Episode 53: Kaitlyn Garish – Don’t Be Afraid to Disappoint
Think it’s easy to make the leap from SDR to Manager? Kaitlyn Garish has a small piece of advice for you – buckle your seatbelt!
Kaitlyn, now a successful Commercial Account Manager at Invanti, has had an amazing start to her sales journey that has taken her from Silicon Valley to New York and now to Austin, TX. From her strong start as an SDR at memoryBlue to her elevation into SDR management and beyond, she consistently works to keep the bigger picture in mind no matter how rocky the path ahead may appear.
Catch Kaitlyn on this week’s episode of Tech Sales is for Hustlers, where she shines light on her experiences as a woman in professional sales, spotlights the unique differences between being an SDR Manager and an AE, and why she believes so firmly in the power of surrounding herself with great people in her professional life.
Guest-At-A-Glance
Name: Kaitlyn Garish
What she does: Kaitlyn is the Commercial Account Manager at Ivanti.
Company: Ivanti
Noteworthy: Kaitlyn was interested in fashion. She wanted to do public relations in fashion. However, life took her to a different field — sales, and she is pretty much in love with it.
Where to find Kaitlyn: LinkedIn
Key Insights
⚡ Picking up the phone is hard. Kaitlyn remembers her early days in memoryBlue and explains how terrified she was. She still thinks picking up the phone is one of the hardest parts of sales, but now she finds it amusing. ”I remember my first call on aligned commerce, and the VP of business development was on the call with me. I was freaking out. I still think about it today. It was scary. Picking up the phone is hard, even today. You’re like, ‘Oh gosh, I need a cold-call someone. I need to get this VP on the line or a chief information security officer in the line.’ It’s still wracking. I don’t think that ever goes away, but it’s fun now. I want to do it today. I’m like, ‘Oh, this will be fun. Let’s see what kind of conversation I get into.”’
⚡ A good manager should be a teacher and a motivator. If she had to choose between a good manager and a good company, Kaitlyn’s answer would always be — the manager. As she explains, you can love the product or company culture, but you’ll never be truly content if you don’t like the people you are working with. ”When I look at jobs, I look, ‘Ok, is this manager going to inspire me to want to succeed, to want to make a lot of money? Am I going to learn a lot?’ Things like that. That’s what I look for when I join a company.”
⚡ Don’t be afraid to speak up and share ideas. Accepting the SDR leader role comes with many challenges. Especially for a young person like Kaitlyn, who had to learn so many things and grow as her responsibilities grew. ”One of the things I learned was when you’re in a group of people outside of work, I’m super outgoing, super loud. But when I get into group settings with people I don’t know, or in work settings, I’m much quieter, and I don’t speak up. And I remember when I was sitting with Candra one day, the advice she gave me was, ‘Hey, Kaitlyn, you have a lot of ideas. You have a lot of things that you can contribute. Just speak up in these meetings, and it’ll go a long way.”’
Episode Highlights
I Always Enjoyed Social Selling
”LinkedIn is a huge part of selling as an SDR, but also as an account executive. Also, when I was a manager of sales development, there’s so much you can do on different platforms. LinkedIn videos were huge when I was managing a sales development team in New York. That’s how we got a lot of our meetings. Face to face like, yes, that annoying girl is calling you nonstop, but then you see she’s a human, and I think that’s super important. So that’s why I like social selling.”
You Can Work for a Company, but I Work for People
”I could love the product. I could love the culture of the people around me, but if I don’t like my manager, I’m not going to be happy there. And I’ve been in situations where I haven’t been happy with my manager.”
The Beauty of Helping Someone Get to a Different Point in Their Career
”When I was at MobileIron, I was in sales development for a while. And then I remember when my boss left, I took over the operational side of things as well as still being an SDR. So a lot of the team came to me for questions around, ‘Hey, what do I do in this situation?’ And I enjoy that. I enjoy being able to help someone get to a different point in their career.
So that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to join a sales development team to build out the sales development group, put processes in place, do the enablement, and see them grow. And you know, some of them are crushing it today as AEs or sales fellow managers or recruiters. So being able to give them a platform and then help them move to where they want to be — that’s why I want to do it.”
Being an SDR Leader VS. Being an AE
”I think they all have their specific challenges, but I would say, for me, probably the most challenging thing was being an SDR leader. When there are issues with the SDR team, it’s gonna all be on you. And so taking the heat for something that may have happened, that’s why you’re an SDR leader. It’s pretty challenging. You’re not just managing yourself. You’re managing eight, ten people. You have to learn how to manage everyone completely differently. So that was challenging.”
It Is Not Easy Being a Female Leader in Sales
”A huge thing is female sales leaders. You don’t see it a lot. It’s rare. I work for a female now. She’s amazing. That’s super big for me because there are different challenges as a female in sales versus a male. There’s so much more you have to go through, just having your voice heard in a room with ten guys, and you’re the only girl. So I would say it’s important for me as a female in sales to find a leader, whether it’s a VP or a manager or a lot of AEs that are females.”
A Piece of Advice for Future SDR Leaders
”Buckle in. It’s going to be a wild ride. I’ve known people, prior to being an SDR manager or just being in sales, saying, ‘Hey, I think you’d be better at marketing. I don’t think you’ll be great in sales.’ Things like that. Don’t listen to those people, do what you want to do. Don’t be afraid to disappoint. You create your path, and you are going to be successful, especially if you have people around you that want you to be successful and that are going to be there for you when you do fall.”
Transcript:
[00:00:22] Marc Gonyea: [00:00:22] All right. Today we have, I don’t know, a world traveler, native to California, school Oregon, worked in the Bay, moved to New York. That was a good enough. Move to Austin, which is where she is today. Kaitlyn Garish, thanks for joining us today.
[00:00:39] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:00:39] Of course, hopefully Austin’s good enough.
[00:00:42] Chris Corcoran: [00:00:42] Yeah, Kaitlyn. Great seeing you again.
[00:00:43] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:00:43] You too, guys. It’s been awhile.
[00:00:46] Marc Gonyea: [00:00:46] Yeah, we have a lot to talk about. I love the fact that you’ve been moving around. That’s around it’s probably the wrong, wrong word for it, but I want to want to talk about that as we kind of get into the things. But it’s been a while. I was looking at this, you bounced from memoryBlue five years in September.
[00:01:04] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:01:04] Yeah. Yeah. It’s crazy. My first job out of college. Crazy.
[00:01:10] Marc Gonyea: [00:01:10] But you’re working at the same employer that you’re working that when you were a memoryBlue SDR.
[00:01:15] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:01:15] Yeah, basically. I mean acquired by another company, but I’m still working with the same people that I was working at or who I was working with when I was at memoryBlue. So…
[00:01:25] It comes full circle.
[00:01:27] Marc Gonyea: [00:01:27] We’ll get to that, we’ll explain that. But let’s do this. Let’s let the audience get to know you a little bit. So tell us a little bit about yourself. Where you’re from? That sort of thing.
[00:01:35] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:01:35] Yeah. So originally from San Jose, the Bay area, that’s why I started at memoryBlue after college. Big Oregon Ducks fan, went to University of Oregon for college. Both of my brothers went there. After I graduated, honestly had no clue what I wanted to do. So I got into sales. Both of my brothers are in sales. We’re super competitive family.
[00:01:56] Bounced around, just as you were saying, I think that is a good term, from New York now I’m in Austin. Hopefully I stay here for awhile, but yeah, been at a bunch of different jobs, but super excited to be talking to kind of where it all started.
[00:02:10] Marc Gonyea: [00:02:10] Let’s talk about this for a sec. So your, your brothers older than you?
[00:02:14] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:02:14] I have two older brothers. One is two older, two years older than me and the other is four years older than me.
[00:02:20] Marc Gonyea: [00:02:20] And you grew up in the heart of it all. I mean, you you’re, you’re a native San Jose person.
