Name: Reginald Jahmal Walker
Title & Company: Field Sales Manager & Assistant Manager
Education: I am a senior in Business Management at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Work Experience: Sales Marketing
What I Do: As a young business man, my active role with Vector Marketing/Cutco is to market the product, Cutco, on a competitive sales capacity as the 1# high quality kitchen cutlery in the US. It’s great because not many can confidently say that they sell the number one product in its kind. My everyday goal is to educate numerous consumers on Vector’s product through a one-on-one presentation. Within a one on one presentation I am able to build rapport, develop a relationship, and strengthen the trust factor by giving great advice. I’m proud to say I am confident to engage in negotiations for my customers to purchase and own the product forever. I also take great pride in being an Assistant Manager for the # 1 pilot office in my division of Vector Marketing. This position entails instructing others about our sales philosophies, running team meetings, and directing sales workshops.
How I Got Here: As a young child I was always involved in sports, church activities, and many other extracurricular events. There I learned social skills and the meaning of interacting with others. The one thing that truly stands out is being a leader. I remember making the winning shots in several basketball games, hitting home runs, community service on Saturdays and Sundays, and even playing Jesus in the church play. At a young age I got accustomed to stepping out of my comfort zone. After 2 ½ years, my career sales are $150,000 and I’ve currently won scholarships for placing in the top 50 out of 40,000 college students in four separate campaigns. I attribute much of my success with Vector Marketing to the sound foundation of leadership qualities I developed earlier in my life. A comfort zone is a wall of boundaries with limits. Everyday I push myself to go the extra mile because I know I must stand out amongst the others
Skills Needed: The ability to listen carefully is the key. It’s so easy to take control of a customer and generalize the situation. I’ve learned that everyone is different and to be extremely successful you must not only listen, but you have to listen with an open mind. Laborers and carpenters work hard. Within the business of sales marketing, simply working hard will just wear you out; one must learn how to tactfully and consistently also be a smart salesperson.
Where I Go From Here: I will go on to work in some form of sales. I plan to develop a strong team of individuals who will understand how to market a product, understand their target market, and most importantly have an understanding of how to maximize their own potential.
Advice: Everyone needs and deserves a job in sales. It is a very useful position in which you learn your strengths and weaknesses. To get any career position you will need to know how to sell yourself and clearly state your qualities as being significantly beyond other competition – sales teaches you that.
Biggest Misconception: Be aware of the work-life balance. At times the dedication can override into many situations where the morning, afternoon, and all evening are spent working towards the task at hand. As long as you set aside time for the other important aspects of your life, sales is a wonderful thing! Selling Cutco is great because the skills you implement are life skills that are transferable into the real world.
To Enjoy & Succeed In This Position you need to: You need to understand that success is a choice. Your actions determine your success, so one must take advantage of every opportunity at hand. Success is also about having fun and being open minded towards all results of those decisions. Last and most important the only thing you can control is your attitude. It is your most powerful tool and it triggers the decision making process. A great attitude with the right decisions will take you down a long journey of success.