Mary Rose Martell

I just think, more than anything, it's about being outgoing, and truly, exactly what my first fuel employer, Bob Allman, told me - if people like you and trust you, they're going to buy from you. I heard it over and over throughout my career: 'We just loved you, Rose. We trust you, you take care of us.' I didn't just sell customers - I advised them. Like during Hurricane Katrina, when the fuel companies wanted me to charge customers $4 more a gallon even though we had plenty of supplies in Northeast Ohio, I got on the horn and advised all my big users not to buy, telling them the price wasn't going to go up to $6 a gallon like everyone feared. I was heavier on the service side than just getting the big sale. The bread and butter was always the smaller customers - the landscapers, asphalt crews, construction companies. They were loyal because they weren't just looking at price, they were looking at service and what I could offer more than just the product. I would advise them on what the market was doing and turn them over to our lubricants division to make it a one-stop shop. Even some of the shadiest people in the beginning ended up becoming very good relationships because they knew I wasn't going to take them astray, and I could lay the ground rules.

The best advice I was ever given came from Bob Allman, the owner of the oil company where I started. When he asked me to get into fuel sales, I told him I didn't want to do it because fuel seemed so dirty and I didn't know anything about it. He said to me, 'Rose, it has nothing to do with the product. If people like you, they're gonna buy from you. If they like you, and they trust you. And people like you, and they trust you.' When he said that to me, I just thought, wow. He just took all the fear out of it. I thought, okay, I'll try it. And there I went - off I went to become an outstanding salesperson.

You have to have tough skin or just forget it. If you don't have tough skin, forget it. But beyond that, I tell anyone to be heavier on the service side. Don't just get excited about landing the big customer - yeah, it's great to get that million gallon a year customer, but really, the bread and butter was always the smaller ones. The big ones, everybody's chasing them and they're not loyal. But the little bread and butter customers - the landscapers, the asphalt crews, the construction companies - they are loyal. I had hundreds and hundreds of them. The loyal customers aren't looking at the price, they're looking at service. What can you offer more than just the product? I would advise them on what the market's doing and try to give them a lot more value, making it a one-stop shop for them.

The biggest challenge is still working in a male-dominated field and dealing with the harassment. Oh my god, I had - I didn't have a folder, I could have had a folder that would have been a foot tall of incidents. The treatment was unbelievable. The guys would be out golfing three times a week, then call me asking how many calls did you make, how many cold calls, blah blah blah - and they're golfing. That still happens today. I've talked to other gals and they're just treated terribly. It's terrible, really. My one boss told me, 'Rose, you can't fight every battle, and you keep trying to fight every battle. You're not gonna win. Just pick and choose your battles. You've got to stop.' Because I became - that's really what happened. Every corner I turned, somebody was stabbing me in the back in the company, not the customers, but in the companies. He was so right, because I had to just start letting some things go and just picked the battles that I had a chance of winning. And I did, I won many of them. But the opportunity is there for women, because women do it differently than men - we focus on service and building relationships.

Just be true to myself and try to be honest - honest with others. You know, I dealt with so many dishonest people. It's just the industry. But as many times as some of these people were dishonest, somehow they would always find their way back to me because they knew that I wasn't gonna take them astray. And then I could lay the ground rules. You know what I mean? You hang me out to dry one time, I'm done. You're not gonna do that twice to me. And it was funny, because I actually ended up with some very good relationships with some of the shadiest people in the beginning. And it was weird.