Season 2 Episode 35
Center for Sales Success Creating Student Success
Lecturer
Christopher Pardi is a marketing alumnus of the Darla Moore School of Business. After 28 years of experience in marketing and sales, he returned to the Moore School as a lecturer and Assistant Director for the Center for Sales Success. During his career with Fisher-Price and Mattel, Pardi led both global brand marketing and national sales teams. He spent 22 years in marketing, driving growth for iconic brands such as Power Wheels and Imaginext, where he developed global strategies, managed multimillion-dollar budgets, and delivered record-breaking results. He later transitioned into sales, managing major national accounts and ultimately leading the Fisher-Price sales team responsible for Walmart. Pardi also holds an MBA from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.
This is Chris Pardi’s first appearance on the Moore Impact Podcast.
Topics include:
To learn more about the Center for Sales Success, click here.
To learn more about Darla Moore School of Business, click here.
Photo Courtesy: Center for Sales Success.
Kasie Whitener (00:05):
Good morning and welcome into Moore Impact. This is Kasie Whitener. I'm your host for the Darla Moore School of Business Moore Impact Show, where we bring our scholars and our practitioners from the Darla Moore School, the number one international business school in the world, over here to the studios on Millwood Avenue at 100.7 The Point, and introduce them to our community here in Columbia, but also on MakethePointradio.com and our worldwide listening audience through the podcast, Moore Impact. Um, in the studio with me today, Chris Pardi, who is a member of the sales team, which, and, and I gotta say real quick, you guys are the most popular professors in the Moore School, and the reason I know this to be true is because I sat behind you at graduation last December, and as all the students were coming by, you and Beth Redinger giving 'em high fives, and Chris, I gotta tell you, it must feel pretty good to all those students as they're coming by feeling great about you, feeling great about the work that you're doing here. So welcome into More Impact. I'm glad to have you here.
Chris Pardi (01:03):
Oh, thank you. And that was such a nice introduction that, uh, graduation's always a special time for both students and the, the teachers who have guided them through their years.
Kasie Whitener (01:12):
It's a great chance to celebrate with them. And their accomplishments and their achievements. And of course, as you guys are building these great relationships with these students, we're gonna talk a little bit more about that. So tell our listening audience a little bit about yourself, your background. A lot of our Moore School professors come into the Moore School with this industry experience, with experience, and we call it like real world experience, and they bring that into the classroom with them. And you and Beth are two of those. So tell us just a little bit about you and your journey, and are you from here? Are you from South Carolina?
Chris Pardi (01:39):
No, I'm not from, uh, South Carolina. However, I did, however, I did attend the University of South Carolina.
Kasie Whitener (01:46):
So, you're a Gamecock alum.
Chris Pardi (01:47):
I am a Gamecock alum and forever to the means a lot to me.
Kasie Whitener (01:50):
Excellent.
Chris Pardi (01:51):
So, um, I guess if you would sum up my history before coming to Darla Moore, I worked, uh, at Mattel slash the Fisher-Price Division, uh, making and creating and selling toys for 28 years.
Kasie Whitener (02:07):
I love that. How fun is it to work for a toy company?
Chris Pardi (02:10):
It is a lot of fun and a, uh, big responsibility and, uh, did everything from, uh, 22 years in marketing there. Uh, and then I moved over to sales, and I did that for six years. My last responsibility was heading up the Fisher-Price Sales team calling on Walmart.
Kasie Whitener (02:29):
Can I ask you a question about Mattel? You sure can. Does the Executive boardroom in any way actually resemble the Will Ferrell scene in Barbie?
Chris Pardi (02:40):
Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, I was, I was rather, um, I was rather surprised and, uh, in one aspect, uh, while the movie was great.
Kasie Whitener (02:51):
Yeah.
Chris Pardi (02:51):
And I really enjoyed the, the way Barbie was portrayed. I think they gave a lot of creative liberties.
Kasie Whitener (02:56):
Yes.
Chris Pardi (02:57):
To the director and the producers.
Kasie Whitener (02:59):
Yes.
Chris Pardi (02:59):
Uh, the Mattel, I believe, from a leadership perspective, has more than 50% women.
Kasie Whitener (03:06):
That's fantastic.
Chris Pardi (03:07):
In executive positions. And, uh, that board was clearly made up of, I believe, all men.
Kasie Whitener (03:12):
Yes.
Chris Pardi (03:13):
So in that way, it does not represent, I think, maybe some of the fun, uh, and it kind of portrayed them as a little on the, uh, naive side.
Kasie Whitener (03:21):
There's a little bit of sort of bumbling fool scenario to it. And I, what I loved about it was that Mattel had their actual name on the, on the building. They had their name on the film, like, and they seemingly endorsed this sort of silliness that was portrayed. They didn't take it as an insult. They didn't get all, you know, upset about it and said, it was like, Hey, this is kind of silly, but we get what the film is trying to do. And, and I thought it was great. I don't like, really think in any way that Mattel actually looks like the Will Ferrell boardroom. I was just wondering about, I just watched it over the weekend. I was just wondering about it.
Chris Pardi (03:50):
Oh, it was, uh.
Kasie Whitener (03:51):
That's great.
Chris Pardi (03:52):
It it does not, but, uh, it, it was a great movie, but there is an element of fun.
Kasie Whitener (03:57):
A little bit of that. Yeah. So you leave Mattel, you leave Fisher-Price, and, and then what happens?
Chris Pardi (04:02):
So then I came here and, uh, was teaching Introduction to sales and the sales management class. Um, it was a difficult decision to leave Mattel, but one of the, uh, kind of things that I had always wanted to do was come back and teach at the University of South Carolina.
