think it used to be very much a lecture style. Most of, I, I wanna say 95% of the classes I took was a professor up there talking and us listening and taking notes. I, especially in our sales program, there’s. As I said, Beth does the same thing, 10, 15 minutes of teaching, 10 15 minutes of uh, exercises in the class and competitions and making it fun and those things.

So I think that aspect is probably the biggest change.

kelsie edmonds: You know, a lot of what you spoke there was like the impact that’s being made on the students, um, that you’re working with. So if there was just one thing that your students could walk away with after being in one of your classes, What would that one thing be?

Chris Pardi: You know, I, uh, at the end of the day, right, um, I kind of [00:46:00] leave them with some, some parting thoughts. And one of the things that I. Talk about, and it’s funny, Steve Tosky mentioned it when he, he spoke to my class, um, and I think it’s a quote from Arnold Palmer, and I won’t get it exactly right, but this is something like this, uh, I found the more, more I prepare, the luckier I become.

Right. And I think preparation is the key to success in anything. Right. Uh, and then having a goal. So I talk to the students about always being prepared it. If you’re making a prospecting call, it doesn’t take that much to find out a little bit about the company. If you are going to a meeting, it doesn’t take that much to be prepared for that meeting.

So if you’re coming into a test, You do a lot better if you’re prepared for the test, right? So I think, uh, that is probably, that is the skill that you will need to take you through your life. And that is [00:47:00] kind of the last quote I leave with the students, and I think preparation is the key to success.

kristen-wisdorf: Wow. Well, on that note, I think that is great advice and, um, just throughout our conversation you shared a lot of good nuggets for our listeners, whether they’re currently in school or recently out of school and looking for a change or folks who listen, who are, you know, considering jumping into a career in sales.

So we appreciate you joining us and walking us through your, your career and what you’re doing at South Carolina. And, um, We are excited to see you next time at the next competition, you and your students.

Chris Pardi: Okay. Well it’s been a real pleasure getting to have a little conversation with you and, uh, look forward to seeing you too. thank you hosting me.

kelsie edmonds: Thanks.

Tech Sales is for Hustlers Podcast