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The Traveling Salesman Greg Kleven Ref. No. 802004sh Length 73,052 words

Summary

“Journey to Success,” is a motivational book instructing sales people on how to become successful, offering practical techniques developed over years of training and closing multi-million dollar sales. This book teaches the reader how to qualify, close, and overcome ones fear of selling. If you want to become a millionaire through the art of sales, this book is for you. The author achieved it in one year and he will teach you how to do the same. By chapter and lesson “Journey to Success,” provides the insight and knowledge to succeed each and every day of your selling career.

From The Book

To contact my agent or receive more information on "The Traveling Salesman" please email me at: contact@travelingsalesman.org or visit the website at www.travelingsalesman.org

Table of Contents

Forward: Discovering the Soul of a Salesman

Part One: Learning to Sell

1. The Willy Loman Syndrome

2. The Paperboy

3. Learning to Live Large

4. Destiny and the Fuller Brush Man

5. The Calling

6. Angel of Fear

7. Make Work vs. Real Work

8. Leap of Faith

Part Two: Lessons from the Road

9. The Machiavellian Maneuver

10. The Baseball Bat

11. The Prize Pony

12. Servant Leadership

13. Losing your Soul

14. Million Dollar Minutes

15. Money on the Mind

16. The Million Dollar Year

Part Three: The International Years

17. Sweating it out in Geneva

18. 9/11: Opportunity of a Lifetime

19. The Desire to Sell

20. The Sound of Silence

21. Tricks of the Trade

22. Dangerous Opportunity

23. What Would Sir Richard Do?

Part Four: Reflections

24. Know your Enemy

25. No Such Thing as Luck

26. Teaching an Old Sales Dog New Tricks!

27. Vulture Capitalists

28. Expect the Unexpected

29. Excess Baggage

30. A Place of Passion

31. The Greatest Profession in the World

Introduction: Discovering the Soul of a Salesman

In 1981 Tracy Kidder wrote a landmark book that won the Pulitzer Prize entitled, “Soul of a New Machine.” It is the true story of the 1970s computer company Data General, a company on a quest to create the next great computer to compete against the, then reigning champion, Digital Computer Systems, commonly known as DEC. To accomplish their goal the company went about computer design in a whole new way. They created two competing engineering groups, giving each crew the clear message, “may the best team win.” They isolated both teams from the minutiae of the day so they could spend all their energy on creating the next great computer. They set horrendous deadlines for the developers believing it would motivate them to do their best work. And, perhaps most interesting of all, they threw the top-down management book out the window, believing that small groups of five or six engineers could do the work of twenty if given the freedom and support to create, instead of simply code. In their quest to build the next great computer they went looking for the soul of the new machine in unexpected places. They went about solving a complex problem in a very unusual way.

Becoming a great sales person is like this. Sales skills alone will not make you a superstar. Memorizing a book on some new sales paradigm will not insure your success. Thinking sales looks easy and convincing yourself that anyone can do it is a recipe for disaster. If you want to be successful in sales then you will have to dig far deeper into your psyche than you have ever gone before. Becoming a great sales person is all about discovering your sales soul. It cannot be identified or measured, quantified or reasoned, discovered or disclosed, yet, you know it when you have it. Your sales soul is what makes you great; finding and keeping it is the lifelong journey.

This book is about finding and nurturing your sales soul. It comes from thirty years of selling experience. It is a book filled with success and failure, loss and discovery, peril and promise. This is a book for salespeople, about the selling profession, written by a salesman. It is not of the “how to” variety but rather the “how it happened.” It is a mixture of travelogue, selling situations, lessons along the way, and self confession. In order to help you discover and nurture your sales soul I have to first get inside your head--by letting you inside of mine. I accomplish this through telling “real life” sales stories.

I want to take you on a personal journey through my eyes: seeing what I saw, feeling what I felt, and learning what I learned. I cannot make you successful in sales—only you can make yourself successful. But I do believe I can help you discover and develop the critical skills and knowledge you need to be a success. Anyone can learn the basics of selling but learning to love selling is something completely different. Trying to explain what being in love feels like has been a challenge of the ages. Trying to explain what makes a salesperson successful—or not—is a similar problem. It’s not as simple as one, two, three, easy steps to success. But if that isn’t the answer, what is? Good question. Difficult to explain.