Kasie Whitener (04:20):
Why?
Chris Pardi (04:21):
Why? It, it, it's, it's kind of a full circle, uh, moment for me. Um, when I was a undergrad student here, I had a professor that I really enjoyed his class, and come to find out he was what we call an adjunct professor. So somebody with industry experience. And I really enjoyed his class, and I thought to myself, you know, later in my days, I might like to do that. And doing it at the University of South Carolina would be fantastic. So I literally, uh, must have put in a job alert at some point saying if there's a sales or marketing, uh, position in faculty. I got the alert and I applied, and here I am. So.
Kasie Whitener (05:00):
That's awesome. How long have you been teaching?
Chris Pardi (05:01):
This is going in my fifth, uh, fifth year right now.
Kasie Whitener (05:03):
Okay. So it's been a relatively recent change to move over to academia?
Chris Pardi (05:07):
Yes.
Kasie Whitener (05:07):
Okay. How different is the academic experience from your corporate experience?
Chris Pardi (05:12):
Oh, I mean, it is World Night and Day, right? But the applications and the learnings are all things that we can bring in the classroom. And the nice thing that you mentioned up front is bringing stories, bringing real life examples, and then being evil, even to interpret the most recent news from a kind of corporate, uh, executive side.
Kasie Whitener (05:33):
Right.
Chris Pardi (05:33):
Um, but the, the day-to-day is very different. And, uh, I, I'm so thrilled that I've done it. It's, uh, the one thing that I didn't necessarily expect was kind of the level of interactions we have with our students and getting to know them and all the things that they bring to the classroom with them. The academic environment has changed more from when I was in school, very lecture based. Very teacher upfront to some of that, but still hands-on more engaging activities where you really get to know your students.
Kasie Whitener (06:04):
Yeah. A lot more of the, um, active learning activities in the classroom. We could talk a little bit about that, um, as we get further on. But, um, getting the students to come outta their shells, getting them to talk about themselves, what their ambitions are, the thoughts and feelings that they have, what they're experiencing, what they know and putting, I love that you said the, the current news, right. As the news comes across on whatever it is our, you know, I, we get this email, the Morning Brew, that's all the, uh, news headlines from the business world.
Chris Pardi (06:29):
Okay.
Kasie Whitener (06:29):
And I have all my students subscribed to it at the beginning of the semester. And, um, not in small part, because then the Morning Brew sends me cool gifts, but
Chris Pardi (07:21):
So, interestingly enough, um, when I applied for the University of South Carolina, uh, it was for both sales and marketing. Uh, when I found out what I was teaching, uh, it was gonna be the Introduction to Sales class. And the ironic thing is that was the class that I really enjoyed the professor. Uh, so that class existed back, uh, in the eighties.
Kasie Whitener (07:45):
Right.
Chris Pardi (07:45):
I hate to date myself there,
Kasie Whitener (07:52):
That's okay.
Chris Pardi (07:54):
That's okay.
Kasie Whitener (07:54):
Eighties hair was overrated anyway.
Chris Pardi (07:56):
Exactly. Um, so we, we have been teaching it for a long time and, you know, the, the fundamentals of sales really hasn't changed. Um, one of the things that we primarily teach is what we call the Five Step Sales Process. Um, and we have a great acronym, acronym for that. It's, uh, connect, ask, solve, handle, and unite.
Kasie Whitener (08:17):
Okay.
Chris Pardi (08:17):
And those are kind of the five steps of the sales process.
Kasie Whitener (08:20):
We're gonna run to our very first break here in the next couple seconds. And on the other side, I wanna dig in a little bit more on this curriculum side and what can students who are thinking about coming to the Moore School that might be interested in studying sales, what they can expect to experience. Then we're gonna talk about the center and the work that you all do and how you help the community, uh, and get our students some real experiential learning. It's Kasie Whitener on Moore Impact with Chris Pardi we'll be right back.
Kasie Whitener (08:56):
Welcome back to Moore Impact, Kasie Whitener, your host, and with me, Chris Pardi, who is one of our instructors in the management de, or sorry, you're in sales and marketing, so you're under the marketing department, which is Keely Carter's, currently ya'll's department chair.
Chris Pardi (09:09):
Yeah.
Kasie Whitener (09:09):
Over there. She, she's been on the, on the Moore impact a couple times, uh, talking about sustainability. And, uh, you have a very dynamic department, by the way, I think, um, marketing in general, marketing and sales. Um, a lot of our most animated students are drawn to marketing and sales. Our most creative students, our most, uh, the students who like to perform, who like to speak, who like to engage, uh, they all seem to be the, like, maybe extroverted students seem to be drawn to that marketing sales side of the building. Um, on the management side, we try to like bring them over too. Like, Hey, y'all come participate over here. But, and then entrepreneurship definitely. But a lot of my entrepreneurship students are marketing student or marketing majors, um, and then they come into entrepreneurship 'cause they think they can be creative there as well. So, um, tell us just a little bit about the classroom environment in these sales classes. If you had a perspective, you know, high school senior, high school junior that's listening and thinking, maybe I wanna go to the Moores School, but I'm a little bit intimidated by a sales class or having to take a sales class. Like, tell us just a little bit, what is it like to be taking a sales class at the school?
Chris Pardi (10:09):
So, I think the greatest thing about a sales class at the Moore School is the interactive nature of it. Um, one of the first things we teach, uh, because we have a lot of junior and seniors who are looking for internships and jobs, is we teach them how to sell themselves with creating an elevator pitch and then working on that elevator pitch. Um, which gives them kind of the heads up when they go to things like the career expo.
