I will keep this as short as possible.
I had 15 years in with this company that will remain nameless. They are global & have a sales, service, and tech IT departments. They are the leader in their field. I was hired in my mid 30s some 28 years ago. I always wanted to be a sales rep for this company.
When I first started I was in the tech/ service department often being on the road servicing the customer.
the service team Is the glue that keeps the company together because once the sales rep makes the sale he /she goes on to the next place to make more sales. unless he /she has training seminars to do, they rarely go to see the customer he/she sold.
It's up to the service team to maintain the customers & make them happy You don't make them happy you can certainly cause a lot of damage and cause the account to no longer want to do business with you. I have seen that happen and this is one reason What happened to me happened. As I explain below.
After 15 years with them, I became a lead tech where a lot of people came to me if there were issues. And one of the large accounts in the south got mad due to slow service response and Dirty Product being delivered, rude techs & occasionally no response to service calls.
Many of the people in that office wound up leaving and there was only one person left. I was asked if I would go there for 30 days expenses paid to try to correct it and help out as best I can.
I did just that & Shortly after I arrived the sales rep walked out. He was fed up and walked out.
When he left, he left several customers that were expecting training seminars to be completed & scheduled with no one there now to do it >> as well as three big accounts that he had set up and many meetings to try to get them to sign service agreements and to come on board as new customers.
They were in a “free trial” that was due to end & there were a lot of meetings scheduled to complete that task. BUT now with no “sales rep” they were in a bind. Luckily I was able to convince them to let me move forward and take care of it and I did, and I was not only able to get them to sign up, but I was also able to get several other “new customers”
I loved it so much I asked them if I could move there permanently which I did.
As time went on they did not replace the sales rep I kind of slid in that position. However, as time went on they started to take advantage of me. I was also NOT paid as a sales rep.(no commissions) << very disappointing. But I still hung on and stayed because I cared about the customers it was like my own thing. A job I love is like not working at all, I liked it that much.
I began getting new accounts,(several) I also was servicing them, and I was taking care of the appointments for training seminars and in between all that maintaining the equipment in the office doing all the paperwork and the billing it finally became too much for one person to do on their own.
I started having issues with my boss because as I was getting new customers.
I was starting to ask him OFTEN for inventory to be shipped to me and things that they have to do in the corporate level to get me what I need to get the new customers to come on board>> And all that stuff costs money, << and I'm sure it comes out of my bosses budget and I KNOW that was part of the problem.
I was having a lot of problems getting what I needed due to inventory shortages and getting equipment from one place to the other>>> that is my bosses job<<<>> (to assist in making sure I get the stuff)
My boss got tired of my constant calling needing equipment, I didn't want to promise customers things and not be able to come through.
That's why the sales rep walked out he got tired of it He would get the customer, and then have a hard time getting the inventory to provide for the customer.
Finally, it got so overwhelming I just could not keep up, and I wound up leaving.
Fast-forward now a few years later. ALL new bosses
They were looking for an additional sales rep to work alongside the one that they finally hired a few months after I left.
Since I left on good terms I thought I would apply, and I did And I was turned down. The reason I was turned down is that they require college education they look for someone with a Master's degree in Business Administration.
I feel like I was short-changed I did a great job as a “acting” sales rep as they called me.
I didn't have the degree for it, but I managed in 2 years to bring in 14 new accounts adding just over 1.6 million in revenue to that office. During my time as a “acting sales guy” I out-performed a few sale's reps they have in other areas of the country, and they have kept them on board for years.
I was liked by the customers & got a few referral letters from some of them.
why do some companies rely on a degree when in some instances it doesn't do a darn bit of good.
The company refused to give me an opportunity to come back in a sales role because I didn't have a college degree.
Ok, so I decided not to go to college and all I have is a high school education, but I did the job of sales rep and PROVED to them that I could do it! and I did a better job than some of their old timers who have been there YEARS and never hit a million dollars in a year in revenue for their entire region, And some “uneducated guy” strolls in and does it. PROOF that not everyone MUST have a college degree.
I don't understand the way that some of these companies think.
That's my rent
#Screw College….