TSL S3E28 - "What is Technical Sales" - Kristi Hernandez & Thomas Watson, Ingredients + Specialties from Univar Solutions

Speaker A: My name is Willie Boland. I study influence, persuasion and leadership in selling and sales management. And I teach people how to sell. In this podcast, we'll talk to some of the world's top sales leaders and see what we can learn from them. Welcome to the Sales Lab. So we are here with Christy Hernandez and Thomas Watson from Univar. Uh, Univar is a chemical company, and, uh, beyond that, I'm gonna let them tell us everything beyond that, but, uh, uh, Christy, Thomas, thank you for joining us. Maybe, uh, you could give us the run on who you are, uh, what your role is, and maybe how you got into that role. This content is brought to you by the TYE Sales Showdown. That's the technical industrial and engineering student sales showdown hosted right here at Texas A and M University. Uh, we have over 200 engineering students taking sales classes every semester and a growing minor program in technical sales. These students are smart enough for STEM and savvy enough for sales. And the TIES showdown allows them to demonstrate their selling skills in a roleplay competition where industry partners like you serve as judges and provide them coaching feedback. If you're hiring for technical, industrial or engineering sales roles anytime of the next couple of years, this is an event you can't miss. Learn more at TX AG Ties. That's TX Ag Ties. Hope you can join us.

Speaker B: All right, I'll give it a start here. Thanks for having us, Willie. Um, I'm Christy Hernandez and I am the senior director of the virtual sales team here at Univar. Um, I am a graduate of the Ohio State University and I graduated, uh, with a degree in consumer affairs. I've worked in chemical distribution for give um or take 20 years now, and also spent 10 years in the SAS and FinTech um, sales arena. I got my start fresh out of college working for UM a distributor in Columbus, Ohio and started there in their customer solutions department. Worked for a couple years into a leadership role and then onto a sales role. Um, and then continued to advance my career through the leadership, um, development opportunities that were presented to me.

Speaker A: That's awesome.

Speaker C: And, uh, Thomas, for me, Thomas Watson, been with Univr for 25 years. Um, I am the director of our performance materials team for the Americas, which entails a number of markets. Coatings, adhesive sealants and elastomers. Usually has the acronym case, but with that is rubber, plastics, composites. Along with looms and greases. It's pretty much anything you would think would be polymeric or industrial. Is, uh, what I lead for. Uh, our team, um, started, um, actually graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point with a Palmer Chemistry degree. Um, with a math minor, got out of college, got into chemical manufacturing with Y cold. Then it went on to Dow Chemical, um, Cargill. So a number of chemical manufacturers got into compounding, but truly got into the sales side of it with a company called Chem Central, which Univar acquired 20 some years ago. Um, but worked in multiple roles. Sales, sales manager, industry manager, marketing, did business development. So pretty much touch a lot of different roles within Univar and then ultimately got into the uh, role of director of our performance materials.

Speaker A: That's great. And you're already uh. I'm already kind of hearing a reasonable level of complexity in the different uh, lines that you just uh, described. And so I imagine some people when they think about chemicals, they might not have any thoughts really. Uh, these are ingredients in things. These are uh, maybe uh, thinking about the Batman movie and you push Joker into uh, the vat of the chemicals. Right. Um, but what I'm hearing. Yeah. So maybe tell us about Univar, the different markets that are served. Uh, what do we mean by chemical sales?

Speaker C: Yeah, it's an interim. We're the in between, between the manufacturer and the customer. And our purpose or our value that we bring is that journey of that chemistry going to that customer. And it can be small packs of, you know, pails to drums to tank wagons or whatever that size might be. And we make that customer experience a little in that um, the manufacturer would not want to ship out 10,000 different orders per day, but rather ship out a rail car. And then we break it down and then we send it out to the customer. So we try to make that easier, safer, um, along with quicker. Because there's certain times of the period that you don't want to ship something in a box truck in the middle of winter when it's a feasible product. So we, we bring that value to both the manufacturer along with the customer. On what is that products, that handful of products you need and how can we do it for just in time, meaning that you don't have to build up that huge inventory for your product lines, which carries a lot of cost, your working capital. We'll hold it here and then we'll have it ready for you when you need it. And that's essentially how we have our distribution model set up. Uh, is trying to take upon that service to them. With it comes experienced people to be able to walk them through that journey.

