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In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I’ll be having a candid chat with Eva O’Keefe, the Vice President Sales at Azelis, a world-leading specialty chemicals distributor. She is an experienced vice president of sales with a demonstrated history of working in the chemicals industry. She previously worked for Horn/IMCD, where she was VP Strategic Accounts, and before that, she spent five years as sales manager for the former PT Hutchins, as well as with Dow as LATAM sales manager. She began her career with Arch Chemicals.

Eva is very skilled in sales, management, and specialty chemicals. She graduated from the University of Florida with dual degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering and later attended the Graziadio School of Business at Pepperdine University where she earned her MBA. Eva will share her valuable insights on how one can translate their technical skills into sales leadership and emphasize the importance of continuous learning to succeed in sales. I can guarantee you that Eva won’t just be an inspiration but will also equip you with the knowledge you need to go out and kill it in your sales career. So stay tuned!

On Today’s Episode of the Science of Selling STEM:

• The incredible journey from getting two degrees to becoming VP of Sales (01:42)
• Things that set her up for success as she transitioned from an engineer working in a basement to her current leadership position (05:43)
• How her MBA taught her how to think strategically (06:45)
• Leading better from investing in her personal and professional development (09:52)
• Challenges she has had to overcome throughout her leadership career (12:35)
• Starting in sales for a small business with 5% market share and scaling the market share to 75% (17:11)

Connect with Eva O’Keefe:

• Eva on LinkedIn

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

• Wesleyne’s Website
• Wesleyne on LinkedIn
• Wesleyne on Facebook
• Wesleyne on Twitter

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Thanks for tuning into The Science of Selling STEM! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn even more about what it takes to transform your sales, don’t forget to tune into our other episodes and share your favorite episodes on social media!

Join The Science of Selling STEM community on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website for even more content, information, and resources.

As a sales manager, you are judged by the

performance of your team, and you're praised when they do

well. But one thing that you've not been able to figure out is

how to get everyone on your team consistently hitting quota every

single month. On the Snack size sales podcast, we discuss the

science of selling stem sales leadership in the science,

technology, engineering and manufacturing fields is

difficult. You will learn from sales managers just like you

that will give you actionable insights and tips on how to

develop as a leader and achieve your revenue targets every

single month. So pop your headphones in and get ready to

listen to my guest today. They will give you information and

inspiration to ensure that you have actionable insights that

you can put into place today. Hello, and welcome to another

episode of the Snack size sales podcast today. I am so excited

that I have the pleasure of interviewing Eva O'Keefe. How

are you?

I'm doing great. Thank you for having me.

Some let me tell you guys a little bit more about Eva. She

graduated from the University of Florida with dual degrees in

Industrial and Systems Engineering. Later, she attended

the Graziadio School of Business at Pepperdine University, where

she earned her MBA. She is currently the VP of sales at

azelis. So tell us, how did you go from two degrees to becoming

the VP of sales? Yeah, so

obviously didn't happen overnight. You know, I started

my career, actually my degrees in industrial and systems

engineering. And my first job was actually working for Exxon.

And I was actually doing hard core computer programming. I

have spent of my first year at the basement of the Exxon

building, programming C++ and doing all these things. I was 22

years old. And I was like, Okay, this is not for me, I am a

people person, I would go to the supermarket and I would start

chatting with a cash register lady and things. So a friend of

mine asked me, Hey, there is a job in chemical sales. I was

living at that time in the Houston area. So I am like, I

don't know much about chemical sales. I did take some chemistry

classes during college, but I think I want to get into sales.

So I started in sales. And I did that for a couple of years in

the pulp and paper industry. Then I moved to chemical sales

in selling for more like paint companies, then actually, I was

born and raised in Venezuela. So I speak Spanish, the opportunity

came to work for Angus, which then became Tao as an Latin

American sales manager. So I did that for a couple of years, I

actually traveled all over Latin America to actually learn

Portuguese, even though I don't speak that much Portuguese

anymore. So I went to, you know, the smallest countries, El

Salvador, Costa Rica, to the big places like Brazil and Colombia.

Then I had some family changes, I got married, I had children.

And I actually went to work for another chemical manufacturer

for a couple years, and my territory was very large. I had

12 western states, Western Canada, sometimes Mexico. So

after starting a family, you know, I decided, okay, let me go

something smaller. So I went into chemical distribution. And

at the same time, actually, I decided to get my MBA. So I was

trying to do it all, you know, having a family getting my MBA,

traveling. And so I got into chemical distribution, chemical

distribution is different because you have a smaller

geographical area, a lot more accounts. And I started

basically, as an account manager, and quickly I was

promoted as sales manager. And I manage a team and I did that for

a couple of years. Then I went to work for a competitor. And I

was actually vice president of true strategic accounts, which I

was giving them one very, very, very large account. Then my

company was sold. And then I went to work for actually the

same company that I work 10 years ago, and in actually 15

years ago in 2005. And my original role here was actually

vice president for Latin America, which I did for a few

months. And then they said, You know what, I think your skill

set is better suited to manage a territory so I'm now Vice

President of Sales for the western region, which covers

what 12 Western states. So that's that's kind of my career

in a nutshell.