Kasie Whitener (10:35):
Sure. We just had that last week.
Chris Pardi (10:37):
We just did. Mm-hmm. And one of the greatest compliments, uh, that I had was a recent, uh, corporate partner of ours came up to me afterwards and said, we could tell right away who were the students taking sales classes versus not. Um, so if you wanna find a job, either if you're in finance, accounting, econ, uh, the, the sales classes can help you find a job, which is great. We have 20 corporate partners, uh, and I that kind going goes into the center, but they come into the classroom, interact with the students, and they actually practice, uh, working on the elevator pitches with the corporate partners. We have a corporate partner, Nucor, that actually, uh, listens to all the, uh, elevator pitches that the students submit and gives feedback and everything else. So it kind of closes that loop as to suggestions and things they can improve to get ready for the Darla Moore Expo. So that's one aspect.
Kasie Whitener (11:33):
So it just starts with their own personal elevator pitch, talking about themselves, which they obviously know a lot about. Right. And then figuring out how to position themselves in a conversation where they're trying to get the other person to be interested in them and or eventually hire them. Right. Yeah. Um, incre an incredible skillset just to be able to speak, looking people in the eye, and to speak with confidence about what you think you can bring to the table. And to also not make it a, like me, me, me conversation, but more of a here's how I can help you conversation. All of those things seem like they would be really valuable skills for our students.
Chris Pardi (12:08):
It's funny you say that. They, they know themselves, right? Yeah. But, uh, the whole idea behind an elevator pitch or any sales or marketing pitch is to communicate your point of difference.
Kasie Whitener (12:17):
Right.
Chris Pardi (12:18):
Right. And so you'd be surprised at the, the number of, for example, Eagle Scouts, you find out they're Eagle Scouts, and yet they don't mention that in their elevator pitch.
Kasie Whitener (12:27):
Right.
Chris Pardi (12:28):
And that is a huge point of difference. Or that they had a summer internship doing door-to-door pest control sales, and they were top in the country, or top 10 in the country.
Kasie Whitener (12:38):
Right.
Chris Pardi (12:38):
Right. These are the things that, while we tend to know ourselves sometimes, we don't always brag about ourselves, and to a certain extent, an elevator pitch is the the time to do that. Yeah. We teach 'em very much. It's a conversation. It's not you getting up there and just reciting your elevator pitch. But those are your talking points that you want to, to get through.
Kasie Whitener (13:01):
I feel like I wanna redirect this whole conversation and let you coach me on an elevator pitch right now. Um, but I don't know that that would be as useful for our audience as it would be for me. So maybe I just need to schedule some time to come visit you during office hours.
Chris Pardi (13:12):
Well, for example, I didn't know you did this whole, uh, the radio thing.
Kasie Whitener (13:16):
Right.
Chris Pardi (13:16):
Which is fantastic.
Kasie Whitener (13:17):
We've met a dozen times over at the Moore School, but it's just like, I teach in the management department. You teach in, in marketing. Yeah. I think, uh, it's kind of interesting to think about like the secret lives of our faculty members,
Chris Pardi (13:26):
And the secret lives of our students. Right?
Kasie Whitener (13:28):
Yes.
Chris Pardi (13:28):
There are so many times you find out, uh, how accomplished they are. They're in a band, um, on the side and they're touring. And uh, you know, one of our students who was, uh, Blake Woblack, I dunno if you know him. He was a outstanding sales student. And I kept saying, Blake, um, you would be a great candidate for a lot of these sales companies. Would you please talk to them? Nope. I know what I'm doing. And uh, Blake actually is a songwriter now in Nashville.
Kasie Whitener (13:57):
Oh, nice.
Chris Pardi (13:57):
He brought the, the Nashville Knights to the Kroger Center, a fantastic event, um, attended those. And you talk about relationships. Like there, there's a relationship, but there's a whole hidden talent that kind of had to draw out of him. Um, when he eventually said, I'm not doing a sales job. I'm going to Nashville.
Kasie Whitener (14:16):
Right.
Chris Pardi (14:16):
So.
Kasie Whitener (14:17):
Let's talk about that, the relationships piece, because I think, and you mentioned, I asked you about the curriculum inside the sales classroom. It starts with this elevator pitch piece.
Chris Pardi (14:25):
Yep.
Kasie Whitener (14:25):
But sales are all about relationships. And you gave us, give us the acronym again that you guys work on in that sales, uh, training classes.
Chris Pardi (14:32):
So it's, uh, cash U, which is cash for you if you do well at that. Uh, that converts into money. Right. A lot of sales jobs are bonus and, uh, incentive based. Right. Commission and everything else. So the better you are at that process, the more you do. So the first step is connect. That's just, uh, building rapport. So we teach things, uh, like building rapport, the forward methods, some other things.
Kasie Whitener (14:56):
Finding things in common, asking people about themselves, being able to make connections. Oh, I didn't know you were a Phillies fan. I'm also a Phillies fan. These kinds of things.
Chris Pardi (15:04):
Exactly. But really the, the best question for, uh, an introduction is just where are you from? And the reason for that is it's personal, yet it's not obtrusive. And the recipient of that question can answer that however they want. Right. They could say that, well, I live in this town, but I'm originally from this.
Kasie Whitener (15:25):
Right.
Chris Pardi (15:25):
And you'd be surprised. It's just how many connections or, you know, I grew up in Denver. Oh, are you a skier? Yes, I am. And there you go. You found a common ground.
Kasie Whitener (15:34):
Right.
Chris Pardi (15:34):
Right. And where'd you ski in Colorado? Oh, I skied at Winter Park. Oh, I've been there. And there you go. Right?
