Selling a Passion is Different

I don’t think of myself as a salesperson. I think of myself as someone who is in charge of building relationships. When building relationships, I treat people how I want them to treat me. I want people to be honest with me, so I’m always honest with them. When I go through a contract, I always think what would I want to know if I was on the other side of the desk. I point out what most companies try to hide; I go over the terms of the contract: how your rates will change over the years, how long your contract is, etc. At CITY, we also don’t have auto-renews in our contracts like most companies. I don’t want to trick people into doing business with me; I want to earn their business.

My job as a Sales Manager at CITY is not to bash my competition, but to show the client how we can give them better service. When I talk to a potential client, I always want to know how we can do better than what they are currently getting. What can we offer them that their current provider isn’t? Most of the time, I hear the same complaints from people; my current provider isn’t responsive, they give me garments that have holes and stains, I can’t get ahold of anyone to fix any problems, or I’m not getting the service they signed up for. At CITY, I believe in being transparent, so you always know what to expect.

I always tell my daughter to wear her heart on her sleeve, and I do the same. I’m going to be who I am, no matter what. I believe in being honest even to a fault. I’m sure that I’ve lost CITY business by being so transparent, but CITY isn’t a here just for the sale. We want to build partnerships. I’d rather be forthcoming and upfront, than pretend we are the perfect choice for everyone. We are never going to be 100% accurate. We will make mistakes, but we will fix those mistakes responsively. Some people ask me how do I know that we offer exceptional service?

I can guarantee excellent service because I’m confident in the people behind the scenes. I know we have the right people whether they are in service, production, working in the front office, or marketing. We have people that genuinely care about this company and their customers. They are people who say they are going to do something and follow through.

I also know we have the proper process to back them up. We process our garments in a Hygienically Clean facility, which is audited regularly by a third party, TRSA. This means garments are put in a sealed container or individually wrapped. All of these garments run through multiple critical control points including kill points (this is where all the bacteria is killed.) A third-party, Norchem, manages our chemicals, so we know we are using the right mixture to ensure proper cleanliness. We administer random bacterial swabs, so we know internally what our results look like. We have these processes in place, so we can provide the best service that our customers expect and stay consistent.

You can’t “BS” believability, and my prospects and clients can tell that I believe in what we do. I believe in my co-workers. I believe in CITY. You can tell by talking with someone if they are passionate about what they do. Whether someone is selling laundry, working retail, driving a truck for a living or whatever it may be, you can always tell if someone has a passion for what they do.  At CITY, I’m able to make a difference. I want to do my best. I want to do my best for the executive team, the management team, and for all CITY employees. I want to do my best for Colin Wetlaufer, CITY’s Current President. I want to do my best for our clients. I want to do my best for every person involved. That is the difference between having passion and just getting the job done.