When Jill Miller graduated from the University of Kansas in 1987 she didn’t really know what she wanted to do. But she knew that sales was definitely not on the list of things to try.
“You couldn’t have paid me enough to be in sales,” Miller remembered. This stemmed, she believes, mostly from her fear of being the kind of sales person she had known growing up, high pressure and aggressive.
“I’m not the person to get in someone’s face,” she said.
Her opinion changed when she relocated to Seattle with her husband. She had worked for Sprint for several years in Kansas City and applied for a sales associate position in Sprint’s Seattle office.
“The person interviewing me – who ended up becoming my mentor for eight years – leaned across the table and told me I’d be crazy not to go into sales,” Miller said.
Since that day Miller has worked in sales in a number of capacities, from outside and inside sales to serving as a regional training manager, from overseeing Sprint’s partner program to working as Boxlight’s executive vice president of worldwide sales and marketing.
“There’s not a channel of sales that I haven’t touched,” she said.
Currently executive vice president of Activelight in Poulsbo, a distributor of visual communications equipment and accessories, Miller hasn’t been on the front lines of sales since 1995. She still remembers what drew her into sales in the first place, though, and what kept her there.
“Sales is the only profession where you work with a wide range of people every day,” said Miller. “It allows you to create lasting relationships – both professional and personal. I have the luxury of doing business with people I enjoy. It’s all about building relationships.”
The people aspect of sales is a big draw for many. That, along with the idea of helping people realize their home ownership dreams, are part of what drew Jessica Mefford, certified mortgage broker with CFA Northwest Mortgage Professionals in Silverdale, to her job.
“I actually started out in college thinking I wanted to be a retail buyer of some sort,” said Mefford. “I started working in the fashion retail field at age 18. I loved it at first. Helping people shop, what a concept.”
The long hours of retail work began to get to Mefford, though, particularly after she advanced into management positions. Her parents worked in the mortgage profession and loved it. Mefford took notice.
“Prior to entering this field, [my parents] were in search of a profession that made them feel they were adding value to the people they served and to life as a whole,” said Mefford. “I’m sure not many people entering this field feel that’s what they’ll get out of it but if they do it right, that’s exactly what you get. I wanted that more than anything.”
Mefford started as a receptionist in the profession, became an assistant processor, then a full processor, and is now a Personal Mortgage Broker/Banker.
“I love it,” Mefford says of her job, “as challenging as it is, I completely love it! Most folks dream of owning a home, how cool is it to be the one to show them the way to affording it? Though it’s technically considered a sales position, I forget that sometimes. It doesn’t feel like I’m selling something, just helping someone who needs or wants it.”
Joni Kimmel, a buyer specialist with Brenda Prowse and Company in Poulsbo, came to her current real estate sales career by way of both retail and product sales. During high school she worked at Anderson’s Department Store in downtown Poulsbo and in college she worked at the Bon.
“That was a great experience,” Kimmel said, “but the hours were long and you never got to enjoy Christmas.
After college, Kimmel sold Canon copiers and fax machines for William Dierickx Company (now IKON Corporation).
“Canon provided me with excellent sales training and I thrived in an environment where the harder you worked and the more you sold, the more you got paid,” said Kimmel.
Kimmel also worked at Ricoh Corporation as a major account manager.
“That is when I really found my niche. I developed wonderful relationships with the office equipment buyers from my accounts and the selling of the equipment was just a small part of the relationship,” she said
Kimmel moved into real estate nine years ago.
“Real estate is a profession that is based on establishing and maintaining good relationships, which I knew I had great past experience in,” Kimmel said. “It is also about assisting people in the ‘American Dream’ of owning their own home. What a rewarding aspect of a job! I have always been tenacious and hard working, so I knew that I had what it took to match up people with the right home.”
Kimmel also notes the schedule flexibility and the earning potential as being a big draw for her.
“It is wonderful to be in control of my income level,” she said. “Also, I love that I can schedule my appointments around my family’s schedule. I am able to do something that I love while making a very good living doing it. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
For Layna Phaff, of Ben Bridge Jewelers in the Kitsap Mall, real estate was never an option. “Real estate is hard,” said Phaff. “I don’t know how people do it. The gratification is too long to me.”
Phaff has worked in jewelry sales at Ben Bridge for 25 years. She chose sales because, like Miller, Mefford, and Bennett, because she wanted to work with people. She chose jewelry because she was interested in gemology, and also, she says, because jewelry is “easy.”
“I sell happy things,” said Phaff, “so selling is not that hard to do.”
Phaff, who is a certified gemologist and graduate gemologist, was made store manager at Ben Bridge at the age of 23. She currently works nights and weekends so that she can be home during the day for her three children. The flexibility of her retail schedule is currently one of the big draws for her sales career.
“You can’t tell I love my job,” she laughed. “I wouldn’t have been here for 25 years if I didn’t.”
Hannah Crowell visited Advantage Nissan in Bremerton with a friend, and ended up helping her friend negotiate a deal for an Xterra. The folks at Advantage Nissan were so impressed with her negotiating skills that they offered her a sales job on the spot.
At the time, Crowell lived in Port Orchard, but was commuting to Federal Way as an executive for Target Stores’ Internal/External theft investigations division. Tired of the commute, she turned in her resignation and began her new sales career at Advantage Nissan.
“At first, I was overwhelmed with information. The excellent training helped me build confidence. I enjoy helping people, and being knowledge about the product is key,” Crowell emphasizes.
“I absolutely love it here,” she adds. “Each month, I bring home more money. I wouldn’t change anything. This is a family dealership — they treat me better than any corporation.”
After just nine months at Advantage Nissan, Crowell has become one of the dealership’s top salespeople.
Abby Henning, who owns, along with her husband, Future Homes of Bremerton and Superior Homes of Fife, also came to sales through retail, working for Nordstrom’s in Yakima and Tacoma starting in the late 1980s.
“That’s when I realized I loved sales,” said Henning.
She and her husband, who has been in the manufactured home sales industry since 1980, have owned Future Homes since 1990 and Superior Homes since 1994. But her move from retail sales to manufactured home sales wasn’t really planned, she said. Henning took a five-year hiatus from work when her daughter was born. In 1997, after her daughter was in school, there was an opening at the Fife location.
“My husband just thought he’d slide me in here,” she laughed.
Although Henning admits that working at Nordstrom was a more glamorous position, she is truly passionate about her current work.
“This job is a lot more fulfilling to me,” she said. “You really have the opportunity to fit people into the right home.”
For Henning, selling manufactured homes is more than just selling merchandise. It is providing an important service to families.
“They serve a great purpose,” she said of manufactured homes. “There are so many young families that need the square footage but can’t afford a conventional house. It really helps such a large group.”