Kasie Whitener (15:39):
Sure.
Chris Pardi (15:40):
So we teach the, the first one Connect, then it's all about needs discovery, which is asking questions, how you ask those questions, open-ended questions. We teach active listening, which is a skill that carries with you through life. So we do exercises with active listening.
Kasie Whitener (15:56):
Right.
Chris Pardi (15:57):
And you know, what I would say is sales skills transcend all occupations.
Kasie Whitener (16:02):
I agree.
Chris Pardi (16:03):
Um, everybody ultimately is in a selling role. Right? So, uh, that's the second step is ask, right. Then solve. That's really the sales pitch, the presentation. And you take what you understood in the asking questions, what needs you discovered, and you take those top things that they are looking for, and you implement that into your sales presentation, which is the solve. Then there's the handle, which is the H the handle objections. And every sales call will have objections or things they want to learn more about. So.
Kasie Whitener (16:35):
Right.
Chris Pardi (16:36):
We teach the feel, felt, found method on that. And then one of the greatest, uh, setbacks in sales is not asking for the business.
Kasie Whitener (16:43):
Right.
Chris Pardi (16:44):
And so we teach, uh, you know, trial closes, those type of things. So that's kind of the, the five step sales process.
Kasie Whitener (16:49):
So much to unpack here. So I have a background in corporate as well, and, uh, I had a very brief stint as a sales rep and our sales director, uh, he had that feel, felt, found method as well.
Chris Pardi (17:00):
Okay.
Kasie Whitener (17:00):
And so he would say, you know, I understand how, how you feel. And I had some customers who also felt that way. And what they found was, right. And, and then you kind of position how your solution was able to fix, you know, whatever objections that they had.
Chris Pardi (17:14):
You got it. Very good.
Kasie Whitener (17:15):
Yeah. And I, I, I will never forget, he would come into our new hire once I became a corporate trainer, uh, I would train new hire training and I always had him come in and teach that in our new hire training class.
Chris Pardi (17:25):
Okay.
Kasie Whitener (17:25):
Especially if we had a lot of sales reps in the new hire training class. And some of them are nodding along 'cause they've done this before. And some of them, it's like their brains are like, holy cow. Like it just lights up. That very specific phrase. Like, I understand how you feel. I had customers who also felt that way, but they found that this solution was actually, you know, more economical than they thought it would be. Or it actually solved more problems than they expected it to and these kinds of things.
Chris Pardi (17:47):
Exactly.
Kasie Whitener (17:48):
Yeah. And I think, uh, it, it's so simple and yet it's, uh, the more you rehearse it, the easier it gets and the better you get at it. And people are very receptive to it. I love that these like small little methodologies that get into the classroom.
Chris Pardi (18:00):
And so you, you talk about bringing life skills, right? That's a, that's a life skill.
Kasie Whitener (18:03):
Sure.
Chris Pardi (18:04):
And I'll, I'll, I'll tell you a funny story about that. Uh, in our sales club meetings, they're, they're usually six to seven. And at Darla Moore and, uh, we do mini lessons. And then a corporate sponsor comes in and talks about that mini lesson, their experience in it. So we were doing handling objections, and my wife happened to be in the audience, and afterwards she said, feel, felt, found. I've heard that before. You better never use that at home again.
Kasie Whitener (18:31):
Well that's, uh, so my husband was in management for years. He worked for a discount tire company in management, and now he's a nurse. But, um, and then I of course teach in the management department. And so, and now, and then our 17-year-old go, wait a second, you guys are just managing me. Stop managing me. Right? Like, she's like, I can tell. She goes, mom, I know, I know. The flip where it goes from your momming me to your managing me. And I just, you know, now, and then I just, I gotta tell you, I don't need a manager right now. I need a mom right now.
Chris Pardi (18:59):
Mom or a coach, right?
Kasie Whitener (19:00):
Yeah. Or to, or her dad, you know? No dad, I don't need a manager. I need a dad right now.
Chris Pardi (19:04):
Do you think subtly she's active listening and all of a sudden there's a slight change in tone.
Kasie Whitener (19:08):
I think she manages her friends, I'll be honest with you.
Chris Pardi (19:10):
Oh.
Kasie Whitener (19:11):
Like, she's a senior in high school now. I think she's out there using those management skills. She learned at home. Um, but it's interesting how that, like, then our sort of, our families go, wait a second, you're employing your, your work skills here in our home environment. That doesn't feel, you know, but it's, it's as authentic as it gets, quite frankly.
Chris Pardi (19:27):
That's, that's great.
Kasie Whitener (19:29):
Alright, so let's talk through the, you mentioned the sales club. Let's talk about these extracurriculars that students who are in the sales program now, is there a major, can people come in and major in sales and marketing at the university?
Chris Pardi (19:40):
There, there is not a major. Uh, it is right now a certificate. Okay. So to earn a sales certificate upon graduation, you have to take four of our sales classes, starting with the intro class. Then there's consultive selling, sales strategies, sales management, um, and a few other classes. So between the four classes, that is pretty close to like a, it's more like a minor.
Kasie Whitener (20:03):
Like a concentration.
Chris Pardi (20:04):
Concentration. Right.
Kasie Whitener (20:05):
We have that with, uh, entrepreneurship in the management department. Uh, and we now have a new leadership concentration in the management department as well. So you take those four classes, you get that concentration.
Chris Pardi (20:13):
You're right. We actually, it used to be called a certificate. It's just got upgraded to changed over to a concentration.
Kasie Whitener (20:19):
Excellent.
Chris Pardi (20:19):
So, thank you.
