“Good afternoon. My name is Tom and I´m calling from a company called Replace from Estonia.”
There’s a pretty high chance most of you, dear partners, who have dealt with me in the past, have heard that sentence. Four and a half years ago I joined Replace, being the first official employee to sign up for this comet of an enterprise which resells used mobiles, computers and other similar smart equipment.
My background is somewhat different than your everyday sales manager’s, but then again – every person’s journey is individual, full of wonderful mistakes and horrible success stories.
My Bachelor’s thesis in economics hinted already on my bipolar history – Bringing a product to the market at the example of a musical in our local theatre. From thereon, I spent 5-6 years in the world of music and theatre, studying opera in Estonia and Finland. Upon returning to Estonia, I joined Replace, as I wanted to “do something real” for a change.
Fun fact – the first products I had to sell were some kind of digital signage displays. Four pallets with a Chinese datasheet and no further information. Finally after a month, I managed to contact the original manufacturer of the products and resell the units back to them.
Fast forward and every year since then I held and beat the record of finding the most customers at Replace. During that time I was also given the responsibilities to hit the product group targets for Computers and other IT-related devices.
Currently I am still living two lives:
- Participating in national TV projects – being involved in various movies and TV shows as an actor, and doing voice-over work.
- Growing with Foxway (Formerly Replace) as a sales manager.
People have asked me to pinpoint some characteristics and secrets which have made me successful in sales and business development. Especially since my background in theatre is far from it. I’ve thought long and hard about it. The best advice, which has worked for me, has been the following:
Just be sincere. Be yourself. Be the individual you actually are. Discard words and expressions which mean nothing in our industry, like “best price” or “leading ITAD”. We are human and prefer socializing with humans not robots. And never forget to be humble. Sincerity is your charisma.
The merge, the branding and the Legend
This summer I was chosen as the Legend of Replace among 320+ employees and awarded a ceremonial, custom-made disc.
Being one of the few people in our crew who actually hates disc golfing, I find this gift a good representation of our satiric, down-to-earth and sincere relationship I have with the company.
Merging with Xllnc Group and recently rebranding as Foxway, our goal is the same. But the means to pursue it have greatly increased. As within the group, we are working together with the public sector and large enterprises in the Nordic region. We exchange their IT park every few years. The number of computers we utilize every month has grown 4-5 times in one year.
Being responsible for the sales of all used IT merchandise of the whole group has been a welcoming challenge during this transition period. I would like to take this moment to say to all my partners:
I am sorry if I have had less time to do actual sales myself this year, as my shifting responsibilities have kept me busy on a different path. I do, however, keep my naively hopeful eyes on 2021, when I finally have time to come back to the field which raised me – creating long-lasting cooperations between our companies. To return to the more hands-on approach with the customers. And be more involved with my wonderful team.
And ultimately, to become the legend of Foxway.
Please do not hesitate to meet our team and register to our Reseller Portal and build a partnership with us.
Because Foxway is the right way.
Originally published by Toomas Kolk as an article on LinkedIn. Click here to press a like.
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