Episode 40: Micah Asohan — Make Me a Believer
If you want to work for Micah Asohan, you’d better be punctual and resourceful. His career is living proof that what matters is what you do – not what you say.
Micah has spent his professional sales life working that way, and impressing managers and peers as he did it. His fascinating journey cuts a winding path from Michigan to DC to Texas, and back to Michigan again. He never takes the easy route, but the tough times have taught him some valuable lessons that have led to his current success as a BDR Manager for cybersecurity global power Fortinet.
On this episode of Tech Sales is for Hustlers, Micah Asohan shares why leaving no stone unturned matters to managers, how he has taken multiple leaps of faith to get where he is today, and what he learned as he picked himself up off the mat after suffering brutal setbacks early in his career.
Guest-At-A-Glance
Name: Micah Asohan
What He Does: Micah is a Business Development Manager of Cloud & Service Providers
Company: Fortinet
Noteworthy: After graduating from high school, Micah took a year off to travel and discover what he wanted to do. Micah went to Ferris State University and focused on marketing. However, he wasn’t satisfied with the choice. He attended a sales class and fell in love with it.
Exit Year from memoryBlue: 2014
Months at memoryBlue: 7
Alumni Path: Hired Out
Where to find Micah: LinkedIn
Key Insights
⚡Trust your intuition. Before graduating from college, Micah was flying back to Michigan and felt he should talk to a gentleman sitting next to him. It turned out he was right (or his intuition). The gentleman was one of the area directors or sales leaders for Medtronic. ”I was like, all right, you know what, this whole weekend has been about networking and that sort of thing, and if I’m going to sell myself in the future, I need to learn how to talk to people. So I started talking to him, and I was like, do you have any advice for a soon-to-be grad? He’s like, get into tech sales. Find a software company or a hardware company and work for them.”
⚡Give respect to get respect. When Micah decided to turn down a job offer, he did it in person. The employer’s reaction had a tremendous impact on Micah’s personal growth. ”I appreciate you coming in and telling me this. Most people just don’t show up, or they’ll call me over the phone. The fact that you’re standing here in person says a lot about you, and I wish you only the best in this role that you’ve taken,” the employer said.
⚡ Find the key to success. ”Our CEO is very passionate about what we do, and that shows in our products. And for the longest time, we were like; our product is so good; it was selling itself. And it is a great product, but we also need a good combination of marketing and product engineering,” Micah states.
Episode Highlights
Take time to figure out what you want to do.
”Right now, I’d recommend that for anyone uncertain, take a year off, try to do some traveling, work, and get some perspective. I was fortunate to get some summer help at Nestle Waters North America. So driving a hi-lo and loading trucks for an entire summer in a manufacturing warehouse, helped me realize that is not what I want to do for the rest of my life. I realized I love traveling, and I want more of it. And so I thought to myself, what types of careers require a lot of traveling. And so I knew business and sales especially did.”
Physical and mental aspects of sales (notes from a class).
”Sales, although it’s very rewarding, can also take a big toll. If you’re organized with your body and your physical fitness, then that will tell an employer that you’ll be organized and responsible with a book of business. So he (professor) took an entire section to talk about the importance of keeping in good shape, both physically and mentally. That really stuck out to me even to this day, years later, post-graduation.”
It’s not really about being let go. It’s what you do after that.
”At Workbridge, to be completely technical, I was let go. I wasn’t a good fit. We both realized that, which is a huge blow to the ego. But I’m glad we’re talking about this because I can’t be the only one that’s ever felt like this. It’s not really about being let go. It’s really what you do after that. It’s like, what do I do now? I didn’t want to move back to Michigan. I knew there wasn’t any big opportunity for me out there, me personally. So I said, all right, pick yourself up, get another job. You can do this. So I just started applying like crazy all over.”
It’s good to know how to handle objections.
”I would say early on with Thundercat Technologies and VCFO, I was really good at objection handling. When I was recruiting, I had a lot of people hang up on me. A lot of people, like, I don’t know who you are, I’m not familiar with the company, or I have HR to do that, I don’t need you, and a lot of hang ups. When I was working with my clients at memoryBlue, it wasn’t as much hanging up, but it was: We don’t have the budget right now, or I have HR or, we have solutions or, we do work with the VAR. So I was able to overcome those with a lot of the training that I got from Nimit, from Mark.”
A good BDR takes the initiative.
”I look for a BDR that takes the initiative. And what I mean by that is, I want a BDR to feel like they can come to me and ask me a question, but I like if they exhaust finding it themselves first. ‘Cause that’s showing me that they’re taking the initiative to try to figure it out on their own. It’s just something I picked up early on in my career. When I was a tech recruiter, my boss at the time told me, Micah, I appreciate you, but I want you to exhaust every effort you can to find the answer before you ask me.”
Transcript:
Micah Asohan: [00:00:00] So, on top of the performance, hitting quota, grinding, all of that, one key thing that I look for, and I say this in interviews too, is BDR that takes initiative. And what I mean by that is, I want a BDR to feel like they can come to me and ask me a question, but I like if they exhaust finding it themselves first. ‘Cause that’s showing me that they’re taking the initiative to try to figure it out on their own. Because this will help you more self-sufficient.
Marc Gonyea: Welcome to the Tech Sales Is for Hustlers podcast, Micah Asohan in the house today.
[00:01:19]Micah Asohan: Hey guys. How’s it going? Thanks so much for having me and congratulations on the newest office in Seattle. I caught that on your Instagram. Congratulations.
[00:01:28] Marc Gonyea: [00:01:28] You were the first person to volunteer, to move to Austin. So we’ll definitely get to that. Before we do, let’s let the audience get to know a little bit about Micah. Just run through real quick for us where you’re from, where’d you grow up that sort of thing.
[00:01:40]Micah Asohan: [00:01:40] Yeah, absolutely. so I grew up in a small town called Big Rapids, Michigan kind of ironic that it’s called Big Rapids born and raised there. one of the things that keeps the town of float is Ferris State University. So I grew up in that town, went to a homeschool first through eighth, and then ninth through a graduation high school, went to Crossroads Charter Academy.
[00:02:02]From there, I took a year off. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do and didn’t want to jump into a bunch of student debt. So I took a year off did a little traveling, soul searching, came back and knew I wanted to do something in business. So went to Ferris State on marketing and tried a few of the different, like hospitality as a minor and advertising.
[00:02:24] It just wasn’t for me. then I took a sales class and fell in love with it. The professor was really passionate about it. I made me passionate about it. And he was a really good professor. He had us pick product, sell it to him, do a PowerPoint presentation, get us into selling. And once I did the first class I was hooked, so took a second class and graduated
[00:02:48] Marc Gonyea: [00:02:48] Let me jump in real quick. You did a gap year before the gap years were cool?
[00:02:51]Micah Asohan: [00:02:51] I mean, looking back now, some people would say like, they would feel so behind, right? And not saying I didn’t feel those things, but I really wanted to take that time to know what I wanted to do.
[00:03:05]Marc Gonyea: [00:03:05] Would you recommend that for other people?
[00:03:07]Micah Asohan: [00:03:07] Yeah. right now I’d recommend that for anyone who is uncertain, take a year off, try to do some traveling, work, get some perspective. I was fortunate to get some summer help at Nestle Waters North America. So a hi-lo and loading trucks for an entire summer at a manufacturing warehouse helped me realize that is not what I want to do for the rest of my life.
[00:03:28]Not that there’s anything wrong with the people that do. but it really helped shaped my idea of like what I wanted to do because working there, I realized I love traveling and I want more of it. And so I thought to myself, what types of careers a lot of traveling. And so I knew business and sales especially did. So, If anyone out there is thinking “should I take a year off?” I highly recommend it. It helped me focus and it helped me realize a starting point, like where I want to start.
[00:03:57]Marc Gonyea: [00:03:57] Nice. I like that. I would wish I had done that. All right. so you did that and you enrolled at Ferris and you majored in marketing and you told Chris and I a little bit about this professor specifically. And so there’s two things. You majored in marketing and then this professor, was he’s a professor of marketing or was it a sales class?
