Posted 01.12.2010

The top 25 most powerful salespeople

Page 2

KATRINA ROTH, 28
Account executive, general business team, Sprint Nextel, Denver

What she does: Roth works primarily with small- and medium-sized businesses in the Denver area, selling wireless services and applications.
On track: As of early December, Roth was at 146 percent of her quota for 2009.
Sales tips: “My sales philosophy is just to never give up. When people say ‘no’ you have to keep in touch. The sale is always going to come back around at some point.”
Recession challenges: “I think people are definitely focused on price more than even before. But I don’t do things a whole lot differently than I did before - being persistent and making sure you don’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”
Making a tough sale: “When I started about a year and a half ago I was trying to get in with a customer of mine for a larger piece of their business. They had a small portion of business with us. It went out for bid last February, and we lost to another provider. But I was able to just keep in touch. When there was a new IT director that came in, I got to meet with the CFO in September, and we won their business.”

STEPHEN SANDERS, 46,
National account manager, First American Title Insurance Co.

What he does: Sanders sells title insurance for shopping centers, office buildings and commercial park projects
Background: Sanders joined the sales part of the business eight years ago after stints as an underwriter and manager.
Sales tips: “Over the last five years, I’ve made more than a fair income. What I found out was the money is nice, but the real satisfaction is when you can help somebody out on something they’re doing and you hear the sigh of relief from stress in their voice.”
Recession challenges: Sanders expected to bring in about $500,000 in gross revenue for 2009 - significantly lower than his average $1.5 million to $1.8 million before the recession hit. But he achieved this in a year when business volume was down 95 percent. And he had to search for new ways to find business, such as in oil and gas, and wind farms. “I equate it to when you lose your keys in the house and you end up literally tearing your house apart looking for the keys. ‘OK, so my keys aren’t on the counter where I normally leave them so I’m going to do whatever it takes to find them.’ You look under every rock. You talk to everybody you can.”

CHRIS PORTER, 42
Specialist/consultant, CAD-1, Thornton

What he does: CAD-1 resells Autodesk computer-assisted design software and operates an Autodesk Training Center for use by general contractors, engineering firms and others in the building trade.
Background: Porter, whose background was primarily in construction and engineering, joined the company five years ago. “I did some copier sales for three years because I couldn’t find a job in the engineering field,” said Porter, who hit $2.5 million in 2008 and was on track in December to hit at least 95 percent of his 2009 quota. “You thicken up your skin a lot because you’re at a 99 percent failure rate with copiers.”
Sales tips: “I try to investigate the clients a little bit more before visiting or while I’m talking to a client because quite a bit of our business is phone-in business. If they tell me whatever product they want, I always make sure that’s the correct product for them.”
Recession challenges: “I’ve taken a 10 percent hit on my income, but I make a great living and I think I’m overpaid,” said Porter, who has adjusted his approach during the downturn. “We’re going a little bit more into training because companies are doing the same amount of work with fewer people so they are having to be way more resourceful.”

ROB MONTEITH, 41
National account manager, Verizon Wireless, Greenwood Village

What he does: Monteith sells wireless services to Fortune 1000 companies based in Colorado and manages the contracts across the country.
Background: The 10-year veteran of the wireless industry has worked for Verizon for 10 years. He was on track in December to make 150 percent of his 2009 quota.
Sales tips: I’ve always been of the belief that you make your own luck. If you’re being more active and you’re showing up and have a good attitude, you’re going to have more luck.”
Busting the recession: “It used to be that you talked about return on investment with customers. With the economy the way it is, now it’s more total cost of ownership. By focusing on that, you’re leveraging the buying power across their organization to get the best pricing in the market.”
Calculating the “TCO”: We’re such a good value at Verizon Wireless because we have the best coverage. We have the best support team to manage their account. That all comes to play under TCO (total cost of ownership) so it’s not just a number like an ROI (return on investment) number. My job is to sell that and make sure they understand this whole value packaging they’re getting.”

JAKE MEULI, 30
Field sales representative, CCH, Denver

What he does: Meuli sells online subscriptions for tax and accounting research to CPAs and corporations for CCH, an international tax and accounting publisher based in Chicago.
Background: For 2009, Meuli sold $323,000 in tax research subscriptions against a quota of $255,000 - 126 percent of his quota. He ranked seventh out of 95 sales reps nationwide. Meuli joined CCH three years ago after selling copiers for Lewan
& Associates.
Sales tips: “More than anything I try to humanize the process as much as possible, make it two people talking, rather than me selling and them being the customer.”
Selling in a recession: “What are some creative ways to reach prospects who aren’t going to pick up a phone or answer an e-mail now because they are focused on just trying to get their business going and keep their bottom line?”
Meuli’s methods: Sending prospects a gift card to a restaurant and inviting them to use it - as long as they’re willing to spend a half hour with him in return. (He includes a self-addressed stamped envelope to return the gift card if they choose to decline.) He also has e-mailed videos of himself making a pitch.

FARAJ ELMAGBARI, 37
Business sales officer, Wells Fargo, Denver
What he does: Develops relationships with commercial clients for the business bank, including manufacturing, distributing, wholesale and retail.
Background: Elmagbari joined Wells Fargo in 2001 and has been handling business sales for Wells Fargo for four years. He brought in $1.4 million in new revenue for the first nine months of 2009, beating a goal of $1 million for that period and already surpassing the $1.2 million he logged in 2008. He has topped $1 million annually for the past four years and consistently ranks No. 1 or No. 2 nationwide in Wells Fargo’s business sales team.
Sales tips: “Consistency in my mind is the biggest fundamental trait that I try to remind myself of daily, making sure I have a pretty firm understanding of the capabilities and capacity of this great organization.”
Busting the recession: “We’ve had a nice contrarian effect at Wells Fargo. There’s been a severe flight to quality. As the market started to compress on itself, we became more of the beacon. We’re very fortunate that we represent the largest share here in the state of Colorado. We’re the 1,000-pound gorilla. It’s nice to have that in your back pocket when you’re talking to companies.”

• Page 1
• Page 2
• Page 3
• Page 4