Through my stories I will give you a sense of what it takes to be successful. Consider it a mentoring book, if you will, intended to help you through your journey into sales. What makes this book different is that I share with you the intimate details of what the inner life of selling is all about. I expose my soul in order to help you discover yours.

Some of the names have been changed to protect the guilty and to leave the innocent in quite seclusion. Several of the names have been left in-tact. These are the people who have shaped my life and shared in my adventures. My parents are prominently featured throughout the book. They were the ones who set me up for a life in sales; they just didn’t know it at the time. And finally, I have tried to recall the conversations herein to the best of my ability. Like all memories, mine are open to personal recall. Every “if, and, or but” may not be exact, but every word comes from inspired remembrance.

I was not born a salesman, nor will I die one. I was born an impressionable child who grew up in a working class neighborhood in a small town in eastern Washington. I will die, God willing, surrounded by family and friends, reflecting on my life as a husband, father, and salesman. Selling has been my rock in every sense of the word, “with no direction home,” as Bob Dylan would say, “into the complete unknown.”

There is a beautiful short story by the Finnish author Tove Jonsson, entitled “The Rock.” It is less than six pages in length yet a beautifully crafted story of a life complete. Based on the myth of Sisyphus (a recurring theme throughout my book), the storyteller takes us on a journey of discovery and innocence where a rock discovered changes everything. “It was lying between the coal dump and the goods wagons under some bits of wood and it was a miracle no one found it before me,” she writes in the opening line of the story, “It was a huge stone of nothing but silver and no one had found it.” The story is a childlike tale about what it takes to roll the rock into existence. It is heavy. It takes all she can do to move it. People she meets along the way, stop and stare. It won’t budge when she needs it to. She even abandons it for awhile deciding it is simply too big, too hard, too difficult, to handle. But in the end she preservers and the rock finally breaks wide open, revealing the miracle within.

My life in sales has been like that rock. I didn’t ask to find it, but it somehow found me. And there it remained, constantly in my vision regardless of where I stood, or how far away from it I tried to run. In religious terms, it became my cross to bear. The rock of sales knew it was only a matter of time until I discovered it was my calling to push it through life and up the proverbial hill, discovering the essence of who I was meant to be along the arduous journey.

The sales journey is not for everyone. You may discover that you don’t have a desire for sales. You passion may lead you in a different direction. As I say throughout the book, “many are called, but few are chosen.” Everyone has a destiny; discovering it is half the fun, and part of the frustration. This book was written to help you discover whether or not your calling is in sales. People say things like “you ought to be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a teacher.” But how do you know? The answer is, you don’t. The same goes for sales, I would argue, four-fold. Sales is “not” the profession of choice. Parents do not welcome their children into the world declaring, “Ah, this one is going to be a salesperson.” To my thinking, becoming a salesperson is more like waking up one day and discovering that mighty rock sitting in front of you. “What is this ugly thing?” you ask yourself. “Who brought this into my life?” The answer is—you did—you just don’t know it at the time.

At first the rock of sales may feel like a yoke around your neck. You may even try to run away from it. I did. There will be times you doubt the rock was meant for you. You may even plead with it to leave you alone. But the rock will stay in your head if selling is your destiny. All you will hear are the reflections of your pleas coming from that rock of sales. If your calling is sales, the urge will never leave you. It will always be there, lurking in the far corners of your mind, until, one day (if you are like me), you will submit to it and say, “OK, I am going to break this open and see what treasures lie within.” But long before you discover what rests deep inside, you must first push that rock through valleys and up hills, training yourself for a life in the profession.