[00:02:25] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:02:25] Silicon Valley represent.
[00:02:28] Marc Gonyea: [00:02:28] So was it this kind of like a foregone conclusion? Did they go into tech sales right out of…? W what was it like? Did you kind of know you’re growing up in the epicenter of high tech?
[00:02:38] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:02:38] I mean, honestly, not really. My, my mom’s a court reporter. So she’s worked for the county for 30 plus years. My dad is in finance, so he’s always been within the tech industry. One, when I went to University of Oregon when my brothers did, I don’t really think any of us thought we were going to end up in sales, but after I saw them go into sales after college and when I graduated kind of sitting there in retail wondering what the hell am I going to do
[00:03:04] now, I was like, “Okay. Let me, let me follow in their footsteps.” My dad ran into Kyle McDowell who was at memoryBlue. And… Kyle McDowell, I love him. I grew up with him. So my dad ran into them out of Chick-fil-A and that’s how I actually landed the interview at memoryBlue. So it’s crazy how things work. I was looking into sales.
[00:03:24] I wasn’t really landing anything. And then that connection, my dad and Kyle McDowell, all of a sudden, two weeks later, I’m at memoryBlue.
[00:03:34] Marc Gonyea: [00:03:34] Interesting. So Chick-fil-A. Will take it.
[00:03:37] Right.
[00:03:37] Chris Corcoran: [00:03:37] Hey, so Kaitlyn, what’d you study at Oregon?
[00:03:40] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:03:40] I was a sociology major.
[00:03:43] Chris Corcoran: [00:03:43] So w what did you think that was going to lead to or did you have any idea?
[00:03:46] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:03:46] Honestly, it was kind of an interesting path to get there. I had a dream to do public relations in fashion. That’s all I wanted to do, probably from high school into college, but unfortunately University of Oregon super competitive. I didn’t get into the journalism school. And so I was sitting there like, “Okay, I have two years left of college.
[00:04:07] I need to graduate on time. Out of state tuition, it’s not going to work.” So I was kind of looking around, seeing what I wanted to study and I was like, “Hey, sociology. I really like it.” To be totally honest, I didn’t think I was going to use it after college.
[00:04:21] Chris Corcoran: [00:04:21] Okay. Okay. And then how often do you go back to Eugene?
[00:04:26] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:04:26] Been a while, especially living in New York, prior to Austin and the pandemic hits. It’s been a long time. I’m actually going back in July for a wedding now. So I’m pretty excited going to have to go to Austin stadium or at least walk by it.
[00:04:39] Chris Corcoran: [00:04:39] There you go.
[00:04:42] Marc Gonyea: [00:04:42] All right. All right. So you’re out of school, Kyle McDowell, god bless him, runs into your a ch, your dad at Chick-fil-A and somehow the memoryBlue connection gets hooked up. Just tell us a little bit about that. ‘Cause did you kind of have an idea as to what you were going to, what you were getting yourself into? What you signed yourself up for? Because your brothers are just like, “Nah, I mean, these guys got an office downtown San Jose and I’m local.” Kind of like, “Kyle kind of sounds right.”
[00:05:03] Or what?
[00:05:04] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:05:04] I was like, “Kyle’s pretty cool. If he likes it, then I must like it.” No, I mean, I knew what I was getting into. Both my brothers were sales development reps at a time. I didn’t really, totally understand what memoryBlue did when I was in the interview. Definitely did the role-play and then I started to understand a little bit more what I was going to be doing. But yeah, I kind of went into it a little blind I would say. Sales experience a bunch, obviously not in tech, but retail.
[00:05:31] I was a barista so on. But yeah, I wasn’t really sure what I was getting myself into.
[00:05:37] Marc Gonyea: [00:05:37] Who were some other guys and gals you were rolling with back then you started at memoryBlue?, Who was kind of your cohort or your group?
[00:05:44]Kaitlyn Garish: [00:05:44] Gosh, I’m still super close to Jennae Cambra. She’s one of my closest friends. I work with Andy now so Andy Gager, Dan, Anton, Kyle, Timi, Atina,… Like I, I still talk to these people all the time, so it’s crazy to think that those were the people I spent 10 months with and I’m still connected with them somehow in some way today.
[00:06:05] Chris Corcoran: [00:06:05] And Kaitlyn, a lot of those names are aren’t aren’t those folks people who grew up in San Jose, a lot of them?
[00:06:10] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:06:10] Most of them. I would say, yeah, all of them did. I knew Atina Habib through one of my best friends. And so when I saw her walk into the office one day I was like, “What are you doing here?” And then I actually moved to New York City with her. So, yeah. You, you stay connected with the people. That’s what I would say,
[00:06:27] the biggest thing about sales through every job I’ve been with and benign, I am close with a good handful of people still to today.
[00:06:37] Marc Gonyea: [00:06:37] And then, so you are you and then you were rolled out on MobileIron from day one or were you on some other campaigns, I can’t remember?
[00:06:43] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:06:43] I was on align commerce which was a FinTech for about a month and then I was on MobileIron. Pretty nervous not going to lie, everyone’s like, “Okay. It’s complicated. The technology is a little more than the other client that you were on.” But I mean look where it turned out. Now I only want to be in security tech.
[00:07:06] Yeah. It, it was amazing.
[00:07:07] Chris Corcoran: [00:07:07] Hey, so Kaitlyn, talk a little bit about that because a lot of times these SDRs when they get started, they they’re like paranoid and scared to death of cyber. And they’re like, “No, no, no, no, no, no. That’s too hard.” If you can learn the, learn the material, then you’re going to be like, “I’m going nowhere else, because it’s such a great, innovative technology that everybody needs. It’s ever changing.”
[00:07:26] Just talk a little bit about your thoughts about security.
[00:07:30] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:07:30] Yeah. I mean your point exactly. When you hear that you’re going to get put on like a CyberTech client, it kind of freaks you out. And everyone’s like, “Okay, Kaitlyn, be prepared. That’s going to be super hard. Are you sure you want to do it?” I mean, I didn’t really have a choice. So here I am.
[00:07:43] Chris Corcoran: [00:07:43] Yeah.
[00:07:44] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:07:44] Exactly.
[00:07:45] There’s so many different types of cybersecurity and especially today. And I’m not going to quote the company that I’m at but it’s every everywhere workplace. Like we’re all working remote now, so we need cybersecurity more than other, more than anything. And I would also say, I mean, you can tell, “I’m in sales, this is where probably the money’s at.”
[00:08:07] Chris Corcoran: [00:08:07] Most definitely.
[00:08:09] Marc Gonyea: [00:08:09] It’s important. It’s important. And so, and then we’d go back to those early days. What was it like kind of getting on the phones or doing, doing, doing that, that work for MobileIron and even for a while and what was w what do you remember about it?
[00:08:22] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:08:22] I remember my first call on align commerce and actually the VP of business development was on the call with me. I was freaking out. I still think about it today and I was like, “Okay. Just don’t answer the phone. Don’t answer the phone.” The lady answers the phone. And I’m pretty sure I may have booked a meeting off of that or at least got a call back.
[00:08:44] Marc Gonyea: [00:08:44] Oh, hell yeah.
[00:08:45] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:08:45] It was scary. I mean, picking up the phone is hard. It’s so hard. Even today, you’re like, “Oh gosh, I need a cold call someone. I need to get this.” VP on the line or a chief information security officer on the line, it’s still wracking. I don’t think that ever goes away, but it’s fun. Now I want to do it today versus then
[00:09:03] and I’m like, “Oh, this will be fun. Let’s see what, what kind of conversation I get into.”
[00:09:08] Marc Gonyea: [00:09:08] And w what, yeah, that’s a great perspective and it’s good for people to hear that you still have to do it today, time to time at a minimum maybe. W w what what were you good at? Like when you developed your game, what was like a Kaitlyn Garish signature move? What, what what’d you feel like, “Okay. This is one part of the game that I got locked down cold.” Or I’m…?