[00:04:12] Micah Asohan: [00:04:12] So they had brought this professor on and he taught two different sales classes at Ferris State University, but then also taught at Grand Valley, which is a larger University in Michigan on the west side of the state. And so he just came in a few times a week to teach the class and was heavily involved in the community in Grand Rapids where he lived.
[00:04:32]And then he also sang in like a men’s acapella group and did that on certain evenings. So, his role at Ferris was sales. And then he helped out where he could, because we actually had an American Marketing Association Chapter Ferris. And so he’d step in and help us for case competition for the sales portion.
[00:04:52] And I was one of the first Ferris students to apply. And I competed at the American Marketing Association New Orleans. It was sponsored by Northwestern Mutual. We had to pick a product and we had to sell it to another student talk about it. We had to show the value proposition and battle objections, and we wrote the whole script for it, the professor and I. And then we had Sam, one of the other students, be my prospect.
[00:05:19] And so I sat in front of three judges from Northwestern Mutual and sold the pair of Nike’s to my prospects. So I did not win overall but was a great experience and it was really cool to compete in that. And just confirmed my aspirations for getting into the field of sales and that I was doing exactly what I wanted to do.
[00:05:40]Marc Gonyea: [00:05:40] That’s great, man. That’s really great. All right. And then this professor too, you told us, we talked a little bit about one thing everybody knows about Micah is that Micah is into all sorts of fitness and emotional wellbeing, but you’re certainly into physical fitness and physical health. And I think you said this gentleman was the inspiration for you getting the sales, but he talked about the mental aspect of sales and the physical aspect of it.
[00:06:00]Micah Asohan: [00:06:00] Yeah. He actually took a portion through the semester and for a few weeks we talked about that sales, although it’s very rewarding, can also take a big toll. And so he encouraged a lot of us that if you were struggling at all, to get any type of mental health that you felt like you needed, to go see a therapist but then also to keep your physical self in really good shape. Because if you’re organized with your body and your physical fitness, then that will tell an employer that you’ll be organized and responsible with a book of business. Right? So he took an entire section to talk about the importance of, keeping in good shape both physically and mentally. That really stuck out to me even to this day, years later, post-graduation.
[00:06:46]It has stuck with me and couldn’t have been more right. Sales is a very rewarding place to be, but it can also be very stressful and high levels of anxiety. And so you definitely want to address those and everybody addresses them differently. One thing I think we can all agree on is that physical activity helps that and then, seeing a counselor.
[00:07:09]Marc Gonyea: [00:07:09] There you go. That’s good advice, really good advice. So, you’re at Ferris. You’re crushing the AMA sales competition. Did you realize you wanted to get into sales coming out of school?
[00:07:18]Micah Asohan: [00:07:18] Absolutely. Yes. And halfway through college my goal at the time was, I wanted to sell surgical tools really badly. Like that for me was it that or pharmaceutical sales? And I had talked to someone they were like, don’t do Pharm sales, it’s like selling your soul to the devil. You’re constantly hounding positions.
[00:07:38] You’re begging for deals. You’re pushing pills you don’t believe in half the time. And I was like, Oh man, that doesn’t sound good because at the time, and even to this day, I’m a pretty convicted person. So if I don’t believe in it, I’m not going to sell anything. I kind of steered away from the pharmaceuticals.
[00:07:54] Although I do know that there’s a lot out there that can, actually help people. So I don’t want to diminish that. But a crazy story I have for you guys is one of the trips out to the American Marketing Association, the big get together in New Orleans, where all the chapters would fly in.
[00:08:10] The first time I had attended, I went two years in a row. first year that I had attended on, my flight back to Michigan from New Orleans, I was sitting next to a gentleman on the plane and, intuition kicked in and like talk to this guy. And I was like, no, don’t feel that well, I just want to eat my subway on this plane and just get home.
[00:08:29] it like kicked in again. It’s like Micah talk to this guy next to you. And I was like, all right, you know what. This whole weekend has been about networking and that sort of thing. And if I’m going to sell myself in the future, I need to learn how to talk to people. I started a friendly conversation with this guy and, lo and behold, he was one of the area directors or like a sales leaders for Medtronic, it’s like one of the top five medical device manufacturers globally.
[00:08:55]And so started talking to him and I was like, do you have any advice for a soon-to-be grad? He’s like get into tech sales. He’s like the profit margins are insane. like find a software company or a hardware company work for them. He’s like, surgical tool sales is a really neat job, but you really need experience before you come here.
[00:09:16] It rarely happens that you’ll start here. And if you do, you’ll be a 1099 employee. And if you don’t have startup money, it can be very tough for a recent grad. So my suggestion is you to get into tech sales. And I was like, alright cool. And he gave me his business card. We connected on LinkedIn, really nice guy.
[00:09:34]I talked to him.
[00:09:34] Chris Corcoran: [00:09:34] Got to.
[00:09:35] Micah Asohan: [00:09:35] Um, So from that experience, once I graduated from Ferris definitely looked at tech sales and had started applying like crazy. I had a friend of mine who also graduated from Ferris the year prior, had moved out to DC and actually still works for HITT Construction. and so he had a roommate leave and he’s like, you’re just graduating.
[00:09:57] are your thoughts on coming out to DC and being my roommate and, you’ll get a job pretty quickly. And I was like, sure I’m all about it. Let’s go full speed ahead.
[00:10:05] Micah Asohan: [00:10:05] So once I got to DC, I started applying like crazy had a few interviews, one with ADP which I really wanted because it was an AE position. But looking back now, I wasn’t ready for that. So I’m glad that, they had passed on me. but then I had interviewed with a company called Workbridge, which did tech recruiting.
[00:10:23] and then they also had job spring and then they were under the umbrella of motion recruitment partners. So there did really well. Had to do a presentation. So I actually did it on ADP cause I’d had all this information I had studied for that interview. And I remember the district manager was like, why did you pick ADP for your presentation?
[00:10:42] I was like, well, I really liked the solution. And, I recently interviewed with them as well, so I had a lot of information. And then he said, who do you think is their biggest competitor? I said, Oh, Paycom. And he’s like, well, why do you think that? And I gave him my reasons.
[00:10:55] He’s like, I like your answers. We actually used ADP and now we use Paycom. Like we switched over. So it worked out really well, like the conversation that I had with them. They really liked me. So, started working in tech recruiting, I was on a team that recruited network security professionals, system administrators, and then like higher level telecommunication engineers.
[00:11:15]And it was all right. I learned a lot. They did a lot of training there, which was good. But it just wasn’t a good fit for me personally. I did feel good that I broke into a couple of accounts that they were trying to get into really bad and they couldn’t. And then, sometimes it just takes a new person emailing or calling.
[00:11:33] And so I had gotten us into a company up in Maryland and we did multiple placements there, right. We did a couple of placements and we were set to do more, and then HR stepped in. they approved the first two. And then after that we wanted to do more, but the hiring manager was just really difficult to work with.
[00:11:53] He was looking for perfect. And so we actually had to sit down and have a conversation with him and say, “We understand that you want good employees, but what can you train? What can someone learn from being here? Because everything you’re asking for us, it’s like, you’re looking for the perfect person and perfect doesn’t exist.”
[00:12:11] So you are going to have to train them on a few things. We had that heart to heart, but we didn’t end up doing any more placements there. So I did a couple of random placements. And the role that I had there was neat in the sense that I had to pick up my jobs and place them. Some recruiting firms, you do one or the other, they’re large firms.
[00:12:29] And. almost preferred it that way, because I learned so much of sales and the process of recruiting. I’m glad it was done that way, but I can see how difficult it was.
[00:12:41] Marc Gonyea: [00:12:41] I’m impressed on your level of detail. Corcoran, he’s like, is it LeBron who could remember all the plays? He can remember the play from the playoff game five years ago and what the score was and who he passed the ball into. Micah is like breaking down, I mean, you left memoryBlue almost seven years ago.
[00:12:55] This is like eight years ago. You’re breaking down like the X’s and the O’s of the search assignment that you did.
[00:13:01]Micah Asohan: [00:13:01] Yeah. Just, things I’m passionate about, the memory sticks. And it was just such a pivotal point in my life, such an important time in my life, that I’ll have these memories forever.
