Although I began my career in sales as a youngster selling lemonade, shoveling snow and selling newspapers, my professional career began in 1980 when I was hired as an outside sales rep for a printing supply manufacturer. Thus began an illustrious journey that continues to this day.
For brevity sake, I will pass over the first position I had by skipping to my current sales job that commenced in 1990. I was hired as an outside rep for a large reprographics company selling printing services and equipment primarily to architects and the design community in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In the 30 years with this company my total net sales is around 130 million dollars! This is obviously quite a voluminous amount of sales! I was also one of the top sales reps for this firm in the nation for many of my 30 years. I am humbled and grateful for such a glowing successful run. I try not to gloat too much or take too much credit for my success, for I know that all sales is a collective team dynamic requiring a varied group of experts.
I have learned many valuable lessons from the endless experiences of interacting with a vast slew of customers. Every day I worked, I tried to learn something new about myself, my clients and about life that would raise my ability to be more effective and also more humanitarian in my relationships.
What follows may not be revolutionary, but it’s a huge part of why I made a successful career in a field known to make the strongest person crumble under the stress of quotas and the “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” mindset of managers and CEOs.
- Make relationships.
I learned early on in my career was how essential it was to make excellent connections with my clients. I made sure that I was always myself, being authentic, yet at the same time paying tremendous respect to the clients. I wanted them to like me and to befriend me, but only in a natural way—not forced or contrived. I took a personal interest in who they were beyond the scope of business.
I learned to enjoy the diversity of people and to find aspects between us we could resonate with together. Thus I formed a long-term friendship with many clients that have lasted decades. I attribute these enduring friendships to my success.
- Don’t sell to people.
Yes, that’s a bit strange to say but hear me out. Rather than sell to someone, my approach was to see if I could make their life a little easier by offering products and services that would benefit him or her. I don’t think I was aggressive, but I always made sure the client knew my defined role was to help make decisions for the best for both of us.
- Forge your own path (ethically, legally, and within company guidelines).
One other thing I learned over the years, although perhaps controversial, was to not follow the dictum of my managers if these did not feel congruent with my own style. I was very independent, which gave me an interesting reputation among my peers. They respected this and also witnessed the huge orders that kept rolling in over the years.
It’s my hope these lessons help you or your team achieve greater success, and to do that I suggest you:
- Strengthen your current client relationships as soon as possible
- Reassess whether you’re just selling the prospect/client or truly offering them a solution
- Shake things up and try something more in-tune with your style.
About our guest author: Neal Grace has always followed different paths to discover unexplored frontiers—from living in the woods for months, to traveling with a backpack around the world, to forging a career in the business world that gave him a taste of material comforts. A keen observer of the nuances of life, Neal began chronicling his experiences through the written word – sharing his passionate messages to inspire others to live freely and creatively.