Kasie Whitener (20:19):
Yes. Yes. That's good. Quality stuff. All right. So tell us about consultative sales. So after you've taken sales introduction, introduction, sales, you'll take consultative sales. What's that all about?
Chris Pardi (20:28):
So, consultative selling is Beth Renningers class. Uh, she is one of the, uh, premier faculty at the, the Darla Moore.
Kasie Whitener (20:35):
Poets and Quants. Right?
Chris Pardi (20:37):
Poets and Quants Award. Uh, highly rated, highly sought after her classes fill up very quickly. Yes. Uh, so consultive selling, there's a two thing, a couple things that they are doing in that class. One, they take a, uh, national sales certificate, which is, uh, 45 days of activities, um, that a student has to log in. And part of sales is, you know, making cold calls, doing some of the things necessarily building discipline into your routine. So this is really a $600 value that comes free to the students. Uh, and they do this program and become a national certified salesperson at the end of it. But it's 45 days of straight, uh, activity. They have to log in and do a, uh, anywhere from a 15 to a 45 minute exercise every day. The other thing we are using is brevity, and I'll talk about more of that after the, uh, break.
Kasie Whitener (21:29):
We'll use brevity right now.
Chris Pardi (21:30):
There you go.
Kasie Whitener (21:31):
That's right.
Chris Pardi (21:31):
Perfect.
Kasie Whitener (21:32):
More with Chris Pardi on the, on the other side of the break. We'll be right back.
Kasie Whitener (21:52):
Welcome back to Moore Impact, Kasie Whitener, your host here with me in the studio, Chris Pardi. We've been talking about the sales, uh, program over at the University of South Carolina's, Darla Moore School of Business. Moore Impact is where I like to bring our Darla Moore school practitioners and scholars into the studio. Ask them about the work that they're doing, whether it's research or community outreach or in the classroom, and learn a little bit more about the impact that the Darla Moore School is having on South Carolina and really on our nation and internationally as we think about being the number one international business school in the world, which is just a fantastic accolade for us to have over there. So Chris and I have been talking about the sales program. We were talking about Beth's, uh, consultative sales class, which is the second in the four class progression, considered a concentration. So somebody would come in, they might major in marketing, they might major in accounting, they might major in management, but they could have this sales concentration with this four class sequence.
Chris Pardi (22:45):
Yep.
Kasie Whitener (22:46):
Okay. So now we've done consultative sales, and as we were going, you said brevity was one of the things,
Chris Pardi (22:50):
Brevity. So the other thing that, uh, Beth does in her, uh, class is brevity, which is a new AI software tool, uh, that basically students, uh, there's a scenario and the students have to do, read it like a case, and then they record themselves with, uh, AI. And there's ai, basically, the buyer is a AI tool, and then it scores them, says what they did well, so like anything, sales is a practiced skill.
Kasie Whitener (23:20):
Sure.
Chris Pardi (23:20):
So versus being able to roll a role play as a one-on-one with student teacher. It expands the number of role play that's, uh, students can do.
Kasie Whitener (23:29):
Exponentially.
Chris Pardi (23:30):
Exponentially.
Kasie Whitener (23:31):
I mean, it, it could be in an incredible number of circumstances and scenarios that they get to play out.
Chris Pardi (23:36):
Yes.
Kasie Whitener (23:36):
Through that AI partner.
Chris Pardi (23:37):
Exactly.
Kasie Whitener (23:38):
That's great.
Chris Pardi (23:39):
And we, we actually learned that through one of our corporate partners, uh, when we were touring their building, Amarok, a great corporate partner of ours, basically on the, the University of South Carolina campus. They use Brevity as their, their sales tool. Uh, we actually just did a sales competition over in their building, uh, with like 500 actual call hours.
Kasie Whitener (23:59):
Right.
Chris Pardi (24:00):
Programmed into this. And then the students went over there, used their sales training tool, Brevity, and the top, uh, ranked students, uh, won the competition.
Kasie Whitener (24:11):
Now, the students that participated in the competition, was that voluntary? Was that the kind of thing that they, like part of the sales club or part of the, the center? Or was this like, this was one of their class compulsory experiences? And the reason I'm asking is because, um, Geoffrey Graybeal was here a couple weeks ago, we were talking about our students going to entrepreneurship stuff, and we compel them. Right. Like we
Chris Pardi (24:47):
I would say the answer is both of those.
Kasie Whitener (24:49):
Both.
Chris Pardi (24:49):
Depending on the students, right. Um, we do compel, we offer several competitions or what we call kind of premier, uh, events. Those may be a, uh, dinner with corporate sponsors, um, or sales competitions. Both Amarok and Nucor are two that we, uh, run on campus. And as part of their participation grade, the students need to do one of multiple events that we host, uh, which is quite honestly great for the students.
Kasie Whitener (25:21):
Yeah.
Chris Pardi (25:21):
I, I cannot tell you the number of times just checking them in at the New Core competition. They, they're, they apprehension on their face and they come out, uh, looking like exactly like you do now with a large smile. And Oh my God, that was so great. And.
Kasie Whitener (25:37):
Right.
Chris Pardi (25:37):
You'd be surprised. Uh, I, I'll just give an example. Lily Averkamp, uh, one of the Darla Moore ambassadors, great student, uh, she was in my sales class and I had to twist her arm a little bit to get her to enter the new core competition.
Kasie Whitener (25:50):
Right.
Chris Pardi (25:51):
She, I knew she was gonna be a rockstar, and she was, she ended up, uh, winning it, uh, as a result of winning it. And strong interviewing, uh, hence the elevator pitch, the branding. Right.
Kasie Whitener (26:02):
Right, right.