Speaker B: Yeah, well, you mentioned the um, who is Univar Solutions and um, the complexity of our organization. And you're Spot on. Um we have multiple business units within Univar Solutions and Tom and I work for what's called our ins, ingredients and specialties um portfolio. And in that portfolio there are six um lines of business. Um, there's beauty and personal care case which is what Tom um works directly for food pharma, home care, industrial cleaning and lubes and metalworking. So if you think about anything that you put in your body, anything you put on your body is comprised of chemicals, ingredients that Univar uh distributes.

Speaker C: Awesome.

Speaker A: And point of clarification Christy. You said you're in charge of virtual sales. Uh this is a term I'm not super familiar with. This is just me, you know, inside sales. Or is there something else inferred by this Willie?

Speaker B: It could mean a term that I made up for a newly created team with a complex go to market strategy for Universe Solutions. So um, we noticed um, like most companies post Covid that the way that our customers desired for us to interact with them was different um than pre Covid. A lot of individuals were working from home and didn't necessarily need um an in person sales um approach to help them with their um technical solutions. Um so very similar yet different to inside sales and that we created a team that focused on engaging remotely via phone by teams meeting 90% of the time with customers who are also um, in a remote environment. I think often when individuals think of inside sales they think of small or they think of um, um maybe assisting customers with the administrative aspect. But at Univar we employ a very um professional um solutions oriented sales team to just work with customers remotely providing um that same level of technical service, the same level of sales um expertise um as with the field.

Speaker A: Okay, so real sales, real you know doing real business not just servicing and you know doing the light stuff, doing

Speaker B: the real work, real quotas, um, real goals, real, real um. Yeah real, real customers with real problems that they're driving to solve.

Speaker C: Awesome.

Speaker A: And so that um, is maybe a good introduction to this question which is uh, what are the different selling roles? Different roles in function at Univar. So I'm hearing virtual uh how many different uh hats can people wear at the sales function there?

Speaker B: Oh wow. I don't know if I have a number for the, for uh the number of hats that we have here but we do have an ins, um three, maybe four specific channels for go to market. So we have the virtual sales which is remote customer engagement. We have field sales which is boots on the ground. I'm in person um working with a customer and Then we have um, corporate accounts, which is um, a channel that's driven um, towards customers who are very large, complex organizations that might be doing bids at single locations for many, many facilities in their organization. But in addition to that we have a full array of um, technical resources, um, who do serve in a sales capacity. Uh, for our organization. We have a brands team who works with hair business for personal care brands. Um, I don't know Tom. Am I, am I leaving any out there?

Speaker C: Yeah, you got it. Pretty much. You have your outside scams or corporate accounts, um, virtual sales. And there's always tweaks. There could be tweaks between lines of business where you have a technical seller, um, who actually does the commercial and the technical support part of it. But overall it's a very similar models between our businesses. But I'd call it like five different options. That might. Awesome.

Speaker A: And um, so would you describe all of these roles as um, you know, technical sales roles or. Some of them are really just, you know, regular, non technical sales.

Speaker C: For our company we have the commodity side. It's probably less technical because it's a book of products that you pretty much quote out. They know what they want. They want value number two on the deal. And your only question, you want to supersize or not? For our insurance and specialties, it's a bit of a more questions asked and uh, making sure we got the product prescribed correctly. So again on our side it pretty much all of them are technical sales of some nature.

Speaker A: Okay, and so then what is technical sales? How would you guys define technical sales at Univar?

Speaker C: Oh, that's a good one. I don't know. Kristen, maybe give you your definition and I'll see what mine is.

Speaker B: Oh boy. Tommy, put me on the hot seat. Okay. Technical sales, um, is. It's a lot about having good sales skills. Right? You have to have the personal sales skills, but you also have to have maybe not a degree in chemistry or um, but you have to have an aptitude to be a good listener to your customer to understand maybe the technical challenge that they're going through. So a, uh, seller might say or might hear, I'm having problems with foaming in a beverage that I'm making. And you need to have a wide enough understanding or a product portfolio and offering to know we have defoamers that can help with that product. And let's talk a little bit more about your specific needs and the ability to bring in one of our trained, um, chemists, a technical resource to aid in that sales, uh, process.