[00:09:25] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:09:25] I always really enjoyed social selling. I think LinkedIn is a huge part of selling as an SDR, but also as an account executive also when I was a manager of sales development. There’s so much you can do on different platforms like LinkedIn. Videos were huge when I was managing a sales development team in New York.
[00:09:45] That’s how we got a lot of our meetings. Like, face to face like, yes, that annoying girl is calling you nonstop, nonstop, but then you actually see she’s a human. I think that’s super important. So that’s why I really like social selling.
[00:09:59] Marc Gonyea: [00:09:59] Nice. Hey, I’m going to put you on the spot. So all those people you mentioned you worked with at memoryBlue, who was, besides yourself who was like the best SDR in the office?
[00:10:09] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:10:09] Oh, that’s hard.
[00:10:10] Marc Gonyea: [00:10:10] I know. That’s why I’m asking you, because they’re all…
[00:10:13] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:10:13] You know, I always really,… well, this was just funny. I was close with him when I was in Campbell or San Jose. Dan, remember Dan?
[00:10:21] Marc Gonyea: [00:10:21] Yeah.
[00:10:23] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:10:23] You just, you just so ‘go, get it’. That’s all I can say. He has no shame.
[00:10:27]Marc Gonyea: [00:10:27] Are we talking about Yorkie?
[00:10:28] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:10:28] Yeah.
[00:10:29] Marc Gonyea: [00:10:29] Good.
[00:10:30] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:10:30] And he came back to memoryBlue after, Yeah.
[00:10:35] Marc Gonyea: [00:10:35] He came back. We’re going to work recording a podcast with him next week.
[00:10:39] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:10:39] Gosh, he better, he better say my name.
[00:10:44] Marc Gonyea: [00:10:44] Yorkie was great.
[00:10:46] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:10:46] Yeah. He had no shame. I loved it.
[00:10:49] Marc Gonyea: [00:10:49] Was he, what was he good at?
[00:10:52] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:10:52] I mean, it’s been awhile. But I just remember him getting on the phone immediately when he started and I was freaking out on the phone. So probably just like no nerves whatsoever just going straight into it which as an SDR, as someone maybe their first sales role is pretty terrifying.
[00:11:11] Marc Gonyea: [00:11:11] Yeah.
[00:11:12] Chris Corcoran: [00:11:12] Yeah.
[00:11:12] Dan, Dan Dan’s fearless.
[00:11:14] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:11:14] Yeah.
[00:11:16] Marc Gonyea: [00:11:16] He does not care. You go look at his LinkedIn post today, he still does not care. He is, he is who he is. He’s really good. He’s a great guy too. And all right, so, so you’re at memoryBlue, you’re working on, you’re working on our flagship client in that office which is MobileIron. And there’s a reason why we put you on that
[00:11:35] ’cause w if I would walk back in time, we were probably saying, “Kaitlyn Garish has got some game. She’s coming off a line commerce. Let’s get her in the mix on that campaign.” And that wasn’t by accident. So we rolled you on the MobileIron, what was that like? ‘Cause that’s, they, eventually you went to go work for them, but tell us a little bit about that.
[00:11:53] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:11:53] Yeah. I remember the first day actually going into MobileIron and it was me, Andy, two other people I’m not fully remembering, but I had to do a role play the first day I was in there. It was pretty terrifying in a room with all men and me just sitting there like right out of college, so scared. But yeah, it was a learning curve getting into that space, but the people at MobileIron were amazing.
[00:12:19] The person that ended up being my boss, Omar. Love him, still today. He’s like one of my favorite people and has been one of my favorite managers. I learned so much from everyone there Chandra Velvadapu also. I still stay in touch with her today as well. She’s been a really good mentor to me as I, you know, have had to move around from place to place, but everyone was so open to help
[00:12:44] and then I was super excited when I was able to actually get hired out by that.
[00:12:48] Marc Gonyea: [00:12:48] Yeah, that’s great. It sounds like it’s important to you to have great relationships with Omar member him as a client. He was a great client to work with. And Chandra, I’m still in touch with her to this day too. We tried to figure out a way Chandra’s son to come work at memoryBlue, but we’ll save that story for another day.
[00:13:01] There’s gonna be a lot of competition for his services. But, but let’s talk about that, so what’s it like w what’s important in a manager. We can talk about Omar. When you’re new and early in your career, what should you be looking for?
[00:13:12] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:13:12] Yeah, how I was thinking about it is at the end of the day you can work for a company, but I always see it as like, I work for people. I can love the product. I could love like the culture of the people around me, but if I don’t like my manager I’m not going to be happy there. And I’ve been in situations where I haven’t been happy with my manager.
[00:13:30] So now, like when I look at jobs, I like, “Okay. Is this manager not to be corny and gonna inspire me to want to succeed, to want to make a lot of money? Am I going to learn a lot?” Things like that that’s what I look for when I join a company. So that was a big thing going to MobileIron and I’m sure we were going to talk about Beth anyways, but.
[00:13:51] When I got on the phone with Beth Prunier, Carly worked at memoryBlue. I remember getting the first call from her interviewing. I was like, “Call my dad after, right after.” I was like, “I am going to work for this woman.” I don’t know how, but I know I’m moving to New York right now without a job and I’m banking on getting this job with her because just the immediate conversation with her, I was like, “I’m inspired.
[00:14:14] I want to work for you.”
[00:14:16] Marc Gonyea: [00:14:16] So you were, you were at, you were at memoryBlue, you’re doing such a good job at Mobile, MobileIron and said, “Hey, you want to hire Kaitlyn.” You like that she wanted to go there. Right? And continue your career and you kind of worked up your way the food chain and the sales development world with them, right? You were an SDR and you became a good team lead.
[00:14:34] And then, and then at some point you’ve got this itch, “I’m born and raised in San Jose, progressing my career.” I don’t know, when did you start thinking about moving? Was that because of Beth or because you were like, “Hey, I was at school in Oregon, but I came back to the Bay. I want to move someplace.”
[00:14:48] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:14:48] I wanted something different. I like city life. I wanted to kind of move somewhere where I knew no one. That’s kind of what I did in Austin too. So I remember I went to New York City with Atina one day. We signed a lease, we came back. Didn’t tell my parents. Told two weeks before. I’m really sorry mom and dad, they were so upset with me. And I was like, “I signed a lease.
[00:15:11] I quit my job. I’m moving to New York with no job.” Yeah, I had an itch and I wanted to be a manager for sales development. So that was kind of my goal going out there was to find a job with an amazing manager to manage the sales development team and grow on.
[00:15:28] Marc Gonyea: [00:15:28] I got, I mean, I think it’s great ’cause you built some great foundation, cyber, great company, you got some good training from us, great exposure. So I think you were able. I don’t think it was that even that wasn’t, that irresponsible or anything like that. I think it was a great move and I’m sure your parents were thrilled. Shit.
[00:15:46] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:15:46] Minus the fact that I haven’t a job when I moved to New York city.
[00:15:49] Marc Gonyea: [00:15:49] So let’s talk about it. And then you get out of cyber for a bit, but we’ll get to that in a second. So you went the WayUp, how did you meet… so you mentioned Beth? For those of you don’t know, Beth.
[00:15:59] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:15:59] Mm.
[00:16:00] Marc Gonyea: [00:16:00] Corcoran, how do I pronounce her last name? Prunio?
[00:16:03]Chris Corcoran: [00:16:03] Prunier. Yeah.
[00:16:07] Marc Gonyea: [00:16:07] Yeah, I always say it the wrong way. We haven’t had her in the podcast yet, but her daughter came to work for us and we’ll tell that story in a few minutes, but because this is podcasts about Kaitlyn. But how did you end up working WayUp, where did you meet Beth?