Chris Pardi (26:03):
'Cause the first first question in a interview is always tell me about yourself.
Kasie Whitener (26:06):
Right.
Chris Pardi (26:07):
And that's your elevator pitch.
Kasie Whitener (26:09):
Right.
Chris Pardi (26:09):
Right. But get back to, to Lily in the Nucor Competition. She won it, interviewed with Nucor as a result of that. Uh, now she's about three years into her sales career, has a apartment, uh, on the beach in Santa Monica, California.
Kasie Whitener (26:24):
Goodness gracious.
Chris Pardi (26:25):
Her territory is California and Hawaii. So she's going to Hawaii on the California. I can't imagine the amount of money she's making. Right. If she has an apartment, uh, more than I am, I'll tell you that much.
Kasie Whitener (26:36):
Chris Pardi (27:13):
Yep.
Kasie Whitener (27:13):
We have these entrepreneurs that come in and talk about their business journeys. And we were having, you know, like moderate attendance before where it was like, okay, we're getting like five or six or eight or 10 people there, and our speakers were thrilled 'cause they just wanna talk to students. Right? Yep. Um, but then once Beth and I, Beth and I had lunch one day, a couple, uh, it's probably been a few, I think it was right after COVID. And I was like, I think I'm gonna build it into my syllabus and my students have to attend a certain number of events. She goes, let's do that. Let's, like, make them go. Um, and then when they realized there's something at stake, right? And you're like, now I'm getting them five hours a semester, they have to go to at least five hours worth of events. And that means sometimes five one hour events, which means they heard from five different entrepreneurs, or they had five different experiences. Or they'll come to one of our big events that's like a three hour or a four hour or five hour event, and they'll spend the whole day there. And it's like, wow. I had this great immersive experience at the, the Growth Summit where I spent the whole day going through workshops with other entrepreneurs and learning more about their businesses. I'm like, wow, it's amazing that you got something out of this real life experience. Tell me more. You know what I mean?
Chris Pardi (28:14):
No, actually, I mean, there's so many great things going on at the Moore School.
Kasie Whitener (28:18):
There really are.
Chris Pardi (28:18):
Right. I mean, I always look at and I like, oh, I wish I could go to that, but I have other activities. Right.
Kasie Whitener (28:24):
Right.
Chris Pardi (28:24):
We should do that for faculty. You have to go to a few things.
Kasie Whitener (28:26):
Oh my gosh, that would be great to require them. Uh, although I don't know, I'm a big joiner, so I show up at all of these things.
Chris Pardi (28:31):
But, they're great.
Kasie Whitener (28:33):
Yeah. The minute that our centers will say, Hey, we have this going on, I'm like, sweet. Can we come, can faculty come and be part of that? So let's talk about the center.
Chris Pardi (28:40):
Okay.
Kasie Whitener (28:40):
So you mentioned Nucor being a, um, a good corporate partner for you guys. You're the center. The primary role of most of the centers at the Moore School is to create these external connections for our students in a two-way street. Like number one is that our students can help the companies, but then the companies are also helping our students through a variety of activities. So tell us about the Center for Sales Success. How's, how is it built? What, what's some of the work that you guys are doing?
Chris Pardi (29:03):
So, I, I, I think what you said, it's very much a symbiotic relationship between our sales classes and our corporate partners. Right? So a lot of marketing students, whether they, uh, intended or not end up going into sales. I think the statistics around 80%. We have great companies that, uh, need to fill sales roles. And so one of the main, kind of the objective of the sales center is to be a matchmaker between the two. Right. And so, uh, companies come onto campus, they get interactive with our sales club, speaking at meetings, coming into the classroom, doing exercises. So they get to know, build their brand on campus with students. And that starts with the sales club. So we have, uh, freshmen join the sales club, and they are with us for four years. Right. It's a come as you, as you are come, uh, no entry fee to do that because our corporate sponsors do pay some money and that helps fund things like when we attend national competitions and take students on those activities.
Kasie Whitener (30:09):
Sure.
Chris Pardi (30:10):
So it's really a great thing. I estimate that we probably get 60, 70 students a job each year Wow. At one of our corporate partners. And, uh, it's all about building relationships, but between the two, and that's really what it's about. And one of the most kind of rewarding things for us now is I just got a email from a former student that's three, four years out and said, Hey, we're looking for salespeople. How do we participate? How do we get involved? 'cause it was such a great opportunity while I was here.
Kasie Whitener (30:44):
Right.
Chris Pardi (30:44):
And so we're expanding our corporate partners just through our alumni that are out there doing well and succeeding and kind look at the foundation that they got in sales from, from the program.
Chris Pardi (30:55):
Right. And then turning around and saying, Hey, I wanna help somebody out as well. Exactly. This is, uh, that alumni network, the strength of that alumni network is such an undersold value with the University of South Carolina. Um, we had, uh, Bohart in here talking a little bit about the alumni activities that they put together. And I tell my students all the time, I'm like, wherever you end up, find your University of South Carolina Alumni Association in that area, because those folks will be your very first friends. They have this thing with you, you mentioned Forever to Thee earlier in the show. Like, they have this relationship with you of an experience that you shared. Uh, and, and they will be your first group, um, wherever it is you move wherever you're part of. And so it's great to, to hear that our alumni are going out into the world and bringing their companies back to participate with the Center for Sales success. So you have the corporate partnerships, you have them get access to students by coming in and speaking at the, at the meetings and things like that. But you all do some sales projects for them as well, don't you?
Chris Pardi (31:52):
Uh, we do. We, well, we don't necessarily do projects for them. Um, that's more on the, the marketing side does projects for companies from the, from the sales side. It's really, um, like we do the Nucor competition. They, uh, if other partners, uh, can come in and be judges at that event. So it's really exposure to the sales students versus kind of project base.