Speaker C: I can't disagree. That was a great response. I look at it that we have so many people that have expertise in certain focus areas. So it's hard for a technical seller to really be a master of all sorts of chemistries, but rather is like be asking those questions to uh, have a better idea of what exactly is prescribed for that ah, solution. Because that's the thing. It can be a number of products that solve that solution, not just one answer is the right one. And then, um, then with that is that there's so many resources that we have even ourselves with digital and AI and whatnot. Um, we can kind of figure it out as we go along. But the main thing, the bottom common denominator is that you got to be inquisitive and talk about what is it that they would like. Meet that need gap.

Speaker B: Yeah, I think one of the unique things about Univar Solutions is um, our labs and innovation centers. So we are distribution companies. We're not manufacturing, um, materials, but we have labs around the um, globe that are dedicated to our end market. Have a home care and industrial cleaning lab that if you are making laundry detergent and you're having a challenge, you could consult with that lab specifically, um, to help solve whatever that challenge is. We can aid in the um, creation of formulas. Um, I want to make X and I need it to do Y. So we have customers that come to us from the um, a whole breadth of needs. Someone who knows exactly what um, they're trying to have happen. They just don't know the right product to someone who is. I want a product that does X. Can you tell me what, what needs to go in? And depending on the industry, most of our standard sales reps wouldn't be able to answer all of those questions. But our innovation lab can host workshops and meetings with customers on their site to um, help them come up with a proper formula to meet their needs.

Speaker A: Interesting. So I'm kind of hearing a, uh, curious generalist. I know enough about all the moving parts to know where to go. Uh, they're asking the right questions, they're digging deep. But they don't have to be the chemist, they don't have to be the uh, deeply technical person.

Speaker C: No, I don't need you to solve the riddle. I need you to sell the riddle. So. Okay. You got it. I like that.

Speaker A: That's good.

Speaker C: Yeah. Start explaining. Don't explain how the milk got the coconut. Sell the coconut. And they can, you know, we can go together and whether we're gonna make a punch out of it or Whatnot. But yeah, there's a number of things that we have to ask these customers. What is it that you're looking for? What is the process? What are the products you're looking for, the properties? Is a regulatory requirement into it? Is there actually a pricing kind of boundary you need to be in? All those kind of questions can start from 5,000 different chemistries down to like five or six. And then, then the discovery work takes place where they order samples, they do some lab work with it. Um, even our people can help with that lab work, as Christine highlighted. And then ultimately is to accelerate that sales process. What they think they could do it on their own? We're here to help accelerate into a shorter time frame to get them to producing money for their company.

Speaker A: Um, and actually you, you're mentioning. I'm always interested in where, where the complexity comes from.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker A: Obviously there's a lot of complex actual chemistry and the science of what you're doing. But then you mentioned regulations. Can you give us a concrete example of how that would, uh, impact what that actually looks like?

Speaker C: Oh, there's so many, depending on the chemistry that we're talking about. But yeah, there's like bisphenol A and PFOS is a big hot topic right now, which is fluorinated products that you see with, uh, foams and foam, uh, fire suppressants, hazardous air pollutants, biodegradability. So it's like what exactly is the application and what is that regulatory body that you want to meet? It might be even be food where you get into usp, uh, or into nf, um, approvals or Nestle for Europe or you're going to ship it across the ocean, you know your pricing well, you better get reach approvals. So out of that it starts to narrow down the list of available chemistries or, you know, ingredients that you would have on the shelf to go with. Um, and then ultimately is like what you want to create value for that customer, to have value to their end customer. And that's where we're there to help them out. Because like them, they're not experts either. It's like they usually focus in a certain spot. So if they're trying to get into something new and revolutionary, they use us to help them with that, to help educate them.

Speaker B: Yeah, I also think, um, you know, one of the things that I learned very on in my career that I probably took for granted was, um, the food that I eat is, um, man made with safe ingredients for me to consume. Right. There is a difference between a technical grade Product and a food grade product, a kosher product, a pharmaceutical grade product. And our um, customers rely on us to ensure we're getting them and advising them on the appropriate product that um is going to be consumed. We have a um, military division who sells UM into military specifications. And that reminds me, um, I guess today on Veterans Day, the importance of if we're going to sell a company something that um is going into ammunition to protect our country, that we need to ensure that it meets that special specification, um, for that purpose.

