Chemical Commute

I had the privilege of interning for a chemical distributor during this past semester. I learned a lot of information during my time there. The company has been around for over 140 years. Making the company one of the oldest family owned chemical distributors in the world.

My daily journey began at the early hour of 6 am. I live about 1 hour from my office and I needed to drive 25 miles to be at the office at 8:30. I worked 8:30 until 5:00 pm five days a week. The days were long and intense and the amount of work I was responsible for was very overwhelming at times. The entire process was well worth it. I managed to learn a lot about myself while I worked here. I managed to discover many characteristic traits I never knew I possessed. I have recently discovered that I am destined to be an account manager, or a marketing manager. I never thought of myself as being the managing type of person. I managed to find myself in situations where I was managing projects and assignments, without really thinking I was managing.

The department that I excelled mostly in was the Marketing and Sales Department. I realized that I would want to work in the Marketing department after I worked at my job the past semester. I have learned a lot about myself over the past semester, but the one thing that I learned is that a lot of my characteristics and personality traits mimic those of a Sales or Marketing manager.

• They are persistent. Selling or running a business for a living requires a tremendous amount of persistence.
• Successful sales people are avid goal setters. They know what they want to accomplish and they plan their approach.
• Great sales people ask quality questions. The best sales people ask their clients and prospects plenty of quality questions to fully determine their situation and buying needs.
• Successful sales people listen. Most sales people will ask a question then give their customer the answer, or continue to talk afterwards instead of waiting for their response.
• Successful sales people are passionate. They love their company and they exude this pride when talking about their products and services.
• Successful sales people are enthusiastic. They are always in a positive mood – even during difficult times – and their enthusiasm is contagious.
• Successful sales people take responsibility for their results. They do not blame internal problems, the economy, tough competitors, or anything else if they fail to meet their sales quotas.
• Successful sales people work hard. Most people want to be successful but they aren’t prepared to work hard to achieve it.
• Successful sales people keep in touch with their clients. They know that constant contact helps keep clients so they use a variety of approaches to accomplish this.
•  Successful sales people show value. Today’s business world is more competitive than ever before and most sales people think that price is the only motivating buying factor.