Monsanto

M. Scott Whitson

Christina Collins

Territory sales manager

Christina Collins grew up in Sussex County, Delaware, next to a chicken farm. Although as a child she didn’t know much about farming, the world of agriculture was never far away. After meeting the dean of agriculture her freshman year of college, she decided to switch her major from marketing to agri-business. Now, Collins sells improved corn hybrids and soybean varieties—producing more yields per acre and making farmers of the tri-state area very happy.

How were you first introduced to Monsanto?
I received an invitation to the 1890’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities conference at Monsanto’s world headquarters in St. Louis. It was at that conference where I got my foot in the door for an internship for the summer of my junior year—Monsanto recruited 9 out of 30 students from that conference for their summer internship program.

How did you transition to the trainee program and what do you do?
My internship was in Spencer, Iowa. I mainly spent the time gathering testimonials from farmers about our product performance and gathering data used in research. Then after the internship, I heard about the full-time field sales trainee position back in Pennsylvania, which is closer to where I’m from. I have a coach that is responsible for the eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey territory and he manages all the different locations that sell our products, while I learn about sales, the products, and overall how to work in the territory. Starting in September 2009, my training will be complete and I’ll officially be a Territory Sales Manager in State College, Pennsylvania.

What was your first day like?
The first day of the trainee program was interesting because I spent it at a national sales meeting—in Boca Raton, Florida. It was a pretty great first day!

What are you most proud about in your work?
I am most proud about the fact that once I find a product that works for the farm, farmers listen to me and are really impressed with what I am selling. For example, I sold a corn hybrid that had a great stand. The corn would be the last the farmer ended up harvesting for the season because it had excellent dry down and a strong stalk quality. Prior to trying my product, the farmer complained about when a wind storm would come, his corn would fall flat to the ground. He no longer has that problem.

What is the best part about your job?
The flexibility is the best part about my job. I work from home, so I set my own schedule. My regional sales team is also a great team and they make a lot of resources available to me.

What’s the most fun project you’ve done since starting?
The most fun project I’ve done was taking five of my top customers and a salesperson to the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky. Another ongoing project I have fun with is being the advertising lead for my team. I have a budget to create different ads for local papers. I create ads featuring the top products we are selling that season, and send them to local papers to give farmers an idea of what we have available.