Kasie Whitener (32:15):
Okay.
Chris Pardi (32:16):
Um, although I, I, I stand corrected, uh, Beth in her I consult, no, I forgot the name of her. Uh, it's kind of the Capstone sales class actually does a sales project, uh, each semester. Right. So you are correct.
Kasie Whitener (32:32):
It's a similar model. The only reason I knew about it's, it's a similar model to the entrepreneurship classes where we have the intro class, and then we have the second, second class, which is where our students spend time with entrepreneurs, but they don't really do anything for them. And then they get to the fourth class in the progression. And in that case, they're working actively on projects that will help the companies to advance. So I thought that that progression was similar to the one that, that we've got in entrepreneurship. Tell me a little bit about, uh, well, we've got just another minute before we head to the third and final break here, but, okay. Um, tell me just a little bit about the connection between the, the corporate relationship and the students in the classrooms. So are you guys having guest speakers in the classroom? What are some of the real life scenarios you're bringing into the classroom?
Chris Pardi (33:17):
Uh, I'll just, uh, give an example. Yesterday we had Sam Green, who, uh, is the territory manager for North and South Carolina. We were doing problem solving. He brought in, uh, two problem scenarios that, that he has experienced in his business, uh, consolidated electric distribution. And he, we put together two quick case studies. The students worked in groups to say how they would solve the problems. And we interacted and worked with them. And then Sam kind of said, all right, that's a real problem. Those are all great suggestions. Here are things we do. And so that's where I talk about interaction between companies and students.
Kasie Whitener (33:56):
Real world experience, real world learning. It matters. It's Moore Impact. We're gonna come back with one more segment of the show. Don't go away.
Kasie Whitener (34:33):
Welcome back to Moore Impact. Kasie Whitener here, in studio, Chris Pardi. And it took us a couple seconds to get back from break. 'cause we were talking off the air and finishing that conversation. Sorry. We should have made you all privy to that conversation
Chris Pardi (35:56):
Uh, well, I, I started laughing as you talked about. I started laughing as you talked, talked about the, uh, loud noise. Right. Um,
Kasie Whitener (36:04):
It would help if I turned your mic on, by the way. But there you are. You're on now.
Chris Pardi (36:08):
All right so, I said I was starting to laugh as you talked about the loud noise, uh, last semester. 'cause our sales area is actually in the Coliseum right next to the, the Darla Moore School of Business. And the classroom next to me, it had to have been five times where the other professor came and said, hey, you're a little loud in there.
Kasie Whitener (36:27):
Oh, wow.
Chris Pardi (36:27):
Is there anything you can do? I, she was not happy with me.
Kasie Whitener (36:30):
Wow.
Chris Pardi (36:31):
Uh, but that's because we're, we're doing fun activities and kind of innovation in the classroom is bringing more hands-on experience. Right?
Kasie Whitener (36:39):
Sure.
Chris Pardi (36:39):
And so I'll just tie back into a feel, felt, found.
Kasie Whitener (36:42):
Yeah.
Chris Pardi (36:43):
Right. Uh, I create a sheet with about 20 scenarios, uh, with objections. Uh, for example, you're a five star, uh, recruit looking, choosing between Coastal Carolina and University of South Carolina for football. Uh, you're concerned that you think, uh, Coastal had a better record last year, and you wanna go to a school with the best winning percentage. So the students have to create the feel, felt, found for that. And then we actually have a competition where I will randomly bring five, six students up and give a objections, and they have to counter that. And then we judge, we call it Survivor Island, where then that student stays on more come up. But at the end, we, we do a prize. Right.
Kasie Whitener (37:31):
Nice.
Chris Pardi (37:31):
But it's applying what we talked about right after we kind of talk about it, why it's effective and doing those things.
Kasie Whitener (37:38):
Right.
Chris Pardi (37:39):
So that's just, uh, that's just one example, right? Active listening. Uh, we, we do an exercise with the importance of nonverbal communication, right? So I have two students facing each other. One, uh, talks about a subject they are passionate about. The other student actually tries to ignore them. And so the uncomfortableness of not having that engagement, right?
Kasie Whitener (38:05):
Right.
Chris Pardi (38:05):
And then we move on to the next step. They can do nonverbal communication. So it makes it that conversation a little better. And then a full out conversation. Right? So take of active listening and applying it, seeing the importance of nonverbal communication. So just about every class is like that, where we, uh, teach a concept and then the students participate. So I think that is one of the reasons we really get to know all of our students. 'cause we are actively participating in those things. And as you mentioned earlier on, that's, that's kind of why we get the high fives and the hugs as they're going through graduation, because I think the, the amount of stuff they learn, but just the, the fun learning that is so important today.
Kasie Whitener (38:51):
Yeah. The environment matters, um, wanting to be their matters. And, and we had made some, you know, references before about compulsory and like making them do this and do that. Um, but it really is wanting to engage them to the level that they want to come to class.
Chris Pardi (39:06):
Yeah.
Kasie Whitener (39:06):
They want to be in the room. It's not that they have to be here. It's that they want to be here. And I feel like that when we look at our students as our customers. As people that are paying to be here, people who are investing in us, and investing in the experience that they're having at the Moore School, and then we respond in a way that gives them the experience that feels, you know, authentic and feels like the experience they were looking for when they got here. Uh, I feel it's, it can be really valuable. It can really change the dynamics in the room. Um, I I love that you've mentioned Beth's class being they fill up really quickly. Just about anybody that I talked to that has had an experience with Beth will tell you, like, she's just incredible. She's, and I'm like, I know she was the first person I made friends with when I first got here, because she's just that approachable. And she's just that, uh, she's more than happy to connect and she's a servant leader in the way that she will do anything she can to help you be successful. And I tell my students this all the time, you are currently surrounded by people who want you to be successful. Everybody here wants you to be successful, and it's not gonna be that way when you walk out the doors. Right.