[00:16:19] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:16:19] I was at this point, I had two weeks so I was moving to New York City. I knew I needed to find a job immediately when I got there. So I just started putting my resume out there and I really kind of focused on manager of sales development role, semi roles, but I was like, “What I really want to do is SDR role.”
[00:16:36] And I had a few interviews and then I met Beth. So I wasn’t really looking at the type of company I was going to work for. I’m not gonna lie. I was pretty desperate to get a job because shoot, I quit my job when I had a stable job in California. I needed to find one fast, so when I met Beth, I learned a little bit about WayUp and what they did, but really it’s pretty obvious why I joined WayUp was because of Beth.
[00:17:03] Marc Gonyea: [00:17:03] But it sounds like to you, I know you would need to get a job, but it sounds like you made a conscious decision to stay in sales development and manage. So what made you want to manage, manage people then and then also stick around and sales development for a little while?
[00:17:15] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:17:15] Yeah, when I was at MobileIron, I was obviously in sales development for a while and then I remember when my boss left, I kind of took over like the operational side of things as well as still being an SDR. But a lot of the team came to me for work questions around, “Hey, what do I do in this situation?” Or things like that
[00:17:36] and I really enjoy that. I really enjoy being able to help someone get to a different point in their career. And so that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to join a sales team, a sales development team, where I can actually build out the sales development group and kind of put processes in place, do the enablement and see them growing.
[00:17:58] And you know, some of them are absolutely crushing it today as AEs or sales fellow managers or recruiters or really anything. But being able to give them like a platform and then help them move to where they want to be. That’s what I want to do it.
[00:18:14] Marc Gonyea: [00:18:14] And that’s so interesting because sales development, like, if you go sales right away, it can be quite a long time before you’re responsible for managing someone. But you, you know, you weren’t that far out of school, right? I mean, this is 2018 and now you’re managing people. What was that like? Like what did you have to learn to go from like an individual contributor slash team lead, but still young in life early in your career as you store now in so many ways, but like, what was it like, w what skills did you have to learn to become a manager?
[00:18:45] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:18:45] Yeah, that’s a good question. I would say one of the things I learned that I struggled with in the beginning was when you’re in a group of people, like outside of work I’m super outgoing, super loud, but when I get into group settings with people I don’t really know or in work settings, I’m much more quiet and I don’t speak up.
[00:19:04] And I remember when I was sitting with Chandra one day that wise advice she gave me was, “Hey, Kaitlyn, you have a lot of ideas, you have a lot of things that you can contribute, just speak up in these meetings and it’ll go a long way.” So I think that like being an SDR manager, that’s something I really had to learn to do a lot more.
[00:19:22] You know, obviously now I’m managing a bunch of people straight out of college. I need to, you know, be there person within this company to help them grow. So there was so much I needed to learn. You know, how to manage up is huge. How to, you know, help build that relation, relationship between like SDRs and AEs and make sure everything’s running smoothly. How to build in marketing.
[00:19:48] There’s so much that goes into SDR management and it’s a really hard job. I mean, it’s, it’s pretty draining, I’m not going to lie, but it’s pretty rewarding once you see someone move up to an AE or move up to where they want it to be.
[00:20:03] Marc Gonyea: [00:20:03] And, you know, having that perspective as an SDR manager and as an SDR, what advice do you have? What advice would you have have had for yourself, like your day before you started as an SDR at memoryBlue?
[00:20:16] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:20:16] Just pick up the phone. I, just don’t be scared. I mean, everyone’s doing around you, we’re all fumbling, we’re all like making mistakes. I think a lot of times a lot of people are just like scared to disappoint. I think for me, that’s always been big in my sales career. It’s like, “I do not want to disappoint my manager.
[00:20:34] I don’t want to disappoint the team. I’m going to sometimes, that’s just how it is. I’m going to make mistakes.” Just pick up the phone, you’re going to mess up. You’re going to make mistakes in your career as an SDR, of course, but if you have a group of people behind you that want to see you succeed, you’ll definitely succeed and get to where you want to be.
[00:20:53] Marc Gonyea: [00:20:53] And I mean, and how does she do that? I mean, you didn’t know Beth from a hole in the wall, but how did you convince her to hire you as a manager?
[00:21:03] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:21:03] It goes back to the end of the day you work for people. You get on calls and you’re interviewing with people and you just click immediately. And I think that’s what happened with Beth. She’s super high energy, I’m pretty high energy. Just like similar like personalities, I think that really helped, but I really think when you find a manager or a person that you really connect with, that helps a lot.
[00:21:27] And I had to do presentations. I had to do things like that. Like, I do have a lot of people within my family that are in sales helping me out being like, “Okay, this is kind of where you need to take your presentation.” And things like that…So, I definitely had a huge group behind me helping me get the jobs that I’ve gotten in the past,
[00:21:44] but I also think it’s just, it’s who you’re going to be working for and who’s making that final decision.
[00:21:52] Marc Gonyea: [00:21:52] No, you mentioned earlier you, kind of, had this thing for fashion when you were at Oregon. Did you ever, okay, if you had some shot in the dark, did you ever consider when you out there in New York getting into some tech, tech, fashion related business?
[00:22:04] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:22:04] That’s actually why I moved there.
[00:22:06] Marc Gonyea: [00:22:06] Okay.
[00:22:07] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:22:07] Why I moved there. I remember I was like, “Dad, I want to do fashion.” He’s like, “Well, you’re, you’re starting to like apply for like more tech jobs.” And I was like, “Well, maybe one day I can get into tech fashion.” But then it kind of fizzled out. I still love it. I still follow, you know, blogs and all that good stuff fashion week, but I found a love for cybersecurity a lot more.
[00:22:31] It’s pretty shocking to see where I was like what I was like 15 or 16 wanting to do fashion to 27 now in tech sales, security sales. So that’s great.
[00:22:42] Marc Gonyea: [00:22:42] Lets talk about that. Let’s talk about that. ‘Cause you hit that on a couple of times. When we did a prep call for this, the, the thing that you said. So you were in New York and w we’ll we’ll kind of keep cycling through that ’cause I want to hear about New York and the pandemic in Austin. But why were you like, “I got to get back in the cyber?”
[00:23:00] So you got out of cyber for a bit, you moved to New York in the SDR world and we’ll talk about going back into sales, but why what’s this love affair of cyber? Like, why is it so important to you and why should other people pay, they pay attention to that? Because I think they should.
[00:23:14] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:23:14] Yeah. I mean, I was an HR, I was in legal tech, then I was in accounting sales. None of it really just like popped at me. You know, you read the news every day, you see hacks happening, these hackers like getting into these billion dollar businesses. It’s fascinating. It’s fascinating to see how there’s so many different tools to be able to stop this.
[00:23:38] And at the end of the day, like it is a good place to make money because it’s always going to be needed. Like I’m, I’m sure most people are be, are going to be working from home for now. Like, “I’m selling mobile security. You need that on your cell phone. You need that on your laptop. It’s just always going to be needed.”
[00:24:01] Marc Gonyea: [00:24:01] I get it. I get it. And then now that make sense. So you’re in New York, you’re doing your sales development thing, you’re managing sales development professionals, when did you make the decision that, “Okay,” ’cause I think it’s great you were managing and developing people. It’s an early part of your career in age, but at some point you said, “Okay, I want to go into closing.”
[00:24:20] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:24:20] Yeah.
[00:24:21] Marc Gonyea: [00:24:21] But what triggered that?
[00:24:24] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:24:24] I mean, as I was saying before, managing a sales development team and is super rewarding, but it can be extremely draining. You know, I worry about my team versus worrying about myself. You know, I worry about my team making money. I don’t care about myself making money at that point. If my, you know, my SDR is struggling like that, that hurts.
[00:24:44] If she’s not getting or he’s not getting to where they need to be, it drains you. So when I moved to Austin and I was like, “It’s time that I kind of take control of the money I’m making and go into a closing role.” I just want to worry about myself at this point versus worrying about, you know, a team of SDRs which I loved, but I just want to focus on myself and how I can build more skill sets within sales as an account executive, as an account manager
[00:25:13] and really get to where I want to be.