Speaker A: That's great. Now I want to back up a little bit to this. Uh, I wrote down. I don't know the exact words you said, but what I wrote down technical aptitude. How do you, how can you tell if somebody has a technical aptitude? What types of things are you looking for that tell you this is the right person?

Speaker B: I call Tom because I do not have a technical aptitude.

Speaker C: Yeah, like say you're going to do in the interview process. You know, for the young candidates that get out of college, I think when you're younger you already have that aptitude of being inquisitive because everything is very new to you. But um, it's finding out from their history. Is it. There's something of that they're kind of curious on something that they might not even be comfortable with. For me it was like going into marketing. My background's chemistry. But you know what I'm curious. Like it's a need gap we have. Let me try it. I think is that you got to be comfortable being uncomfortable, um, to be in that technical role. Because a lot of people feel bad or feel uncomfortable asking a question they might not know the answer to. But that's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a person that's not uncomfortable to ask something from somebody who might be um, intimidating, like a PhD chemist. Like can you tell me more about what you're looking at or what it's about? Even though that I don't have a lot of background, let me jot some notes down. And that's kind of during the interview process I try to get at that to find out are you comfortable being you and being in a situation where you don't know, but you want to find out. And that's kind of what is the technical aptitude I look for.

Speaker B: I think to Tom's point, there, there isn't one person in univar solutions that would have the answer to every technical question that was posed to them. Um, going back to my earlier comment, I don't have a technical background, but I am super curious and I look for sales associates who are curious. Um, and back to Tom's point, very comfortable saying I don't know the answer to that question, but I absolutely know in Univar who can m assist you. Um, we can uh, do joint calls, um, not just with our internal resources but with our supply partners, um, who are the manufacturers of the material if it gets to that point. But all of our sales staff are trained on our specific product portfolios for their end market.

Speaker A: What does a career trajectory look like at Univar? So I'm a new college graduate. I managed to score a great job opportunity with you guys. What is that? What unfolds in the next year to five years?

Speaker B: Tom, can I take that one? This is kind of a passion one for me. Um, Willie. For a while in my career at Universal Solutions, I manage a team, uh, called New Business Development. And it was a team of um, associates who are newer to their career, um, business and sales career. And they worked solely with our new um customers and their job was to provide them the best experience and to learn about our solutions, um, in the process while onboarding these new customers. And um, the program was extremely successful in that we have associates in our organization today that are in the virtual sales team and the field sales team, but also in our supplier partner teams. We have some that are in the marketing teams, some that have gone on to leadership roles. Um, I think that at Univar Solutions your, your career opportunities are absolutely unlimited. It's your ability to match your desire and your skill set with the, with the department that is um, right for, for your goals.

Speaker C: Yeah, that path can take all sorts. Even with myself with marketing industry manager at getting the procurement, is that everyone can have a different path path to what they're looking for and they might not know whether they want that role. Maybe it's something that looks aspiring to be, to be a vice president, something uh, but more and more you dig into. Well, maybe that doesn't fit. But that's where we try to talk to our employees. Um, hey, you know, keep your mind open because it's not always this think that you're always going to have an upward trajectory. Going lateral is completely fine. It's actually encouraged especially when you get into those upper roles to have a wider range of experience. So yeah, I mean we have all sides of it. Operations, procurement, legal, uh, marketing.

Speaker B: So I think part of the career development, if I were to give a piece of advice to a new college grad, it's enjoy the Sunday, um, afternoon cruise down the road, um, as opposed to treating your career like it's a Nascar um, race that you're trying to finish first, um, it's what's in the journey that you pick up, um, that really helps to shape your skill set ah, and who you are and your value um, to the organization.

