Colorado’s 25 most powerful salespeople
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Adnan Gazibara, 30
Head of international and domestic sales for Product Architects Inc., makers of Polar Bottles, Boulder
What he does: Develops new sales and distribution accounts for Polar Bottles, insulated water bottles for sports and outdoor use.
Background: Gazibara was 17 and spoke no English when he arrived in Boulder in 1995 from Bosnia. His uncle had settled in Boulder two years earlier. Gazibara worked at Product Architects while attending college, paid for by his employer. He graduated from the University of Colorado in 2003 with a degree in desktop publishing and then began working to expand the company’s domestic and international accounts. His older brother, Nechko, works as a designer at Product Architects.
Sales stats: Gazibara amassed personal sales of $2 million in 2007, and through mid-December he was on track to more than double that in 2008. Since he began working more directly with distribution five years ago, Polar Bottles’ export business has more than tripled, from 10 countries to more than 30.
Recession-survival tip: “Try as hard as you can every day. I never give up. I came to this country knowing no English and tried my best, and look where I am right now. Especially in these economic times, I’m still doing good. I don’t look in one direction. If one way doesn’t work, try another way. There’s always another road to get to point B.”
Dan Flanagan, 37
Vice president of business development, BluSKY Restoration Contractors Inc., Centennial
What he does: Oversees a team of real estate restoration and capital improvement professionals that support the sales effort.
Background: BluSKY generated $9.6 million in revenues in 2007. Sales for 2008 were projected at $15.2 million.
Tough sales: “This year (2008), we were invited by a long-term customer to bid on a multifamily community improvement project that took sales legwork to a whole new level. This particular project is valued at approximately $1.7 million, and involved making significant plumbing improvements to more than 400 residential apartment homes. On behalf of the client, we worked closely with Aurora City officials and code inspection teams to jointly review and interpret building code in order for the project to move forward — on time, and within budget.”
Recession-survival skills: “The client in the aforementioned example is a relationship that I have spent the past six years actively cultivating — supporting client education, celebrating client career growth and taking service to a new level, regardless of project size. This particular customer has been the source of nearly $5 million in business. Although six years may seem like a long sales cycle, the result is a trust and confidence in working together that is forged over time and many individual projects, and that return on investment is priceless.”
David G. Huelskamp, 57
Senior vice president/business development, Merrick & Co., Aurora
What he does: Manages a sales and marketing team responsible for closing $85 million in business annually for the Aurora-based firm that specializes in engineering, architecture, construction management and related disciplines.
Pressure cooker: The average price tag to merely bid on the larger projects that Merrick chases is $50,000. Thus, “coming home from the hunt empty-handed too many times has serious consequences,” noted the nomination submitted for Huelskamp.
Background: Huelskamp’s first assignment upon joining Merrick in 1996 was to grow the company’s Department of Defense business, which that year totaled about $2.5 million. In 2008, Merrick closed more than $25 million in that segment, a 10-fold increase.
Sales tip: “Know your customers’ business better than they do. And don’t forget about them during the slow periods.”
Wendy Bohling, 45
Vice president of sales and marketing, Magpie Healthcare, Denver
What she does: Builds partnerships, streamlines marketing and prospects for Magpie Healthcare, a company that offers technology to improve communication for health-care providers. The company is a year-old spinoff of Magpie Telecom Insiders, a software services business (previously recognized by ColoradoBiz in our “Best Companies to Work for in Colorado” rankings.)
Background: Until November 2008, Bohling was also vice president of sales and marketing for Magpie Telecom Insiders, where she grew sales over three years from $1.2 million to $6 million and brought in 12 new clients over the past two years.
New frontier: “We’re a startup company, so that’s really been a challenge. It comes back to having a real problem to solve. We want to communication-enable health care. To be a little corny, we want to help save lives.”
Sales advice: “Our success and my personal success has been using the attributes you’ve got, which for us is being genuinely interested in creating a partnership with the customer and having them feel like you’re in the boat with them.”
Brett Garfield, 37
Senior account executive, 5280 magazine, Denver
What he does: Sells advertising for a Denver-based lifestyle magazine, with an account focus on travel, money and law categories. Has been with the magazine for seven years.
Background: Garfield’s personal sales volume in 2007 was $1.5 million — his 2008 sales as of early December were $1.8 million.
Sales challenge: Convincing a dentist skeptical of magazine advertising in general as well as the selection process for 5280’s “Top Dentists” ranking to advertise in the feature after a series of meetings and phone calls.
Recession-survival tips: “For me it’s bringing everything back to the basics of selling. That boils down to four things for me: having a good product to sell regardless of what environment you’re in; having solid relationships that allow you to work through the tough times; powerful tools, access and support to provide customer service to clients; and freedom and trust from management, being empowered to make decisions on my own.”
