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Solutions May 2006
Cover
Story
Masters
of the Game
By
Rebecca Trela
Par
isn’t good enough for the
top competitors. For those who
would be masters of the sales
game, continuous personal improvement
is just the beginning of a contest
that has no final score. The winning
sales professionals profiled in
the following pages all know that
the basics of listening, patience
and organization lead to success.
Long
Ball Hitter
Jay
Vento delegates and prioritizes
so he can stay in touch with large
health care accounts.
IN BRIEF
A
high-volume, high-energy sales
rep in the health care industry
shares his steps to success:
•
Free your time by delegating and
prioritizing
•
Keep a list of happy clients who
will lead you to new business
•
Study your prospect’s industry
before a pitch
•
Select clients willing to build
a strong relationship
When
Jay Vento was a little boy, he
wanted to be a sales rep so he
could wear a suit and tie like
his father, also a salesman. “He
always looked very important to
me, and my older brothers are
salesmen. I just followed suit…literally,”
says the West Caldwell, N.J.,
distributor. “Now, I never
wear a suit and tie!”
Vento
may not dress up for calls anymore,
but he did follow in the family
footsteps. In 1988, he opened
a distributorship with his father
and brother, only to branch out
on his own a few years later.
“I wanted to create a bigger
sales organization, but it was
a family thing, too. I had to
preserve those Sunday dinners,”
Vento laughs. “Meatballs
were flying!” Today, Vento
is president of Proforma Spectrum
Graphics (PSG) and one of the
most successful sales reps in
the Proforma franchise. His company
handles more than $12 million
in sales annually.
A
Full Score Card
When
he started selling nearly 20 years
ago, Vento says, he had it all
backwards. “I would try
to take everybody that came along.
I definitely wasn’t interviewing
the prospect, and I quoted on
everything. A lot of times, I
was led around by the buyer,”
he remembers. His sales grew through
hard work, dedication, and sheer
volume of contacts.
“Years
ago, it was all me,” he
says. “No matter where I
was, I was on the phone. Before
cell phones, I couldn’t
pass a pay phone without sneaking
to it to call the office or my
voicemail. Until I realized, this
is crazy.”
One
day, Vento was watching an episode
of ER where a sales rep, hospitalized
for a heart attack, was still
making calls from his bed. “That
hit me over the head like a big
hammer,” he says. “That’s
why I made my switch. I said,
‘I’m changing this.
I’m empowering all my people,
and I’m bringing on more
people.” At the height of
his workload, Vento was handling
$7 million in business –
alone. He had to learn to deputize
and entrust his employees with
accounts. It was a great, scary
leap, he says, but necessary.
Finding
His Tempo
Now,
to preserve his business and his
sanity, Vento sells $2 million
to $3 million annually, depending
on the year. Mostly, PSG has accounts
with major health care and pharmaceutical
firms.
“I
sell large accounts. That’s
my comfort zone,” says Vento,
who touts the virtues of prioritization.
“I decided long ago that
the health and pharmaceutical
industries would always be there,
and that’s who I wanted
to target.” He pores over
health care magazines, attends
trade shows and interviews industry
experts. “It’s not
easy, and it’s not always
applicable to what I’m doing.
But I’ve found that when
you become an expert in that industry,
you’re able to act as a
consultant. So it isn’t
just about bringing the print
products we have to offer. It’s
about consulting with them on
how the programs can be implemented.
They feel right at ease that I’m
a colleague.” In the eyes
of his clients, Vento says, he
fulfills dual roles. The more
he studies the health care industry,
the more value he can add to PSG’s
program sales.
When
Vento decided to scale back his
personal involvement, the business
took a hit because buyers used
to dealing with him suddenly had
new faces in the office. One of
their largest accounts, a top
pharmaceutical company, withdrew
80 percent of its business. “We
had to teach them they could trust
us,” he says. “They
were used to me as the go-to guy.
We were able to show them that
PSG is the go-to company.”
All of the business came back,
plus new orders. When he’s
not personally handling the account
– as in times of a big product
launch – he calls every
other month or at the very least,
every quarter. On a “macro-management
level,” he keeps a relationship
with the ultimate buyer at each
company.
This
strategy frees Vento’s time
to keep abreast of the industry,
keep prospecting for big accounts,
and handle client issues as necessary.
“Today, I’ve built
my business to the point where
most of my stuff is somewhat warm.
Most of the people I talk to come
from referrals or recommendations.”
Not
Just a Tap-In
Although
it might sound much simpler to
make a sale from a warm call,
Vento emphasizes that it’s
still hard work for him to maintain
those contacts. “I have
to be continually out there, working
hard to earn their trust and their
satisfaction.” He shows
up early, because customers assume
that’s how print jobs will
come. He cleans his collars and
his fingernails and presents a
neat appearance – because
clients will transmute those details,
too, to their expectations of
service.
“I
also have to prune the accounts,
choosing who we’ll do business
with,” Vento admits. “I’ll
generally know within the first
15 minutes or half hour, given
the signals, if something’s
going to work or not. Why spin
my wheels – and why let
my wheels be spun?” He explains
that PSG needs to be picky so
it can concentrate on total and
complete service to devoted accounts.
No more quote-and-hopes, he vows.
“I
walked away from a million-dollar
account,” Vento remembers,
speaking of a large brokerage
firm. “They were absolutely,
unrealistically demanding, and
they turned my organization upside
down. They felt that they owned
us, and they would rip my people
up and down.” Vento recalls
that the marketing manager would
phone PSG and tell him how to
print and deliver the job.
“One
day, I had an out-of-body-experience,”
he says. “Maybe it’s
the New Jersey in me, but I just
said, ‘See ya!’”
The world is too small and life
is too short for bad clients and
poor treatment, Vento maintains.
He admits that there have been
sleepless nights in his career,
but the business is still growing
steadily with a base of well-tended
relationships.
And
when jobs come to fruition, he
says, that’s what brings
the real satisfaction. “I
just love seeing that –
when things are humming, and people
are working, the customer is fulfilled,
and we’ve made it happen.”
After a major product launch at
the end of this week, Vento is
throwing a party for his employees
and the client’s. The party
will celebrate a valued association
hard-won through years of loyalty
and toil.
“I’ve
heard a lot of people say that
the relationship is gone in our
business, that relationship selling
is gone and it’s all about
price. I say, no, it’s not.
It can never be! Customers need
to trust suppliers and work together
and that’s a relationship.”
Cover story continued...
