Teri Johnson

This is really a relationship-type business. It's a small industry - I've worked in Texas and in Florida, and it's amazing how many people I know in Florida just through connections. The buyers tend to buy from people they're really comfortable with and that they have a relationship with, so I enjoy that part of it and I think I'm really good at it. I focus on strengthening and building those relationships and helping my accounts be successful, making sure their patients are happy with their eyewear and the products they've purchased from me. Seeing my accounts grow and be successful is important to me.

There's a couple of things. Because this particular industry is so small, the best advice I've received is not to burn any bridges - you never know who you're dealing with today and what position they're going to be in down the road and how that's going to affect you. Even within the offices themselves, the receptionist I might deal with trying to get to the buyer could become the buyer down the road and remember whether I was friendly with them or not. The other piece of advice is that because this is an industry of high rejection in sales, never take the no's personally. Keep going - every day's a new day with new opportunities. I take every time I'm prospecting with a prospective account as a chance to ask them questions and learn why they're saying no, or not right now is how I take no's. Every interaction can be a learning experience.

I would say to remain positive and align yourself with good people. Sales is so hard and it's such a backstabbing type of industry many times, but don't enter into that. I praise my competitors when I'm in accounts. The relationship aspect of this type of sales is so important, so being the person that's positive and always has a little bit of industry knowledge or tidbit to bring into the accounts is crucial. You don't want to be known as the negative person or the rep that doesn't follow through on their word, is not dependable, is not reliable, or trustworthy. You need to be all of those things to be successful because word travels so fast in our particular industry that if you get a bad reputation for whatever reason, it follows you around. I also believe in being with a really great company that has a good reputation and is innovative - all of those things are important too.

There's a couple of major challenges right now. Most recently, private equity has really entered our market and is buying up a lot of independent practices owned by doctors or opticians, which means I no longer have them as a client because they become a corporate account. So I'm constantly losing business that way and always looking for new accounts. Another challenge is navigating traffic, trying to get where I need to be on time, and accounts maybe not being available for our appointment, so I always have to pivot and have another backup plan to make the most of my day. Online retailers in the optical space are also really making an impact, not necessarily positive, on the industry. A lot of the doctors' patients are purchasing their eyeglasses online, which means they're not purchasing from the optometry office or practice. That's lost revenue for the doctor, so as a partner, I work with them to find ways to keep their patients purchasing from them and help them stand out so they can capture more of their patient retail business instead of the patient going online to shop.

Integrity and honesty are most important to me, along with following through on what you say you're going to do. I hear from my accounts a lot that I'm one of the reps that immediately gets back to them when they have a problem, while so many other reps don't call the accounts back for two weeks, leaving them dealing with problems without any help from the company they purchased the product from. So good communication is super important. Being authentic and real is definitely crucial. In my business, it's really about taking care of the customer, not just selling a bunch of product and then disappearing and never seeing them again. That is a big no-no in our industry. Follow through and integrity are everything.