Chris Pardi (40:21):
It's funny you mentioned like after you leave kind of the, the nest egg of college, right. Where you're all kind of in the, the same social environment. You all have shared experience. Right. And all those things lead to friendship. Uh, one of the greatest surprises for students is when they enter the workforce and they go to a new city to work and everything else. So one of the first things we do at one of our sales club, uh, meeting is bring alumni back and talk about their transition from student to, uh, to workforce. Right. And just tips and all those things. So I think that's the other thing we really try to do in sales classes, is give them opportunities for life learning and skills that, uh, kind of transcend the, the classroom and they can stick with 'em for the rest of their lives. So
Kasie Whitener (41:10):
If there are business owners listening that would like to get engaged with the Center for Sales Success and engage your students and, and contribute in some way, how could they get engaged with the center?
Chris Pardi (41:21):
Uh, so you can email me at christopher.pardimoore.sc.edu Or, um, just, uh, just reach out to the school of business and they will direct you towards me.
Chris Pardi (41:34):
Yeah. sc.edu. If you go in and put in a Center for Sales Success, just in the search bar, it'll come right up. Your name, contact information, Beth's name and contact information, and some of the things that you guys have going on. So what upcoming events do you have?
Chris Pardi (41:47):
Uh, well, actually not, uh, next weekend, or actually next Wednesday through Friday, I'm taking a team of four to a, uh, team sales competition sponsored by, uh, Nucor up at the University of Indiana. So that's an example of, uh, us taking sales students to a national competition should be very fun. That's four students will do, do joint sales call.
Kasie Whitener (42:13):
Is that flights, hotels, all that paid for by Nucor in terms of that investment being made.
Chris Pardi (42:18):
So that is it, you could say it's paid for Nucor, but it's paid by all of our corporate sponsors. And those are what the money to be a corporate sponsor goes towards funding.
Kasie Whitener (42:28):
Excellent.
Chris Pardi (42:29):
Right. And we, we try to make it, uh, the club also as fun as possible. So, you know, there's, there's a few social activities. We do a bowling night, those things. Uh, then, uh, next, uh, on Halloween day, we actually have our in-house, uh, new core sales competition. We will have, uh, probably about 10 volunteers from Nucor. Uh, uh, seven of them will play the role of, uh, buyer and our students will get a sales case and go in and do the, the role play. And then we will award prizes, which is another thing, you know.
Kasie Whitener (43:01):
What time does that happen on Halloween Day?
Chris Pardi (43:03):
Uh, that is 10 to about 1:30. Okay. And students, uh, sign up ahead of time. We give 'em time slots, 15 minutes. And that was where, like I mentioned, Lily was terrified.
Kasie Whitener (43:14):
Yeah.
Chris Pardi (43:15):
Did great. And the greatest thing for me is just watching the, the nerves and then the, the happy happiness when it's over. And the great thing is the students get feedback from Nucor sales reps, uh, that have done it and say, Hey, you did great at this. You did great at that. You could have worked on this. And so it's a, it's a fun, uh, forced fun in some cases. But honestly, probably, uh, I would say 33%. And I'm estimating clearly of those students are not in our sales classes, per se. They're just students that wanna do it and come and do it on, they're not doing it for any class credit or
Kasie Whitener (43:54):
Just for the experience.
Chris Pardi (43:55):
Just for the experience.
Kasie Whitener (43:56):
Yeah. Like anything else. I mean, you, you said that first off the bat, sales is a skill and skills. We get better at them. The more we do it, the better we get at it. And, uh, there's an opportunity for our students to come forward and in the classroom, or as part of the club or as part of the center participating in these events. They can earn those skills. They can practice those skills. They can get really good at those skills and then find that they have tremendous success in places like the Business Expo. 1900 students attended the Business Expo last week. Yep. So if they're, your corporate partners are coming back to you and saying, we could tell the ones that have been through your class that they had that skillset, uh, that's pretty impressive.
Chris Pardi (44:30):
The, the other thing we do with our partners is a lot of them are at the career expo. Um, and Beth and I are usually at the event, and students come up to us and say, who, who should we talk to? And we say, Hey, you'd be a good fit for this company. And we walk 'em over to the booth, introduce them. Right. So that's just kind of the, the personal touch as well.
Kasie Whitener (44:50):
That's fantastic. This has been an incredible conversation and I am absolutely going to come and visit you during office hours and get some coaching on the, on this on pitch thing.
Chris Pardi (44:58):
The elevator pitch. I'll give you a worksheet to work through. That's where it starts with. And, and interestingly enough, we, uh, do it, uh, introduce yourself, the, the present, past and future. Okay. And I, I will give, uh, one tip of for every meeting you're in, or a lot of meetings, you have to do the quick introduction. So if you, uh, or one person, oh, what do I say? Now? You say, here's what I'm doing right now. Here's the couple things that qualify me to be in this room. And that's your past. And then your future is what you want out of that meeting. And so that's, uh, that's, I teach that that's kind of the foundation of your elevator pitch.
Kasie Whitener (45:36):
You have no idea how much I'm going to need that moving forward. Thank you Chris Pardi for being here. You're welcome. This has been Moore Impact. When you learn more, you know more. And when you know more, you do more. Thanks for listening.