[00:13:12]Marc Gonyea: [00:13:12] Impressive. All right. So keep talking. So you were at Workbridge, and then at some point you came over to memoryBlue.
[00:13:18]Micah Asohan: [00:13:18] Yep. So at Workbridge to be completely technical, I was let go. It wasn’t a good fit. We both realized that which is a huge blow to the ego. But I’m glad we’re talking about this because can’t be the only one that’s ever felt like this. Right. So there are people listening. You’ve been let go from a job. It’s not really about being let go. It’s really what you do after that. so about, I want to say six to eight months in the company. Let me go. remember I was in Austin. I jumped on the metro, rode it back to the apartment I was living in and just flopped on my bed.
[00:13:55] it’s like, what do I do now? I didn’t want to move back to Michigan. I knew there wasn’t any big opportunity for me out there, me personally. And so I said, all right, pick yourself up, go get another job. You can do this. So I just started applying like crazy all over. Fortunately with DC living, I had a weekend job that I was able to pick up extra hours to keep me out there.
[00:14:17] And I was let go around, tax season. So I was able to get my tax return back and that really helped. And I know that sounds crazy, but everything aligned perfectly for me to stay. So I was applying around like crazy, got an offer from a car dealership, took it because I just needed a job.
[00:14:34] But I had also gotten an interview with memoryBlue and I remember talking to Tiana (Bell). I remember talking to her and just loving everything she was saying about the company. Did my research on your website, obviously, at the time. and I remember she’s like, well, you’ve got to take this test.
[00:14:49] then based off your answers, then we can move forward or not. And I’m like, well, I’m going on a cruise. And then I had booked this cruise with my best friend from college cause we made a plan. After we graduated, we go on a cruise. So we’d booked this like a year in advance and I’m like, well, I’m not gonna not go on this cruise,
[00:15:04] although I just lost my job. So I don’t feel like I deserve a cruise, but I’m not gonna not go.
[00:15:09] Marc Gonyea: [00:15:09] No. You’re going.
[00:15:11]Micah Asohan: [00:15:11] I was like, yeah, I’ll do this test right before I leave. And then when I get back, we’ll talk about the results. I take this test and it gets submitted and I’m just sweating bullets.
[00:15:20] I’m like, I hope I answered those to their liking. But I literally took the test the night before I left. So then next morning I leave, go on this cruise, go to the Cayman Islands, went to Jimmy’s. It was amazing. It was what I needed. A lot of sunshine, a lot of pina coladas. a really good time with my best friend and came back feeling amazing, rejuvenated, energized.
[00:15:44] So I come back. I talked to Tiana. You did amazing. You did really well on the test. You can move forward to an interview. I was like, thank God. This is great news. So then I come into memoryBlue. I interviewed with Nimit (Bhatt). Mike Mishler was there. He interviewed
[00:15:57] Marc Gonyea: [00:15:57] Miss Fishdaddy
[00:15:59] Micah Asohan: [00:15:59] Yeah.
[00:16:00] Marc Gonyea: [00:16:00] He was mentioned often on this podcast.
[00:16:04] Micah Asohan: [00:16:04] He’s an OG. So, I interviewed with, yeah, Nimit and Mike, and then, I want to say Ryan. I’m so sorry. I’m forgetting who this is female. Yes, three of them, eh, cause they all needed an SDR. so I interviewed, and I wasn’t sure how the interview went. I liked the interview but they were hard to read.
[00:16:26] So then I did my role play and Nimit loved it. Nimit’s like you are the first person I’ve interviewed that brought in a script you. He’s like you typed out a script. I was like, yes. And he’s like, wow. Didn’t tell me right away, of course. He didn’t want to show all those cards.
[00:16:43] But later he told me you’re the first person to do that. No one’s ever done that. Everybody does on the fly. And I was like, no, I really wanted this opportunity. So I took it as serious as possible and creating the script in my mind was serious. So role play. They liked what they heard. they gave me critique on where I could tighten up.
[00:17:00]And then a few days later that you guys had made the offer and obviously I accepted it. It was a no brainer. I went into the car dealership, told them, I’m sorry, I got to take back offer. I’ve got an opportunity doing exactly what I want to be doing. And so they understood.
[00:17:15] Chris Corcoran: [00:17:15] You gotta tell us, before you talked wanting to burn a bridge and talking to the Manager of the car dealership and what he said, that’s a very important to share with the listeners.
[00:17:26] Micah Asohan: [00:17:26] Yeah. So I walked into the car dealership a day before I started at memoryBlue And I asked for the manager, he was busy doing some training and came up to me and we walked into his office. He closed the door. And I said, “Hey, listen, I got another opportunity doing something a lot more related to my degree in something I’m more passionate about.
[00:17:43] And so I’m really sorry, but I’m going to have to, take back my offer with you guys.” And he paused and he looked at me and.
[00:17:49] he goes, “Micah. He’s like, I appreciate you coming in and telling coming in and telling me this, most people just don’t show up or they’ll call me over the phone. The fact that you’re standing here in person says a lot about you, and I wish you only the best in this role that you’ve taken good luck. And I’ll never forget that.
[00:18:06]Chris Corcoran: [00:18:06] Got to break up the right way.
[00:18:07]Micah Asohan: [00:18:07] Exactly. I wanted to be respected. And the only way I could be respected by him was going to him face-to-face and telling him, I’m going to have to take back my offer. I found some that was a better fit. So I think we both understood and it left us, I think, both feeling a lot better about the whole situation.
[00:18:24]Chris Corcoran: [00:18:24] Show’s maturity.
[00:18:25]Micah Asohan: [00:18:25] Yes. And at the time, I was going through a lot growing up and learning my way through DC. And what I wanted to do for a career. So.
[00:18:33]Chris Corcoran: [00:18:33] Great. So you joined memoryBlue. What team were you on and what clients were you working?
[00:18:38] Micah Asohan: [00:18:38] Yes, I joined Nimit’s team. I was really stoked. I came on board and he introduced me to Mark Musatano.
[00:18:46] Marc Gonyea: [00:18:46] Musatano.
[00:18:48]Micah Asohan: [00:18:48] That guy, man. He also was amazing in the development of Micah Asohan, right? He did a lot for me. And so really grateful. Introduced me to Mark right away. Mark took me under his wing.
[00:19:01] Exactly what you guys called it, but it was like the mentorship program. And so. additional compensation, mentoring people. And so Mark was my mentor, but he also helped me a lot outside of the 9-5, answering questions. How do I do this and this me prep for my Sandler presentation which I think is amazing that you guys do that.
[00:19:20] It helps the SDRs get comfortable presenting because at some point, if you’re not going to be an SDR lifer, you are gonna have to present. And so, glad that you guys do that. So I started a Nimit’s team, met Mark. He was mentoring me, prepping my Sandler presentation. And I took on Thundercat Technologies, is a VAR for the government space, for anybody that doesn’t know, on VCFO which was a recruiting firm in Texas. I think looking back now, Nimit only hired me because he wanted to finish out that basket of PPMs.
[00:19:55] Marc Gonyea: [00:19:55] Yeah.
[00:19:58] Micah Asohan: [00:19:58] But you know, rightfully so he played his cards, right. He got a former recruiter and we closed out that basket. That was such a fun client too, I enjoyed working for VCFO. It wasn’t easy. I didn’t just walk in and, finish all the meetings, but I did have a leg up on everybody else who didn’t have recruiting experience, which I don’t think most of the SDRs that were there did.
[00:20:19] So VCFO took on Verisign, which was one of the coolest the clients, ’cause we get to visit them on site. And I did like working with them. They did continue their contract. We’ll talk a little bit more about that in a minute. and then I worked for Fortinet. Got on the Fortinet. Thank God. I loved all my clients, but when they were like, do you want to work the Fortinet I was like, yes. I had heard really good things from Anna. I do not remember her last name. I’m so sorry.
[00:20:52] Micah Asohan: [00:20:52] Anna was on the Fortinet account and only saying their praises. but she’d gotten either hired out by our client or took on a new one. So when they asked Nate and I to do Fortinet, I said a thousand percent, yes.