Can I be a successful salesperson? Can I become a millionaire? Do I really have a desire for sales? Will I know the signs for success when I see them? These are the questions that sales people ask themselves every day. If you want to know the answers then read on. I will teach through story and example how to sell, not through rules by rote, but through “living example.” I will explain how I made a million dollars not by some unproven formula, or new fangled closing technique, but rather through perseverance and hard work (and I came so close to failing it will make the hairs on your neck stand up). I will share with you the good stories, and the bad ones. I will instruct you on how to avoid the typical “sales pitfalls” many of us fall into; Lord only knows how many I have fallen into over the years. But teach you in the traditional way I will not do. There will not be a test at the end of this book to find out if you memorized your closing lines correctly. This is a sales book of a different color. This book is all about getting your head in the game and keeping it there, regardless of what comes your way. As my friend Tim from Chicago puts it, “It’s all about the mental game. Keeping your head in it is 90% of the battle.” Amen, brother, Amen.

Anyone who wants to be successful in sales can be: but “can” is the operative word. You cannot be successful in sales through passive participation in the basics. You cannot expect to make a million dollars without having discovered your inner selling soul. And you cannot go into sales part-time. It has to become your full-time passion, you non-stop job. And when, and if, you embrace this great profession called sales, get ready to enjoy the hard earned fruits of your labor. Anyone who wants to be successful in sales and is willing to work hard to get there can be successful—regardless of education, race, creed, size, or statue in society. This book is all about taking you as far as you want to go. This book is about helping you discover the passion within you that will make you great.

Carpe Diem.

Chapter One: The Willy Loman Syndrome

“The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell.”

On more than one occasion I have looked at myself in the bathroom mirror and saw the reflection of Willy Loman staring back at me. Even after years of successful selling Arthur Miller’s character still haunts me. Why? What is it about selling, that even in the midst of success I watch my back, fearful that what was bestowed upon me one day, may be taken away the next? Success and failure often feel like two sides of the same coin. Even as I enjoy my success I can still feel the breath of failure on my neck. The only thing you got is what you can sell. But can you sell today like you sold yesterday? And all the Zig Ziglars, Tom Hopkins, Og Mandinos, and motivational books can never completely make this “fearful dichotomy” go away. For me it is--and always will be--the reality of being a salesperson. I call it the “Willy Loman Syndrome.” It’s a disease you have to accept, but never let it overcome you. Each new day presents a world of opportunity, or a can of worms. How you play the game determines the outcome. Some days I play it well. These are the days when trial closes simply roll off my tongue with the greatest of ease. I can pick up the phone and endear myself to that “stranger on the other line” in a matter of minutes. After months of endless hours spent trying to close a deal, it comes through and the feeling is oh, so sweet. Such are the good days.

But the bad days are equally as emotional. It is as if I can do nothing right, from the morning coffee spilled on my fresh pressed shirt, (which, in the changing, makes me late for my first appointment), to my inability to find the words that are necessary to close the contract, or to suffer the sheer disappointment of learning that the deal I thought I had, I lost to the competition. (Now I am really behind on my quota!). It is on days such as these I feel like Homer’s Sisyphus, endlessly rolling the sales rock up the hill only to see it return by the sheer might of its own weight. So go the bad days. Selling! You learn to love it, or you plan to leave it.

The good and the bad days, combined, make up the life of every salesperson. “It is our lot in life,” an early mentor once told me. A true salesman is destined to a life of sheer joy and utter disappointment, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, the momentous recognition for a job well done, and the lonely self doubt that comes with every deal yet to be closed. Ironically, you cannot have one without the other. There is no supreme selling level one can achieve that will insure you days without failure or rejection—regardless of what you read. Each day you line up along side other salespeople of every size, shape, and color, “all” determined to win that deal, that day. Practice makes perfect, but it does not guarantee a win. For sales, in the end, it is an art—not a science. Each and every day we get up on the stage and perform anew.

But how does one become a salesperson? Is it passed down like a family business? Can you get a degree in sales from a fine university? It is a profession one can be proud of, or is it, a career of last resort? In all my travels I have never met an individual who introduces him or herself as a salesperson. Client Manager, yes; Senior Executive, often; Director for Strategic Accounts, certainly; Head of Global Accounts, absolutely; but never, salesman. No one in my High School said they were going off to seek their fame and fortune as a salesperson. No one in my college did either. What does that say about the profession? Is a life in sales something to be ashamed of? For many the answer is yes. When I finally decided I was going into sales a very close friend said to me, “But Greg, you could do so much better.”