Chad Sanderson, 35
Account Manager, Spatial Corp., Broomfield
What he does: Manages accounts in the Western U.S. and South America for Spatial Corp., a B-2-B software company with products aimed at software developers in the computer-aided design and simulation markets.
“That includes new-business development, identifying prospects via cold calls, networking, referrals, working through the sales process, technical evaluations and, of course, closing.”
Personal production: Sanderson, who earned an MBA in marketing from Regis University in 2006, generated sales of $1.5 million in 2007, about 10 percent of Spatial’s total. Through mid-December 2008, he was on track for sales of $1.85 million for the year, a 20 percent increase despite the economic downturn.
Sales tip: “It is all about the relationship. In a cold-calling situation, in a new-business-development relationship, in maintaining existing customers, and closing, there are four things that are required: timing; the need on their part; money (they’ve got to have the money to spend); and the relationship. The relationship enables those other three things. Without it, you’re not going to develop new business quickly, you’re not going to close it as quickly, and you’re not going to expand the accounts that you have.”
Jenna Codespoti, 30
Senior sales manager — business travel, Grand Hyatt, Denver
What she does: Manages accounts, brings in new business and builds relationships with business travel customers.
Background: The nine-year sales veteran has worked for Hyatt for seven years. In 2007, she logged $7.43 million in sales; she hit $6.85 million by early December, topping her year-to-date quota during a downturn in the industry.
Sales tips: “I’m very real. I don’t know if it’s because I’m from Chicago and just blunt and to the point. I had been in the Los Angeles market for two years doing exactly what I’m doing now, and I’ve been here for over 3 1/2 years. The L.A. and Denver market, you don’t need the fluff. If you’re real, people tend to trust you more.”
Recession survival: “I went through this post-9/11. … I started in August 2001 with Hyatt hotels in sales. You need to get out there. You need to prospect. … The best part, especially for the hospitality industry, is to make sure you’re keeping your current customers happy because those are the ones you’re going to get more of your business from. Make the small relationships that aren’t so intimate more intimate so that you have the opportunity to capture more of the business in the future from these customers.”
Matt Schovel, 50
Commercial sales and development, Swingle Lawn, Tree & Landscape Care, Denver
What he does: Sells lawn, tree and plant-health care, including fertilization, pruning and removal, insect control and disease diagnosis. His primary markets are retail centers, office parks, HOAs, development and construction companies, and municipalities.
Sales stats: Schovel was the first sales rep in Swingle history to sell more than half a million dollars in his first year. Within six years he was the top producer in the company and in his seventh year set a company record with $1.15 million in sales, putting him in the top 1 percent of tree-care sales reps nationally.
How he handles a “no”: “Never take a ‘no’ personally. Make sure you are dealing with the right decision maker and find out why they are saying no. Use a ’no’ for a future contact. It can become a ’yes’ if you handle it right.”
Recession-survival tip: “Use a down economy as a time to solidify your relationships. Let your client know we are going through this together and we will come out of it together. People remember those who help them through hard times.”
Advice for sales reps: “Read, read, read. Reading and listening to books on CD generates new ideas and helps you think outside of the box.”
Vince Collins, 45
Senior account manager, ProtoTest, Centennial
What he does: Sells for a small consulting firm that focuses on quality assurance and testing in the software market.
Background: Collins, who has been in sales for 23 years and with ProtoTest for two, had sales volume in 2007 of $384,393. His year-to-date sales as of early December were $1.3 million.
Sales challenge: Securing a contract with ProLogis to solve a problem with a software application after convincing the warehousing company to choose ProtoTest over a competitor.
Recession-survival Tip: “We are finding good luck in keeping on the same path that we had been. We had a really hard-working year, and that diligence has paid off. The technology space within Colorado seems to be going pretty strong. We keep knocking on wood and hoping that ripple effect doesn’t come through.”
Sales tip: “We have a tremendous focus on quality, since it’s our business. …We constantly survey clients and the consultants that we work with to see if there is any way we can improve.”
Brett Larson, 40
Vice president/sales, Statera, Englewood
What he does: Manages the sales force and assists with sales campaigns and sales generation for Statera, an IT consulting firm. He leads Statera’s development efforts in the small- and mid-sized markets.
Sales stats: Larson has been Statera’s top sales executive for 11 straight quarters. His sales have totaled more than $25 million the
past three years.
Recession-survival tip: “Staying very positive, staying focused and continuing to bring consistent, positive energy is what keeps you riding through tough times. Avoid the doldrums of hearing and reading all the negative news. When we started this organization seven years ago, our revenues were zero dollars, right?”
Following his own advice: “Today I learned that we would have won a project that the (prospective client) cancelled. I’m actually taking that as a positive. Projects like that can come back. Maybe it’s not today, but it’s four months from today. So I’m staying focused on making sure I’m in front of those clients and letting them know I want to earn their business even when the business isn’t there.”
Last updated on Dec 07, 2009 at 07:48 PM
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It's a shame really. By Star on 2009 08 03
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