So you had a such a dynamic career because you went from

being just a traditional engineer to something completely

different of chemical sales. And then you kept on that path of

doing something different by getting into distribution, which

I always say distribution sales is a world unto its own, because

you're managing someone else that's not under your tutelage.

And they're managing the customers. So what are the

things that you think that really set you up for success

going from being a engineer working in a basement to and the

skills that you've been able to translate into your leadership

position?

Yeah, I think a lot of it is, I understood early on that this

was not my right path, you know. So I think understanding

yourself, you know, and taking that risk, you know, just

saying, you know, what, I'm comfortable here, but this is

not what I want. So I think that's one of the things hard

work. I mean, they're, you know, I'm, I have kids right now, I

have a 16 year old and unknown, almost 19 year old, and they

think that they are just going to walk in and be the vice

president of sales. And we're like, No, it just kind of

doesn't work like that. You know, it just sheer spending the

time getting my MBA, I think my I, again, my training as an

engineer, I knew, you know, processes and things like that.

But in reality, unless you're working for Tesla, or SpaceX, or

something like that, you're dealing in business with

customers, profits, p&l, and things like so, I think my MBA,

you know, was critical in basically teaching me how to

think, you know, in teaching me about strategy, and teaching me

is like, Okay, do I want to be the Neiman Marcus selling a

couple of things that are very high margin? Or do I want to be

Walmart? Or do I want to be somewhere in between all those

things I learned on my MBA, so I personally, I know, they're kind

of, you know, not as viewed as favorable anymore. But for a

technical person. And I tell the young people under me, if you

have the time, your company's paying for it, do it, it was a

very big sacrifice. Like I said, I had, oh, you know, already one

child expecting the other. But I felt that it was very much worth

it. And, you know, I think continuing your skills, I just

finished a leadership course, at Cornell, you know, talking about

women in leadership. You know, I listen to a lot of podcasts, you

know, how I built this, my son is starting at Northwestern, I

found some very interesting podcasts there. So just don't

think that you're you're ever done learning, if you consider

yourself a lifelong learner, in every interaction, you know, in

my company, even though I'm in sales, I have to deal with

supply chain, I have to deal with customer service. And every

interaction, if I learn about their business and how they do

their job, it helps me do my job better. interpersonal

connections, I think that's very important. I think in my

industry, you know, I think people will hopefully view me as

someone that is very generous, very, you know, generous with

her time I invite people into my home, I, you know, back when we

were entertaining a lot more, I did a lot of entertaining, a lot

of socializing, building, not just the business. You know, I

have a mentor. His name is Syriac Alexander. He's very well

known in our industry. And he always said, you know, companies

do business with people, not companies, with companies. So

developing those personal relationships early on, and I

still have relationships that I've kept for almost 30 years in

this industry. I think that's very important.

That's awesome. You talked a lot about personal and professional

development. And I think a lot of times as leaders, that's not

something that we value as much because we're going going going

as a sales leader. We're like, Okay, I got to hit this number.

I got to get the team doing this. I got this. I got that.

But really taking time to slow down and do that development. It

seems like it's really played Messrs for you in your career.

So I'm curious when we think about your team and the people

that you work with, how is that development, that growth that

you have so inherent within you? How does that help you lead your

team better? Yeah, I

mean, again, I think I'm a firm believer for example, I belong

to the Los Angeles Society of coatings technology. I'm on the

board. have given them a six year commitment. Anyone that

goes under me, you know, it's like, okay, you are you are

joining the LSVT. And you are becoming a board member, you

know, and at the LSVT, for example, every single month, we

have technical talks that we learn. So, again, to me, that is

very important. And it's very important for the people that

work for me to have that mindset to have that mindset about

learning if someone is, for example, I do get some people

that work for me that various technical levels, I will get

someone with an engineering degree, and I will get someone

with a marketing degree, you know, the guy with a marketing

degree, he knows how to sell well, but maybe not is not as

versed in the technical aspect, you know, so, again, send them

to lab where he spends a week and Merce in, you know, in

technical training and understanding, I think that

people should always recognize what are their weaknesses, and,

you know, go and try to improve that is the person with a

marketing degree going to be as technically proficient as the

guy that's been, you know, 10 years in a manufacturing plant,

creating polymers, no, but it doesn't matter, you know, and

also understanding that there are resources available, none of

us work in a vacuum, that if you're weak in one area, you

bury yourself up with someone that is not weak in that area,

you know, and having that collaboration, I think makes the

team a lot stronger.

