My role at Grant was very different from my previous position as an account manager. I was not given a list of accounts to call on that had existed prior to my hiring. My responsibility was to take our organization into new markets that had never heard of our company and build relationships strong enough to identify new opportunities which ultimately led to the development of innovative product lines. This was by far the biggest challenge of my career to date but based on my past experiences I knew the benefits of taking on such a responsibility would be far greater than the risks.I again, was fortunate enough to work under a sales director who was a great leader and mentor to me along the way helping to readjust my perspective on sales. Necessity was the mother of invention for me in this role in many regards. Through both my successes and failures here I developed strategies and techniques that are at the core of my approach to new business development.

Garden State Vapor was my first real attempt at achieving the American Dream of self-employment. After spending two years developing a proprietary extraction method for manufacturing e-liquids derived from organic plant stocks I incorporated my business in the state of New Jersey in August 2015 and began selling through multiple distribution channels including our own online store. Initially we experienced great success and received amazingly positive feedback from our customer base. While in the process of developing additional flavors, the FDA adopted new regulations for e-liquid manufacturing in the Spring of 2016. This caused almost all independent e-liquid producers to exit the market. We continued to sell our product for the remainder of year into August of 2017 in accordance with FDA regulations. In December of 2017 the business was legally closed. Founding, incorporating and closing Garden State Vapor taught me lessons that I could have never learned had I not taken the risk to open my own business. I don’t view my endeavor as a failure of effort, business acumen or planning but rather another opportunity to continue building new skills and gaining new experiences that have transitioned very well and added value to my career as a sales professional.

Leaving a 5-year career in technical development to enter sales was the boldest and most frightening decision of my career. At a point where I felt like I was just getting comfortable in what was once an unfamiliar industry, my company offered me a full-time position as an outside account manager. Having no real experience in direct sales or account management I was responsible for strengthening relationships with existing customers in a direct sales portfolio and continued to support our external distribution channels but in a much more formal role where I was directly responsible for their continued success. Extremely challenging at times and with many mistakes made I persevered to develop new skills and propel my career in a direction that I had never anticipated. I’m very grateful for my experiences in this role because it has led to what has become a life-long passion for sales success.

This position was the first promotion of my career and my initial experience in a customer facing role. I was expected to use my technical acumen and experience to support our sales team and external distribution channels in both an inside and outside capacity. This is the first time in my career that I traveled with sales executives and attended onsite meetings and plant trials. I learned how to effectively communicate with customers through observing the efforts of our salesforce. This benefited me greatly as during this time my technical projects transitioned from market driven R&D to customer driven development and troubleshooting where I began interacting with customers unilaterally while working to resolve their technical issues. Not having realized it at the time, this role planted the seeds for my career in sales and had the most influence on where I am today.

This was my very first job after college. Having studied mechanical engineering in school, starting my career in a very unfamiliar industry was challenging but also provided me with an opportunity to develop skills and learn about technologies that I otherwise would have never been exposed to. Working for a small manufacturer also afforded me the opportunity to learn firsthand about the dynamics of how a business operates which helped me identify and understand my specific role in the organization. I was fortunate enough to build a strong relationship with my boss who to this day continues to act as a mentor in my career. I’m proud to know that products I personally developed while in this role are still being sold today, over a decade after their commercialization.