In general I think we honestly dislike the image of a salesperson. Salespeople are the butt of many jokes. Salespeople are often seen as a bit thick and often sleazy. We don’t come across as professional enough to make it into corporate America. Being a salesperson conjures up images of Danny DeVito selling aluminum siding door to door; or the tragic character, Shelley Levene played by Jack Lemon in Glengarry Glen Ross, crying out, “if only I had the good leads.” All too often, the depiction of the salesperson is of the used car variety, walking up to you in his plaid coat saying, “Have I got a deal for you.” And all of these illustrations play into the overall image of the sales person. So when someone asks, “What do you do?” almost no one will respond, “I am a salesman.” Is it because we don’t view selling as a worthy pursuit? Or is it because we don’t view it as a true profession at all? Howard Stevens of the Chally Group in his new book, “Achieve Sales Excellence,” frames the problem:

Surprisingly, the vast majority of the nation’s colleges and universities still do not consider the discipline of sales and selling as professional pursuits. (In academic circles, a profession is defined as a body of knowledge that has specialties, one or more “certifiable” or “licensable” bodies of expertise, and an accrediting process). Instead, most institutions of higher learning offer a smattering of sales courses, such as Introduction to Sales and Sales Management, which are mainly attended by their marketing majors.

And where does this all lead? To spotty curriculum and back street selling techniques—both of which continue to perpetuate the bad image of the salesperson. And yet, ironically, as Stevens continues to argue in his book, while the number of universities or institutions that offer degrees in sales are few and far between, “Two-thirds of college graduates now take sales jobs upon the completion of their formal education.” Two thirds! More people are selling around the world than ever before, but they are going out into the cold, cruel, world of sales with little or no training or expertise, and even more importantly, without a true sense of what it will take to be successful. It’s, once again, the “Willy Loman Syndrome:” you are damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Even if you are successful you fear that you may one day end up like Willy, a broken down salesman lamenting about his former days of glory. And all too often it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Sales is the mystery profession. People enter it un-prepared. They don’t know what to expect because, more often than not, they haven’t been properly trained. Physicians do internships and residencies. Nurses have preceptors to make sure they know how to do their job. Accountants have to pass a certification exam before they can be called a CPA. But for salespeople, as one of my early bosses told me, “Anything goes. Just go out there and get yourself in trouble.” Talk about a scary course in sales. Yet even today, while the selling profession has improved,sales still is an after thought in the business world—not a primary focus. Sales is not considered essential because, some believe, anyone can do it. Herein lays the problem. This is where the disease gets its start. Not just “anyone” can—or should--sell. Not everyone is destined for a life in sales. My wife hates to sell. She loves to nurse. Whenever there is something to be purchased she sends me out telling me to do the bidding saying, “make sure you get a good deal.”

There are too many executives in major corporations that actually look down upon salesmen. I have been referred to on more than one occasion as a “necessary evil.” Pardon me, but I totally disagree. I am (we are) absolutely necessary—and we are not, I repeat, not evil. Salesmen and women make the world go round. Without us there would be no economy. As I like to say, every company has two problems: sales and everything else. But even if we are arguably essential, we don’t get recognized as such. And this image is not going to change anytime soon. Until then, the problem will persist. Any Tom, Dick, or Harry can hang out a shingle and call themselves a salesperson. Imagine if you tried this in the medical profession? You would be arrested. But not so in sales. A professional, well trained salesperson is categorized right along side Joe slick selling timeshares. There is very little regulation in sales; and there is no standard for excellence. Hence, we end up with a wide spectrum of selling talent from sleazy to professional; from bad to great; from essential to unwanted. We need to learn to live with this selling reality and work to make it better. But until this perfect day arrives selling will continue to be the “mystery profession.” No wonder people enter sales with fear and trepidation. Who in their right mind wouldn’t?

Several years ago I had a sales associate ask me if he could buy me a drink. “Sure,” I said. “I never turn down a free drink. What’s up?”

“I want to talk to you—about you,” he said.

“About me?” I queried.

