Business to Business Sales

Hello Chad,

There are many sales positions here but it sounds like you are on the higher end of sales. There are folks here that work in jewerly or electronic stores that do quite well on commissions during season but that doesn't seem to be where you are looking. If you want to look into business to business on the selling advertising end you could look into that, not sure if that is something that would interest you?? Could you expand a little on what you can do; could you transition into managerial or public relations... do you have a business degree, any accounting experience... you want to rely on all things you have experience or abilities in so that you have more options; I can't really think of businesses you could try with the informaiton you provided so far - expand a litlte and I will try and help.

--Islander

Good Morning Islander,

Thank you for the response, let me try to clarify what I consider to be business to business sales. Maybe if I give you some background on what I am doing now it would help. Currently, I maintain an account base that brings in roughly one million dollars of annual revenue. I provide the accounts in my "base" assistance with everything from billing disputes, work with them on contract negotiations, monitoring supply chains, and gaining market share for the company I represent. Advertising sales would definitely fit the mold as far as b to b sale. I know here in Michigan there are b to b sales reps that handle such things as office supplies, pharmaceutical sales (Parrot Head, do remember seeing any pharm. reps at the hospital?), etc... As far as back ground, I have 3.5 years of experience with the company I am with now. I have a double major in Political Science and English from a liberal arts college (Hope College) here in Michigan. I could definitely make the transition into management or public relations if there was a position available...do you know of any? I could always fall back on my sailing experience, but don't know if that would cover our expenses.

Also, if you have any suggestions for Dawn it would be greatly appreciate. She also has double major in Psychology and Spanish (from Hope), and is currently employed with a mental health organization as Psychometrist.

As always, thank you for your help.

Chad

Chad: You will probably want to just get A job while you figure out if this is something you can do here. Many of the large purchasers are EDC companies (google Economic Development Commission USVI and read up) and are required to purchase from local, smaller businesses. The pharmaceutical sales people are mostly, if not all, from Puerto Rico. Remember you are coming to a very small community, 100,000 or so, and a large chunk of that is government- and they can't pay for anything! For Dawn, the schools have been screaming for Spanish teachers, so there you are! Bueno?

Good Morning East Ender,

Thanks for the information! I know that it is going to be difficult to land a job from Michigan, and I also know that it would give us a little piece of mind to have something lined up before we go through the work of the move (shipping cars, etc...). We will more likely than not have to just make the move and worry about the details when we get there. Although, it sounds like Dawn will be set...she may have to be the money maker! We have plenty of free cash flow to get us through for quite some time, but with what my generation has as far a social security I would hate to draw from our retirement fund...and I'm only 27! Basically we are hoping to minimize our draw on those funds, so hopefully we can at the very least get a job to alleviate some of that. I know that there is an opening for advertising sales on St. Thomas, which I applied for yesterday...hopefully something comes through on that. Sounds like it could be just what I am looking for, but we will see.

As always, thanks for your help!

P.S. Did anyone on the board participate in the Rolex Regatta last weekend?

Hello Chad,

The job situation here is such that you have to rely on all your talents thus my reason for asking you to expand; ie. I had a teacher in highschool - that was a history teacher by day, a school football coach in the afternoon and a bartender by night. In terms of what you do now - don't think you will find a like job here. With you business experience you could look for advertising, public relations at hotels, management at large offices and hotels. The hospital does have supply people working for them. If you want to look into teaching you could do that as well with your English Degree and Dawn with her Spanish degree. Dawn might also look at the Seaview Home they sometimes have openings for counselors, they have a youth and a senior program I believe. Social work and perhaps work at the hospital she could look at once on island; those are governement jobs and require a little persistance, patience, determination to get into (in most cases). With you business background you will find work so I don't think you would have to rely on your savings for very long. Once you have a job (a fair to good job by your own standards) you can continue looking for something better or more related to what you want to do and move along to the job you really wanted - networking here in terms of business related jobs is often necessary.

--Islander

Dawn and Chad
What part of Michigan?
Mark and I are in Toledo right off highway 23

Good Morning Everyone,

Eve, we live on the west side of Michigan (Grand Rapids), however I do a lot business on the east side (Detroit, as you know that is basically Toledo)...in fact, I will be in Toledo on the 21st for business. Hopefully the weather will continue to improve, as we have earned some spring weather!!!

Islander, thank you for the advice as usual! We will be down no later that the middle of July, do you thing that would leave enough time to pass the appropriate test for teaching? Or, is that more of a formality? They can't be sticklers for details, they let all the money slip through their fingers...what's wrong with a few teachers (when they need them) without the proper certification?

Hello Dawn and Chad,

I hear your sarcasm, yikes, and you don't even live here yet!! Public and private schools accept both teachers with degrees in teaching and teachers that have BA, MA, PHD in a certain subject field (history, english, spanish, french, religion, economics - whatever the subject is) - if you have a college degree in a specific field that they need that is sufficient in many cases. I think you would need to look into the teaching procedure prior to arriving in mid-July by contacting the Dept. of Education and the private schools. Of course they will hire someone with a teaching degree first, someone with experience first.... before hiring someone with a degree but zero experience and only work experience in private sector.

--Islander

Sorry Islander, I didn't mean to sound bitter....although, it would make me really bent if I had a kid in the public school system and they didn't use millions of dollars they had coming to them! Especially when they need it desperately!