TSOS My journey to selling FINAL

I was a techy — for over 13 years — there are some interesting stories and take aways during this time that I will describe in subsequent articles.

Each job led to another and built on what I knew…My work history was based on networks, operating systems and business development.

McDonald’s Corp	Programmer in FORTRAN & IBM 8100 Assembler	1974-1980	No Selling Yet — selling of “ideas”
GEISCO	Senior Technical Representative	1980-1982	Part of sales team selling excess network capacity of General Electric (We called it “the Cloud”)
IPN / Hoffmans, Ltd.	Manager of Development	1983-1984	Developing a database and network for international trade-mark management
Arthur Young	Senior Manager – Consulting	1984-1986	Consulting on technology adoption and process improvement; Business development.
Allied Van Lines	Director of Software Services	1986-1988	Managed all software development for Fortune 500 National Household Goods moving company. One of first commercial implementations of UNIX. …managed software sales to agents
SEI	Business Manager	1989-1993	Development & Sale of UNIX based POS to McDonalds’s Franchisees
TSI	District Manager	1993	Sales of EDI translator to Telecom, Insurance subrogation
Delrina/Symantec	Region Manager	1994-1996	Enterprise licensing of WinFax, FormFlow, AntiVirus
Startups	Sales	1996-1999	start ups for on line recruiting, web site rss feeds, java database
GoldMine Software Company / FrontRange Solutions / Heat Software / Ivanti	Channel Manager Director North America Director WorldWide Vice President & General Manager	1999 – current	Sale and management of GoldMine — a leading contact management brand

I was always thinking of how to make more money— and then I was fired ( my bad …) and so I took the opportunity to reinvent myself.

Sales appealed to me because it was variable comp…and I was pretty sure I could manage it.

A recruiter put me up for an interview: and it turns out I knew how to sell at least one thing: ME. I was hired to be a district sales manager for an EDI mainframe software company (it’s not as exciting as you think: for example, my territory included north and South Dakota which had four — 4 — mainframes between them.
TSI was a departure from all my connections and skill base. For the first time I was a full fledged quota carrying sales rep.

I became a sales rep for the money — but i knew id be good at it and like it: visiting interesting companies, travel, working on helping companies fix problems or attain goals. But it was really for the money…(turns out that a sales position is good for someone like me with adhd …wait, a squirrel….

There is a statement that

“happiness comes from what you do …. & fulfillment comes from why you do it:.”

I was happy in my work — people I liked and respected: new clients, businesses worldwide, negotiating, independent, and managing a software company within a company — intrapreneurship.

I was fulfilled because I provided for my family: a nice home, travel, and able to contribute…self actualized, is it?

Technology & Sales have been a winning combination for me.

Was I any good at it? I think I was… I think I’m better than most — with a healthy ego!

here are some indications that I was a good sales person:

…did my clients agree?

• invited to Amoco Chief Executive Officer’s Christmas party
• invited to Anhueser Busch company function where the head of procurement shared, “you seem to know as much about our purchasing process as we do.”
• My client at Texas Commerce Bank (now a part of Chase) called me for three new years eves to go over the roast duck recipe I shared with him during our negotiations (duck fat is the secret)