“Well, actually, about you and me, but mostly about you.”

“Are you sure we should be going out for drinks? Sounds more like we should just grab a nearby conference room. You don’t have to buy me a drink to talk.”

W proceeded to a conference room, sat down and closed the door. “So Charlie, how can I help you?”

“I don’t get it Greg,” he said. “I am working hard but I am not getting anywhere. I look at your success and it makes me angry.”

I was not expecting this comment. “Why do I make you angry Charlie?”

“Because I don’t think you have anything special that I don’t. You’re just like me. Please don’t take this wrong Greg, but you are not overly attractive. No one would call you tall, dark, or handsome. You don’t have a commanding voice. You dress nice but I don’t think anyone would pick you out of a crowd. In other words, you appear average to me. Yet, you close million dollar deals like its no big deal. I don’t get it, and it pisses me off. I feel like I am jinxed. Regardless of how hard I try, I just can’t win.”

I wanted to respond, but Charlie wasn’t finished.

“And then I look at an old fart like John and it really scares me. John hasn’t sold anything since he got here. All I hear him talk about are the glory days of the past. Who gives a shit? What difference does it make? Who even knows if his stories are real? But then I look at him. Even if I become successful, is this where I will eventually end up?”

I didn’t know what to say, or quite how to respond. Honesty was the best policy.

“Charlie, I am probably going to say this wrong so I will apologize before I begin. There is no magic wand in sales. No special potion you can take. No MoJo juice to make you successful. It’s all up to you—and you alone. You cannot read a special book or take a unique class, or learn a new selling technique that is going to insure your success. All of these are important and essential, but none of them individually will make you great. And even when you do become successful there are no guarantees that you will remain that way. Look at John. It’s all about the past and nothing about the present. It’s sad, really sad. He’s not going to make it. You know it; I know it; and he knows it. John scares me Charlie. He even makes “me” worry. Whatever he’s got I don’t want to catch it. I know mentally this isn’t true, but emotionally I feel it. The Willy Loman syndrome is all around him.”

“C’mon Greg,” Charlie responded. “You’ve got to be kidding. You, fail. No way. You’re a great success. The million dollar machine. You have what it takes.”

“Today yes,” I responded. “But there are no guarantees about tomorrow. It’s a whole new world in sales, each, and every, day,” I replied, letting the words drop as I spoke.

I could tell Charlie was trying to take it all in. “So what’s the answer Greg? That’s what I really came here to talk to you about. What ‘specifically’ do I need to do to be successful?”

“Charlie, it’s not any one thing. It’s a whole bunch of little things you have to do every day. You have to know the basics, stone cold. Tom Hopkins taught me the basics of selling. I read his book cover to cover, and then I read it again. But that’s only the beginning. Then you have to pump yourself up. I read a lot of motivational and business books. My shelves are filled with them. And then you have to want to be successful more than the other guy. And don’t forget rejection. Ah, rejection. You have to learn to swallow rejection like its fruit from the gods. I know it sounds masochistic but if you don’t learn how to love and deal with rejection you will never be successful.”

“Selling has to become your passion Charlie. It has to become your life. It must be what you do when you wake up in the morning and when you go to bed at night.”

“Then there is the customer. Charlie get to know your customers intimately. Learn their problems and make them your own. Then solve their business issues.”

“Wow,” I said pausing. “I must sound like a rambling fool.”

“Not really,” Charlie responded. “I get what you are saying. And I can definitely feel your passion. I just wish you could write this all down in some coherent manner for my future reference. It would be extremely helpful. You could call it ‘Greg’s theory of sales’, or ‘Greg’s rules of the road’. I’ve been around you enough to know that you love to tell stories. It seems to be the way you communicate best. And, crazy as it sounds, the stories are helpful. I have heard other salespeople in our office retell them.”

“Well thanks for the compliment Charlie and I think you are right. I always say, ‘I am the sum total of the stories I tell.’ And tell them, I do.”

“So where do we go from here?” Charlie asked.

“Let’s start with these fireside chats. If you want, I will meet with you on a regular basis. I will work with you to find your unique voice in selling. And when you do Charlie, you will be great. I can sense it: you are close Charlie, really close. Don’t give up. Hang in there. Believe in yourself.”

