My job here at Masterbrands, in addition to overseeing the basic operations of the company is managing a sales force as well as taking care of my own sales. Because I am so deeply involved in the sale process of our company, and my 20+ years of personal experience in sales, I am very aware of how different sales people sell to our company. We buy all kinds of things at Masterbrands, from office supplies to copy machines, fabric and all of the other products we use to run our business. I can honestly say in the past 19 years of business, I cant think of one great sales rep that has called on me! There has not been an instance when someone has researched our business and discovered a need we probably have, come in asked great questions, created a relationship and closed me. That’s not a bad thing for us. It means the percentage of great sales reps must be so low, that I would have this experience over the course of 19 years. If that is the case and we can develop great sales talent for our business, think how easy it will be for us to grow our business. So , I want to personally thank all of the average and below average sales reps and managers out there for making my job a little easier.