Nine Years and Going Strong: Happy Birthday Randolph Sterling!

04.04.2012

Welcome to our April newsletter. April is my favorite month of the year, not only because spring has sprung but also because of two birthdays, mine and Randolph Sterling’s.

Randolph Sterling celebrates its nine year Anniversary on April 22nd (three days before my birthday, for those of you sending cards and presents). Please indulge me a bit, while I take a quick stroll down memory lane.

The Randolph Sterling story starts as far back as high school for me. I remember riding my bicycle around town with my friend Christopher Wolf, the two of us discussing how much fun it would be to have a business where we helped the businesses around town with their sales and marketing efforts. While Radburn Cleaners and Baskin Robins never actually became our clients, I kept the idea in the back of my mind as I worked through school as a Marketing Management major and into my career, first in market research and later in sales.

Over the years I have had a variety of different managers that I learned from…some what to do and some what not to do. My dad has been an influence on me as well given that he has been in sales for a good part of his work career and was always willing to offer advice. However, it was back at the end of 2001 when I really started to put the wheels in motion for what we all know today as Randolph Sterling (Incorporated April 22, 2003). When I started Randolph Sterling it was a small consulting company that would provide sales management services to growing companies that did not have a sales manager. During my start-up stages, I figured if one of those companies wanted to hire me as a sales manager, I would certainly consider it.

Over the years, we have added services to complement our sales management programs, some of which came along accidentally but at the right time! Our largest area of the business, our outsourced sales services, came about as a result of working with a company that asked us to put together and manage a sales program for them, although they never followed it. One day I met with them and out of frustration said, “You have us come in every week and each time we discuss getting out and finding new business. Each time you tell me you haven’t done anything. Instead of paying us to ask the question, why not pay us to do it for you?” Just like that, they said yes! Our new mission was to then go out and find great salespeople to provide the service!

It has been a fun ride for us so far. Our intention is only to continue to grow and help our clients grow along with us by adding more services to help provide stronger outsourced systems for our clients. This year alone we have expanded to in Boston and LA in addition to our successful Chicago and Raleigh locations, making it even easier to work with clients throughout the country who range across the business spectrum from funded startups building sales teams to established companies looking to give theirs a stronger competitive advantage.

Happy Birthday, Randolph Sterling, Inc.!

Welcome 2012!

01.09.2012

Welcome to 2012 everyone! Some may be glad to see 2011 go while others would like to hold on a few more days. Still, others are preparing for the end of the world which apparently is set for just before Christmas this year, so get your shopping done early!

New years always bring on new possibilities, whether it is that resolution to lose 10 lbs. or to have your business grow 10%. It is no different here at Randolph Sterling as we open up 2012 with new contributors to our newsletter and coming soon, additional services to better help our clients, current and new. We are not expecting the world to end so our plan is for great growth in 2012 How about you?

As always we would like your feedback. What do you want to hear more about in the world of sales? What would you like to see done differently? We thank you for reading and want to continue to be aresource to you so don’t be afraid to let us know what you think!

Suggestions to a Young LinkedIn User

12.26.2011

Over the Holiday, I was speaking with my 20 year old cousin who asked me during our conversation if I would take a look at his LinkedIn profile and make suggestions where I could. Of course I agreed, but as I wrote my suggestion to my cousin, a 20 year old kid still in college and just beginning his career, I thought that many of the things I felt he could improve upon could also be useful to many of my loyal Randolph Sterling blog newsletter readers no matter what stage they are in their career.

So, here they are:

  1. Add a professional looking picture. It doesn’t have to be in a suit, but future employers are more likely to look at your profile here vs. other places. Show them that you are professional.
  2. Take your birthday off. No need to give someone a reason to not take you seriously because you are too young (or too old).
  3. You can link Facebook, Twitter, etc. to LinkedIN, however be careful what links. Remember this is a professional site so, although some people show everything everywhere, keep this as your “professional face” while still showing a little of your personality.
  4. Join Groups. This is a great place to network with future employers and a number of other people in a professional setting. Contribute when you feel it is appropriate (you will see a lot of people write things just to see their name in print). Also, you can just follow people who seem to be thought leaders on particular subjects. It doesn’t hurt to stroke their ego a little by every once in a while saying something like “great comment Shawn. I’m going to mention your point in our next staff meeting.”
  5. Start to build a resume. You are way too young to be worrying about what you are going to do with the rest of your life, but I am sure you have the makings of a plan. People will hire you for summer jobs, internships, etc. if they feel you are easily trained and can contribute to helping them quickly. Those internships and summer jobs will also help you land your first “real job.”
  6. Check out LinkedIn’s Career Explorer. Neither I nor my staff have used it, but I’ve heard it is a great resource for students just starting out or exploring ehat they want to do.
  7. Good luck!

Again, this was initially written for my 20 year old cousin, but I feel many of these points hold for anyone new to LinkedIn, or who never quite took the time to get their profile up to 100% or who never put much thought into what they were or weren’t sharing with potential coworkers, employers, or business associates. Also, from what our Director of Social Media says, from what he’s heard in the Q&A sessions of some of the social media seminars he’s attended, and what he’s seen with some of the people he’s worked with, more people could use these kinds of pointers than one might initially think.

So, I hope this was helpful, and, as I told my cousin, if you need a solid profile for reference, feel free to check out mine!