Speaker A: I like that. I have a bunch of kids. One of them is currently a uh, couple weeks from finishing um, the fire academy here in town which is like a very uh, big thing. And it's his first uh, endeavor as a 18 year old adult and he has learned through this process that he does not want to be a fireman, um, which is fine for me. I would just assume him you know, ah, be in a nice safe air conditioned environment. Um, but he came to this realization about halfway through saying yeah, I think I'm just going to drop out and be going man, like I need you to stick it out one, because I need you to know, I need you to convince yourself and then know what it feels like to stick through something tough. And this is the first thing you're doing as an 18 year old. You know, you need to see this through. But um, you know like you just said, there's a lot to learn. You know, just take it in. You're mentioning um, you know um, uh, fire retardants and stuff like that. And so he's been sharing all of this information. He just passed us hazmat stuff and helping uh, him go through the manuals and say okay, what's the, what's the range? The downwind range if there's a spill of this magnitude. And um, I was like yeah, they're, you know, oh, I don't, this isn't my favorite role. So what, Learn something. You're there.

Speaker B: But the knowledge that he learned um, in that, in that process. Right. You mentioned several things that I, this could be applicable to what we do in a distribution company. Understanding the hazardous materials and how to react to a hazardous um, material and the placards on our um, trucks for that line of business. So absolutely, um, taking what you can get from every experience to help shape who you are uh, destined to be.

Speaker C: Yeah. Life is very similar to college. You have your classes that you really gravitate towards because you're comfortable, you like them, you look forward to them. And then they have those other ones, that quantum mechanics class. Oh, you know, that's a tough one. Or humanities that someone might not like enjoy. But jobs have the same thing. There's a lot of good things that we really enjoy about it. And then there's parts that like, you know what, for the sake of the business, we got to get it, we got to do it, we got to do it right. And uh, do your best effort at it.

Speaker A: Uh, well, and even, you know, we have tons of students that will go to an internship. And often the internships are well constructed and wonderful experiences. And sometimes they're not any of those things. And you know, um, hey, I got, I got paired with a bad manager. Here's what, here's what they did. Here's why I hated it. Here's why I can't imagine how this person got in this role. And I just think that's awesome. That's great because like you, it's really important to know what it feels like to have a bad manager, you know, and uh, you might find yourself in the same role. You might find out that it's easy to become a bad manager because things are really busy and not, you know, not because they woke up in the morning and said, I'm going to be a bad manager. But it happens kind of accidentally. But you remember back when you were 20 and you had this internship, you remember what it feels like to be on the other end of that and you can remedy the situation. But uh, I guess we're back to curiosity then, right? It's uh, hey, what can you get out of this experience? It's your favorite. Great. It's not. Get something out of it.

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: So a, ah, lot of options in terms of career trajectories. A lot of uh, you know, go into sales, move into other areas. Um, what is something that you think would surprise people about Univar specifically or even about the chemical distribution, um, world as a whole?

Speaker C: I'd say it's fast paced. Give lots of different, uh, customers, lots of different types of customers, lots of different headaches. Kind of like the topic we just got done with. But it's fast paced and it continues to get faster. Just the way the nature of business with cell phones and everything's digital now. So to get answers in the old days, you'd have to go to a pay booth and try to get it. Or you had to write it down and send the letters. Well, no, not anymore. It's like you click them on a table video and you need an answer now. And that product in the backyard yesterday. So, uh, of course everything's a lot faster. Where traditionally in this industry you think things are a little bit slower. No, it's not that.

Speaker A: Put, put it on a train it gets there eventually, not so much. Okay. Uh, same answer.

Speaker B: I do. I think that's the best answer. Um, Tom, it is one of the things that we impress on people when we interview, um, is understanding how many things they can juggle at one time and how fast um, they can move. Our sales cycle, um, can go anywhere from 24 hours if someone says, I know what I want and I know when I want it to three years. If you're trying to spec a product into a new pharmaceutical applications and you as a sales rep could have have one of each customer, um, on your plate at any given point in time. Um, so yes, it is a very unique, very complex, um, fast paced environment.

Speaker C: It always changing. I mean even regular regulations, the big thing right now, low carbon footprint, you know that or circular bio based. So if you can make a lot of the products that are just as well built the synthetic old way as they are with circular bio based, that's just one facet of our business. But of course we want it um, as soon as possible and that's again where our value fits in. And how can we help accelerate that?

