Today's guest post was contributed by Albert Greenhut of EMI. We happily welcome his input - Albert's photo and bio appear below the article.
I was once invited to be a salesman for a supply company. I have been told that I am personable and relatively well spoken, leading this HR representative to make such an offer. I mulled over this decision and turned down the offer because I thought that under the pressure of a sale I couldn’t perform, or that I would find my silver tongue corroding under pressure.
I had carried that thought with me until I heard the phrase, “Sales is simply a transfer of enthusiasm.” This changed my thoughts about sales, and made me think that if I was around a product that got me excited, not only would I be compelled to learn all I could about it, but that it would be impossible for me not to be a salesman so that I could show others the way. It also helped me realize that after all, everyone is a salesman at some level, whether trying to convince a friend to go out for tacos instead of pasta or convincing your boss that your idea is a winning one that will help the company succeed.
These thoughts were swirling in my head when I landed in Las Vegas for the 2011 International Power GEN Show. I was relatively new to the Intercept Group at the time, but was there to learn to walk the walk and talk the talk; I would soon find that both of those verbs would be necessities.
If you have never been to a trade show, you might not believe the number of exhibitors who sit back and think that the wandering masses will come to them. Somehow they believe that their booth different enough from the hundreds or thousands of others to magnetically draw in passers-by.
When I got to our booth I noticed that it was slightly different from the rest; there was no front table nor were there chairs. There was a reason for this. We did not want to block attendees from getting to us, and we did not want anything to stop us from approaching them. Which is what we did.
We were out in the aisle talking to people and finding out what their needs were and how we could meet them. Our booth was not the largest, but we attracted the most attention because we created the buzz.
Before the trade show I had learned quite a bit about Intercept™ Technology Packaging, but what I took from the show is that the general public was not as well informed about it. I was excited to talk to an endless stream of people who had different needs and wants to find a way that I could help them to be more efficient and productive in their manufacturing. By the end of the first day I felt the excitement and was ready for more.
Our approach was simple: to meet possible customers, understand their needs, and help them in any way we could. No gimmicks, prizes, giveaways, or bikini-clad models; just unbridled enthusiasm.
My takeaway? After all this time, all I needed was Intercept to keep my silver tongue from corroding…
Young Albert Greenhut (pictured here with his boss, Keith Donaldson) fell in love with community involvement and social justice when he joined in field work and construction projects abroad; he began his professional career by developing and testing stock market valuation software for Schonfeld & Associates. Later, with a degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in hand, he chose a position in the Custom Surgical Procedure Tray Division of Medline Industries as Production Coordinator. More social justice work followed in 2010, with Albert firmly ensconced as finance/operations field intern for GrassrootSoccer in Kimberley, South Africa. Returning from Africa a year later, Albert found a way to further his ideals of corporate responsibility by joining the environmentally friendly and innovative packaging company Engineered Materials, Inc.
Each day Albert awakes with renewed enthusiasm for his main tasks: to revolutionize how companies think about the responsibilities of their packaging choices, and to further the brand of Intercept Technology Packaging.
As a blogger, Albert is an intrepid maverick with an affable affinity for alliteration…
Intercept Technology Packaging products fit within a sustainability strategy because they are reusable, recyclable, do not contain or use volatile components (No VOCs, Not a VCI) and leave a smaller carbon footprint than most traditional protective packaging products.