I love that I always when I'm working with people, one thing

that we do is we come up with an onboarding plan. And when we're

working in these technical fields, it's there always two

tracks, there's a technical track, and then there's the

sales or the business track, because depending on your

background, sometimes like you said, you need to go in the lab,

and you need to say, Hey, let me present this to someone, let me

go out and get my hands dirty, I always like to say, getting my

hands dirty, like go out on the plant floor, go in the lab and

really learn the process, because you're strong in sales.

So we don't need to develop those skills as much. Whereas if

you're a technical person by nature, then we do need to hone

those sales skills, you need to be cold calling and talking to

customers and doing all of those things. And so, really what you

said, I love the way that your individualizing the development

for your sales people. What are some of the challenges that

you've had throughout your your leadership career? Well,

early on, you know, I would say, How do I put it this politely,

you know, I was traveling to Latin America, as a young female

29 years old, as a manager, you know, and they were basically,

you know, I was not being accepted, you know, and many

times, if, you know, some of the distributors there would say,

Hey, I do not want to spend time with you, or, you know, or bring

your boss or something like that. So, I think that that was

pretty challenging, you know, and I felt that I had to prove

myself quite a bit, you know, the other challenges is, is, I

think, you know, mentoring people to the point that they

want to stay, but the grass is always greener on the other

side, you know, in spending time with someone's spending, you

know, love and attention and care, and then, you know, they

get a better offer. And you, you know, you say, Okay, this is

business, I don't want to take it personal, but you do take it

personal and you feel is like, what happened, what did I do

wrong? What, you know, Why couldn't this person stay with

me? So I think some of those, you know, in the environment, I

mean, the last couple of the last year for everyone, we had

to learn completely how to work in a different way, you know, I

was used to, every week getting on a plane and travel and you

know, and now we're home, you know, and we're like, okay, but

I think we've learned quite a bit. And we've learned that

also, there is a lot more collaboration and efficiency,

you know, that you can immediately get the person in

New Jersey, you know, the person in Argentina and the person in

California and old, you know, beat together at once, things

that a year ago, before the pandemic, you just didn't do

that it was not normal. So, you know, in challenges also, I

think that as my personal and professional development is

like, Okay, I've been doing this for almost 30 years. It's like,

what do I do when I grew up? You know, where do I want to go? You

know, I think you have to ask yourself those type of questions

over and over again. Mm hmm.

Those are some good but real life challenges right being a

woman in this very technical Chemical sales type realm,

especially when you're traveling to other countries, I think in

different countries, there are different perceptions. And as

you said, that we have to think about the closer of things. So

when you're traveling to Latin America, it's culturally like,

no, no, no, no, this is not what we do. And then having that

turnover, especially in these days where, I mean, if you're a

good salesperson, you're like a hot commodity, everybody's

trying to steal you. And it's when you get to a salesperson,

and they leave for 5000, or 10,000, or three or 4%. More

commission, like you said, What did I do? Did I do something

wrong? Why Why are you leaving? And then really thinking about

this virtual world? Okay, yeah, it's very different. But these

are the ways that we can actually build our business

faster, we can meet with people quicker, we can be on back to

back to back zoom calls, like I can start my day in London, and

I can end my day California, right. And I think those things,

you know, what you really said is, it's like, yeah, these are

challenges, but they're all things that I overcame, and

they've made me stronger.

Absolutely. Actually, I have a little funny example. I was

talking to this gentleman that I've talked to him a couple

times. And all of a sudden, he mentioned something about being

in Argentina. And I'm like, wait a minute, you are in Argentina,

I had no idea. I thought that he was in Charlotte, North Carolina

or something like that. So I love

it. I love it. I mean, the world that we're living in today, it's

a global world. But it seems like we're so much tighter knit.

Like in this past week, I've talked to somebody in London,

I've talked to somebody in Lebanon, I've talked to somebody

in Norway, and I want to talk to somebody right here in Texas,

all on Zoom. Right? And so I think that being able to embrace

what I like to call sales technology, and helping our

sales people really upskill right. So it's yes, we can do it

as leaders, but are we showing our sales people how they can

actually use this to build their business? Correct. So it's give

me a success story, whether it's in your current position, or in

a previous position that you had on something that you're really

excited about a person a sale? Anything that you're really

excited about?

