of hotel/restaurant management. A self driver who spent mornings delivering papers – and afternoons mowing lawns – for cash as a kid, he never questioned his love for sales. But a nightclub manager clocks in 15-hour days six days a week; so, after soaking up the service sales experi- ence, he wandered into commercial real estate sales just as that market collapsed in the early ’80s. His next goal: a larger organization that could extend a structured sales education that had eluded him up to that point. A credit card company hired him to sell its card acceptance program to merchants in the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia territory – one of its tougher markets.
Karlsson gave his peers in Atlanta, San Francisco, and other growth areas a run for their top numbers, leverag- ing his drive time by using direct mail to reap a 4 percent return on 200 packets per week. Still, his territory handicap cost him top distinction until the company rewarded his moxie by promoting him to account executive and trusting him with key corporate accounts. When he got the award that had eluded him, the thrill fell short of his expectations. That’s when Karlsson began eyeing sales management as the next frontier to conquer. When the credit card company stuck him with an underperforming office in Los Angeles, he says, “I had a lot of sleepless nights. Could I be suc- cessful? Am I doing the right thing? I had no friends, no family, no network in this cross-country move. But it was the smartest move of my career because it taught me to cope in a completely new environment. That’s a tremendous confidence builder.” He followed up with stints in Detroit and the company’s plum offer: Man- hattan. Yet again, boredom bit. The financial giant pulled a final challenge from its sleeve: Would Karlsson head a start-up program for a corporate purchasing card? He answered yes, but, two years later, found himself reorganized out of a position. “You need to look yourself in the
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eye from time to time and ask if you’re developing your skills and background to their fullest,” he says. So he waved off other positions with the credit card company and began looking for a new employer. His wife, pregnant with twins, thought he’d gone completely over the edge. But the veteran was hired to conceptualize, build, train, and run a sales organization for another com- pany’s revolutionary electronic bill payment concept. And Karlsson was off to the races again with a mission of chief sales officer for an Internet company offering payroll processing, employee benefits, insurance, and 401(k) programs.
The lesson? Stay flexible while you work hard and learn all you can. You never know where the next (better) offer will reveal itself.
A Big Stretch Jon Atwater, a veterinarian, found himself without paychecks from his biggest Kentucky equine clients at Christmas. With two children and another one on the way, vanishing tax advantages for the expensive Arabian horse industry unfortunately meant a continuing downward spiral for his private equine practice. At one time it had totaled 1,000 Arabian horses. “Since I was a young boy, my whole life focused on getting that veterinary degree,” he admits. “I decided to add breadth to my life.” The Kellogg School of Management at Northwest- ern University caught his eye, but he couldn’t afford both tuition and food for his family. So he took MBA courses at a local university in Kentucky and treated an occasional horse, until an editorial position with a veterinary medical association opened up. Atwater convinced the board to hire him sans editorial experience, but his instincts were good. Then, when a large veterinary medical supply came knocking, he grabbed the chance to move into marketing. His daily concentration promoted him to new-product marketing associ- ate. From there, he slid into interna-
tional marketing for drug launches around the world. The cattle group considered itself sold on his abilities and made him a district sales manag- er. Dr. Atwater had never spent a day in a field sales role.
The lesson? Leverage what you know and what you’ve learned to expand from there. Look for oppor- tunities with a creative mindset. Just because you’ve always done one thing doesn’t mean you can’t add to that experience.
Heart of the Matter One sales manager at a national business furniture distributor says, “In- stead of managing people, you lead them. So you might let a salesperson blow a sales call rather than step in.” Atwater heard the same thing when he made the transition to manager. “‘One thing you need to guard against is taking over a con- versation because of your technical background,’ he recalls. I thought, ‘Yeah, I can see where that would be a problem for somebody else, but not me.’” But his salespeople soon set him straight after he tried several times to interject his personal exper- tise into a sale in part to compensate for the void in his sales experience. One expert from a respected business school reports, “Empirical research published since the ’50s demonstrates that the best sales- people don’t make the best sales managers, so why do companies still promote them? Sales managers cope with team building, manage conflicts, act as change catalysts – it doubles the talents a person needs to effec- tively work their relationships.” That’s why one sales manager who founded a sales consultancy labels the first year of management “a night- mare” and tells his clients to invest in three years of training and hand- holding before expecting results. And, for best results, stick with sales management training rather than a generic management course. “How you motivate differs, for example,” he explains. “A sales manager needs
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