New Beginnings: IT (Information technology) Sales Career

So, it has been some time since ive updated this blog. This has been due to my involvement in a recruiting process for an IT firm called Eigen Development, a firm that creates POS software for business' all around North America. I went to through a month long interview process which involved 5 trips to the company (which is located in Vancouver). I had three interviews with the HR Manager, the Sales Manager, then an interview with both of them plus the President of the company. This last interview was 2 hours long and filled with numerous behavioral questions!

So, yesterday I get a call when I was en route to Nashville for a sales conference. I believe I was in the Dallas airport. This was the beginning of my IT career. My interest in IT sales has mounted from my masters degree and from informational interview conducted with key individuals.

I am very excited. While it is not a comission sales job (which is somewhat odd), there are many incentives including profit sharing, promotions and free hockey tickets on top of a pretty decent salary.

While this may mean the end of my book selling days, i see it as a new beginning and an awesome one at that.

New updates and teachings will come. Patience.

PS: Please feel free to connect with me on facebook and on linkedin. Cheers

Giving Up Control: Why Some Managers Fail

You cannot control another person! YOU cannot motivate them. These are errors in belief that many managers hold. While all this may sound highly negative, there are important lessons to be learned from these two phrases. This summer, I discovered the difficulty in motivating another person to work when they did not want to. In my defense, I was new to the whole management side of the business. Motivating someone to do a difficult job like sales was foreign to me. I was coaching three individuals on a regular basis; one was a top sales person the other two floundered in self pity and skepticism. Why the complete polarity in their behaviors? It has come to my attention that there were many external forces contributing to their failure; forces that I had no control over. At the same time I believe I could have gone about the situation in a different way. I had the belief that I could motivate people, whereas I should have had the mindset of coaching them through their issues, asking questions, so that they would uncover for themselves what would motivate them. Instead of telling them to have a positive attitude I should have asked questions. Sales is asking questions, uncovering a pain and then showing them how doing something will heal this pain.