Dr. Kelley O’Reilly on finding success in sales and pursuing a career in academia

Dr. Kelley O’Reilly, associate professor of marketing, has always had a passion for training and developing new talent. This passion helped guide her to a career in academia. She believes in the importance of building meaningful relationships and creating a safe environment for her students to learn and develop new skills. Beyond the classroom, she is an advisory board member for the Student Media Group and serves on the Haworth College of Business Diversity and Inclusion committee. O’Reilly has also co-facilitated a professional learning community that is dedicated to helping students succeed as they transition from high school to their first year of college. She offers insight on what drives her passion for teaching at the Haworth College of Business and how students can find success in college and beyond.

The importance of developing relationships

The role of sales and business marketing is to solve real problems for real people. The potential to create meaningful solutions by building relationships is what I love about my career. One of my research focuses is on the role of rapport in building lasting relationships in the sales industry, and this focus has extended into my curriculum. In the Haworth College of Business, we emphasize relationship selling rather than focusing solely on individual transactions. We want to develop long-term relationships with our industry partners and help them solve issues, remove frustrations and chase new opportunities.

I also recognize the importance of relationship building as a teacher. I want students in my classes to know that I am glad they are there. I try to remember every student’s name by the end of the first class session and to strive to make everyone feel welcome. The classes I teach involve mostly hands-on, experiential learning, so students have to be comfortable and confident enough to push themselves beyond what they think they can do. I have a big responsibility as an instructor: getting students to trust that they are safe to try to develop new skills without fear or intimidation. I take that responsibility very seriously.

Becoming a Business Bronco

Before teaching, I spent more than 20 years in senior executive positions in sales and marketing. Getting a Ph.D. was always on my bucket list and moving into academia allowed me to teach classes that directly related to my experience.

I have a passion for training and developing new talent and creating an environment in which students can flourish, so Western Michigan University is a great fit for me. Having faculty with industry experience that allows them to teach how to do job functions instead of simply teaching about these functions really sets us apart. I believe that the Haworth College of Business prepares students better for post-graduation success than any school in Michigan, and finishing any program within the business college will provide a practical degree with great job opportunities.

Knowing what is important

My advice for succeeding in college is simply to keep your eye on the prize. Success is not always linear, and failure is often a part of the process. It is not about being perfect; what matters more is how you behave and respond when things don’t go your way. In industry, I always preferred a job candidate that could describe a life challenge and how they overcame it, versus someone who seemed to sail through school with a perfect academic record.