Speaker A: The just in time that you mentioned, uh, at the beginning. So let me ask you this. How can somebody, how can somebody do that? Right? Because we're also hearing a lot of messages about taking care of yourself and making sure you have some free time and some downtime to recharge. But then it's like yeah, the client calls at 8pm at night and you'd like to be watching a cartoon with your kids, but that's the customer. Do you have to take it? How do you do these things and keep your head on straight?

Speaker B: We do um, at Univar, have a program and try to adhere to the philosophy of what works for me. Um, so, um, being able to kind of manage that work life balance. In Univar, our sellers have a assigned book of customers. So their goal is to develop a strong relationship with those customers. And they probably know that someone's not going to call them after hours unless there is an extreme emergency. Um, and I'll speak for myself, but that's probably more the exception, uh, than the rule. Most things can wait until tomorrow. But Tom, do you have any uh, other insight on that?

Speaker C: Yeah, I'm all about work hard, play hard. And that play hard means it's family time, you know, and having that work life balance. Because if you're not healthy with your life at home, that's going to really like while you're at work. So by all means we care for our Employees. So having um, the right downtime family time, you know, being physically healthy but also mentally healthy is all about being a good, employing great employee. So there's only very few situations that something is post the normal hours that we would have but within that eight to five time frame that we're going to be busy. It's, that's how it is nowadays. And you know a lot of times we get up, pick up workloads that are probably traditionally not a seller's deal. They get another caught with credit or they get caught with operations where a truck broke down. So they're going. It is a bit of a, a lot of balls going in the air that you got to juggle. And um, if you're not mentally fresh during that eight to five, that's not good.

Speaker A: So um, wondering um, about the actual solutions that you all are contributing to. What is the coolest example? What's the coolest thing you've been able to be a part of?

Speaker C: Oh, there's a number I have probably the neatest during the hydro fracking days of uh, it's still going on is that I was part of a number of patents that went into making Hydrofracker safer, having higher efficiencies, uh, patents were given on it. So it was great business for us. But being able to be a part of that, to making something that was good to be better or great is one of them. We've also been on a number of projects that you see the advertisements on television, I can't say what those, those projects are because of uh, intellectual property. But senior product out there that you help build uh, or part of is pretty unique. I know we're not working with a number of projects Christie, that we know the brands. It's like we're part of you know building out that roof coating or that um, undergrade uh, waterproofing or according that you see that's a wood coating or adhesive. So it's, it's self satisfying kind of seeing that you were a part of something that's already out there out in the marketplace.

Speaker B: Yeah, I think, I think that's just it Tom. Right. You walk through the grocery store, you walk through Lowe's and you can pick any number of um, brands off the shelf and go that's our customer, that's our customer. Our product goes into um, into their process. I think particularly now, um, there's a lot of interesting things going on in the food industry as it pertains to new um, colorants and um, having protein fortified foods. Those, those Are pretty interesting and going, oh, our labs, we're working with customers to assist them in this process and their products on the shelf.

Speaker A: Yeah, well, uh, I'm trying to think, but there are plenty of sales roles where that element of seeing the thing come to fruition might not ever be there.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker A: It's just sell more, move more, keep going, keep going. There's never a moment to put your feet up and say, ah, it's on the shelf. It's in the market. We did it. Not that there's not more to do after that, but, um, that's gonna help.

Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I was in software sales, as I mentioned. I never ran around and said, um, oh, here's 10 companies that are using my software solution, um, in their facility. It's a different type of, um, reward and, um, I guess pride in knowing that the ingredients that are in that food product, for example, because it's the easiest one to relate to. Right. We all eat, but, um, that we helped contribute to getting that, uh, to market and that that's safe, reliable material.

Speaker C: Even with sales. Sales, there's a lot of strikeouts in sales. You work for the base hits. Getting the grand slam is a. Is a cherry on top. You remember it for the rest of your life. But there's a lot of times that you hit a dead end. It just doesn't come to fruition. The product doesn't work, doesn't meet the regular stories back. The end customer just doesn't want to do it. You can't be discouraged by that. So failure is something that you need to work, work through the technical sales. Because there's a lot of dead ends and closed doors that you meet. So you just continue to work on the next opportunity, Keep that healthy opportunity pipeline fresh. That you can always discover something else, because tomorrow could bring some. That grand slam that you worked on four years ago. And also, voila.

