Kelley Relationships Are the Secret to His Success
Kyle Bucher BS'08
Inside Territory Associate, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care
“The training I received as a sales representative in the society is something I use on a daily basis in my current role at Vistakon.”
Tylenol. Listerine. Band-Aid. Acuvue. Chances are, you’ve got some of these products in your medicine cabinet—and recent Kelley graduate Kyle Bucher is playing a big role in getting them there.
As part of Johnson & Johnson’s Sales Leadership Development Program at Vistakon (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson that makes Acuvue contact lenses and other products), Bucher is an inside territory associate at corporate headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida. In addition to taking part in the program’s sales and leadership training, Bucher is also managing more than $3 million in Acuvue contact lens business.
Bucher says he owes his success to his involvement with Kelley’s Global Sales Leadership Society (GSLS). “I attribute much of my professional development throughout my college career to the society and will always appreciate the sponsors and the Kelley marketing department for creating such a special organization,” he says. “Whether it was a job shadowing trip to Chicago, an etiquette dinner, or sales competition, I will always be grateful for the relationships I was able to develop with some of the best students and faculty at IU.”
He joined the group as a freshman, and worked his way up to CEO/president by senior year. In addition to honing his sales and leadership skills, Bucher’s GSLS experiences put him in close contact with expert Kelley faculty—not to mention corporate sponsors like 3M, American Greetings, and Lilly.
“In fact, my involvement in the society led to an internship with one of our corporate sponsors, 3M,” says Bucher. The summer before his senior year at Kelley, Bucher worked with a team in Dallas, Texas, as a field sales representative, designing product promotion displays and training hardware store managers and sales representatives on 3M products.
Even though he’s moved on to Johnson & Johnson, Bucher still carries with him the knowledge, friendship, and connections he gained at GSLS. “The training I received as a sales representative in the society is something I use on a daily basis in my current role at Vistakon,” he says. “Professor Richard Canada’s ‘persuasion equation for performance’ has been applicable to all sales situations I have encountered.”
