| I remember moving my family to Argentina as Vice | | | | A few days later to my surprise and amazement I |
| President of Sales for Latin America. I was in charge | | | | looked outside and saw that they were three-quarters |
| of managing five regional offices, Argentina of course | | | | of the way complete. "Amazing! How were they able |
| being one of them. | | | | to lay so many small tiles so quickly?" |
| In the company's ten year history of selling into Latin | | | | Satori,... a moment of enlightenment. |
| America it had never exceeded $14 million (M) in | | | | At that very moment, a new mindset was born for |
| annual sales. The Argentina office itself had never | | | | building sales. Instead of focusing in on the enormous |
| produced more than $400 thousand (K) in sales. My | | | | task of increasing sales for the entire region (the whole |
| task was to increase the sales locally in Argentina, but | | | | roof), I would focus on building the company's sales |
| more importantly throughout Latin America. | | | | slowly (one ceramic tile or sales office at a time). |
| I remember sitting in my office one day, looking out the | | | | It was this paradigm shift, this Latin American version |
| window and wondering, "How the heck am I going to | | | | of eating an elephant one-bite-at-a-time that helped me |
| grow this business with problems in Mexico, Brazil, | | | | maintain the patience and sanity needed to grow the |
| Puerto Rico and other hot spots? "How can I grow this | | | | business. I considered each country in Latin America a |
| business beyond $14M when no one in the past has | | | | "tile." I set out to make sure that each tile I laid was |
| been able to do so?" Forget the movie Sleepless in | | | | positioned correctly in the marketplace. The result? |
| Seattle, I was "Sleepless in Argentina," trying to map | | | | First year, we hit $14.3M. Second year $45M. By the |
| out a strategy. How would I make "sales" happen?! " | | | | end of the third year, the region's annual sales had |
| A confession to you the reader: I was scared! Please | | | | grown to $98M. The Argentina office itself went from |
| don't tell anyone! | | | | $400K in sales to $5M. |
| One day while on the phone with a customer, I heard | | | | Success, in sales and in life, starts when you break |
| loud noises from across my office building. After | | | | things up into smaller pieces; you begin to feel a sense |
| getting off the phone, I opened the window and looked | | | | of control. And as I began to take action, I began to |
| at the shorter building next door. On the rooftop, I saw | | | | feel a sense of momentum. Control and momentum |
| several men using a scrapping machine to rip apart the | | | | became my engine for success. And every time I felt |
| flat roof the size of two tennis courts. This noise went | | | | overwhelmed or anxious, I thought to myself, "Victor, |
| on for days. | | | | let's just lay one tile at a time." |
| Then one day I noticed the silence. I looked outside and | | | | Confucius said, "It is not a matter of how fast or slow, |
| discovered that the men had finishing stripping the | | | | but simply a matter of you moving." I learned that |
| rooftop and were now laying small ceramic tiles. Given | | | | progress or success never happens overnight, but |
| the size of the roof I remember thinking, "That's going | | | | over time...one tile at time. I learned how to become a |
| to take them a very long time." | | | | sales ‘carpintero' (carpenter who builds things). |