Rob Koors with his wife, Blake, and daughter, Remini.
Rob Koors wasted no time honing his skills as a salesman.
He owned and operated a business, RB Landscaping, while enrolled in the Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing on-campus program at Northern Kentucky University. He graduated in 2013.
“I wanted to be an entrepreneur or a salesperson,” he said. “I figured marketing was the next best thing to sales because it’s about how you show value to a consumer. You have to understand how to do that to do sales.”
Koors, 29, is a sales executive at human resources software company Paycor in Cincinnati. He stays connected to his alma mater by working with senior business students on their year-end projects.
“I knew early on I wasn’t going into branding, packaging or marketing data analytics,” he said. “That’s what a lot of the focus was, but Dr. David Raska did a lot of real-world projects and problems, which kept me interested.”
NKU was a logical choice for Koors, who grew up in northern Kentucky and was familiar with its College of Business’s solid reputation.
“A lot of my friends were going to NKU, which is my local college,” he said. “I am big into business and knew that was going to be my background. When I enrolled, NKU was a Division II school, but it was still recognized as one of the better business schools to attend. It all made sense to me.”
Seeing Green
Koors started his business while still in high school and grew it to include 40 residential clients and 20 commercial clients during its five-and-a-half-year run.
“Through economics and normal business classes, you learn how to grow a business,” he said. “My business wasn’t complex, but it still helped.
“But with Dr. Raska and some of my marketing classes, I learned how to speak more to value and had more courage to go door to door, create marketing fliers and advertise myself.”
Because Koors saw that he wanted to make a comfortable living at an early age, he gravitated toward entrepreneurship and sales.
“My dad doesn’t have a college degree,” he said. “He’s been a butcher his entire life. He raised a family of five on a $40,000-a-year salary.
“I never felt like we were broke or poor, but I ran around with kids from wealthier families and saw some of the things they had, like cars and houses. I started putting two and two together. Becoming a successful sales executive is a quick path to making six figures.”
Because Koors is an avid sports fan, he especially enjoyed SPB 305: Sports Marketing and Events Research, taught by Dr. Joe Cobbs. He believes the information he gained from the BSBA in Marketing curriculum prepared him well for his career.
“All four classes I took with Dr. Raska were great,” he said. “He’s the reason I am so engaged with NKU students today. He’s made the biggest impact, from a professor standpoint, on where I am in my life now.”
Perennial Rewards
Koors has worked for Paycor for more than four-and-a-half years after a short stint in pharmaceutical sales at CVS Health. He has found his niche and built a good life.
“Being in the HR space, selling HR technology, it’s more of a consultative sales approach,” he said. “Because of that, I have met with a lot of consultants who started their own companies and HR practices.
“If I ever jump back to the entrepreneurial side, it would probably be to start a consulting business. I’d like to keep climbing the ladder where I am now.”
Koors is an avid Cincinnati Reds fan who grew up playing baseball and likes skiing and golfing. He tried to walk on NKU’s baseball team.
“Back in middle school, my buddy and I tried to go to every Reds home game,” he said. “We got somewhere between 40 and 60.”
Both of Koors’ siblings also graduated from NKU. His brother, Jeff, earned a degree in finance, while his sister, April, completed a bachelor’s in education and a master’s degree at Xavier University.
“I wish I had gotten more involved as a student at NKU,” he said. “The business took off while I was in school. I also wish I would have walked in the commencement ceremony — that’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Still, Koors continues to reap the rewards of having a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing degree.
“The BSBA in Marketing absolutely opened up opportunities for me,” he said. “I don’t think I could have gotten into the industry and to the seat I’m in today without the degree.”
Learn more about NKU’s online BSBA – Marketing program.
