Learning Curve

It has been awhile since I have posted anything, I did that partly on purpose. The reason it has been awhile is that--to be honest with you--my head has been spinning as I have been put into this new role for sales. The company I am with is so awesome! Let me tell you why. So for the past 20-25 years we have been growing organically, meaning we have been growing merely by our great name that is out there and it has worked great. However, with these economic times, as well as a change of pace that has become necessary, we have been going into the direction of sales. Of course not forgetting our foundational products and offerings. That is were I come in. In the past 6 weeks I would have to say that I have been pulled in every direction possible. Would I change anything about that? Absolutely not! Am I crazy? Maybe a little bit. :)

So as it is with anything else there comes a learning curve. I have done sales before but nothing of this magnitude. The sales I have done was purely on the phone and people were calling me. Yes a call center! It was great but to be honest it didn't really allow me to "spread my wings" and maybe that was for a good reason. I look back now and see the different jobs that I had, and my education, and see how each one of those jobs and my education has prepared me in some way for this job. At least that was the thought. When I started here I tried to call on my past experiences which helped a little bit but what I have really been trying to do is be open minded. I want to learn and grow and be the best at what I do. It has become very apparent that in order to do that I need to surround myself with people that are better than me at what I do. We have some sales consultants that have helped us a great deal. One in particular has been there as we have ventured into sales and has really opened my eyes to great things. He understands the hiccups that we will run into, because he has seen it before, and he has worked with me to find solutions. In the past 8 weeks we have more open proposals than we have had in years! Did this happen over night? Nope. Are we going in the right direction? If you would have asked me that question a few days ago I may have had a different answer but after this morning I want to say we are hopefully on our way. There is no doubt that we will get there, it is just going to take time and patience.

There is a learning curve with everything new that comes along. When new opportunities arise you can either embrace them or swim against the current. Those that swim against the current will get tired and those that "go with the flow" will be on board ready for what is up ahead. To be honest, I don't look at what I do as sales. I know it sounds funny. Of course I want companies to buy our product but it is the process that I love! There are so many steps that happen from someone showing interest to them becoming a customer. I get to be a sales guy, I get to be a consultant, I get to work with numbers for the proposals, and I get to help make decisions on the direction we want our company to go in. I don't talk to people because I want to sell them--I talk to people because I genuinely want them to benefit from what we have to offer and through that their business can grow. I would want that for anyone, except for maybe our competitors. :)

We will continue to learn for the rest of our lives if we are open to situations and circumstances that present a opportunity for growth. With that we are consistently embracing and learning, and furthering our understanding of business and our particular roles.

By the way, if anyone is looking to increase their sales or sales team, I can get you in contact with these guys that we have been working with.