Julie Montagne

I attribute my success to having a lifetime of experience in agriculture - I grew up on a farm in South Dakota and still have a farm myself where I raise cattle. Agriculture is huge in culture, and people that are ag people can know other ag people and respect them. I can talk the walk and walk the walk. I know what's going on in agriculture at any given time - whether it's planting time, harvest time, spring time, or if it's a window that maybe everybody's trying to go on a quick vacation. I can probably tell you that. And then also, I don't want to say I don't take no for an answer, but success is just really required. I want success, and I don't give up until I get it.

The best career advice I've ever received is that it's a marathon, not a sprint. I know this sounds really simplistic, but it's true. Typically, success in sales doesn't come the next day. If it does, that's very rare, and it's probably not going to happen again. It is a series of the correct actions and the correct behaviors over a series of time that lead you to win the sale, and then lead you to win continued sales. So it's just day by day. There's not just one or two things you can do - it's a whole series of activities and behaviors.

I would tell them to start anywhere. You don't necessarily even need to start in sales. You can get a position that you like and learn about that field. Work really hard and be really good at it, and then look for opportunities. Because the opportunities are always out there, you just have to be open. And also, don't sell yourself short. I like to think we're all human beings, we're all pretty similar alike. Some people have more education, some people have less education, but we all have it within us to accomplish great things.

The biggest challenge is that there's a lot of noise in the market. If you're trying to introduce a new product, there's some fatigue, and people dislike change, especially the busier they are. The more they dislike change, they just want to stick with what they know. So my job every day is to help them understand that I can actually make their life easier, not make their life harder. That's probably the biggest challenge every day - just cutting through that noise and letting them know that I'm there to help.

Total honesty and being trusted are most important to me. That's huge in anything. If people don't trust you, they don't want to do business with you. Just always doing the right thing, even if it doesn't seem like it's going to be advantageous in the short term. Doing the right thing for whoever you're serving - whether you're serving your company, your customers, or your teammates. That will always come back to you in a good way. Seriously, if you don't do those things, they'll come back to you in a bad way.