[00:21:03] I want to learn everything I can about Fortinet. They look really neat. The research I’ve done thus far looks good. And then one other client I had during Fortinet was Infogix and what they did was so cool. Like they had software that would scan systems to make sure if I was trying to sign up for a cell phone plan with a
[00:21:26] Marc Gonyea: [00:21:26] Yeah,
[00:21:26] Micah Asohan: [00:21:26] Person’s social security number that would fight the system sad that happens, but it does. And so fact that they have software out there to eliminate the amount of, bad sign ups for cell phones, helped protect carriers. And so I really loved that I had them as a client because.
[00:21:46] Marc Gonyea: [00:21:46] Those guys are still a client by the way.
[00:21:48] Micah Asohan: [00:21:48] That’s amazing. They were ahead of their time too. Because they wanted to offer a drone for, for a meeting. we’re doing that at Fortinet like two years ago, whereas Infogix was doing it as soon as drones were made. They’re like, hell, let’s send them a $300 drone for a meeting. So love Infogix.
[00:22:03] They were really fun to work with. Their product was really good. And it’s funny, my life’s coming full circle, because in my role today, I’m a BDR manager for carriers at Fortinet. we currently work with all the major carriers, but we want to do more work with them, because you can imagine Verizon having multiple, multi-million-dollar data centers, you got to secure all of that.
[00:22:25] Right? So in my role today, we work with a lot of carriers. And so, having some of that familiarity with Infogix and working with Sprint they wanted to get into all the major carriers. that’s good to hear that they’re still a client. And that was one of the last clients I worked with before getting an offer out from Fortinet.
[00:22:43]Marc Gonyea: [00:22:43] So we worked at Verisign. For whatever reason, Verisign went away. Did you wanna talk about that?
[00:22:48]Micah Asohan: [00:22:48] Yeah, I’d actually love to. So Verisign, when they onboarded, they were so cool. Like we went to go visit them at their HQ. I’m pretty sure it was in Herndon. Anita Obassi and I were on that
[00:22:59] Marc Gonyea: [00:22:59] Anita Woo.
[00:23:01] Micah Asohan: [00:23:01] Anita. And for those know, Anita and I actually drove from DC to Austin when we moved to the office. We drove together, we road-tripped it together.
[00:23:10] We played country music. We played EDM music. It was great. It was so much fun. So shout out to Anita, my ride or die at the time.
[00:23:18] Marc Gonyea: [00:23:18] She’s awesome. She got hired by Infogix that down the road.
[00:23:21] Micah Asohan: [00:23:21] Yeah.
[00:23:22] Marc Gonyea: [00:23:22] Yep.
[00:23:23] Micah Asohan: [00:23:23] So we onboard at Verisign. They were like the cool company because they did security for websites and that sort of thing. That was just a division of their entire. They also did DDoS, which was really important and still is today, because any company that spends a minute down could be millions in lost profits.
[00:23:42] So Versign was really cool. We visited their HQ. We met with marketing first. we met with engineering to, he dumbed it down for us, made it more sales related. So super cool. And then met with like their head of sales that had brought Verisign on. He grilled us, how many dials are you making?
[00:24:03] How many emails are you sending? Who’s responding? What are they saying? He grilled us, which was good. That was good for us to experience that because at some point in your life, you’re going to be challenged. so where some people might be like, man, that guy really grilled us, I just saw it as an opportunity to show him and Nimit prepared me for that too. It was Nimit and I, and Anita went on-site. So he grilled us. We answered everything the best we could. Anita had West Coast and I had East Coast, and we just split the central region. And I’ll never forget, I got them a meeting with the CISO of NBC Universal. It’s probably one of the wildest meetings I ever got at memoryBlue and it was onsite too. So they were stoked. When you get 30 minutes with the CISO of NBC Universal and you do DDoS protection, you do website encryption, all that stuff. So we had booked that. We’re super stoked about it. And in a week before it was supposed to go down, they cut their contract out of nowhere.
[00:25:01] Nimit and I were discussing and I was like why? And he’s like, they didn’t really give a good reason. We’re still uncertain on that one, but, Nimit did everything he could. Pretty sure he probably worked with you guys on, like, what do I say, do we come back from this?
[00:25:16] But they had made up their mind and had decided to part ways. So this day, I don’t know what happened with that meeting. I’m assuming they showed up, or I would hope that they showed up and that they are working together or did work together. But yeah, so that was my experience with the Verisign group.
[00:25:32] I still am LinkedIn with Lynn, their marketer and with some folks over there. they still have a great product. Nothing but respect for them over there. I’m just, not really sure what happened with that one.
[00:25:42]Marc Gonyea: [00:25:42] That’s all right. That happens in all that prep work working with for that client. It got you ready for Fortinet.
[00:25:47]Micah Asohan: [00:25:47] Absolutely.
[00:25:48] Marc Gonyea: [00:25:48] And Fortinet came, but let’s talk about the move. So you moved from Michigan to DC. And then an opportunity came up to move to Austin. And Nimit told me that you were the first person to raise his hand or her hand their hand and say, I’m in.
[00:26:02]Micah Asohan: [00:26:02] Yup. So during my interview process, and like one of my first days, had told me there was a big desire to open up a second office in Austin, Texas. And he’s like, would you be willing to relocate or just, consider it? And I was like done like, wait, what. I was like done. I love perspective.
[00:26:21] I love traveling and new challenges. I’d love to go. And, at the time I’d gone through a bad breakup. So I was looking to get out of DC. I hadn’t gotten in any trouble with the law necessarily, but was partying a little hard on the weekends. And so I wanted kinda like some fresh air and I thought moving to Austin would be a good idea.
[00:26:43] I had never been to Texas before, I heard it was definitely hot. I wanted to make that decision for myself. I’m like, I’ll decide if it’s too hot, right? So I told Nimit I’m ready to go. He’s like, all right. I remember so distinctly, Nimit uses his hands a lot and he’s like, it’s not decided yet.
[00:27:01]We haven’t signed the paperwork with the office down there yet. It’s just, we’re just talking about it. I was like, all right, well, whether you sign or not, I’m in. He just like, just calm down. Okay. Hold your horses.
[00:27:12] Marc Gonyea: [00:27:12] You were at Nimit’s wedding, right?
[00:27:14] Micah Asohan: [00:27:14] Yeah. Yep. I was at the bachelor party in Kentucky for the Derby, which I’m so thankful that I got the invite and I went down there.
[00:27:22] I’m not that far from Kentucky and Michigan. So I actually just drove down and we had a blast. It was so much fun that, part of Kentucky and then being there at the Derby.
[00:27:31]Marc Gonyea: [00:27:31] Micah, before we moved back on Texas. There’s one thing we haven’t mentioned this in the podcast yet, but it’s one of my favorite events at memoryBlue. And I think it’s one of your favorite memories from the, at least in the Virginia office. You’ve got favorite memories from Virginia and from Texas.
[00:27:43] What’s your favorite memory from the Virginia office?
[00:27:45]Micah Asohan: [00:27:45] I love this question. So my favorite memory to this day, and I’ll always remember, this, is when you guys rented out the pirate ship or the ship that took us around Georgetown. That was so much fun. And I remember like, the comradery and like how many people attended, because sometimes in a company or even at department, you can come up with a great idea, but at the end of the day, we all have family. We all have lives. And so, some are more successful than others, but it felt like everyone from the office was there. Even if that wasn’t the case, that’s what it felt like in that moment. And so I can describe every second of the way that I felt, and it was all good, right?
[00:28:25] Like, got it to work a little bit early that day, went home, changed into more casual clothing, met up with Will Foreman met up with.
[00:28:36] Will Foreman. Oh man. What a baller? He used to sit next to me. So like Shima Urama. Shima was my dude. He and I got along really well.
[00:28:46] Meeting up with them. And I remember were standing there the ship was coming in and obviously, it went into the night, so it got dark. But we started, the sun was setting, it was just beautiful ambiance, and we’re out in the water and we had drinks, we had some appetizers and some food, we had good music. And it was just a really good chance for me to meet people in the department that I hadn’t. Because with the training
[00:29:11] Marc Gonyea: [00:29:11] Yeah.
[00:29:11] Micah Asohan: [00:29:11] the clients that I had, I kind of liked to stay with my group.