The Willy Loman Syndrome was lurking all around us the day I spoke with Charlie. It tried to get the better of him. But I wouldn’t allow it. At least, not that day. And while the syndrome continues to haunt me from time to time, it is a disease every salesperson—including myself--must learn to live with, and manage. It’s just a fact of life. It never completely goes away, and if you aren’t careful, it can overcome you. The disease is at its peak when you start out in sales causing you sleepless nights. It is also very strong during dry periods of selling when you haven’t had a sale in awhile and you wonder if you have lost your edge. It is also very strong late in life when you reach the stage of John, the old timer in this story. He wanted to change, he needed to change, but the disease overcame him. You could almost see Willy Loman in his eyes staring back at you with his faded brochures and wrinkled suit.

But a life in sales doesn’t have to end this way. Quite the contrary. Selling can be extremely rewarding both financially and spiritually. This has been my experience and my reality. Selling will not be a bed of roses; but it won’t be all thorns either. In the end, it will be more like a wild roller coaster ride full of ups and downs. Sometimes you will have to hang on for dear life. Other times you will lose your lunch. But if you persevere you will reach the top, and once you do, you will find yourself on top of the world.

Chapter Eight: Leap of Faith

I found myself standing guard in a 10 by 10 room with no furniture, save for one folding chair. There were no windows, the walls were unpainted, and one 40 watt bulb hung ominously from the ceiling above. It was dark outside and well past midnight. Positioned beside me was a Sequent computer system. It threw off just enough heat to make the room uncomfortable and difficult to stay awake. But I had to stay awake—it was my shift. My partner Doug and I had decided it was too risky to leave the computer unattended overnight especially since this part of the building was a new expansion to New Vector’s Data Center and it was, therefore, not yet secure. Our test room was wide open and without a door. Anyone, therefore, could walk in, especially our competitors.

This is what we were afraid of.

Doug and I joked about ways we could protect our ad hoc computer room. We conceived of a modified version of the James Bond’s hair trick across the door jam, marking the room in such a way as to be able to tell if anyone had entered. Perhaps we could mask it with tape? “But what good what that do?” I remember saying, “If they sabotage it we’re still screwed.” Call me paranoid. It was too great a risk. “We are just going to have to take shifts while the test is going on. It’s the only way we can be sure no one messes with our computer.”

The test was a bake-off between two high-end multiprocessing computers, namely Sequent Computer Systems and Pyramid Technologies. Both systems were based on an innovative technology often referred to as parallel processing or SMP. Instead of a computer having one or two processors, these systems were designed to harness the power of dozens of processors at the same time, thereby dramatically increasing the processing power of a single computer. In computing terms they could compete with an IBM mainframe—but for far less money.

So there I sat in the room with the dimly lit bulb watching the lights on the computer whirl as the testing went on throughout the night. Doug had just left for a late night dinner. It was now my turn to stand guard. As I sat there in silence I started to laugh. “How did I get here? What was I thinking?”

I knew EXACTLY what I was thinking, this was my chance to break out as a salesperson and get rich. The risks were very high, but so too was the potential reward. The year was 1989 and it was the early days of a new emerging technology called wireless. Two of the largest wireless companies were based in the Seattle area, McCaw Wireless which later became AT&T Wireless and then Cingular; and NewVector which morphed into U S West Cellular, to Airtouch, to Verizon Wireless. I had spent the last five years working for NCR Corporation selling everything from COBOL based inventory systems in the early days, to the new emerging use of UNIX based work stations. I had moved away from the industrial sector where I started my career and spent the last 3 years selling into the telecommunications division. I had become familiar with NewVector as a company trying to sell X Terminals from NCR into their Network Operations Center. And in the selling of X Terminals to NewVector I became aware of their need for a minicomputer system to handle their database of growing customers. I also learned that while Pyramid Technologies was the incumbent, all was not well. Apparently, while the Pyramid Systems were blindingly fast, they were also unreliable. As one Data Center employee explained it, “when they are fast they are brilliant, but when they are not they are truly awful.” I went home that night knowing there was an opportunity for a sale but I had no idea how to get there. Then came the call from Joe.

