The top 25 most powerful salespeople
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OSEA NELSON, 29
Salesperson, Astralux Power Systems
Boulder
What he does: Sells solar energy systems for homes and commercial buildings.
Sales stats: Despite a tough economy, violent shakeout in the solar-energy industry and vastly increased competition, Nelson generated sales of $1.1 million in 2009, an improvement over 2008 when conditions were more favorable. Access to cheaper solar materials in 2009 led to vicious cost competition between solar integrators in Colorado. At the same time, rebates for solar-energy systems dropped 35 percent from 2008.
Biggest challenge: “Building trust. Sadly, the public has become very skeptical of contractors and builders. Especially in a young industry with a rapidly changing product, trust is the key building block for me. It takes a combination of all the hardest aspects of sales to start from being a total stranger one day and getting a contract signed later in the week. If I can’t build trust, I don’t have a job.“
Recession survival tip: “Love your job, and be passionate in it. With so many friends and family out of work in these tough times, I have found renewed gratitude in my life and in my job. People feed off enthusiasm and positivity. Times are tough for all of us right now, but if you can get up in the morning, be grateful for the things you have and take that ‘yes’ attitude with you throughout the day, the sky is the limit, even in this economy.“
Advice for other salespeople: “Every potential client has something in common with you. If you find that and can have a true conversation about it, the walls to your potential sale come falling down.“
How to handle a ‘no’: “Call them back in a few days. If you believe in your product and your job, then you have let that person down by giving them a path to a ‘no.‘“
SARAH LOCKWOOD, 35
Vice President of Sales, Booyah Online Advertising
Westminster
What she does: Helps companies and brands utilize the Internet to drive direct-response goals, acquire customers and sell products online.
Sales stats: Booyah, one of the largest digital, direct-response ad agencies in Colorado, manages about $20 million in online advertising media a year, and Lockwood is the company’s “sales engine.“
Background: Lockwood’s sales career began in 2001 when she helped take an interactive agency called Creation Chamber from a home-based operation to a firm with clients that included Tokyo Joe’s, Einstein Bros., Red Robin, Echostar and the Denver Broncos. She launched her own agency, Distill, sold it in 2009 and became VP of sales for Booyah Online Advertisng. In her first several months at Booyah, she closed a year-long deal with Qdoba Mexican Grill and followed that with a deal with Vail Resorts.
Sales advice: “Be honest. Clients expect you to say ‘yes’ to everything. They will be surprised and appreciate it if you say ‘no’ when the answer really is ‘no.‘ Tell the truth even when it isn’t popular, and don’t discount your prices to win business.“
BEN FARMER, 34
Wholesale sales manager, AltE (a renewable-energy products distributor), Evergreen
What he does: Sells renewable-energy products. Farmer helped launch AltE’s wholesale business three years ago. He continues to manage and help grow the wholesale part of the company while still taking on large dealer accounts.
Sales stats: Projected sales of $3.5 Million for 2009. Farmer has been AltE’s top salesperson in terms of revenue for the past six years.
Recession-survival tip: “Be diversified in your business model and make sure your company values providing exceptional services versus being the cheapest slinger of whatever products or services you sell.“
Biggest sales challenge: “Since we are a renewable-energy products distributor, we frequently get price-shopped on our equipment from competitors. This is where our quality of service comes into play to show why we are worth the extra dollar amount.“
Selling is believing: “I’m proud of AltE’s success knowing that the company has grown in leaps and bounds directly with my hard work. And I’m also proud I’m contributing to the health of our planet with every solar or wind energy system I help design and sell.“
MIKE RIBELIN, 60
Client adviser, Schomp BMW, Highlands Ranch
What he does: Ribelin sold 18 cars in November and racked up more sales in 2009 than in 2008.
Background: Ribelin joined Schomp BMW three years ago after a 35-year career in public education in Littleton Public Schools, including 11 years as director of career and technical education. Despite no prior sales experience, he has been Schomp BMW’s top performer for each of the three years he’s been with the company.
