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Guest Profile:

Kevin Kirchner, Salesman at Mondelez International

Studied Marketing and Finance at Indiana University

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work in sales:

Sales provides a way for people to easily quantify their impact on the organization

The beginning of your career in sales may be spent going from store-to-store - and it won’t be glamorous

The selling that happened occurred organically by building strong relationships and being observant. Sales presentations weren’t required

Winning and being competitive are critical components to work in sales

Insights:

Reflecting on what he wanted to do while in college helped Kevin understand which path was right for him

Sales is fast past and has a lot of instant gratification. Marketing is long-term planning and execution of campaigns

In sales, you know exactly where you stand compared to peers and competition and can measure your impact

Sales in CPG is based around the brand and brand management

Sales has to work incredibly closely with the brand manager, with sales handling the execution of the go-to-market strategy for how the product hits the stores and the market

Kevin started his career in sales going into the stores, talking with merchandisers and customers

Having a strong organization with great people drives more passion for the company and the product

Belvita cookie/crackers are delicious

Frustrating at times not to be fully aligned with partner organizations, which can happen in any company

Most exciting part of the job is when sales targets are hit at the end of each quarter

You can see your hard work come to fruition

Career path starts in sales or sales support and can move on to managing larger accounts, then managing a team of salespeople

Rapid Fire-Round:

What Kevin wanted to be when he was a kid: First-baseman for the Chicago Cubs

Best resource for career-related information: People he works with

What helps Kevin when she has a bad day at work: Calling people he used to work with

Kevin’s favorite product/brand his company makes: Belvita or Milk Oreo

Best part of Kevin’s work day today: Playing catchup on work

Advice:

Figure out what subject or topic is of interest to you or you are most excited about and then do that

Be very direct and transparent with what you want

Why should someone want to be in sales

If you are competitive and want to track your performance, and seeing the results of your performance instantly, you should be in sales

If you have high energy and are a self-starter, you should be in sales

If you can handle ambiguity and want autonomy, you should be in sales

Get in touch with Kevin Kirchner