POA employees deserve praise and recognition for their hard work that has helped make us the largest independent office equipment dealer on the West Coast. Every year on the first Friday of March, we celebrate National Salesperson Day and Employee Appreciation Day to make sure our employees know how much we value them.
Our sales representatives are a big part of the growth and success of POA. They maintain relationships with current customers and expand our reach by promoting the latest printers and copiers on the market.
Sales managers work alongside representatives, overseeing all products and services within their designated zip code. Each region is then broken down into manufacturer divisions. In Portland, for example, POA has 3 divisions: Canon, Konica Minolta, and Ricoh.
Due to the rapidly changing world of office equipment technology and software solutions, our sales teams learn to be comfortable with constant change and independence. To understand their role, we asked one of our sales managers to walk us through a day on the job:
Morning Tasks:
- Review to-do lists – includes deliveries, appointments, product demonstrations, and emails
- Provide equipment demonstration to a potential customer in the office
- Go out in the field to get a lease signed
- Conduct a “Qualify” – understanding a customer’s wants and needs, based on 7 categories of potential product issues
Afternoon Tasks:
- Schedule and prep for the next day’s appointments
- Research problem solving solutions
- Qualify more customers
- Advance customer contracts
Throughout the day, sales reps and managers will be on the phone with customers. They’ll answer calls and some will even try to make up to 50 calls per day to check in on customer issues.
Sales representatives are the main point of contact for customers, so it is their responsibility to assess any problems that arise. As our sales manager told us, “We link customers’ problems to solutions that POA carries.” In order to find success in sales, POA encourages all reps to ask themselves, “As business needs change, how am I helping customers solve their problems?”
Once the customer signs a lease, the sales rep then maintains and improves that relationship. This is the main difference between POA’s sales team and the competition; even after we make a sale, we make sure our customers are always satisfied. Building a long-term partnership with a customer is our highest priority.
Pacific Office Automation has several opportunities throughout the company for people to start or build their careers. If you’re interested in working for us in sales or another department, browse our current job openings and apply online today.