Up next in our Bandalier Alumni series is Nick Viviano! If you follow our blog, you probably remember his feature in our New Leaders series from summer 2020. Nick’s had a big year, and he recently took the time to catch up with our CEO, Jeremy Ruch, to talk about the role Bandalier played in his growth.

​Nick joined Bandalier at the end of 2019. At the time, he was working as a licensed financial advisor, quickly realizing that he liked the sales aspect more than the stock trading one. He was referred to Bandalier by a friend, James, who was our Client Delivery Manager at the time. 

“James knew I was just looking to get started in sales and build a career, and he said Bandalier would be a great option. He was right, of course. I really liked all of the training I got. It gave me all the skills I needed to work toward success in sales. Bandalier’s training made it easy to get started with my client, too – all I needed was the keywords that would keep their prospects engaged.”

Once Nick wrapped up his training, he hit the phones for one of our long-term clients. It was a tough program, and Nick had to learn a whole new industry. Fortunately, he was able to use his new sales skills to find immediate success, booking two demos during his first week of calling!

Of course, we were all due for some big changes when we made the shift to working fully remotely in March of 2020. Bandalier was incredibly fortunate to have some practice with remote work, but the sudden shift also meant that our clients were adapting their outreach strategies, too. Nick’s focused shifted to pulling folks in for webinars, rather than demos, and he explored alternative methods of getting in touch with people as they worked away from their desk phones.

Thanks to the resilience of Nick and his team, they were able to drive results for their client. His focus didn’t go unnoticed, and as Bandalier expanded, Nick was promoted to a Program Manager role. He had stepped into the role of team lead almost accidentally in the months prior, so the new title simply formalized his responsibilities. He eased communication between Bandalier and his client, motivated his team, and tracked their results. As he describes it,
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“The hardest part to learn was accountability for the team. Before, I was just responsible for myself and my own goals – now I had to watch the team’s, and figure out what was happening if someone was falling behind. I had to find ways to motivate the team, and different things worked for different people. Alex and I always had a friendly competition going on. Since I was still making calls, we’d joke with each other and see who could get the most activities and best results each week. I did my best to lead by example. I wouldn’t ask anyone to do something I wouldn’t do myself. It was definitely hectic, but I thrived in that busy environment.”

Nick’s hard work and dedication caught his client’s attention – in the fall of 2020, they offered to hire him directly. Nick joined their team as the sole Sales Associate, working closely with their account executives to keep delivering incredible results. The role is designed to grow with him, and in time, Nick hopes to return to managing a team.
We’re incredibly proud of Nick and his accomplishments! We love building teams of ambitious, passionate salespeople – if you’re looking to build your sales career, check out our careers page. If you’re a growing company that wants to work with people like Nick, book a call with us here!