While through most of my career, my title has included the word “Marketing”, in fact most positions also included a large sales component. Starting with my first position as an Applications Engineer at Dynisco, I worked with and supported the sales force in first defining customer needs and then formulating product offerings that meet or exceeded these needs. While an Application Engineer, I also had account responsibility for certain key accounts. It was in this position that I secured what was then the largest single order in the company’s history. When promoted to Regional Sales Manger, I took on the additional responsibility of supporting all of the major OEMs. In order to assure that their specific delivery requirements were met, I created and managed separate OEM inventory. In doing this, I was able to use guaranteed delivery and support JIT deliveries. My providing a high level of customer service allowed me to negotiate favorable contract pricing. Maintaining this close relationship with the OEM’s Purchasing Agents, I was able to provide management important details on trends in various key industries. Sales in my territory out performed the corporate average by over ten percent.
At Trans-Tek and also at Kahn, I acted as National Sales Manager. In this capacity, I was responsible for setting prices and negotiating major contracts. Traveling with the sales force, I visited accounts to help close major orders, provide a high level of service to key accounts and OEMs, and to train individual sales people in both the technical advantages of the products involved and also how to effectively sell them.
While at Scan-Optics, I developed a comprehensive, three-day sales training program for the Sales Department. Included in the materials presented was information on the company, the products, competition along with the attributes of key markets and direction in which they were heading. This program was so successful that the Human Resources group adopted the basic core of the material presented as the basis for a corporate new-hire training program.
More recently, I have been using my sales expertise in selling computers and systems for Circuit City. Here, I am consistently among the top producers, and awarded President’s Club membership.