Milestones

My road in life took a while to figure out.
My first sales position was knocking door to door in the garment district in NYC...for 10 "no's" you received 2 "yes".
After succeeding in that "hunter" cold call role I was asked to be a Sales Mgr - training and motivating sales people on what it takes to be successful in the role
After experiencing success in the Sales Mgr role I realized that I did not enjoy managing people, but I did want to manage large customers...so I moved into a Major Account Mgmt role.
I did this role for 10 years - for a large telecom company. I was let go in a large layoff...so I now had a reason to try something new. I found myself selling software to Law Enforcement.
This new job entailed traveling to Midwest to meet / do presentations to PD's & Sheriffs - I had never traveled for work...& never presented to large groups. This combination was exciting & terrifying
I then learned how Govt purchases through an RFP process - with formal vendor selection. I also learned about selling to multiple decision makers in 1 customer environment.
The larger the deals you sell the larger the responsibility to the org you represent. Greater rewards and risk, so there are success and failure stories that are memorable.
The toughest part of a Sales career are the up's and down's - how do you handle the down times are more important. Easier said then done...I have many tips to share.
Keep following my journey

Career

Sales - Government and Education Manager

I sell technology to Public safety depts, Cities, K12 & Higher Education

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Business
Technology
Problem Solving

Day to Day

Sales consists of many different activities - from prospecting (reaching out to potential customers to schedule calls, meetings, to do discovery / qualify and see if there is a need for your product), to going to meet with potential customers to build a relationship....to presenting ideas, to working with your team to strategize on how to win the business, to working with marketing to help promote the product to the masses...and most importantly to close business. There is no typical day in sales

Advice for Getting Started

Here's the first step for college students

Take an entry level sales position - once you get your foot in the door and have experience then you take the next step. If you can find a product / technology that you feel passionate about, or a community of people that you find interesting to work with, then focus your job search and first position in that direction.

Recommended Education

My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Society in General:

"Sales has always had a stigma of a person who pushes products to consumers - that picture in ones mind of a used car salesman. Over the past 30 years I've learned that professional sales is one of the most creative and rewarding careers, & very lucrative"

Challenges I Overcame

Starting a family
Financial