This will be the first post for this blog. Yes I got bored with the other ones so I created this one too.

A bit of history about Koka Sexton and sales. I had worked many jobs prior just trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to be in technology because the industry was booming. Computers were everywhere and people were making loads of dough. No one I knew, but everyday I would read the news to see who was doing what and what companies were taking off. I wish I knew then, what I know now about investing, because I would have been all over the Yahoo! IPO.

I started looking for software companies in my area that had openings. I was ready to take anything. I started my sales career at a small start up called Dantz Development that was eventually purchased by EMC. as the receptionist. (Yes, sad but true) I remember the CEO at the time having me in his office during the interview process and asking me “Are you going to be happy answering phones?” He sounded sincere but my answer must have been convincing. ‘I’ll do what ever it takes to get the job done and as long as I continue to grow here, you will have a great employee.’ and worked my tail off to learn everything I could about the software. While answering phones, doing the mail and making coffee for everyone else, I read user manuals and started talking to people in the company about the business.

I worked my way from the front desk to an inside sales position in about a year. Of course I started out making tons of calls and sounding like crap. I didn’t know much about developing a sales pitch or sales strategies but I was very passionate about the software, maybe too much for some of the other sales people. As most of my calls crashed and burned, I looked forward to calling my leads and ‘educating’ them about Retrospect backup.

I met my first mentor Ginna, who was also in sales. She coached me through the rough patch I was in and I went from horrible to good. The more I was taught, the more I would apply the information to the next set of calls. My brain was a sponge.

My first commission check was about $250.00 and I felt like I had won the Super Lotto. That just added fuel to the fire and I was determined to make twice that on the next check.

I was removed from sales for a short trip to Bosnia with the Army. (You can read about the Army stories in the other blog. What…did you think I was kidding earlier?) When I returned, there was no sales job for me, but I got a place in the hardware department where I learned a new side of the business and tested hard drives and optical drives with the software. It was a job, and if nothing else, I learned more about the industry that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

Dantz had a series of layoffs and I was let go. Not knowing what I was going to do (I thought I would work at Dantz forever. Yes I was retarded.) I started my own small business and did work as a private investigator. The Army had taught me a few devious skills. That lasted about 8 months and I got sick of spending 10 hours in a car running surveillance operations for insurance companies and I started looking for another sales job.

I got an inside sales position at a company called RW Lynch. There was a HUGE difference between software sales and advertising sales. The fact that RW Lynch was run like a boiler room didn’t help matters. 9 hours on the phone, dialing for dollars. Questionable sales practices by my standards and very little pay. The average life span of a sales rep at this place was like 6-9 months. But I figured I should be able to learn something from this job, so I learned and adopted an aggressive and disciplined sales strategy and started doing fairly well.

I got a call from a friend at Dantz asking if I would be interested in coming back. It was a tough decision since I was already let go once, but the environment was much better and with the new skills, I was sure to be a superstar.

Not more than two months into my sales fury, I got a call that I was going to be headed off to Iraq. (Again read the other blog.) So I turned my tie in for a camo uniform for a second time.

I returned to a new world. (16 months deployed and stationed in the Sunni Triangle will do that to a person.) Most of the people at Dantz that I knew were gone and I was going to be given a sales position with Erin D. selling software to other resellers. I wasn’t to sure about going back into sales after my recent experiences. Going into law enforcement was an option. But I knew that I could use the experiences of Iraq leading a team of good soldiers and running missions around Baghdad to some type of business parallel.

It surprised me how much of the training actually transfers over into sales. Instead of putting together OPORDs (Operation Orders) I was putting together sales plans using the same format and details. I was doing very well. My numbers were getting hit and I found it easy to excel.

To make an already long story shorter, Erin took a job at a new company and I was going to be carrying the DMR channel. I asked my boss at the time if I could take on more responsibility and do Erin’s job. His reply will stick with me as the worst direction a manager can give. “You are an inside sales person and that’s all your going to be.” I was devastated. My opportunity to grow was gone an with that my loyalty was skewed. I knew I could do more and not that my boss didn’t think so too but the fact that I was just getting started in my career and I was told I had already hit the ceiling pushed me out.

I started looking for a new job and Erin gave me a call. The company she was working for, Phoenix Technologies wanted to talk to me. I met with the VP of sales Brian Berlin and a few short weeks later I was
running a section of the channel sales for the company.

To be continued…