[00:25:16] Marc Gonyea: [00:25:16] When you were interviewing for so like the New York time was like sales development manager time in your career and, and what, what… so a couple of things. So what was like live in New York like? So I know Chris and I and you were talking about before we started, I know people listening want to wonder that. Because everybody thinks about living in New York at some point in time, I think. Where they at least talk about it out loud.
[00:25:35] So what was it like?
[00:25:37] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:25:37] It’s wild. You know, you do not sleep
[00:25:40] Marc Gonyea: [00:25:40] Yeah.
[00:25:40] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:25:40] I have an apartment, I was never there. It’s like you work, you go do things right after work. It’s just move, move, move, move, move. And it was one of the greatest experience I’ve ever, ever done. I am so glad I took the chance to move there as I was saying before, like, you,
[00:26:00] within sales, you make friends that you’ll be friends with for the rest of your life. And I think especially in New York where, you know, it does seem harder to kind of find that good chunk of really good friends. It, it was amazing. I miss it a lot. Now that everything’s open again, I want to go back, but I’m like, “Nope, you’re staying in Austin.”
[00:26:20] Chris Corcoran: [00:26:20] So where did you live in the city?
[00:26:22] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:26:22] So my first year I lived in Hell’s Kitchen and then my second year I lived in Midtown East so by Grand Central. That was crazy. You get to walk everywhere. I walk to work every day. You know, you go to a bar right down the street, everyone lives near you. It, it was amazing.
[00:26:41] Chris Corcoran: [00:26:41] I got a question for you, Kaitlyn. So, you talk about SDR leadership and how, how challenging that is. What’s more challenging being an SDR, being an SDR leader or being an AE?
[00:26:55] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:26:55] Gosh, I think, I think they all have their specific challenges, but I would say for me probably the most challenging thing was being an SDR leader.
[00:27:04] Chris Corcoran: [00:27:04] And why is that?
[00:27:06] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:27:06] At the end of the day, you know, when there are issues with the SDR team, it’s gonna all be on you. And so taking the heat for something that may have happened which that’s, that’s why you’re an SDR leader.
[00:27:19] It’s pretty challenging. You know, you’re not just managing yourself, you’re managing eight, eight people, 10 people or 4 people. Like there’s so many more like… You have to learn how to also manage everyone completely differently. So that that was challenging. You know, what makes this person want to win?
[00:27:39] Is it money or is it that they hate to lose? And that’s how you, I mean, yeah, that’s what I’d say. That it’s the hardest as being SDR leader. I’m sure you guys know, because memoryBlue is all about being SDRs.
[00:27:53] Chris Corcoran: [00:27:53] Well, what’s funny is that being an S, being an SDR is challenging for sure. And then I always like talking to SDRs on, like, it only gets harder. Like, this is the easiest job you’re ever going to have. And I know, I know it’s really, really hard, but when you become an SDR leader or you become an AE, it’s more visibility, more responsibility, and it’s more challenging.
[00:28:14] The good news is as you do it, it doesn’t get any easier. You just get better. You get better at it.
[00:28:20] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:28:20] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:28:23] Marc Gonyea: [00:28:23] That the shocking of the first job of the SDR job is what’s so overwhelmed.
[00:28:27] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:28:27] Yeah.
[00:28:28] Marc Gonyea: [00:28:28] Right. Just like…
[00:28:31] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:28:31] Should I leave now? Is it too late?
[00:28:35] Marc Gonyea: [00:28:35] And that’s what we’d love to these podcasts because they hear that shit all the time from us, not as much from us anymore, but from their managers, directors and then from the delivery managers, that, “How could anything be harder than this job?”
[00:28:47] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:28:47] Mm.
[00:28:49] Marc Gonyea: [00:28:49] It gets kind of easier, but harder in a different kind of way as you get more experienced.
[00:28:54] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:28:54] Yeah. Yeah. I would say it’s, it’s harder or easier, depend on who you’re surrounded with.
[00:29:00] Chris Corcoran: [00:29:00] Talk a little bit about that.
[00:29:02] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:29:02] Yeah. I mean, I have such a good network of people that want me to succeed. You know, both my brothers are in sales, my sister-in-law’s in sales. I have stayed connected with so many people from all the jobs that I’ve worked at. That, you know, pandemic was rough.
[00:29:16] I lost two jobs, but I had people from all my past jobs helping me find a new job. So those people want to see you succeed and that, that makes it a little easier.
[00:29:30] Marc Gonyea: [00:29:30] When you were transitioning to field sales or selling inside sales or whatever we want to call it, what types of things did you have to leverage an interview process? ‘Cause someone’s looking at you thinking, “Okay, well you were an SDR, SDR, SDR leader. As your manager, well, why should I give you a shot to close?”
[00:29:50] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:29:50] Yeah, that’s a good question. And I think it goes back to who’s going to take a shot on you. Who’s going to know that, “Hey, I have a killer discovery call. All I need help with is negotiation. Are you willing to help me? Are you willing to help me build within this outside sales role?” It was really hard to find a role at first, especially I’m in the middle of pandemic,
[00:30:11] I lost my job as an SDR manager. Kind of a blessing in disguise. I didn’t want to do SDR management anymore. I didn’t want to live in New York anymore. So, I guess I was lucky in a sense. So that’s how I got the opportunity to like move to Austin and start looking for a account executive role. But I think there’s a lot of, well, I don’t know,
[00:30:33] I know there’s a lot of skills that you get from being an SDR, being an SDR manager that you use as an AE. You know, as an SDR manager, you know, where I am now, I have to manage, help manage like channel. I have helped manage my own accounts that I have to prospect and basically done that as an SDR manager. I’ve managed teams.
[00:30:54] I’ve helped them prospect, we put in prospecting in place. I’ve had to manage up. I’ve had to do a lot of different things and the SDR manager that I’m doing now. It all correlates somehow. And, and people within sales managers within sales get that. So when they’re talking to you, they don’t question, “Hey, you have two months as an AE.
[00:31:15] Why would I hire you?” They see that, “Hey, you have been an SDR manager for the past two years. Like those skills are going to make you super successful here.”
[00:31:25] Marc Gonyea: [00:31:25] Yeah, I think you have a robust, more robust body of work as a professional because you’ve, you’ve, you’ve managed people and then you’ve, you know, soldier way into the closing role is wonderful. So, all right. So you decided to pull up and leave the big apple. How did, how did Austin happen? How did that all go down?
[00:31:50] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:31:50] Gosh. I don’t know. I visited once before. I visited… Gosh, I think 2018, one of my really good friends lives here. I came for a weekend. I was like, “This is really fun.” Definitely a different speed, but super fun. And people would say I’m pretty impulsive, like I do like to just pick up and move. I’m trying not to be like that as much, but once I was kind of done with New York or, and then the pandemic happened, I was like, “This is a good opportunity to just see if I like Austin.
[00:32:20] See if I like living here. You know, it’s not as expensive as New York or San Francisco.” So I was like, “This is a great opportunity.” My parents were much more happy about this move than they were about New York. “Move a little closer,” but yeah, I mean, I wouldn’t say there’s any like huge reason why I moved here.
[00:32:36] I just wanted to try something new.
[00:32:39] Marc Gonyea: [00:32:39] Okay. And when you say it’s a little bit slower, like this, tell us, tell us, ’cause the folks listening, they want to know like. Austin is another place, like, it might be the number one or two places now where people talk about moving, wouldn’t say it’s a little slower or different speed, what does that mean?
[00:32:54] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:32:54] Yeah, it’s not a massive, massive city. It’s growing. I mean, I talk to people that I work with now that have lived here their whole lives and they said it was never like this. You see skys, sky sky skyscrapers going up constantly, but you’re also right next to a river that you can jump in on the weekends.