[00:29:15] So that was a good chance for me to meet other people, cause it’s not peep dialing hours. You’re not trying to hit your quota and have meetings with your clients, so really fun time. And was definitely my best memory. So we did the tour around got to meet a lot of people. I think you guys had someone taking photos, so there’s a lot of cool photos that came from that. And then a small group of us actually went out for drinks afterwards. I don’t remember the name of the place, but we went to a bar/restaurant where I think JFK and Jackie, there’s a booth that they sat in. I don’t remember the name of the place.
[00:29:49] Marc Gonyea: [00:29:49] Rich and vivid descriptions. All right. So you ended up in Austin and then let’s talk a little bit about the job then we’ll turn, maybe transition into Fortinet. As you’re developing your game, as a sales development rep, as a professional, what was your calling card?
[00:30:03] Like, what were you good at, when you’re booking meetings for your client on the phone?
[00:30:06]Micah Asohan: [00:30:06] Yeah, I would say early on with Thundercat Technologies and VCFO was really good at objection handling because they hammered that at, when I was recruiting. And so I was able to pivot really well. And the biggest reason I was able to do that with so many nos was so hard on me.
[00:30:26] Like, picking up the jobs and then placing them, And so when I was recruiting. I had a lot of people hang up on me. A lot of people, like, I don’t know who you are, I’m not familiar with the company, or have HR to do that, I don’t need you, and a lot of hang ups. So when I was working with my clients at memoryBlue, it wasn’t as much hanging up, but it was, don’t have the budget right now, or I have HR or, we have solutions, or we do work with the VAR.
[00:30:54] So I was able to overcome those with a lot of the training that I got from Nimit, from Mark. And so a specific example, right? Like Thundercat Technologies, I would call into DOD, right. Or one of the departments. And Oh, we already use a VAR. And it’s like, that’s great. A lot of the departments that we work with, they have multiple VARs.
[00:31:14] And the reason they do that is because they want to make sure they’re getting the best pricing and building relationships. So, I don’t want to sell you anything Mr. or Mrs. Customer today, but I want to, build a bridge for you to open up another VAR that, you’d be able to call up, and then get pricing and compare quotes, and then, using logic then they’re like, “Oh, well that makes sense.”
[00:31:36] Then, they would take a meeting. I will say Thundercat Technologies because it was government, and I’m pretty sure they’re required to evaluate a lot. They were the easier sell. VCFO was the hardest sell at the time, it was right back to my recruiting roots. But I was able to pivot on some of their objections.
[00:31:53] Like we have HR. And it’s like, that’s great. A lot of the clients we’re currently work with have HR, but I understand that those software development roles are really hard to fill because, you may only need them for a contracted period of time or they work with technologies that the common HR person isn’t able to understand.
[00:32:13] I mean, hell I don’t even understand it, right. isn’t a recruiting firm like VCFO. They are skilled in being able to source candidates that are great fit for your company, so I was able to pivot really well. So I’d say one of my strengths at the time was objection handling and I wasn’t perfect by any means.
[00:32:33] I still got hung up on still get out of certain calls. But coming into memoryBlue with the training and the former knowledge I had at Workbridge, was a beautiful combination of me just being sick and tired of being told no so much at recruiting that I was like, I’m not taking no for an answer.
[00:32:48] I can’t tell you guys how many times I’d call people back that would hang up on me. I, I had to do that when I recruited. So I brought that, spunk in tenacity memoryBlue and I’d call people back all the time that hung up on me. Hey, I think we got disconnected. And they would either not answer or hang back up and I’ve booked meetings from that.
[00:33:06]I’ve had people like, hang up on me. Hey, I think we got disconnected. And they’re like, no, I hung up and then they’re just quiet. And then you got to talk to them. You’ve got to figure out a way, are you going to say? Take a step back. And like, I understand you may be a little irritated.
[00:33:24] Maybe, now is not a good time, I was just calling in reference to, VCFO if you’re not familiar, recruiting company go from there and put them at ease and just go for it. So a little bit of advice for any SDRs out there. If anybody hangs up on you, call them back, don’t be scared.
[00:33:41] Marc Gonyea: [00:34:44] So Fortinet came into your life and it’s over seven years later, if you include how long you’ve been working with them, and you’re still working there. So tell us a little bit about what Fortinet does, because I know you said earlier, when you believe in something, you can sell it.
[00:34:57]So just walk us through what Fortinet does briefly, and then talk to us about the transition to go work for them, how that occurred.
[00:35:02]Micah Asohan: [00:35:02] Yeah, absolutely. So Fortinet, we’re the third largest cybersecurity company globally. A lot of people know us for our next generation firewalls. We have them on-prem and in the cloud. They’re in all the major cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, Google, Oracle Cloud. and then we have a lot more than that.
[00:35:20] We do a lot more than that. So we have switches, we have wireless security. We acquired Meru Networks back in the day, and built that just into our Fortinet wireless. we have email security. We have a SIEM tool. We have a network access control tools store. we just acquired Opaq to make a sassy solution.
[00:35:39] And then our most recent acquisition was Panopta. So we do all things, cybersecurity. We have endpoint protection as well. We acquired a company called enSilo. made really nice strategic acquisitions over the years typically about a year and a half at a time. And so since I’ve been with the company several acquisitions that all made sense, and we took the proper amount of time to bake their technology into ours.
[00:36:04] And the reason I liked Fortinet so much was reading their story. So our CEO can he’s very passionate about what we do that shows in our products. And for the longest time we were like, product is so good, it was selling itself. And it is a great product but we also need a good combination of marketing and product engineering.
[00:36:27] So, luckily over the last so many years, we’ve grown our marketing department and we’ve been able to tell a good story of our, we call it the Fortinet security fabric, and the reason they call it that, cause it like blankets the network. So.
[00:36:41] Marc Gonyea: [00:36:41] Nice. Okay. so you were on the campaign, just walk us through, going to work for them. And talk a little bit about your career passing and coordinate.
[00:36:47]Micah Asohan: [00:36:47] Yeah. So I got on the account and I passed it over. And I had calls with Anthony Jones over at Fortinet, who is actually still here today. Um, and Joe Sykora.
[00:36:58] Marc Gonyea: [00:36:58] Joe Sykora.
[00:37:00] Micah Asohan: [00:37:00] I’ll never forget this. Like three years ago, I was in New York. It just so happened to fall on the Fortinet New York Christmas party and Joe Sykora stands up on a table in the bar that we’re at, to make an announcement raffling off a couple of Apple products like Apple TV, and an iPad.
[00:37:14] And he stands up on the table and does the announcing clank in his glass. And it was funny and I’m like that right there. Just that’s Joe Sykora, if you’re ever wondering. Great guy. he is not at Fortinet anymore, but he was one of the OGs when I had started on the account. So talked to Joe Sykora, Anthony Jones, and then Tara Borbon at the time was like a team lead.
[00:37:33] She would end up taking over the team, but she helped me a lot as far as learning the products, and to me about the process that they wanted to do. So getting list of leads and then calling the list. And, you know, at the time it’s crazy to think that a lot of people would say Forti who. They would say Fortinet.
[00:37:52] So it’s wild to see like seven years ago Forti who, to today where it’s like 99% of everybody we call knows who we are, or at least a little bit of what we do. So, learned as much as I could about Fortinet at the time. Today we have over 32 different solutions. At the time, I think we had more like 20.
[00:38:12] We didn’t have as many. When I started, we were about a 3,500 company and today next year we’ll be boasting around 8,000 globally. So we’ve grown exponentially. so, learning as much as I could about the products, which ones to lead with, to get meetings so we could land and expand and did really well with the account.
[00:38:32] We did a mix of booking meetings and then event registrations, ’cause they really wanted to drive attendance to these webinars. They would do these events, cause we could congregate back then. Don’t know if you guys are familiar, but we had the FortiTruck which was a 16 wheeler had a showroom inside.
[00:38:49] That was super cool at the time.
[00:38:50] Marc Gonyea: [00:38:50] I see it, see it everywhere you go, there’s security trade shows.
