I began my day by visiting with the textbook manager at Bill's Bookstore. Fabian was extremely helpful and answered some crucial questions. He explained that a big part of my job is to help the professors to customize their materials specifically for their courses. For example, he showed me a textbook where the professor had printed only the four chapters that he was going to use for the course in order to make it more cost-effective. In addition, there was an access code included for digital access to assignments and other course materials. He was also happy to show me what the big enrollment courses are. The ones that I would be working with would be: BSC 2010, CHEM 1045, and any other lower level science classes including PSY, PHY, SOP, SOW, and also SPN 1120. I asked if there were any professors he would recommend seeing but he couldn't think of anybody in particular. He said that he is happy with the relationship with his reps. He likes the fact that the reps come in and educate the staff on the new materials at the beginning of the semester. He also mentioned that I should go talk to Alyssa at the FSU Bookstore for more insight.
My meeting with Alyssa went very well. I asked her a series of different questions but in nearly every response she would mention the importance of having a good relationship with her reps. She explained that it is especially important in knowing what quantities to order and in helping with "back-order situations." Alyssa also echoed what Fabian had told me about the larger enrollment classes. She added ENC 1101/2135. I asked about who made the decisions on those large courses and she replied that it was either the lead instructor or the department chair. Bingo. I asked if she could recommend anyone in particular that I should see but she thought with finals going on it would be difficult to see anyone.
I decided to start with the science buildings and work my way back to the other side of campus (where I parked). I went to the Psychology building and found the floor where the faculty offices were. I found one professor who was having office hours but she was with a student so I decided to try another building and then come back. From there I went to the Life Sciences building. I went through three different floors of faculty offices and found one open door. His name was Steven Miller and he was a researcher. I explained why I was there and he said it would be a tough day to catch professors but to keep trying. I then walked back to the Psychology building where I found the same professor still with the same student. I decided to then try the Physics building. Same result. On my walk back through campus I stopped at the Geology building. On the first floor I found an office that had a handful of TA's in there. I poked my head in and explained what I was doing and they started listing off the names of professors I should see. Awesome! I asked which ones would be available that day and they stated that I wasn't going to catch them. I went up to the next floor to make sure and sure enough they were right. Side note - TA's can be very helpful and become possible advocates for you with professors.
I went to the other side of campus to the Diffenbaugh building to try to get in front of some foreign language professors. I was happy to see the building was packed! The hallways were full of students cramming for exams and there were people everywhere. I went up the next two floors of faculty offices and there was no one. I did find a large office that said "Dept of Modern Linguistics" that had a sign on the door that said "Must be accompanied by TA to enter." Another example of how befriending TA's can pay off. Still undeterred I went next door to the Williams building to see if I can get in front of some English professors. Finally, on the fourth floor of the Williams building I found Dr. Andrew Epstein having office hours. Unfortunately he doesn't deal with publishing reps much as he uses his own materials for his classes. He teaches upper level American Lit classes where he uses his own PDFs. He did however direct me to Deborah Coxwell-Teague who is the Director of Composition. He gave me her office number which was down on the second floor but unfortunately she was not in.
There are different ways to look at my experience. Although I wish I had encountered more professors I feel that it was good to experience what a difficult day could be like in this role. Attempting to catch professors during office hours without an appointment is a difficult task which this exercise was obviously designed to teach. I am sure that final exams starting played a part in the outcome but I can see that there is definitely a trick to figuring out how to catch these professors.
I still took some very valuable things away from this experience. The department chair and lead instructors on large courses are the key decision-makers. Making appointments with them would be a good place to start at least for the initial in-depth visit. Sitting down with them and learning what is important to them and what their specific needs are would be a crucial first step in this position.
While some might have been deterred by my experience, I certainly was not. In fact, I would like to go back again tomorrow and give it another shot. My years of sales experience has taught me that there can be days like this. Relationship-selling is certainly not a one-call close or anywhere close to it. Enthusiasm and a passion for what you do are crucial in outside sales.
A major step in succeeding in this role will be the creation of goals. I must create a yearly goal for myself and then break it down incrementally into monthly goals. From there I would need to create a road-map of what I needed to do on a weekly and daily basis in order to succeed. For instance - how many schools I would need to visit in a week's time and then how many professors I would need to be in front of on a daily basis to make that happen(also deciphering which schools and specifically which departments/professors are the highest priority). Creating that model for taking consistent daily action will help me succeed. In addition, spending a little time with the current rep in this territory and discovering what she does to be successful would also be key in getting started quickly with this position.
I am very enthused about the position and feel that I am a natural fit based on several years of experience in relationship-selling. It's about getting to know your client and helping them to achieve their goals while working hard through consistent daily action in order to achieve your own. I look forward to the next step in the process and to becoming a successful rep at Pearson and an integral part of the team.
