Fox Tales periodically offers profiles our team members—we’re super proud of them. And we want you, our partners, customers, clients, and friends, to get to know our team better. With this issue, we have the pleasure of checking in with Patrick Carriglio, our team’s Los Angeles-based vice president/West Coast. Together with his fellow sales pros, Patrick represents decades of experience and a valuable range of life experiences that he brings to his work. For these reasons and more, we’re happy to present this Q&A with Patrick. After all, Fox Tales is all about telling the stories of our extended family—our team and our friends and partners and offering insights into the world of media. Here’s the transcript of our conversation with Patrick.
Fox Tales: You’re on the front lines of sales. Tell us what you’re seeing. Specifically, tell us about attending conferences to get face-to-face interactions with customers, and doing old-style in-person sales trips to various clients. Post COVID, and in the Zoom/Teams era, that might have changed.
Patrick Carriglio.
Patrick Carriglio: Before COVID, I used to fly into a city on a Monday morning, visit several clients each day at their office and then fly back on that Friday evening. Getting meetings set up is no longer that easy. Post COVID, getting into offices is more difficult, with a lot of employees still working remotely or on some type of hybrid schedule. Meeting for coffee or lunch seems to be the most popular way for getting face-to-face meetings right now. Scheduling a Zoom meeting is always an option, but I prefer to do business face-to-face. This has made attending conferences more valuable than ever before, since it’s the only chance to get in front of certain people.
Fox Tales: Good salespeople always build personal relationships with customers. The best of them use some winning aspect of their own personalities to relate to customers. If you had to summarize your own sales approach, how would you describe it?
Carriglio: I always look to earn credibility right away. From researching a business and discussing it with the prospect, I ask questions about their marketing objectives and obstacles. From that, I present custom solutions tailored to their business needs that allow them to accomplish their marketing goals.
Fox Tales: As a member of the Fox Associates team, what are the core sales-related values of this particular company that it instills in its people?
Carriglio: From Day one our CEO, Marlys Fox, told me real business is done face-to-face, and that I need to be on the road at least 25% of the year selling business in every major city across the country. I quickly noticed the relationship between two people doing business changes. After meeting face-to face, it becomes personal.
When Marlys noticed how much I enjoyed all of it, she told me, “You want to travel the country, go to the top restaurants in every city, and you want me to pay for all of it—I’m good with that!” That shows our clients the investment she is willing to make when partnering with Fox Associates.
Fox Tales: Has your approach to media sales evolved over the course of your career? Tell us how.
Carriglio: Yes, it’s has gotten more analytical. I analyze data and incorporate those metrics into business presentations to ensure the best possible ROI for any digital investment.
Fox Tales: How long have you been with the company?
Carriglio: I have been with Fox Associates for 14 years. The first 10 years were at our headquarters in Chicago, the last four have been from our Los Angeles area office.
Fox Tales: Tell us about yourself. Where have you lived, where do you live now, and what do you like best about those places
Carriglio: I grew up in suburban Chicago and have lived in both the Wrigleyville and West Loop neighborhoods of Chicago after college. In 2020, I moved to Newport Beach, California, which I now proudly call home. In my spare time, I’m out swimming and surfing in the Pacific.
Fox Tales: What are some of your avocations? Tell us something about yourself that is sort of surprising—a skill, an experience, etc.
Carriglio: Like several of my colleagues, I’m a world traveler. I enjoy watching the late Anthony Bourdain’s shows, and other food, travel, and history shows, and then going to those spots in foreign cities. I always remember going to an asado (barbeque) on the outskirts of Buenos Aires with my cousin. No one spoke any English, but they knew we were there for the bife de chorizo [an Argentinian style of beef].
I also survived a soccer riot in Sicily, but my favorite travel story was arriving in Tokyo a few hours after a typhoon hit. The trains from the airport to the city were not working and the highway was closed due to flooding, so there were no cabs. The airport started to pass out sleeping bags and crackers. I had a dinner reservation at a sushi restaurant in Ginza that I was determined to get to, so I went to the departure section of the airport and through Google translate, I was able to pay someone for a ride who was dropping someone else off. The drive took two hours since the main roads were closed, but I made the dinner!