Speaker B: It pops up such, such a great point, Tom. It's not, um, Everything we talk about is a product that ends up going to market. So when you do see something on the shelf, it's like, uh, there was a big investment to get it, uh, to help the customer with the solution to get it there. Because you might have tried 10, 15, 20 other times, um, that didn't work. Yep.

Speaker A: So, uh, if I'm walking through the store, what percentage of products do you think univar, uh, has something to do with, uh, you know, if I was the grocery store.

Speaker C: Pretty high. We did an analysis on that. It's pretty high.

Speaker A: Uh, so here I'm Just gonna grab things. My. My salad. Did you guys have anything to do with this?

Speaker C: Yeah. That plastic on there is actually a polyolefin that we would have modifiers for it, antioxidants, the actual adhesion. For it to actually heat seal it, we'd have that part of it, the ink that's on it, the flexographic ink. So we sell resins, the pigments, um, along with a lot of additives that go into that. So you bet. M. Even the prepping of making the plastic, of making the plastic itself are monomers. We sell those too. So there's a number of items just in that plastic bag I could probably rattle just looking at your room there with a wood coating there. The plastic is on your. Your plasma television.

Speaker A: See here my brand. Aspirin, Polyaspartin.

Speaker C: Sure. We have. Aspartame is a product that we have.

Speaker B: But yeah, yeah, read the back of any ingredient label. I have some on my desk.

Speaker C: Oh, sure, you bet. We have the salt, sodium chloride, kosher. So pretty much, yeah. If you walk through your house, there's probably a lot of products. The paint's on the wall. We pretty much sell everything to make a can of paint.

Speaker A: Uh, well, I'm glad that worked. That we would have had to cut that out if I grabbed stuff and said, no, no, not that. Not salad. Um, now that's interesting. And of course, um, that's a pretty common, um, element to a technical industrial sales environment. It's like, yeah, you're interacting with these products and solutions with no knowledge that you are what you are. So what, um, what, uh, you know, from your own personal trajectory, career trajectory, or interacting with early career people, what, uh, are some things that you think they should know before coming into the job market?

Speaker C: I think the better you prepare yourself, you're going to interview with the company, do a little background on it, um, do a little investigation. Uh, and I would look at it like, when you're young, I've used the word journey a number of times in conversations that your journey doesn't mean that you might be stuck with that job. It could be that you bounce jobs a little bit in the. Early in your career to figure out what you do like and what you don't like.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: Um, and not get frustrated with yourself. I think Christy kind of says, like, it's. It's not a NASCAR race. And I think when you're young, that energy gets ramped up, up, and you want to be the next CEO, literally for two years. Like, well, you got to kind of earn the chevrons to get up to that level. And after you get just below that level, you might not want to be at that level. So try not being so tough on yourself financially or career wise or title wise. So being patient with one's self is good. Now also, I would say is like, if you hit roadblocks, try to get a mentor. Sometimes just calling like, it's another thing calling the company and reaching out and trying to make that contact further helps out on, um, that career development.

Speaker B: Yeah. And one of the things I would say, and I don't fault universities for doing this, but they do a great job of prepping college grads on the interview process. And sometimes you, maybe my guidance is make sure that you're genuine in your responses as opposed to, um, canned or I know this is the right response. I would much rather hear a candidate tell me something that they didn't succeed at and tell me the reason why and understanding the adjustment than someone to come in and say, everything is perfect and I know I'm going to hit a home run. I love that confidence. But you're not going to hit a home run every day in any type of sales that you do. And it's more important that we understand, um, that you have the ability to rebound and recover from those situations that don't go your way.

Speaker C: Uh, for sure.

