From Contributor to Leader

Animal Health International’s Lisa Foley said professionals wanting to make the move into leadership should prioritize the skill of listening.

Lisa Foley was both nervous and excited. After two years of working as an inside sales rep for Animal Health International, Inc. (AHII), Foley’s manager announced that she would be moving on. But before she did, she wanted to vouch for Foley to move into the vacant leadership position as ISR manager.

“I was confident in the team we had and the support I would get from AHII,” Foley said. “I came into the ISR manager role with some insecurities, but I had a really great manager at the time that helped me get through that, and I also had really good relationships with my peers. I felt like I had their respect to begin with, so when I moved up into the leadership role, we continued that respect.”

To successfully transition from inside sales rep to a leader, Foley knew she had to change the way she approached her day-to-day job. “I am a doer by nature,” she said. “I like to have my little checklist and put my head down and work. But when you’re in a leadership role, it’s not just about you anymore; it’s about your team. You need to stop and listen. You need to really hear what they’re saying and what they need from you so that you can assist them better. It’s important to understand that you’re not an individual contributor anymore; you have a team that’s now relying on you, so you really need to hear what they need.”

Foley said she led with the mentality that she would be working with team members – not them working for her. She knew she would have to earn their trust with the decisions she made and the way she communicated with them. Foley valued their insights and asked a lot of questions. “After all, I had been working as an ISR for about two years, and I had people on my team that had 20-plus years of experience,” she said. “So, I made sure that they knew that I valued their opinion and thoughts on how to do things.”

Leadership lessons

Even so, Foley still had her share of challenges to navigate early on in the leadership role. For instance, there were three vacant positions to fill when she took over. So, she made her first string of hires and onboarded the new team members. Looking back, she admits she did not take as much of a hands-on approach to the process as she would have liked. One of the more capable of the three hires ended up quitting unexpectedly.

“That taught me a lot,” she said. “I did a lot of self-reflection afterward. What could I have done better? Yes, sometimes people quit and move on, and the job is not for everybody, but I was surprised. I vowed that I would never be surprised again.”

Foley was more active in the onboarding process following that experience, so she could build a relationship and connection right off the bat. “It goes back to listening and really hearing people to find out where their struggles are as a new employee so that you don’t lose them.”

When selecting the right candidate for a job, Foley said one intangible she prioritizes is vulnerability. She wants someone that is going to be truthful with her and has the courage to be their true self. These are people who will admit to their strengths, and faults. “Not only do I appreciate that, but I think our customers appreciate that too,” she said. “They just become more relatable. When it comes to sales, that relatability is very important.”

Trust is also incredibly important to Foley. She needs to be able to trust her reps, and they should be able to trust her. “In order to be high performing, you have to be able to take risks,” she said. “And if you’re afraid to take risks because you don’t trust the team that you’re working with and your manager, then you’re not going to take those risks, and you won’t be as successful.”

That position helped prepare her for her next eventual step and current role as outside sales manager for the Southeast. Foley’s team focuses primarily on livestock producers and covers North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and then parts of Tennessee.

Foley was already familiar with the Southeast sales region team and worked with them regularly as the ISR manager, so she felt pretty comfortable from day one. She took the same approach of listening to her team by setting up one-on-one meetings with everyone to hear more about the business from their perspective and what they may be struggling with in their area of responsibility. “I wanted to figure out what I could do to help them be their best selves,” she said.

Advice for reps

As an individual contributor, people tend to put blinders on and worry about themselves. When decisions are made, they only think about how it affects them personally. But sales professionals wanting to make the jump from producer to leader must look at the big picture, Foley said.

As a leader, you’re making decisions for a whole and not just one person. “The biggest thing to make the switch is changing your mindset to what’s best for the team,” she said. “You need to ask questions. You need to be inquisitive, and you need to find out why decisions were made.”

Foley also encourages reps to invest in personal development, whether it’s through their own organization or via an industry association. For instance, Patterson has a mentorship program that Foley said she has participated in and benefited from. She was paired with a higher-level manager from the dental division. “There was a lot of crossover, and I got a different perspective.” Patterson is also developing a women’s affinity group called Women of the Workplace (WOW). Foley is on the advisory committee and helping to get the program launched.

At the industry level, Women in Leadership and Management in Animal Health (WILMAH) and its mentorship platform is another great example of a place to receive education, resources and insights from colleagues and fellow animal health stakeholders. Foley is the membership chair for the association. “It’s a great way to network, and very empowering,” said Foley, who joined two years ago. “WILMAH has a lot of seminars that are timely.”

Overall, anything you can do to better yourself and better understand the industry will help you see that big picture and position you well for leadership, Foley said. Outside of Patterson and WILMAH, she recently joined the Toast Masters to sharpen her public speaking skills. “I am not a huge fan of public speaking,” she said. “It’s definitely one of my insecurities, but I took the initiative to join that so that I could get over that fear. It has helped immensely. I’m much more comfortable now with public speaking.”

Foley said her short-term focus as outside sales manager is to put up some “big growth numbers” for this year while investing in her team members’ professional development. “I just want our team to be the best that that we can be,” she said.

From horse trainer to inside sales

Foley grew up riding and showing horses and went to the University of Findlay for equestrian studies and equine business management, with the goal of becoming a horse trainer. And for a decade, that is what she did. Eventually, she decided she wanted something with a little bit more stability. Foley had a friend that worked as an inside sales rep at AHII, so when a position opened up, she jumped on it. “I liked getting to talk to like-minded people while learning more about the business of animal health and the industry itself,” she said. “I also liked being able to bring my background to a business environment.”