Her Story
About Jen
Right in high school, I worked as a dental assistant for an amazing dentist, and that's what led me into dental hygiene - his influence and direction in my life. I worked clinically as a dental hygienist for 23 years, and during that time I was also working in the fitness industry as a fitness instructor and director of fitness programs. That's where my training aspect came in - I knew that training people was what I was kind of meant to do in the world. When I transitioned to dental sales, I was a sales rep for 5 years and earned President's Club a couple of times, which was such a great achievement for me. Now I've been a technical product advisor for 5 years, and when the training aspect merged with the dental field, it was like a match made in heaven. I help train new dental sales reps on dental products and procedures, and I manage two regions - the Mountain West region and the Southwest region - working with 28 reps total. What's most rewarding for me as a dental sales trainer is watching the light bulbs go off with people that don't have dental experience, and when they learn it and they grasp it, that's very rewarding. We hire people from other fields, whether they were in medical sales or veterinary sales, and we also hire a lot of clinicians like dental hygienists who have worked for many years clinically and want to get into sales. It's really fun to be able to work with someone in my same field and help them with competitor products and the sales process.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jen
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would probably say just hard work and never giving up. And taking risks, for sure. Going from a clinical dental hygienist into sales was terrifying because I was like, I don't know how to sell. But little did I know that the whole time I was doing dental hygiene clinically, I was selling. And every time I got to teach a fitness class, I was selling. It's just transferring and applying those skills into a different way.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I've ever heard is that if you don't love what you do, go find what you love. Because you don't want work to be a chore. If you want your life to be fun and fulfilled, your work needs to be your passion. And also, it's never too late to change. Don't think you're never stuck somewhere. You can always try something new, go into a different field if you're not loving what you're doing. It's scary to do that, to jump ship and you feel like you're too old to do it, but you're not. You're never too old to start over.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would probably give them the advice that you're not limited to just clinical work. If you want to get that experience first, and then branch out, take the risk. Do it. Learn. Always learn. Always be eager to get more knowledge under your belt.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say the economy, because we're selling a product, and everyone around the world is seeing the inflation and the economy, and they are tightening their belts a little bit, they tend to not buy as much. And that's hard in a job of sales.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I would say definitely take time for yourself. I think too many women, especially, give their time and their energies to other people, and not themselves. And that is something that I think is super important. I have two daughters that are now adult daughters, and I have always told them that. Like, you've got to take care of yourself, take time for yourself, mentally, physically, and spiritually, because if you don't, you'll end up losing yourself.
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