Speaker A: Yeah. Um, I've had many conversations with students over the years who tell me, hey, I'm super competitive. Uh, you know, I'm going to get out there, I'm going to throw elbows, I'm going to win. And I always just try to press back on them and say, if you're really competitive, if you're really engaged in competition at the right level that matches your, you know, your level, then you're not, you're not always going to win.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker A: If you're competitive, but you're not, you do not have the, uh, habits and the practice of taking a beating every now and then. Then, sorry, you're not that competitive. You know, you, you are, you're, uh, you know, you're like, uh, Kramer in that episode of Seinfeld where he's doing the karate class with the children. Right. Um, you're competing with the wrong people. If you're always winning. And in this job we hope you win a lot, but you're going to get the other stuff too, and learn from it. Uh, or don't learn from it, but keep moving forward. And, uh, yeah, it's an interesting thing. Well, I'm keeping an eye on the time here. I Don't want to go over, uh, where I said we would go. One of the last questions I like to ask is, uh, if you guys. I guess in the past I would have asked are there any book recommendations? But now I'll expand that to say, books, content, videos, you know, any other type of content, uh, that you think a technical sales professional should be, uh, familiar with?

Speaker C: Boy, there's a number of them, but unfortunately, I don't know the names of them. But

Speaker B: there's one on Facebook, Tom, that I follow, and I believe it's called sales humor. Um, and, um, it's true and it's funny, but I mean, if you can't find humor, um, in the things that they're posting, then you should probably, um, think, am I really doing sales or is sales cut out for me? Because, um, it really demonstrates some of the stuff we go through.

Speaker C: That is a good one. I do enjoy that one.

Speaker A: Oh, I was saying. Yeah, I think I've seen that one as well.

Speaker B: Oh, you've seen that one. Okay. Yeah.

Speaker A: It can certainly be, um, therapeutic to know that other people are, uh, facing the same things that you're facing. You know, something that seems crazy happens and you're sitting by yourself thinking, man, am I, Am I the only sucker in the whole world that has to deal with these things? And then you see, oh, no, here's some people posting some jokes about it. Okay? It's not just me. It happens.

Speaker B: The greatest resource will be the book that's not written yet. And it will be the sale, the sales life day in the life of Christy. Uh, because I've had some pretty unique, um, laughable experiences in, uh, my sales career that, um, others can learn from.

Speaker C: Yeah, I would say that Tommy boy is probably a good start. Oh, perfect.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: Um, well, can you share one of those stories with us, Christy?

Speaker B: Okay. There's this time that I was really young in my career, like, very, very green. And, um, I was a first generation college grad. So, um, um, my business savvy, right. I started in a different spot. So I fly to Chicago to call on a customer, and, um, I hop in the rental car, thumbs up, life's good. And I pull up to a toll in Chicago that wanted me to, to throw, um, 35 cents into the bucket, like a quarter and a dime. And I had dollar bills. I had no, no change on me to throw in the little bucket. And it wasn't, you know, Chicago tolls aren't, um, you know, there's no toll person. I literally had to get out of my car to approach another vehicle, um, to ask them for change for a dollar, for which they laughed at me, handed me 35 cents and. And I went on my way. So, um, always be prepared, even when you're green around the, um, around the ears, for the encounters that you might experience.

Speaker C: And you never know what the customers can do. I had a similar story, is that this purchasing agent required you wear a tie to every call, and if you didn't, you would put a tie on you. And this is back in the early 90s, um, to late 80s. Well, that tie that he put on is actually one of his costume props for being a clown. I put it on and he hit the button and it would, like, light up, start whirling and whizzing. And the whole entire floor could hear me as I'm talking to him, trying to do a sales pitch, and everyone's laughing at my expense.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B: There's the. There's the. Always check the shower when you check into a hotel room. Because I've woken up many mornings for an early meeting and the shower is not functioning in the hotel, um, room. All sorts of different situations that, um.

Speaker A: Yeah, well, we probably do a whole series, uh, of discussions on navigating hotels and things like this.

Speaker C: But.

Speaker A: Well, this is, uh. This has been great. I appreciate you all, uh, joining. I appreciate your patience with some of the technical issues we had a moment ago when you're kicking things off. But, uh, this is great information. Uh, happy to let people learn a little bit more about Univar.

Speaker C: Yeah, I appreciate it.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker C: Thanks for the opportunity.

Speaker A: That's it for this interview. I hope you got something valuable out of it. Of course, if you did, be sure to subscribe and rate this podcast on whatever app you use to listen. Also, share this with your colleagues and friends, and let's continue to have a deeper discussion on alternative things related to selling and sales leadership. See you next time in the sales lab.