{"id":7042,"date":"2014-06-18T10:47:30","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T14:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theweekinimaging.com\/?p=7042"},"modified":"2014-06-18T10:47:30","modified_gmt":"2014-06-18T14:47:30","slug":"twiis-and-print4pay-hotels-top-sales-reps-of-2014-chad-alban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2014\/06\/twiis-and-print4pay-hotels-top-sales-reps-of-2014-chad-alban\/","title":{"rendered":"TWII\u2019s and Print4Pay Hotel’s Top Sales Reps of 2014: Chad Alban"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chad<\/a>

Chad Alban, sales manager at Stratix Systems.<\/p><\/div>\n

Name:<\/strong> Chad Alban<\/p>\n

Title:<\/strong> Sales Manager<\/p>\n

Company:\u00a0<\/strong> Stratix Systems, Wyomissing, PA<\/p>\n

Years in industry: <\/strong>17.5<\/p>\n

New business revenue: <\/strong>$155,500<\/p>\n

Gross revenue:<\/strong> $885,724<\/p>\n

Units placed:<\/strong> 106<\/p>\n

What they\u2019re saying about Chad: \u201cChad is also the sales manager for the Wyomissing office in PA. Not only did he have a great year, he also had three of his reps garner Presidents Club,\u201d reports Tim Cunningham, VP of sales.<\/p>\n

After logging 15 years with another Pennsylvania-based dealership, Chad Alban took a chance and accepted a position with Stratix Systems where he\u2019s been loving life for the past 2\u00bd years. \u201cI made the transition because of the opportunity and the direction where industry is heading and because of how Stratix is diversifying and offering other products and services beyond the traditional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alban has been selling ever since graduating college with a degree in business management. \u201cI had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated and then found out about an opportunity selling copiers and gave it a shot,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Turns out that Alban was right on target with his career choice although he wouldn\u2019t be here today if he hadn\u2019t taken the initiative to learn all he could about the industry and what it takes to be successful.\u00a0 \u201cComing out of college you don\u2019t know what to expect in the business world,\u201d he notes. \u201cWhat was surprising is the prospecting aspect, the entrepreneurship you need along with the passion to go out and get it done for yourself. If you don\u2019t have the proper resources, you only have yourself to blame and some people don\u2019t understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alban understood that from the start. \u201cI was green, but I was tenacious from the get go and wasn\u2019t going to give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took Alban a good solid year before he felt comfortable selling office technology. But he stuck with it. \u201cI saw other people being successful doing this and I said, why can\u2019t I?\u201d<\/p>\n

He remembers his first sale, a Victor calculator that he sold to a garage, which turned out to be a horrendous experience because they wanted to give it back after three weeks.<\/p>\n

His biggest sale to date was 150 devices to the Bon-Ton Stores. \u201cThat was rewarding because of the implementation,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey struggled with all their store locations and whenever they migrated to a new vendor they had challenges. That was something I honed in on, making that transition seamless for them. It ended up not being the cheapest [option for them], but I got the sale.\u201d<\/p>\n

He emphasizes the importance of learning as much as one can about the industry, about the companies he\u2019s selling to, and of course the products he sells.<\/p>\n

The constant evolution taking place throughout the industry is what appeals to him. \u201cThe technology aspect can be a differentiator for you and those who educate themselves and pursue that personal development, because there is so much to learn, are the ones who succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alban is an example of someone who has succeeded. He remembers when he started in 1996 selling the Konica Minolta KM7050. \u201cIt was the latest and greatest networked copier even though it didn\u2019t work in most cases,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

Since then he\u2019s seen digital technology evolve and improve, and the networking aspect become somewhat routine since those early days when it was a hit or miss proposition.<\/p>\n