[00:33:09] It is super laid back and I think that’s what I needed, that’s what a lot of people need. But also people that love technology, this is where you can go and still enjoy the outdoors and still enjoy the city life.
[00:33:23] Marc Gonyea: [00:33:23] One more thing. I know I moved off in New York, I’m jumping around here a little bit, but as far as I’m concerned is memoryBlue one of the most important things that happened in New York when you were living there is when you met her the best, best daughter Carly?
[00:33:36] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:33:36] Yeah.
[00:33:36] Marc Gonyea: [00:33:36] So what’s she telling you, tell that story to us?
[00:33:39] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:33:39] Yeah. So I was,… Beth was my manager. But she was, I would say more as a really good friend. So we hung out a bunch. She was a mentor, just someone that has been so successful in sales. Like I’m going to always look up to Beth and always reach out to her with any help I need. We talked about her daughter.
[00:33:56] She was like, “You kind of remind me of my daughter a bit.” I was like, “Oh God, that’s not good.” And she was telling me the situation, “Hey, Carly wanted to get out of the job that she was in.” I was like, and she wanted to move to Boston. And I was like, “Well, memoryBlue just opened off and in Boston. So I think this could be a really good opportunity for you to at least see if you like sales. Get your foot in the door,
[00:34:21] that’s what I did and look where I am now.” So I connected with, I honestly forget who. Maybe Jeremy and… Sure I can look back on my LinkedIn. I connected with someone on LinkedIn who was running the office or posted about running the office, gave him Carly’s resume, then she got a job there.
[00:34:39] Marc Gonyea: [00:34:39] Yeah. I mean, I think it’s great. I mean, I got a note here from you. May 31st, 2019, “Hey Marc, I saw you opening an office in Boston. I know someone who was looking who’d crush it.” Yeah, but you’d be, you said, “Who is running the office there?” And I spoke to speaking of crushing it, as far as I can tell you were taking them to New York city. You said that out. It was Jeremy Woods, so it was great. So like we had this new office and you never would imagined, ’cause I remember going to lunch with you and Andy when you were at MobileIron on one point. You guys are transitioning. I never would imagined like these two people that I’ve worked with at memoryBlue who are opening up, you know, our biggest client, one of our biggest clients ever out of California. You’d eventually move to New York
[00:35:24] and then you go to lunch with your new boss or your boss became a friend. And her daughter needs a job and you refer her daughter to come work for us. And her daughter’s working for us in our Boston office. Right? Which had just Chris had just opened up recently. I mean, I can’t, I don’t remember when…
[00:35:37] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:35:37] It like, it just opened it.
[00:35:39] Marc Gonyea: [00:35:39] Yeah.
[00:35:39] And Carly, what you referred to us was like a foundational SDR in that office.
[00:35:47] So that… Was that?
[00:35:50] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:35:50] She crushed it. I’m sure.
[00:35:51] Marc Gonyea: [00:35:51] Yeah. She, oh yeah. She was, yeah. She didn’t even, she more than crushed it. So thanks, you know, Chris and I owe you a drink or something whenever we get the town next for you referring her to us. That was huge.
[00:36:03] And and it’s just funny how the kind of work, kind of works. And I’m glad, I’m glad you had a good experience because you felt uncomfortable enough, obviously like, “Yeah, go work at memoryBlue.” So we kind of launched her career. So and… So about networking and then that leads me to my second story. So how you ended up back at Ivanti slack for the artist formerly known as MobileIron?
[00:36:25] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:36:25] Yeah. I mean, I was at MobileIron for, I mean, they were my client for like eight months and then I worked there for about two years. It was hard leaving MobileIron like, I loved it so much. And then I moved to Texas and, you know, it was like a series of unfortunate events happened. Like one the company that I was at went completely under, I was only there for two months.
[00:36:44] And I was like, “What do I do now?” I started working for another company which I still love today. I’ve made some of my closest friends there, here in Austin, but I got a call from Andy saying, “Hey, we have this opening. You have experience within MobileIron. Are you like open to possibly looking at joining or interviewing?”
[00:37:05] And I was sitting there was like, like, “I like where I’m at now. Like I have a stable job. I love all the people I work with.” But it goes back to like some, “You have to do things for yourself.” And so I get on the phone with my manager, who is my manager today. And I was like, “Yeah, I want it. I want back in security.”
[00:37:25] So Andy reached out to me. I saw him looking at my profile. I was like, “Hey, what’s up, dude?” Like, “Are you working here?” And then he’s like, “Kaitlyn. Oh no, what happened?” And he was like, “Well, we have a job opening.” So here I am.
[00:37:41] Chris Corcoran: [00:37:41] Did you know, did, did you know Andy from growing up or did you meet him at memoryBlue?
[00:37:45] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:37:45] I met him at memoryBlue.
[00:37:46] Chris Corcoran: [00:37:46] Okay.
[00:37:47] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:37:47] Yeah.
[00:37:49] Marc Gonyea: [00:37:49] You know, so that’s, that’s important, like the network you make along the way and you’ve done an exceptional job of that obviously. I mean, it sounds like in life in general, right? ‘Cause if Kyle didn’t like you, he would not, he would avoid your dad when he was filling up his Coke at the Chick-fil-A, not talk to you, not talk to your old man. But I mean, that, that is great too, right?
[00:38:07] That you met someone you’ve worked with, here at memoryBlue and you, you built this relationship enough with him that four years later or whatever it was, three years later, he called you up and recommended you for a field role.
[00:38:15] Chris Corcoran: [00:38:15] And, and tell, share with the listeners a
[00:38:19] little bit about what, what exactly you’re doing now?
[00:38:22] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:38:22] So I am like account manager. I own the bunch of accounts customers and I also prospect net new accounts. So a lot of it is, you know, upselling, helping with renewals, but a lot of it is going out and finding new opportunities. As I was saying before, it a big part is the channel, being able to help manage the channel whether it’s like carriers or whether it’s like the CDWs of the world, the SHIs of the world, working with them to generate new opportunities.
[00:38:54] So there’s a lot that goes into this role. Not just net new, but a lot of that, that account management, kind of.
[00:39:01] Chris Corcoran: [00:39:01] Okay. So you do, you do, you do channel, you do the install base. Do you do any direct sales?
[00:39:07] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:39:07] Yeah. We do direct sales.
[00:39:08] Chris Corcoran: [00:39:08] Okay. And what’s your, what’s your territory? Do you have accounts or is it a geographic based territory or..? Help us understand a little bit about a day in the life and where you hunt.
[00:39:18] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:39:18] Yeah, so I’m Southeast. So I’m basically from Maryland down to Florida to like Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama. So I have a pretty hefty chunk of the US for MobileIron. Yeah, it definitely some states are better than others or there’s more going on and more people, you know, looking to up their security game, up their management game.
[00:39:40] Yeah, that’s, that’s my territory.
[00:39:42] Chris Corcoran: [00:39:42] And do you, does MobileIront have other reps in that territory
[00:39:45] or is it exclusively Kaitlyn Garish country?
[00:39:49] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:39:49] For MobileIron I’m commercial, so I’m under 1500 employees. It’s a little different now that we’ve moved with Ivanti and whatnot, so I’m sure, you know, things are changing. I still like talk to the reps on the Ivanti side that are my territory. It’s good to kind of see what they’re seeing in the space.
[00:40:07] You know, what I’m seeing in the space any way that we can help each other out has been really helpful. My counterpart has helped me got deals and whatnot, so thank you.
[00:40:17] Chris Corcoran: [00:40:17] And I guess with COVID hopefully coming to a close here shortly, is it going to require travel, any sort of travel or can you do most of it virtually?
[00:40:27] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:40:27] I mean, most of it’s virtually, but I mean I’ve definitely been in the works with chatting with channel to see if any events that we can do and like Nashville area. I’m going to Nashville so I was like, “Might as well, if I can meet people there when I’m there on vacation after, might as well.” So I’m sure there’ll be a lot of in-person events coming up.
