Optus Inc. is pleased to announce the most recent addition to our Sales Team, Kayla Priddy. Kayla joined Optus in February as a Sales Intern from Arkansas State University. During her time as an intern, she assisted the Sales Team in creating sales pitches, researching accounts and making outbound calls to target and existing customers – all of which she excelled. Kayla recently graduated from Arkansas State with a degree in Strategic Communications with an emphasis in Social Media and Advertising and a minor in Sales Leadership and joined the team as an Account Manager on May 7th.
Read the Q & A below to learn more about Kayla’s time as an intern at Optus.
What were your responsibilities during your internship?
My responsibilities progressed as I went along in the internship process. In the beginning, my duties were to research accounts and create sales pitches, along with job shadow other account managers. Now I’ve been tasked with making outbound calls to target and existing customers. I’ve also had the responsibility of providing quotes and processing orders for customers; this is something existing account managers do daily.
What did you learn during the internship?
Throughout this experience, I learned new and improved skills and how to apply them. I’m grateful for the Sales Leadership Center at Arkansas State for giving me the tools before starting this internship because I was able to use all that I’d learned from classes and expand on that knowledge here at my internship with hands-on experience.
The thing I would say is the most important was to keep relationships first, business second. Relationships create trust between the account manager and the customer giving the account more room to grow.
Lastly, I gained a greater sense of leadership, confidence, and responsibility while I was an intern; I was responsible for accounts that I called and cared for myself. I had guidance and mentors, but I did have to make decisions on my own. Through these experiences, I developed a sense of leadership and confidence by seeing positive outcomes as a result of the choices I made. These traits are invaluable when it comes to a career.
Which aspects of your internship did you get the most out of?
I got the most out of the times when I was tasked to call and build rapport with customers and ultimately lead the conversation to Optus Plus. The process of the call was to introduce myself and Optus, asses their current phone system, and then transition into telling them what Optus has been doing for other businesses in their industry. Through this, I was able to showcase my knowledge of Optus and Optus Plus and get a real-life response from customers. What specific professional benefit has this internship provided? A few benefits I gained through my internship with Optus have been professional networking and increasing knowledge of the field. I’ve made many new professional contacts that will help me in the future, whether it is as a reference on my resume or them referring me to other known job positions in other industries. I have also gained more confidence in my career direction and the knowledge of the field. Before completing my internship I was unsure of what career path I would take after graduation, but with this experience, I was able to test out this industry and learn the knowledge needed to be successful in telecom. By the end of this, I had a definite idea of the career field I wanted to pursue.
Would you recommend our internship to others? Why/Why not?
Absolutely. Whether or not this industry is something you’re interested in, Optus will further develop your skills and give you tools you can take with you into any job. An internship at Optus will provide you purpose and countless opportunities.