“Hello is this Greg Kleven?” the person immediately asked when I answered the phone.

“Yes it is,” I replied. “Good, my name is Joe Marvin and I have the opportunity of a lifetime for you,” or something like that I seem to recall.

Like most calls from head hunters or would be employers the details around how they got your name, exactly, gets quickly lost in the conversation.

“How I got your name doesn’t really matter. What does is that I have a job that will make you rich.” It was music to my ears and I asked him to tell me more. I listened intently. Apparently I had made a name for myself around the NewVector crowd as someone they could work with. Long ago I had learned that making a high end sale takes time, and it takes a “village of friends” to cop a phrase from Hillary Clinton. And so I went about my days hanging out at NewVector instead of hanging out in the office. I got to know as many employees as I could; finding out about their families, their likes, their hobbies, and taking every possible opportunity to buy anyone who would join me, lunch. Quickly the word around NewVector went out: “for a good time call Slick” the term Bill Holt, then manager of the Data Center affectionately named me as the fast talking redhead in a 3 piece suit (a term that lives on in infamy in his published book on Unix terms Slick, synonym for sales person, a.k.a, Greg Kleven). In the process of spending weeks on end at NewVector and getting to know many of the people as I could, I also got to know how the business ran. I would spend as much time as anyone would give me learning about the different aspects of building, maintaining, and growing a wireless company. I was doing my homework and, soon, it would serve me well.

“Greg, you have taken the time to really get to know the business and my sources tell me you have earned their respect. Now you need to turn the hard work into a sale.”

Joe went on to talk about what I already knew, Pyramid computers were not dependable and there was an increasing opportunity for a company like Sequent to unseat Pyramid as their high end computer.

“But I already have a job. Besides, I don’ really know much about Sequent as a company or the technology.”

“But you do know Pyramid, right?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“We are just like Pyramid, only far better. We are filled with people just like you who want to change the world and make a bundle of money along the way.” Again, Joe’s words were absolute music to my ears. I could hardly contain my enthusiasm.

“So what do you propose I do,” I asked.

“You need to come in and interview with my boss and a few of the other sales people and then you need to quit your current job.”

Yikes, I thought to myself. Talk about taking me out of my comfort zone. I had been at NCR for the last five years. It had been a great company to work for and a wonderful sales training ground, complete with incentive trips to places like Hawaii, Mexico, and Italy. I was very comfortable in my job. I was known and respected and they left me alone. The thought of giving all that up and starting from scratch was unnerving.

“I don’t know Joe. It all sounds good but almost too good.”

It’s not,” Joe said, “and I will prove it to you. Meet me at the Sequent offices tomorrow.” And so I did.

Some people look like they sound on the phone and Joe was one of those people. I could tell by the way he spoke that he was a very seasoned sales professional. He knew how to say exactly the right things, at the right time, in exactly the right manner, to gain the response he was looking for. Every objection I threw at him he turned into another reason for me to join Sequent—and mind you, I had not even interviewed yet.

When I came into the Sequent office I was met by a 5 foot 8 man in his 40s with a perfectly pressed white shirt, and charcoal grey Italian suit. He was dark haired, balding, will a full perfectly manicured beard. He literally looked like an Italian version of Sean Connery. I was greeted with an energetic, manly handshake, “You must be Greg Kleven. Welcome. This is going to be a very exciting day for you.” Wow, I thought, if I ever go into management I am going to remember that one. Talk about pumping up a prospect.

I spent the next three exhausting hours interviewing with existing sales people and Sequent management who asked me every probing question under the sun about my sales style, why I wanted the job, what was my greatest fear, what was my greatest success, why drives me ( MONEY was the right answer), and how hard was I willing to work? It became very clear that this was not a 40 hour a week job by a long stretch, try on 60 hours and move up from there. These people were driven. It was infectious, exhausting, and exhilarating all at the same time. And then it was my turn to ask the questions. I was humbled in the very first answer I was given. I asked the salesperson I was interviewing how much he made last year. He answered it by telling me what his commission check was last month. The amount was greater than what I made in total the previous year. Then and there I knew I wanted the job and I was willing to take the leap of faith to get it.