[00:38:53]Micah Asohan: [00:38:53] That was awesome. I got to see it when it was in Dallas and it came to Austin. And it’s really me. So we would drive attendance for that. And I just remember working the Central And then we had to say, I think I worked Central and East then Nate Real worked West.
[00:39:11] So we were the two Fortinet guys. Nate was very like, or wanting to be very strategic in his approach. He was very thoughtful about his process. So he’d always want to sync up and talk about like what’s working, what’s not, what are you hearing from people, which was really helpful at the time.
[00:39:30] It was good to constantly go over that. I don’t know how SDRs today feel about that, but for me personally, the way that I learn is to go over what’s working. And so the fact that you guys had, I think it was every Wednesday, pull your best call and your worst call, and we go over it together. That has shaped my sales career a lot.
[00:39:48] That was very helpful. And I’m glad that’s something that we did. So outside of that, Nate would want to team up. We almost have like daily syncs to just, what are you hearing, what are people saying. So that was good. So book them a lot of meetings. I’m pretty sure I always sit my quota with them or exceeded at and then the time came I had moved from DC to Austin to help open up that office. And so Anita and I jumped in my like 2000 Mountaineer and drove down to Austin, open up the office. So once we were in their cubicles, all set up, computer set up, working with Fortinet and they had some needs because they wanted to build out their own BDR team internally.
[00:40:32]So they followed the neat model that you guys have and you guys worked out an agency fee with them and they picked up Nate and I to come on board full time. And I think that was like my sixth month with memoryBlue. I heard someone got picked up in like a week, but was definitely happy for the process and my time at memoryBlue.
[00:40:54] So they made Nate and I an offer. At the time we were roommates in Austin. So we just modeled out our living room to look like an office. And it was really cool. We had desks next to each other. We had our Fortifones that they sent us, the firewall they sent us and all of our gear. And so we, yeah, we would just complete dials from there.
[00:41:12] We each took a region. I stayed in North central. And Nate took South central and they had some BDRs internally. When I started it, it was a team of like five and then next quarter, next year, we’ll boast a team of around 96 BDRs in North America.
[00:41:27]Chris Corcoran: [00:41:27] Wow. memoryBlue and you were in Austin and then how long did you and Nate live together? And then kind of walk us through what’s happened since.
[00:41:34]Micah Asohan: [00:41:34] Yeah, so Nate and I had signed a year lease. He broke his six months because he really wanted to get out to California. He loved the West coast. He loved the weather. He loved GB. He wanted to be at HQ because he felt like the opportunity would be better for him to network with VPs and get promoted to the field,
[00:41:53] ’cause that was a big aspiration of his. So I supported it, supported a fellow memoryBlue alumni, and I said, anything I can do to help. But cutting our leases early, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. So he ended up paying like the difference of our lease. And then I got a one bedroom by myself and he moved out to California to work for Fortinet.
[00:42:14] And I stayed an additional year, in my one bedroom in North Texas. I was still in Austin, but it was more like Anderson Mill area, like 183. So I was about 20 minutes from downtown and so I’d set up. The apartment I got had a nice little cubby for like an office. And so I’d set up all my Fortinet gear there and had dialed out of there for a year.
[00:42:35] And so then at that point I had been with the company two years, total, including memoryBlue time. And they had an opening for an account manager in Michigan. And I had wanted to move back because for a few different reasons. I wanted to move back to be closer to my family. wanted to become an account manager at Fortinet and I had recently met someone that also lived in Michigan, and wanted to see romantically where that would go.
They flew me out to New York, they rolled out the red carpet. It was around Christmas time. This is referencing the story with Joe Sykora jumping on the table to make the announcement. They flew me out last minute.
[00:43:13] I stayed only one night in New York. I interviewed with two of our VPs at One Penn Plaza where we have an office. That office is really cool by the way, insane views. But I went and interviewed with them and it was hard to read one of the two VPs. Other VP was really nice. And I told them all the BDR work I’d been doing in my prior experience at memoryBlue.
[00:43:33] Did everything I could to convince them. I was their guy for the role. They asked me, would you be willing to move back to Michigan on your own dime? I was like, I already signed a lease in Michigan. And they’re like, “Oh, so you’re serious about this.” I was like, yes, I’m moving back to Michigan regardless of this, promotion or not.
[00:43:49] And they’re like, okay, we’ll get back to you. We had lunch later that day. And then I flew back to Texas loaded up all my stuff and then drove back to Michigan. So two weeks later, I’m in Michigan and I asked for an update and they had decided to go with another candidate, someone within the company had wanted it, so they had moved roles and had taken the position.
[00:44:09] So if you’d asked me, was I disappointed? Definitely. But did I understand the situation? Definitely as well. If anything, I’ve been really understanding at my time at Fortinet and in sales because as a manager today, you definitely want the best talent on your team and you want the right people for the role.
[00:44:25] And so if they felt like I wasn’t the right person, then I trust their judgment and it’s no hard feelings here. I moved back. I’ve worked for Fortinet remote this entire time.
[00:44:35] When I started, I was working the North central patch. I did enterprise and commercial. So I was calling on companies that were a hundred million in revenue and higher. Our enterprise companies, that we consider here at Fortinet a billion plus. So, like GM Ford, Food Service, those companies.
[00:44:54]So I booked a meetings for those, did really well. Always hit my quota to my knowledge and then was asked to do SLED. anyone that’s not familiar, SLED is just a State and Local Government and Education. And it covers K-12 and universities and colleges Fortinet really wanted to build out their presence.
[00:45:14]We were lagging behind in SLED at the time. And so they were throwing a lot of resources at it. They were like, we want to build this, as a we’re missing out on a big market. And at the time we were. For anyone that’s not familiar, if you’re a K-12 you are eligible. A lot of schools are eligible to receive funds from the government to purchase technology.
[00:45:36] Including security. So this is a huge market that we’re missing out on because we were just relying on local account managers call on K-12 and universities. But when you have a hundred plus accounts, when you have a thousand accounts, to put priority to the ones that are ready to buy, et cetera, et cetera.
[00:45:55] So when they did that they came to me and they’re like, you’re one of our more seasoned BDRs. Will you do SLED for, we called it Ohio Valley. So it was the Dakotas and Iowa, all the way to Ohio. And I was like, sure. I love a good challenge. It’s like the next person. they did so much training.
[00:46:14] We hired a SLED director for Fortinet who’s still here. And then we had an area director and they started dedicating account managers to SLED and giving them SLED specific accounts. And so I was the BDR for that. It was a lot of fun. It was really challenging though. I wasn’t like smashing my quota like before.
[00:46:32]So it was a very humbling experience. But I really liked it and I did well. got us meetings with some pretty large accounts. I don’t know if I can reference them specifically, but some pretty large accounts in Michigan and Indiana. so got us some really nice meetings, some that went to like half a million dollar proof of concepts.
[00:46:50] Unfortunately it didn’t close win but did well with some of the universities and then K-12. a lot of them, if you’re not familiar some K-12 are so large, you have. students. That’s like a medium sized business, certain areas where they may, they may be underdeveloped.
[00:47:10]Some schools are getting like 90% discount. If a firewall was a million dollars, they would only have to pay a hundred thousand. So it was really neat how they do all of that. So I did SLED for about a year and towards the end, it got really tough. I was always about setting quality meetings.
[00:47:27]I never wanted to set a meeting just to like, get us in front of them. I always wanted an agenda. You always want that close win. And so towards the end it was tough but it was still rewarding. So did SLED then I was approached to become a BDR manager and sure if I wanted to do it but much like Texas and anything, won’t know until I try. I stepped up to the plate and I said, sure, I’d love to up until I took over my boss who my director who lives in California would have to fly out to Ottawa once a quarter. Sometimes more for training, he’s got Micah, this resource in Michigan, who’s a skip and a hop over to Ottawa.
[00:48:07] And so it made perfect sense. So I was able to get a promotion out of it. It was an amazing experience. I love peeps to the North of respect for the people in Canada. Have a couple of offices throughout Canada.
[00:48:21] Marc Gonyea: [00:48:21] Before I forget about this. You need to tell us the story of when you qualified for President’s Club.
