Among Eric Gjerdevig's favorite things about his job is seeing his students become intrigued about the career opportunities that are available in sales.
Eric Gjerdevig never thought he would be teaching classes.
Gjerdevig initially spent 20 years in the tech industry, and the last 13 of which as the president of a software consulting company he founded in 2005. When Gjerdevig’s company was acquired in 2017, he found himself with a lot of free time.
Gjerdevig ran and was elected to the West Fargo City Commission, a role he served for four years. In the fall of 2018, the opportunity to teach a sales class at NDSU presented itself through a connection Gjerdevig had with the former head of the MBA program.
“I jumped into teaching that class and then just grew from there,” said Gjerdevig a marketing lecturer who teaches classes primarily on professional selling and sales/marketing technology.
Among his favorite things about his job is seeing his students become intrigued about the career opportunities that are available in sales.
I’m passionate about sales and I’m passionate about technology. So, I get to bring those things together,” Gjerdevig said. “It’s been fun working with students because most of them take their first sales class and they’re pretty skeptical about the idea of a career in sales. It’s fun when those students a few semesters later are excited about a career in sales and I’ve kind of helped open their eyes to a whole career opportunity that many of them didn’t seriously consider before.”
NDSU’s sales program by design is extremely experiential for students. The program has 19 corporate partners who fund the program and who frequently participate in Gjerdevig’s classes.
“Their engagement in the program, showing up, doing mock interviews, meeting with students, coming into the classroom to talk on various topics throughout the semester, that’s really vital to the success of the program,” said Gjerdevig, the sales program’s executive director. “Lectures are great, there’s a lot of things to learn, but we want it to be a very hands-on course. The more I can get students practicing those skills, the better the outcome is going to be.”
Amanda Waletski, a senior finance and business administration major from Royalton, Minnesota, said Gjerdevig has been one of the most influential professors she’s had at NDSU.
“Eric’s door is always open for students. Whether students need help with assignments, finding an internship, prepping for an interview, reviewing resumes or want some advice on life, he wants to see every student succeed and gives students the tools to do so,” Waletski said.
Senior Strategic Communication major, Kaydin Ruiz, said the hands-on learning opportunities in class have stood out the most.
“What I’ve enjoyed most about Eric’s classes is the emphasis on hands-on, real-world experiences. He goes beyond traditional lectures by incorporating activities like mock interviews, cold calls and business role plays designed to prepare us for the professional challenges ahead,” said Ruiz, who is from Farmington, Minnesota.
Among the opportunities students are provided outside of class include attending intercollegiate sales competitions where students from universities across the country attend.
Additionally, students have the chance to participate in the “Power to Sell” podcast. The podcast, created by students in Gjerdevig’s entrepreneurial sales class in 2022, brings in CEO’s and entrepreneurs to have a small group discussion.
Students learn invaluable foundational skills needed for a successful career in sales, such as having a conversation through asking questions and building trust.
“When I put three students down in front of a fortune 500 CEO, they’re a little intimidated, but their job is to build some rapport, ask a bunch of questions, maintain a conversation and build a relationship. That is exactly what we want to teach as part of our sales program,” Gjerdevig said.
Students have had several notable guests on the podcast. This semester students took a trip to Dallas, Texas to interview the CEO of Applied Digital, a company that is constructing the epicenter of AI, and is currently constructing a massive data center in rural North Dakota. Last spring Gjerdevig took three students to Jacksonville, Florida, where they interviewed the head of global sales for the PGA Tour, which was partially funded by an NDSU alum.
Waletski and Ruiz, who have both participated in the podcast, say it has provided them ample opportunities and has set them up for success when they enter the workforce.
“Participating in the podcasts has made me more comfortable with being uncomfortable,” Waletski said. “Having conversations with professionals in executive level positions can be intimidating, but through these conversations, I have developed the ability to hold conversations and ask meaningful questions. This is a skill I will apply to my future career.”
“Overall, it’s been an amazing platform for personal and professional growth,” Ruiz said.
The theme of the podcast this academic year is “Dorm room to Board Room,” to focus the conversation on how someone went from college to becoming CEO. Many of the guests have included NDSU alumni.
A past theme was “everybody sells,” whose guest list consisted of people that many may not think are salespeople. NDSU President David Cook, Governor-elect Kelly Armstrong, a former spy from the CIA and former Miss North Dakota were among the guests.
“Sales skills are universal. It doesn’t matter whether you go into sales. We all need to be able to be persuasive to do our job and do it well. A lot of the foundational skills are just human-to-human relationships,” Gjerdevig said.
The Power to Sell podcast, which recently aired its 32nd episode, can be found on all major podcast platforms.
Seeing his students provided the opportunities to help them excel in their future careers is something Gjerdevig is most proud of.
“These types of experiences I think are world class,” he said. “And that’s really one of the fun things about the sales program is because we’re externally funded through these corporate partners, we have the funds to be able to take students and do these experiences where they don’t get a lot of those opportunities in a lot of other programs.”