[00:40:46] Chris Corcoran: [00:40:46] Very good. So your focus is anything under 1500 employees in the Southeast and whether it’s a direct sale or using the channel?
[00:40:55] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:40:55] Yeah. Nice mixture.
[00:40:59] Marc Gonyea: [00:40:59] Hey, I meant to ask about this, but I forgot for a second. What, so you, you know, MobileIron previously was a publicly traded company. Right? And, but you had some stops at some in so many emerging states firms. And we talked a little bit about how you kind of need to look at these companies to kind of figure out like this because you raised a hundred million dollars in 2019 means you are going to be crushing it in 2020.
[00:41:23] About that. Talk about that a little bit, because you know, we’ve got these great companies we work with and some of them are more lowering than others or some of them are very lowering and then maybe they shouldn’t be as lowering as they are in the, in the eyes of the SDR.
[00:41:37] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:41:37] There’s just so much unknown, especially when you’re working with startups. I joined a company in Austin that had a hundred million funding in 2019. I came on board six months later, two months after that it shut down. And I was saying there like, “I thought I did my research. We all did our research.”
[00:41:56] So you just really never know what’s going on behind scenes. I still don’t know. You know what happened, but I love the company that was working on it. It was great. It just didn’t work out at the end of the day, but then it led me to my next job, a Levelset to Ivanti. So it all works out in the end.
[00:42:15] That’s like, if you look at my resume and my LinkedIn, it looks a little choppy, but it happens. It was a crazy year and you just really never know when you join a company what’s going to happen.
[00:42:30] Marc Gonyea: [00:42:30] So, what should you be looking for then, like knowing you can only do so much research, what are some other things people can be paying attention to it considering moving to a, to an emerging company?
[00:42:42] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:42:42] Who’s managing the sales team, I think is huge. I mean, it always goes back to that. It always goes back to who you’re going to be working for, but I’m going to look at where they’ve been at. Have they been super successful at their companies? They were there for five plus years. They constantly have been promoted and promoted.
[00:43:02] I think that’s a big thing to look at. Really just love the technology, but I’m going to go back to at love the people.
[00:43:08] Marc Gonyea: [00:43:08] Yeah, I, I think, talking to you some things are like, a manager that you believe in that you, inspires you, to teach you and one that will take risk on you, a risk on you, right? That’s taking a risk on you to be a sales development manager and then whoever hired you to take a risk on you to become a closer.
[00:43:25] Like this is, those are important things. And then the people around you are important because you’re right, you can go into Crunchbase and see somebody raise a hundred million dollars a year ago, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that this is going to grow. Or what if they put it all to the product, the wrong feature in the product or what if they, you know, spent it on something that doesn’t make any sense
[00:43:43] and then it flies other pressures on the business? So…
[00:43:46] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:43:46] Yeah. I would also say going off of that I look for a huge thing is female sales leaders. You don’t see it a lot. It’s rare. I work for a female now. My manager is a female. She’s amazing. That’s super big for me. ‘Cause there’s different challenges as a female in sales versus a male in sales. There’s so much more you have to go through. Just kind of having your voice heard one you’re
[00:44:16] in a room with 10 guys and you’re the only girl. So I would say it’s important for me as a female in sales to find like a leader whether it’s a VP or a manager or a lot of AEs that are females. That’s super important to me as well.
[00:44:34] Marc Gonyea: [00:44:34] And what’s that like? I mean, you mentioned that earlier when you were at with the MobileIron for the first time, it was you in a room with a bunch of dudes and you had to pitch. And so not, not only the high tech, are there not as many women in sales as are men, but then in cyber, it’s another level. Usually from my ex, my experience working with the cyber companies that go into these cyber events where you look around, you’re like, “Well, this is pretty singular.”
[00:45:01] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:45:01] Yeah. Yeah. I remember going to events when I was at MobileIron I was one of like few girls there and like massive events. It was crazy. And then like, when I was at the company before I was one of three girls on the sales team and there was, it was a pretty big sales team. So I think it is important to, to make sure that there’s diversity at the company. Where I’m at now,
[00:45:23] there’s a bunch of girls on my sales team or females, women. And that, that’s super important to me.
[00:45:29] Marc Gonyea: [00:45:29] And and what advice do you have for women who are looking to get into sales, young women who are looking to become SDRs potentially and or then folks who are kind of up the food chain? Like what advice would you have for your former self along the way?
[00:45:45] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:45:45] I think it goes back to the advice I can’t give me. When you’re in a room with most likely going to be a lot of males, “Speak up, because you probably do have really good ideas,” which can be nerve wracking, especially if you’re right out of college. And I mean, memoryBlue, there wasn’t that many females when I started. It’s definitely change, but when I was there, I was one of I dunno, maybe like four in the beginning.
[00:46:09] So it was kind of nerve wracking being in a room. Luckily I grew up with all guys. That still didn’t make it easy for me being able to speak up in a group setting. And it’s still challenging today. Like at my last company, when I was the only female on my direct team, to like say what I wanted to say.
[00:46:31] Marc Gonyea: [00:46:31] And what, as you kind of transition, you know, as you got into this closing role, do you think it can also be a benefit. Right? Because we’re kind of talking about it from the position of like, how it’s kind of challenging, unique, but how can, how can that be a strengths, do you think?
[00:46:46] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:46:46] Yeah. I mean, females have different strengths than males. I would say I’m a pretty good listener. And you’re going to hear that all the time, “Well, females are really good listens.” It’s true though. There’s different aspects that are going to help me out versus the males on my team. I’m…
[00:47:02] Marc Gonyea: [00:47:02] Why is that important?
[00:47:04] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:47:04] Not, some might not be the best just because I am a female in security sales which is dominated by males who I’m reaching out to as males, which yeah.
[00:47:15] Marc Gonyea: [00:47:15] And I think everybody knows. I think everybody knows, but it’s great to hear from a professional who’s doing this, w why, why is the listening part so important?
[00:47:24] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:47:24] My goal on a call is not to talk that much. I want to hear their problems. I think, I’m sure they don’t care about what I’m saying. As long as I can fix what they’re dealing with, that’s all that matters. And I remember when I was an SDR a while back or even, yeah, like developing my skills I didn’t listen to as much.
[00:47:42] And once you do start listening and do that like 80/20 rule, it’s a game changer. For SDRs that need to book meetings, just listen and don’t spew out, don’t give them too much candy. Don’t tell them so much about your products. Say, “Hey, well, if I can tell you that we can do this, are you up for a 30 minute meeting with my account executive?”
[00:48:04] That’s helped in a lot of roles that I’ve been in, all roles.
[00:48:09] Marc Gonyea: [00:48:09] Yeah, that’s that’s that’s that, those are the basics. Those are the same things we still teach now. Right? They, they, they, the 80/20 rule, which is what Kaitlyn tell it, tells so they can hear it from somebody else besides me and Chris.
[00:48:21] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:48:21] The 80/20 rule?
[00:48:23] Have them speak 80% of the time and you only speak 20% of the time. It will make a huge difference. And don’t tell too much, I would say in the first call, even when I was an account executive in my last role, I don’t want to say exactly what we did. I just wanted to show them the product. I know I can fix their product.
[00:48:41] I know I can help them make more money, save more money or whatnot. I just want to actually get them on the phone to actually show them product. Or as in SDR case, I want to get them to my account executive, who’s an expert in this.
[00:48:55] Marc Gonyea: [00:48:55] What, what are some of the other skills you’ve had to kind of develop and learn as you transitioned to a closure or, you know, field rep?
[00:49:04] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:49:04] Yeah. I mean, as an SDR, obviously you pass off the meeting and that’s it. Here it’s maintaining that relationship throughout the sales cycle, which at my last job it was a super short sales cycle. Here it’s a little longer. So learning to put that cadence in place constantly. You know, not always saying, “Hey, are you ready to buy here?
