The Story Behind My New Favorite Pair of Shoes

See those stylish shoes in that picture? Those shoes are worth $75,000.

Let me explain.

My name’s Chuck 👋 I’m a recent grad and new sales rep at Votacall. I had 0 sales experience when I joined the company in January. None. To be completely honest, sales scared the crap out of me. I felt vulnerable, and honestly had no idea whether I’d be good at it. But I was looking for a challenge, so there I was.

The first couple of months weren’t easy

Here’s the thing: I started in the middle of winter in Boston, which meant that in my first two-and-a-half months on the job, there were several days that I couldn’t make it to the office because I was either sick, or the weather made it impossible as a commuter.

Why am I telling you all this? Because, at this point, a tough task started to feel insurmountable. Anyone that’s worked in sales will tell you that losing a day in a month is bad enough, let alone several. I guess I’m saying that this could have gone badly.

What’s funny is, I had the opposite experience. In my first few months, I had sold over $75,000 in revenue, and quickly got comfortable doing it. Rather than missing time due to things that were out of my control, I was able to work from home just as easily as in the office. As a result of that, I was given the opportunity to win a pair of customized, company-branded Nikes by hitting a cross-office shot on our mini-hoop (so technically, I guess the shoes are worth $75,000 and a smooth jumper). All humor aside, I couldn’t be prouder of where I am at this point, so I wanted to share what I attribute that to.

This team

I have an awesome group of sales reps, managers and support team members. Because of the consistent collaboration in our twice-a-day meetings and the access I had to my sales managers, I was able to find my sales stride more quickly than I expected.

The meetings were helpful because they gave me a structured environment to ask questions and bounce ideas off other reps. Having built-in exposure to more seasoned members of the team helped me get the hang of things quickly, which went a long way towards feeling comfortable.

Some personal motivation

I’m a 24 year old living with my parents after having a city apartment for 3 years in college. Enough said on this point. Sorry Mom and Dad!

Our own technology

One of the features of the Votacall platform is to enable any remote workers to stay connected to the office as if they were sitting right next to everyone. By using our Votacall Go! app, which basically turns my cell phone into my office phone, I was able to salvage the days that I was out of the office – this was especially helpful because it allowed me to attend the daily meetings that helped me hit the ground running. It also enabled me to stay connected with prospects so I could answer their questions if they called. Even on the days where I was in the office, but had left for lunch or had left to go home for the day, I was able to answer my phones calls and keep progressing towards an eventual sale.

The 24/7 business environment we find ourselves in today presents endless obstacles to success – low barriers to entry for competition, time zone differences, snow storms, sicknesses, etc. This means we, as sales reps, need to be on our toes for any opportunity that is presented to us. Having technology that let me be available and responsive helped me put my best foot forward, and get over the hurdles that could have made it difficult to find traction in my first job out of school. The new pair of Nikes doesn’t hurt either.

“Control what you can control, and you will find success.”

^ I always bought into this, but I'm definitely glad that the ability to work was completely in my control no matter where I was.