A Sales Carpenter
Subject: Sales, Selling,
International, Planning
by Victor Antonio G.
I remember
moving my family to Argentina as Vice President of Sales for Latin America. I
was in charge of managing five regional offices, Argentina of course being one
of them.
In the
company’s ten year history of selling into Latin America it had never exceeded
$14 million (M) in annual sales. The Argentina office itself had never produced
more than $400 thousand (K) in sales. My task was to increase the sales locally
in Argentina, but more importantly throughout Latin America.
I remember
sitting in my office one day, looking out the window and wondering, “How the
heck am I going to grow this business with problems in Mexico, Brazil, Puerto
Rico and other hot spots? “How can I grow this business beyond $14M when no one
in the past has been able to do so?” Forget the movie Sleepless in Seattle,
I was “Sleepless in Argentina,” trying to map out a strategy. How would I make
“sales” happen?! ”
A confession to
you the reader: I was scared! Please don’t tell anyone!
One day while
on the phone with a customer, I heard loud noises from across my office
building. After getting off the phone, I opened the window and looked at the
shorter building next door. On the rooftop, I saw several men using a scrapping
machine to rip apart the flat roof the size of two tennis courts. This noise
went on for days.
Then one day I
noticed the silence. I looked outside and discovered that the men had finishing
stripping the rooftop and were now laying small ceramic tiles. Given the size
of the roof I remember thinking, “That’s going to take them a very long time.”
A few days
later to my surprise and amazement I looked outside and saw that they were
three-quarters of the way complete. “Amazing! How were they able to lay so
many small tiles so quickly?”
Satori,… a moment of enlightenment.
At that very
moment, a new mindset was born for building sales. Instead of focusing in on
the enormous task of increasing sales for the entire region (the whole roof), I
would focus on building the company’s sales slowly (one ceramic tile or sales
office at a time).
It was this
paradigm shift, this Latin American version of eating an elephant
one-bite-at-a-time that helped me maintain the patience and sanity needed to
grow the business. I considered each country in Latin America a “tile.” I set
out to make sure that each tile I laid was positioned correctly in the
marketplace. The result? First year, we hit $14.3M. Second year $45M. By the
end of the third year, the region’s annual sales had grown to $98M. The
Argentina office itself went from $400K in sales to $5M.
Success, in
sales and in life, starts when you break things up into smaller pieces; you
begin to feel a sense of control. And as I began to take action, I began to
feel a sense of momentum. Control and momentum became my engine for success.
And every time I felt overwhelmed or anxious, I thought to myself, “Victor,
let’s just lay one tile at a time.”
Confucius said,
“It is not a matter of how fast or slow, but simply a matter of you moving.” I
learned that progress or success never happens overnight, but over time…one tile
at time. I learned how to become a sales ‘carpintero’ (carpenter who builds
things).
Please share this article with a friend who may need a word of inspiration.
Copyright © 2004 by Victor Antonio G. All rights reserved. This article MAY
be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, as long as the author’s name, website and email
address are included as part of the article’s body. All inquiries,
including information on electronic licensing, should be directed to Victor Antonio G.
www.victorgonzalez.com or by
email at info@victorantonio.com
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