[00:49:24] Are you ready to buy? Hey, I saw this article. I think it would really help within your situation, check it out.” As it might not be anything to do with what I’m selling. May just be something in the tech space or, “Hey, I heard they talk, they spoke about their kid doing this on the weekend.” Little things like that,
[00:49:42] building relationships, constantly staying in contact will help you. At the end they close the deal.
[00:49:49] Marc Gonyea: [00:49:49] And what do you do now? Go ahead, Chris. I’m sorry.
[00:49:53] Chris Corcoran: [00:49:53] Well, I was going to say, outside of the office, how does Kaitlyn have fun?
[00:49:59] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:49:59] I got a puppy.
[00:50:01] Chris Corcoran: [00:50:01] Okay.
[00:50:01] Okay.
[00:50:02] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:50:02] Dodo. He’s sleeping right now. He’s living the dream. I got a puppy three months ago. He’s been amazing. Austin is super fun to be outdoors. I’m not going to lie, I love a good drink. I love a good cocktail. I do eat my way around every place I live in. I spend a lot of time on the river and lake. Austin
[00:50:20] people call it a lake, but it’s a river. Still doesn’t make sense to me. But we go paddleboarding a bunch here. I don’t like being inside. I don’t, I mean, I work at my desk in my apartment. Get me outside once it hits five. Close my computer.
[00:50:37] Chris Corcoran: [00:50:37] So you liked the outdoors?
[00:50:40] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:50:40] I do, which is weird that I was in New York.
[00:50:43] Chris Corcoran: [00:50:43] Yeah, I was going to say so. What do you like better Austin
[00:50:45] or New York City?
[00:50:46] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:50:46] Austin.
[00:50:48] Chris Corcoran: [00:50:48] Is it because of the outdoors?
[00:50:50] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:50:50] I like to be able to go in the water here. I mean, New York don’t expect me going on the Hudson river. I don’t think I’ll make it out alive.
[00:50:59] Chris Corcoran: [00:50:59] The Hudson. You got to go in the East river, not the Hudson.
[00:51:02] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:51:02] I don’t know. Wiser to stay away from both rivers.
[00:51:06] Chris Corcoran: [00:51:06] That’s probably the safe move right there. Okay. So and then what about Austin versus South Bay?
[00:51:11] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:51:11] Austin.
[00:51:13] Chris Corcoran: [00:51:13] And why is that?
[00:51:16] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:51:16] I love San Jose. I love the Bay Area, my whole family’s there. I love to go back and visit, but it’s, there’s more things to do here that I like. Don’t catch me once again, paddleboarding in the Bay. I don’t think I’ll make it out alive. I don’t know. It’s a, it’s a good place to call home for now.
[00:51:36] Chris Corcoran: [00:51:36] For sure. So I remember being in San Jose and it w it during the summertime, and it would be close to a hundred degrees. Maybe, maybe in the nineties. And I remember the Californians complaining about how hot it was. And I’m like, “There’s no humidity here.” So Kaitlyn you’re, you’re in the big leagues in terms of heat.
[00:51:55] Wait, wait until the summer of Austin and it’s going to be woah.
[00:51:58] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:51:58] It’s already bad. I just looked at the, I just looked at it, it’s 86 right now at 10 o’clock. It’s going to get to 93 round four. This weekend it’s 97 degrees. Yeah, it’s pretty rough. You get used to it though. It’s more like, hey my dog’s paws get used to it. My littls, little puppy dog I have to carry him everywhere.
[00:52:19] Marc Gonyea: [00:52:19] It’s a, it’s an interesting place. I mean, it gets so hot there, it doesn’t really cool down at night. So if you’re walking around downtown during the day the heat is emanating off the concrete. Like…
[00:52:29] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:52:29] It’s terrible.
[00:52:30] Marc Gonyea: [00:52:30] You could bake a cookie on the sidewalk.
[00:52:33] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:52:33] Make everything okay. Like they have misters everywhere. Everything’s pretty easy AC. I didn’t have this in New York. I had a like AC for the window, but here it’s like all central AC. It’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was here last summer. I kind of forgot how hot it got, but it’s back to being hot again, but it’s okay.
[00:52:56] I’m surviving.
[00:52:59] Marc Gonyea: [00:52:59] All right, Kaitlyn. So w where do you go from here? So like, just kind of walk us through this journey of yours, professionally and personally. What happens next? Or what kind of goals? What kind of mountains you still trying to climb?
[00:53:13] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:53:13] I would say I’m pretty still new to being an account executive, account managers, so I think I have a lot to learn here. A lot of possible money to make within this role and I don’t really see myself doing anything else for now. I don’t see myself being a manager again or at least for awhile, like 10 plus years. There’s so many skills within this role that I’m in now that I need to learn and that I have an amazing team to learn from.
[00:53:41] And people around me that have done this role before. So I think it’s going to be a lot of learning over the next 10 plus years.
[00:53:49] Chris Corcoran: [00:53:49] What I guess advice or I want you to give some advice to our listeners. And this listener is someone who is an SDR, a top performing SDR who is debating whether or not she should become an SDR leader. What, what advice do you wish you would have received before you made that jump?
[00:54:08] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:54:08] Before coming in SDR leader, what advice I wish I had?
[00:54:11] Chris Corcoran: [00:54:11] Yeah or what, w w or what do you wish you would’ve known about that role? Just what, what, what, what sort of insight would you, would you provide that person?
[00:54:18] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:54:18] Buckle in, it’s going to be a wild ride. No, I don’t want to people actually prior to being an SDR manager or just being in sales and general saying, “Hey, I think you’d be better at marketing. I don’t think you’ll be great in sales.” Things like that. Don’t listen to those people. Do what you want to do.
[00:54:34] Don’t be afraid to disappoint. I, that’s what I’ve always worried about, like in the beginning of my career. Like, “Okay, if I don’t go into marketing, like, will I be a failure as an SDR manager in sales? That’s not the case.” You create your own path and you are going to be successful especially if you have people around you that want you to be successful. And that are going to be there for you when you do fall down, when you do possibly lose a job. There’s always a group of people and that’s why I love memoryBlue is that, that was like the foundation of my sales career.
[00:55:05] So don’t be afraid to take a risk, I would say, if this is something that you really want.
[00:55:11] Chris Corcoran: [00:55:11] Very good. Wisdom.
[00:55:16] Truth.
[00:55:17]
[00:55:17] Marc Gonyea: [00:55:17] We got wisdom and truth and a lot of cool places you live and it sounds like you might not be done yet. So, Corcoran and I will be watching, waiting for the LinkedIn updates. I won’t stalk you as much as Andy does, but I’ll check, I’ll check on you every now.
[00:55:29] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:55:29] And hopefully I’m not going to be changing my LinkedIn anytime soon.
[00:55:33] Marc Gonyea: [00:55:33] All Right. Good. They’re lucky to have you in. It sounds like you’re very happy to be there. Well, Kaitlyn, thank you for joining us. It’s been, it’s been a while and it was… Chris and I are thrilled you could, you said you come on and drop some truth bombs today.
[00:55:48] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:55:48] Of course. Anytime.
[00:55:50] Chris Corcoran: [00:55:50] Very good. And hey, next time I’m in Austin I’m going to hit you up to go paddleboarding. I love standup paddleboarding.
[00:55:54] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:55:54] Let’s do it. It’s a workout, but honestly, if that’s the only workout I’m doing, I need to do at least like three times a week.
[00:56:01] Chris Corcoran: [00:56:01] For sure.
[00:56:03] Marc Gonyea: [00:56:03] Right.
[00:56:03] Chris Corcoran: [00:56:03] Very good.
[00:56:05] Kaitlyn Garish: [00:56:05] Thanks guys.
[00:56:06] Chris Corcoran: [00:56:06] Thanks Kaitlyn.