Now that he\u2019s sales manager he gets to experience a whole new set of challenges. \u201cFrom a management perspective, it\u2019s recruiting and finding the right people,\u201d he laments. \u201cUnfortunately, that\u2019s always going to be a challenge. From a sales perspective, we\u2019re still in a commodity driven market selling copiers and it even carries over to the IT side. The challenge is trying to find your key differentiators, especially when you\u2019re going after new business. A lot of our current customers understand the service and support we provide from a value standpoint, but sometimes it\u2019s hard to convey that message and get away from that commodity sale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alban is philosophical about his career and why he\u2019s survived in this industry for 17+ years, which is something he shares with his young reps. \u201cThe first year is a challenge. I tell reps when they come in here if they do the things that are asked of them, improve their skills and knowledge of the industry and the products and stick with it and build that database and relationships, you can be successful. You need to be tenacious and put in the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that tenaciousness describes Alban to a T.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Name: Chad Alban Title: Sales Manager Company:\u00a0 Stratix Systems, Wyomissing, PA Years in industry: 17.5 New business revenue: $155,500 Gross revenue: $885,724 Units placed: 106 What they\u2019re saying about Chad: \u201cChad is also the sales manager for the Wyomissing office in PA. Not only did he have a great year, he also had three of his reps garner Presidents Club,\u201d reports Tim Cunningham, VP of sales. After logging 15 years with another Pennsylvania-based dealership, Chad Alban took a chance and accepted a position with Stratix Systems where he\u2019s been loving life for the past 2\u00bd years. \u201cI made the transition because of the opportunity and the direction where industry is heading and because of how Stratix is diversifying and offering other products and services beyond the traditional.\u201d Alban has been selling ever since graduating college with a degree in business management. \u201cI had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated and then found out about an opportunity selling copiers and gave it a shot,\u201d he says. Turns out that Alban was right on target with his career choice although he wouldn\u2019t be here today if he hadn\u2019t taken the initiative to learn all he could about the industry and what it takes to be successful.\u00a0 \u201cComing out of college you don\u2019t know what to expect in the business world,\u201d he notes. \u201cWhat was surprising is the prospecting aspect, the entrepreneurship you need along with the passion to go out and get it done for yourself. If you don\u2019t have the proper resources, you only have yourself to blame and some people don\u2019t understand that.\u201d Alban understood that from the start. \u201cI was green, but I was tenacious from the get go and wasn\u2019t going to give up.\u201d It took Alban a good solid year before he felt comfortable selling office technology. But he stuck with it. \u201cI saw other people being successful doing this and I said, why can\u2019t I?\u201d He remembers his first sale, a Victor calculator that he sold to a garage, which turned out to be a horrendous experience because they wanted to give it back after three weeks. His biggest sale to date was 150 devices to the Bon-Ton Stores. \u201cThat was rewarding because of the implementation,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey struggled with all their store locations and whenever they migrated to a new vendor they had challenges. That was something I honed in on, making that transition seamless for them. It ended up not being the cheapest [option for them], but I got the sale.\u201d He emphasizes the importance of learning as much as one can about the industry, about the companies he\u2019s selling to, and of course the products he sells. The constant evolution taking place throughout the industry is what appeals to him. \u201cThe technology aspect can be a differentiator for you and those who educate themselves and pursue that personal development, because there is so much to learn, are the ones who succeed.\u201d Alban is an example of someone who has succeeded. He remembers when he started in 1996 selling the Konica Minolta KM7050. \u201cIt was the latest and greatest networked copier even though it didn\u2019t work in most cases,\u201d he laughs. Since then he\u2019s seen digital technology evolve and improve, and the networking aspect become somewhat routine since those early days when it was a hit or miss proposition. Now that he\u2019s sales manager he gets to experience a whole new set of challenges. \u201cFrom a management perspective, it\u2019s recruiting and finding the right people,\u201d he laments. \u201cUnfortunately, that\u2019s always going to be a challenge. From a sales perspective, we\u2019re still in a commodity driven market selling copiers and it even carries over to the IT side. The challenge is trying to find your key differentiators, especially when you\u2019re going after new business. A lot of our current customers understand the service and support we provide from a value standpoint, but sometimes it\u2019s hard to convey that message and get away from that commodity sale.\u201d Alban is philosophical about his career and why he\u2019s survived in this industry for 17+ years, which is something he shares with his young reps. \u201cThe first year is a challenge. I tell reps when they come in here if they do the things that are asked of them, improve their skills and knowledge of the industry and the products and stick with it and build that database and relationships, you can be successful. You need to be tenacious and put in the work.\u201d And that tenaciousness describes Alban to a T.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[82],"tags":[1473,860,1508],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7042"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7044,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7042\/revisions\/7044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}