[00:48:27]Micah Asohan: [00:48:27] Oh yeah. Okay. I’ll take a quick step back. So before I was offered a position as a BDR manager of Canada and actually right before SLED when I was doing enterprise and commercial, I was reaching out to a prospect I had booked a meeting with this prospect. I’ve been trying to reach them forever and they were just not giving me the time and day through call.
[00:48:48] And finally, after like a third or fourth email, they finally replied and they’re like, “Hey Micah, sorry, I’ve been swamped, but want to evaluate your products. Can you get me a firewall to do some testing?” And I was like, absolutely. I do need you to sign this agreement form, just saying, that you’re taking this for testing purposes.
[00:49:06] So he signed the paperwork and I let my account manager know. And because it was a large enterprise company, the engineer actually took the device with them and met with the client on site configure it. It spent a good hour or two with them. I think they might’ve went out to lunch and really did his due diligence.
[00:49:24] So of course that went yes to opportunity. I created the opportunity in the system and then I let them roll with it, because that’s just the role here. You book a good meeting and move on to the next right. So I had forgotten about it. And I want to say like four or five months later, I checked up on it just because of the size of the company.
[00:49:44] And it had went to one and a half million dollars and I was like, Holy crap. Like, that’s amazing. That’s good for me, good for the account manager. I’m like, this is the largest meeting that I have set, it wasn’t closed one yet. So I was like, all right, I’ll keep an eye on this one. I’ll look at this one once a month to make sure it closes.
[00:50:01] So, that summer of that year, it was 2017 my wife and I, she was my girlfriend at the time, we’d went to Minnesota to visit some friends for vacation. Then we came back and my boss had called me up and that deal had closed one. He’s like, did you book this meeting?
[00:50:21] And I was like, yeah. how did you get it? Did they like contact us on the website? I was like, no, I just had been hammering him through calls and emails. And he finally answered my email and our engineer went out and met with them, configured the firewall. They talked for a couple of hours. I think they grabbed lunch.
[00:50:36] He’s like, that’s amazing. He’s like, all right, cool. I got to go, but I’ll talk to you soon. I was like, okay. acting kind of funny. Later I found out the reason he was asking me about that is at the time we had just gotten a new Chief Marketing Officer. Her name is Stacey Wu, and she’s an amazing lady.
[00:50:52]She’s actually over at Everbridge now. But Stacey wanted to run an ROI or Return on Investment report on all of the BDRs, just to see like where we’re at, what type of deals we’re surfacing just to get better insight. So they were running the numbers and when they ran mine, mine was like some. Like 400 because they were running it on like what we get paid like what we’re bringing in from the meetings that we’re setting. Mine was like some 400 and she’s like, that can’t be right. Like that. That’s not real. She looked at Allen, my boss and she’s like, is that right?
[00:51:25] Alan’s like, yeah, Micah is one of our more tenured BDRs. He’s been here a really long time. And she’s like, as long as you can validate that, she’s like, I want to do something really nice for him. And he’s like, well, what did you have in mind? She’s like, I want to send him and a guest to President’s Club.
[00:51:41]And so after my boss had validated that deal with me, that booked meeting a few days later, he called me and he’s like, Micah, I’m really sorry. It’s short notice because it was the following week. He goes, but Stacey has asked me to invite you to President’s Club. And so the time, the way that President’s Club was you had to hit a certain number.
[00:52:01]For the account managers, you had to be the top dog of percentages. And some of those AMS were hitting 300% of quota. They were like, they were the best of the best. So you either got to President’s Club from being the best of the best, or it was invite as well from VPs. So, our CEO or CMO, you could be invited.
[00:52:19] So a few people were actually to go to President’s Club by invite. And so that’s, the reason that I went or that’s how came about, for me going. And then I’ll never forget we were at the one of the days we were there, we went to Vancouver. Is gorgeous. Did whale-watching, did a bicycle tour around the town.
[00:52:40]One of the days they did a dinner for us and I introduced my fiance to Stacey. She was like doting on me Elena in front of me. And like my face went right. But she was saying, typically it’s like the top 10%, but Micah is more of like the top 5%.
[00:52:58] Marc Gonyea: [00:52:58] Okay.
[00:52:58] Micah Asohan: [00:52:58] And her face goes like, yeah.
[00:53:00] Oh my God. You’re too kind. Our CMO pumping me up to my fiance. So it was just a fun time, all around. They did an amazing dinner for us. They did an award that night and then had a DJ and drinks and just a phenomenal time. Shout out to the French team. They can really break it down on the dance floor.
[00:53:19]Marc Gonyea: [00:53:19] That’s exciting. And that trip sounds like it was well-deserved.
[00:53:22] As we get to the modern day where you are with Fortinet, where are you looking to go next?
[00:53:29]Micah Asohan: [00:53:29] Yeah, absolutely. So, I was asked to be a manager, a BDR manager of Canada, and I wasn’t sure what it entailed, but I really wanted to see if I liked to see what it entailed. And it was an amazing experience. I’m still a BDR manager today. I like it for the most part. I hope that my BDRs really like me.
[00:53:48] Marc Gonyea: [00:53:48] You’ve got an alum that works for you, right?
[00:53:50]Micah Asohan: [00:53:50] Victor Montes-Saucedo works for me.
[00:53:53] Marc Gonyea: [00:53:53] Victor is an amazing employee. I saw that he worked for memoryBlue on a resume when we were hiring. I told the recruiter, I want to interview that person. So had a really good phone call. And then we did a zoom call and a stellar candidate, great employee.
[00:54:09] I really like having him my team. He handles our AT&T and then a few other smaller accounts. But he’s well liked by his account managers and his area director. So
[00:54:21]Chris Corcoran: [00:54:21] Hey, Micah, how many, BDRs do you oversee?
[00:54:23] Micah Asohan: [00:54:23] Today I only have three. I have a smaller team, but we’re pretty mighty team, because our smallest deals are in the six figures.
[00:54:30]Chris Corcoran: [00:54:30] Okay. so when you’re looking at to, hire a BDR share with our listeners, what you look for.
[00:54:36] Micah Asohan: [00:54:36] Yeah, absolutely. So, on top of the performance, hitting quota, grinding, all of that, one key thing that I look for, and I say this in interviews too, is BDR that takes initiative. And what I mean by that is, I want a BDR to feel like they can come to me and ask me a question, but I like if they exhaust finding it themselves first. ‘Cause that’s showing me that they’re taking the initiative to try to figure it out on their own. And it’s just something I picked up early on in my career. When I was a tech recruiter, my boss at the time told me, Micah, I really appreciate you, but I want you to exhaust every effort you can to find the answer before you ask me, because this will help you more self-sufficient.
[00:55:16] And so BDR that takes the initiative to learn our products. how to position them, learn how to pivot, right. Learn how to handle objections, BDRs that take that initiative. That speaks volumes to me. And the thing is like we don’t ask our BDRs to be engineers. That’s what we have engineers for.
[00:55:35] But we have data sheets on every single solution that we manufacturer, or service that we have. So go read the data sheet, they are one-page data sheets. Have a foundational understanding of what each solution does. So I really value BDRs that take initiative. That’s one quality that I would say that I look for when interviewing and bringing people onto my team.
[00:55:57]Other than that, I really like BDRs that are hardworking, anybody that works through college. That type of thing, that says a lot to me.
[00:56:05] Chris Corcoran: [00:56:05] What are your deal breakers?
[00:56:07]Micah Asohan: [00:56:07] Ugh… being late.
[00:56:09] If you’re late to an interview, you lost me. I’m a no automatically. Another deal breaker I look at is if they have like a side hustle, I don’t want them to get distracted. The reason being is because, I was in Austin, had things I did outside of Fortinet and I could see where that could distract someone.
[00:56:33] I prefer candidates to be focused on their role a 100%. I don’t want to discourage them from having a side hustle because honestly, in today’s world with YouTube and Instagram and people being able to monetize that, I want them to do what they’re passionate about. But if you have a side hustle, you better be giving me 110% when you’re here Monday through Friday.
[00:56:55]Chris Corcoran: [00:56:55] Excellent. And so what’s next for Micah?
