Hey ya’ll, I’m Grace and this month I took on the challenge to set myself up to become a successful sales rep in 30 days. In this project, I landed a job as a sales rep, traveled with the company to work a booth at a trade show, networked at mixers with new and existing clientele, created leads lists for my area, made cold calls and emails, and presented material to clientele.
Check out the full project here!
What I Accomplished
This week I had a meeting with the owner of BMA and we talked about what areas/categories he wanted me to focus on first. Over time, the goal is to pass on existing clients in the area over to me, but I need more experience first.
Given that I’ve worked in multiple breweries and I have brewery connections, that seemed like the best place to start. So, my boss is having his designer put together a brewery-specific catalog for me to send and show to merchandise managers.
While that process got set in motion, I got to work creating a lead list. I started with a lead list for Grand Rapids, MI, since it’s beer city USA. Over the next few weeks, I’ll make a full lead list for all lower peninsula brewing companies and some in Indiana. By the end of 2021, I plan to talk to every brewery on the GR list and as many as I can in the mitten!
Check out how I created the leads list here!
Setbacks
Originally when I took on this project, the plan was to close deals by the end of the month, hence the “Waitress to Successful Sales Rep In 30 Days” title. But with the trade show and some company-specific slowdowns, I won’t have all the resources I need to make visits and cold calls until the last week of the month, which falls on the holiday weekend.
I will make those 2-3 business days count to the best of my ability. However, I shifted my focus for this week to learn the skills I need for this job.
What I Learned
Setbacks happen. When you’re working for a company things can happen outside of your control. What matters is how you react and handle the situation. I used my unforeseen extra time to master researching leads, using Hunter.io and LinkedIn Sales Navigator. I took the time to dig through all our shirt prices and learn the ins and outs of what I’m selling. All of these will serve me well moving forward.
Takeaways
I’m not giving up on this project. I may finish my 30-day project with new valuable skills, but I plan to continue to sell, grow, and update the landing page as I go.
You never stop learning, and learning out loud with this project has given me so much feedback and advice from new connections. Not only that, but I take care to ensure everything is done to the best of my ability because people will see it.
Next Week
The fourth and final week of my project is about to begin, but this won’t be the end of my sales journey with Black Metal Apparel. Next week will be some cold calls and email writing + creating my presentation binder. Stay tuned to see what else I accomplish!
Grace Gurley 