I finished up my interviews with the regional manger who was a real hard ass. In more or less words he told me he didn’t think I could do the job but it was up to Joe to make the decision. Talk about mood swings. One minute I was on the top of the world soon to become a millionaire, the next, an unemployed sales person who took a leap of faith and landed on his ass.

“I don’t know Joe. Your boss freaks me out. He says I can’t do the job.”

Joe smiled back, “He says that to all the sales people. It’s your job to prove him wrong—which I know you will do. So are you in?” What a salesman, I thought. I can learn a lot from him. I told him if I was offered the job I would resign from NCR. I got the call from Joe the next day. I would start in three weeks.

The next three weeks were a blur of saying goodbyes and having NCR personnel try to convince me I was making the wrong decision. In the end, however, we left on good terms. NCR was a great company to work for. I was not the first to leave nor would I be the last. I was thankful for the opportunity I had been given but it was now time to move on to the task at hand: learning the Sequent product line as quickly as possible and then getting into see the decision makers within NewVector, ASAP.

The training came quickly. It was a sip through a fire hose as the saying goes. But within a week or so I knew enough about our product and our competition to meet with one of the key decision makers, Alan. I had met him before on several occasions, often seeking his advice in my pursuit of knowledge about the wireless market in general and NewVector in particular. He was the Chief Technology Officer for the company, responsible for reviewing and integrating all new technologies. He was very bright, extremely technical, a boat builder by avocation, and an executive by day. How to approach him about my new job and a “way on the racetrack” as my new CEO Casey would say, I hadn’t yet figured out. And then it came to me in the middle of the night.

I got up and wrote down my thoughts about how to approach Alan and what I was going to say. That morning I immediately called Alan to ask for an appointment with him.

“What’s up Greg?” he asked. I told him I was making a career change and I would like to meet with him about it. He agreed and we set the meeting for the next day.

I prepared a packet of information with brochures containing all the latest details regarding our computer systems. But I left all that in my briefcase next to my chair. Alan invited me to sit down. “So you are making some changes Greg?”

I maintained my composure but responded enthusiastically, “Yes, Alan, I am making a career change. Actually it has already begun and I am very excited about it. I have been thinking about this for quite some time but I was afraid to make the change. But finally I worked up enough courage to do it. It’s a great company, filled with exciting people, and the products are unbelievable. In fact not only are they great household products that everyone needs to keep their homes spic and span, but you can even drink the products if you needed to in survival times. Yes, Alan,” I smiled, “I am going to work for Amway.”

I could immediately see the horror on Alan’s face. Here he was in the privacy of his own office being pitched Amway. In the late 80 and even 90s Amway was the rage everywhere. You could hardly show up at a party without someone pitching you Amway from out of the blue. Imagine the shock on Alan’s face when he realized what I was saying. Here was someone who he thought he knew that he was innocently enough inviting into his office, only to have an Amway salesperson descend on him. In his own office, for God’s sake. But I held my composure letting the full effect of what I had told him sink in.

Ahhh, Greg, ahhh, I don’t quite know what to say, I ahhhhh.

“Alan!”

“Greg actually, I think we need to . . .”

“Alan, Alan, please, I was just kidding. I didn’t go to work for Amway.”

Once he heard me he immediately broke out laughing. We both started laughing. “OK, Greg, so why are you REALLY here?”

This was my cue of a lifetime and I launched into my well rehearsed pitch. . . .

The conclusion to this story and other chapters of the book can be found on The Traveling Salesman website: www.travelingsalesman.org.

About The Author

Greg Kleven is a sales professional with over 30 years of selling and management experience. He has sold to numerous Fortune 1000 and muti-national companies. Kleven currently works for TCS Corporation as the Managing Director for Europe and Asia. He lives with his family in London, England.

Copyright 2008-2009, Greg Kleven (Expires February 7, 2009)

To request information on this author or a manuscript contact the listed agent or e-mail: dbooth@authorlink.com

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