Sales tips: “I really try hard to listen to my clients from the beginning and not steer them in any way that is not to their advantage. Selling for Schomp – it’s a one-price store – we’re not based at all on profit. The sales people are paid on a bonus points system. Our job is really to find them the right car, whether it costs $5,000 or $105,000, because we get paid the same. My approach is to figure out what the best is for them.“
Recession buster: “I wouldn’t say BMW is recession proof. … However, I’ve heard this several times from people who said, ‘I haven’t done too well in the stock market … I decided to treat myself to something instead of losing money the other way.‘“
DEBORA LANGER, 41
Director of sales and marketing, Magpie Telecom Insiders
Westminster
What she does: Langer describes her job as “80 percent sales, 20 percent marketing.“ Her launch of the company’s new website increased leads 600 percent over the past year.
About the company: Magpie is an outsourced software development firm.
Sales stats: In the fourth quarter of 2009, Langer closed three deals in two weeks for revenues of $1.7 million. That included one deal exceeding $1 million, the company’s second largest ever. Langer projected that her sales for all of 2009 would be $2.3 million to $2.5 million.
Background: Langer has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications, and after earning a master’s in interdisciplinary telecommunications from the University of Colorado, she leaped into a telecom sales role. Before that, she held sales roles in a variety of fields.
Sales tip: “Ask the tough questions early, and fail fast, because you don’t want to spend any cycle (effort) on people who are not serious or who really don’t need your services. We call it ‘getting to second base’ here. So I have written on my white board, ‘Get to second base!‘ because it’s all about qualifying really early to make sure you’re working with people who really do need you.“
JASON MINOR, 32
Strategic sales representative, ServiceSource International
Denver
What he does: Sells and renews support and maintenance contracts on behalf of Fortune 500 IT firms. “It’s basically like selling a warranty program so that if their switches crash or their routers crash they have a support contract in place when a technician comes on site and fixes it. It’s a value-based sell that I’m attaching to the main products.“
About the company: ServiceSource International is the global leader in service performance management that partners with some of the largest names in technology and health care to grow their services business and deliver incremental revenue. The company has offices in San Francisco, Denver, Nashville, Tenn., Singapore and Dublin, Ireland. Minor was one of 15 who moved from San Francisco three years ago to start the Denver office that now has 225 employees.
Sales stat: As of mid-December, Minor was on track to amass sales of $100 million for 2009. Said inside sales manager Nicole Trezza going into the fourth quarter of 2009: “Despite the many hurdles this quarter with customers going to bid or choosing to downsize their inventory, Jason is tracking to achieve 200 percent (of the total opportunity in his pipeline number) and possibly go beyond that.“
Minor’s sales tip: “Get in front of your customer early and often, know their budget restrictions and work within those guidelines.“
Most challenging sale: “A three-year $18.7 million sale that took more than seven months to bring to closure.“
SCOTT GOODYEAR, 47
Senior account executive, EMC Corp., a provider of
information infrastructure systems, software and services
Englewood
What he does: Manages two large accounts – DISH Network in Englewood and T-Mobile in Seattle. “I’m responsible for all revenue-generating activity in those two accounts.“
Sales stat: When Goodyear came aboard EMC Corp. in 2007, his sales territory had an average annual “run rate” (revenue expectation) of approximately $25 million. The next year he grew the territory to a run rate of about $53 million and is projected to finish 2009 at about $58 million.
Recession insight: “In the past you could get by with a strong partnership and good products. In the last 12 months, there’s been a real emphasis on the internal rate of return, the return on investment, the reduction in operating expense. We’re bringing proposals that they’re looking at in much more detail than I’ve ever seen clients look at in the past. It requires a lot more in-depth analysis.“
Background: Goodyear has a mechanical engineering degree from Colorado State University that has helped enhance his technical grasp of his clients’ issues and needs.
Mike Cote is the editor of ColoradoBiz. Read his blog, “Poppin’ Circumstance,“ or e-mail him at
. Mike Taylor is the managing editor of ColoradoBiz. He writes about small-business money issues and how startups are launched. Read his “Green Giant“ blog or e-mail him at
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