Well, I would I would, I can actually start I will go back to

when I first started in sales in my career, you know, I was mid

20s, okay. And the product that I was selling over, I was

actually selling one specific product, then when I came over

here, we had very, very, very little market share, I would

say, I don't know, 5% market share. So basically, the way

this product worked it, do you know what pH is the pH works at

a higher pH, the product that was in the market worked at a

lower pH. So I would actually go into Home Depot and buy paint,

and I would send it to my lab, and I would have it analyzed.

And I would go to all these major corporations making paint

and I would say, do you think your product is protected? And

they would say, of course it is, you know, I've been using, you

know, this product, and I you know, so I would actually go and

show them the data is like, hey, no, your product is really not

protected. You, you know, and when the homeowner opens his can

of paint and I you know, a year later puts it in the garage and

wants to paint again, is not going to be protected. So I went

and I methodically went to all these companies pitching the

message over and over and over again. And by the time in two,

three years, I went from like 5% market share to probably I don't

know, 7075 in 20 years later, okay. A lot of these companies

are still using the product that I recommended, you know, and are

still basically my recommendations kind of, you

know, shaped that industry. And, you know, I was I think I was

young and naive. And a lot of the times I remember one

gentleman said, What makes you think that you're going to gain

my business. I've been doing business with this large company

for all these years. We played golf with, you know, but I think

that my young age and my naivete basically said, I don't care.

You know, another time again, talking about developing the

personal relationships. I believe in the personal

relationship, this same gentleman, which basically

brushed me off and you know, I got his business at the end. He

asked me he said that he was sponsoring a race instead the

juvenile diabetes foundation we did it for paint for the paint,

you know, foundation, but it was for diabetics. And he's like,

Okay, I hear that you run is uh, yeah, I do. He's like, Okay, I

want I can you run this race for me and I said, you know, his

name is was Marty to Marty. I don't know if I can run this

race. And he's like, why? He said, well, because if I run the

race, I want to win it, you know? And he said, Oh, right,

okay, come on, come on, you know, so I go run the race. And

I went in, I won the race, you know? So he was like, Okay, this

lady is serious. And after God, you know, he was so happy that I

won the race. You know, I developed my personal

relationship with him, I raised a bunch of money for his

charity. And eventually, I got his his business, my product was

superior. And like I said, to this day, they're using this

product. But you know, it took persistence, it took, you know,

basically, sometimes you you think, Well, someone has done it

already. And they fail. Well, that was them. That's not me.

You know, just because they fail doesn't mean that I'm going to

fail. I'm going to look at a different angle, I'm going to

find another way. So yeah, so I think early on in my career, you

know, I had a lot of success, by just chipping away little by

little

tenacity, I love, love, love that story. Where if you really

were thinking outside the box, right, you're like, I'm just

going to Home Depot, and I'm gonna buy all their stuff up.

And hey, send it off. And to me, the results I can remember is my

first year in sales, I was like, I don't know what to do. They

didn't give me a framework. So I would load up my car. And I

would literally, like fly to Colorado, and I'd be driving all

over the Midwest, and then I'd hop up to North Dakota. And I

was just doing lunch and learns, right. And so I would literally

have like a whole week of luncheon, learn scheduled at

universities at client sites. And that's how the momentum got

going. Right? And is that, like you said, it's the tenacity.

It's not that they're gonna buy tomorrow. But it's the fact

that, hey, I'm staying with it. And then I love your story about

the charity, because what you did was, and I tell salespeople

all the time you served before you sold, right? You served him,

this is important to you, so I can make it important to me. And

again, he didn't. And it wasn't just because you had such a

great relationship, you solve a problem that he had with your

item with your product. And then and the relationship was there.

And so I think a lot of times, salespeople, they think that

they can only live on the relationship. But know, what is

the problem the customers having, right? Like those two

have to be aligned in order for you to build that relationship.

I love it. I love it. I love it. Well, so tell us how can people

get in contact with you? If they want to have a quick chat with

you or learn more about what you do?

Sure. I mean, I'm on LinkedIn, I would say that would be the

preferred method under Eva O'Keefe, you know, so I mean,

social media, too. I think Twitter, I'm like, Vita 1209 or

something like that. But I think LinkedIn would be the preferred

method.

Awesome, awesome. Ava, thank you so much for joining us today,

and sharing your pearls and your wisdom and really helping us

understand how you have gone from working in the basement in

that ExxonMobil hearing that you sit for where I am you being

this wonderful VP of sales. Thanks so much for your time.

Thank you. Thank you for interviewing me. Thanks for the

time. And that

was another episode of the Snack size sales podcast remember, and

everything that you do transform your sales. Until next time.

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