[00:56:56]Micah Asohan: [00:56:56] Yes. So what’s next for me is right now I’m a BDR manager, but I’ve been offered a field role and selling our cloud solutions. I’ve spent the last two years I’ve had like a dual role. Been a BDR manager for our carrier team. Then as an individual contributor, I’ve been working closely with our cloud security team and loving it.
[00:57:17] And the previous year I traveled a lot for them. I went to different shows. I was at AWS their Public Sector Security show in DC. I was at Re:invent last year in Vegas. I was at Security Week in New York. I’ve traveled a lot for them, working our boosts and going to trainings.
[00:57:35] And I’m really excited for this next step. I’m just waiting for the ink to dry on paper. But looks like Q1 2021, I’ll be a field sales rep for Fortinet.
[00:57:47] Covering clouds, so official title, Cloud Sales Specialist. Stay tuned to see that change on LinkedIn. But yeah, so that’s, what’s next for me, I’ll be covering North Central territory and I’ll be tasked with growing our cloud security sales, which is really important right now.
[00:58:03]On our last earnings call, we kind of got deemed not being more visible in the industry to our cloud security. So. I’m ready to step up to the challenge. I love a good challenge, as you guys have probably gathered from previous roles, and the journey I’ve taken from Michigan to DC, to Texas back to Michigan.
[00:58:22] So I’m looking forward to the challenge and I’m just going to be a sponge. I’m going to soak up everything that I can on cloud and you know how to position us against our competitors and the business.
[00:58:34]Chris Corcoran: [00:58:34] Well, I’m looking forward to watching you in that new role and that new challenge. Congratulations.
[00:58:40] Micah Asohan: [00:58:40] Thank you.
[00:58:40]Marc Gonyea: [00:58:40] Well, Micah, let’s close this out with like a couple quick hits. And one of them is playing the long game. We’ve got staff of an alumni group of, hard charging, impatient high-achieving folks. And, you’ve played the long game quite successfully. I mean, you’ve been at Fortinet for nearly seven years-ish.
[00:59:00] Right? how have you been able to keep your eye on the prize? Not be distracted by like shiny objects that be other companies, other opportunities, so on and so forth. Could you speak with such passion about what you do there that I think it’s noticeable. So give us your take on that. The long game.
[00:59:16]Micah Asohan: [00:59:16] Yeah, no, that’s definitely a great question. And I think a lot of it comes back to my personality. even in high school, in college, you’ll notice on my resume, I was at a grocery store for five and a half years, then worked at a hospital and registration all throughout college. so, my former employers, there’s been some longevity.
[00:59:36] So I think me, as a person and my personality tends to be loyal to my employer. that has paid off, a lot. And to elaborate on that with Fortinet, doing things I never thought I would do, right. Fortinet has given me so many amazing opportunities to travel for work, to do trainings out in California, to work remote.
[01:00:00] So they have given me all the tools. They’ve given so much in my mind, I want to give back, I want to be successful here. know it’s different for different people, but, grew up with four other siblings and, we didn’t have a lot, we didn’t necessarily lack. Right?
[01:00:18] But we didn’t grow up with a lot, like some kids do. And so really value that loyalty and I value Fortinet has done for me. So in turn, I want to turn around and do that for them. And so the long game with Fortinet had a lot to do with my personality who I am. And so I would just say to any SDR out there, is thinking about playing the long game is think about the impact that you want to make and think about your potential.
[01:00:49] If it’s there, go for it. If it’s not, that’s when you should consider. So the potential at Fortinet has always been here, and I’ve always been able to move up in some fashion. So, I got passed up a few times for an account manager role because the hiring manager at the time didn’t see that I was a good fit and yeah, it was a huge blow to my ego and it wasn’t fun get passed up on. But looking back now, that they could see something
[01:01:15] I couldn’t that I just wasn’t ready. so instead of getting mad about it and leaving the company although I’d be lying if I say I thought about it wasn’t the right move for me. You need to do more with less in that situation and take a look at what you’re currently doing and be the best that you can at that, because it will not go unnoticed even in a large company like Fortinet.
[01:01:37] It will not go unnoticed. And so the two years that I put in and dedicated to cloud of VP, of cloud here at Fortinet notice that, and they’re the ones that push for me to
[01:01:47] get this role. if I want to read you the email that he wrote about me, I even got a little emotional.
[01:01:52] It was just so nice. The things that he wrote about me and the hard working work that I’ve done for cloud. And so, playing the long game for me was a no-brainer. But if there are some SDRs, out there that aren’t sure about playing the long game, just go back to, does this company align with your future career goals?
[01:02:10] If you’re not sure what they are, then definitely, figure that out. And if you can see the potential with them, then play the long game. But if you don’t, then that’s okay you should look to other opportunities. I was lucky in the sense that Fortinet gave me everything and I hope that they see that I gave them everything.
[01:02:28]Chris Corcoran: [01:02:28] One of the big themes that’s running through your career is that you have a history of impressing impressive people. And I think that’s what’s really led you to where you are.
[01:02:39]Micah Asohan: [01:02:39] Yup. I would agree with that. What’s interesting is, sometimes at the time, I didn’t know it was being looked at what that huge $1.5 million deal that closed from a meeting that I booked, I wasn’t sure that they were looking at it. I know the account manager looks at it because they get paid on it.
[01:02:54] But I was culminating those and I was gathering those myself when I had interviews, for promotions within, so that I had something I could talk about. no, I definitely agree with you and you never know who’s watching that has never rinsed through her.
[01:03:09]Chris Corcoran: [01:03:09] Someone’s always watching. All right, Micah. Someone’s always watching.
[01:03:15]Marc Gonyea: [01:03:15] I’ll tell you what Micah, I mean, that’s the type of stuff legends are made internally at companies. The fact that you stuck it out, did multiple jobs, multiple territories. The fact that you went from enterprise to SLED is a big deal, then you move to the cloud. All those things are a testament to your commitment and your work ethic.
[01:03:32] So for now, I don’t know if there’s much less to cover. You’ve dropped some sciences, some knowledge, it was great having you. Chris and I are very fortunate you worked here. I mean, the worst thing about the model is people can get converted by their clients because it’s, so it was a sad day for me when someone like you leaves, but like you took advantage of it in a good way.
[01:03:48] And I’m thrilled to see where you are. I know Chris probably feels the same way.
[01:03:51]Chris Corcoran: [01:03:51] Absolutely.
[01:03:52]Micah Asohan: [01:03:52] Yeah, I can’t thank you guys enough for the opportunity. I was stoked when I started and you guys have an amazing model there at memoryBlue. And I couldn’t have been any happier to join and. One thing I want to leave you guys with anybody that’s listening to this it’s been a long road and you’ve seen it be like a roller coaster ups and downs.
[01:04:10] And want to encourage any SDR or if you’re, graduating high school or college, want to encourage anyone. If you go through tough times, it’s not about the tough time. It’s about how you deal with that tough time. And so don’t ever think that it’s too late. Something I’m not proud of that still stings today is, I was actually dismissed at Ferris State University halfway through because I had bad grades to the point where they had to dismiss me.
[01:04:39] It’s very embarrassing even to this day. I went to community college, took the classes I had to, went back to Ferris, graduated got my start in tech sales. So I really want to encourage anyone out there that’s struggling right now, or if you’re struggling with your grades in college or you’re going through a rough time with your quota that you’re always going to have tough times. No one has it easy, 100% of the time. So it’s really how you deal with it. So, from being kicked out of college to graduating, being fired from my first job, technically. To memoryBlue then Fortinet now to, a closing role next year. This definitely can be your path.
[01:05:22] So I would just say, keep your head up and power through it. It sucks at the time you feel like your world is ending. It’s embarrassing, but don’t focus on it. Focus getting through it and having a positive attitude through it. And that will take you a long way. That’s how you get into opportunities like memoryBlue.
[01:05:41] That’s how you soak up all the training that you get there. And book stellar meetings. Get hired by your client and then book your client amazing meetings that send you to President’s Club, then getting noticed by the VP of Cloud. A lot of it all comes back to attitude. I know it’s, for some, it’s not easy to have a good attitude when you’re going through so much, but it will not go unnoticed.
[01:06:03] People notice a good attitude.
[01:06:05]Chris Corcoran: [01:06:05] For sure. Having a good attitude is a skill.