Case Studies

NAME : Paul Bystrov   NATIONALITY : Russian   UNIVERSITY ATTENDEND : St.Petersburg State University of Informational Technologies, Mechanics and Optics   DEGREE OBTAINED : Bachelor   AGE : 21   JOB TITLE : Associate Sales Representative (ASR)

 

May 2004. I’ve got a link from my old school friend to the Hobson’s site. I had thoughts about my future career to change not only the job I had but the whole job-sphere, so I willingly visited the site and filled in the survey presented. I was pleasantly surprised when I was asked to send the CV. Just imagine my excitement when I was scheduled for the phone interview and the Assessment day!

 

I will never forget the final two days before the final assessment – I was looking through the product lines, reading the materials about technical support and all other detailed information. I suspected some kind of exam – with bonus-questions, and right/wrong answers. I felt a little bit nervous and unsure but with strong intent to be chosen. I knew that I can, I must and I will. From the first steps in Cisco Office in Moscow I felt calm and confident. The people were very friendly and they really wanted to see us among them. The whole process was excellently organized. All were really engaged in the assessment. Roleplays, presentations, interviews brought interactivity and fun, in the same time being very serious and structured.

 

Then a week of anxious nights and I passed. I obtained the opportunity to build a career in such well-known and powerful company like Cisco and, possibly, bring my values and experience into this World-Wide Team.This was really what I wanted.

Here, in Amsterdam, on my second month of the program, I still feel like I’ve just arrived. The process is very intense and you get new information every hour. You don’t feel the time and have a lot of useful information here (it’s like drinking water out of water hose!). But that makes you a real sales person, being able to extract the most important information.

 

During the first 2 months we were led through presentation ranging and differentiating from Routing and Switching till Cisco Capital and Presentation Skills. I think, the program is very well balanced, so on the one hand it fits to the person like me with technical background, on the other hand to the person with economical or sociological background. But the main thing is to have an inner drive to investigate, to improve yourself, to communicate and of course to sell. No matter how good you are at Networking Technologies you will fail if you don’t believe in your success in sales.

 

The most enjoyable thing here is practice. Knowledge should be supported and developed by continuous practice. You can’t learn the way how to present without actually presenting. You won’t be able to do cold calls only by reading a book. Tremendous part of knowledge comes through practices.

 

The most challenging for me was to adapt into the new environment. However, my Manager Kurt Radecki doing his best to set up the atmosphere in the Team to be warm and friendly, so that nobody is left alone. Adaptation to the fast-changing environment is one of the “must-have” characteristics of the sales person, so I guess that was a part of the program.

Here you can feel the atmosphere of the Team. Everybody wants you to be successful. Sharing experience, collaboration, support from the team-members is a strong foundation for your development within Cisco. You won’t succeed being alone. Teamwork is one of the essential parts of Cisco Culture.

 

Feedback is very important in Cisco as well as everywhere. First it should be 360°. That means it should come from your Manager, your teammates as well as from your subordinates. Only like this you can find out a lot of things about yourself as a person. Feedback should be constructive. A month ago I’ve got the feedback from one of our presenters on the Presentation Skills course about the posture and usage of space. Without it, I guess, I would never mention it, because such thing can be seen only from the other person’s view. And Sales Associates Program provides us with opportunity to get this feedback from our mentors, luckily, not yet from our future customers.

 

I am really excited with getting this position in Cisco.It is a real position, not a trainee as one might think. You get responsibilities and commitments here, and that will help me in my future growth with Cisco. I am looking forward to improve the skills required to be successful within The Company.