Salisa Bacon
Name: Salisa Bacon
Title: Business Consultant
Company: Consolidated Copier Services, McDonough, GA
Years in industry: 5
New business revenue: $190,000
Gross revenue: $280,000
Units placed: 38
What they’re saying about Salisa: “Salisa is a Great example for our new reps,” says Lincoln Nunnally, manager. “This year Salisa received the Volunteer of the Year award for Dekalb County (in Metro Atlanta), landed multiple deals with the CDC (Center for Disease Control), and if you watch the Vampire Diaries TV show she sold a machine to the actual Mystic Grill that is in the TV series. Salisa is a rising star in our company and she continues to achieve new heights. She works hard, is very smart, and has a personality the people love to be around. Her hard work has been noticed by customers and competition alike. To date she has been offered jobs by a dozen clients and five competitive copier dealers. She is a great asset to our team.”
It was a stroke of luck for Salisa Bacon and Consolidated Copier Services when the real estate market crashed five plus years ago. Bacon had been working in real estate and doing okay until the crash. When the crash hit, “I realized I needed to go out and find a real job,” recalls Bacon.
She found a position working in dispatch for Consolidated through a friend who was working at the dealership. After six months in dispatch, management realized that her talents were best used elsewhere and Bacon was offered her a position in sales. Despite no sales experience she agreed to give it a try.
“It was hard at first,” acknowledges Bacon.”I caught on to things after a year or so and have been in sales ever since.”
And she loves it. “I love that I make so many long lasting friendships and relationships through what I do. I have the freedom to be out and about and do my own thing without someone looking over me. I also like being involved with the community and the people.”
The majority of her clients are small to midsize businesses, including verticals such as churches and legal firms.
She lives and works in a tight-knit community and has found it helpful for her personal growth as well as her career growth to become involved with the Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce. “That’s helped tremendously,” says Bacon.
As any beginning sales person will tell you the most challenging aspect of the job is learning how to handle the rejection. “I came into a cold territory and was knocking on doors and doing a lot of telemarketing and after all the rejection I realized I needed to work on building the relationship,” says Bacon. “Once I grasped that it really turned things around for me.”
Most sales people remember their first big sale, and since Bacon’s wasn’t all that long ago, it’s still fresh in her memory. “There was a church I’d been calling on for two to three years but never got in the door until I met one of the people who worked at the church through the Chamber and started building that relationship. When the time came for their lease to come up I went in, met with them and they weren’t real happy with their current company so they gave us a shot.”
That was three years ago and when the lease came up again they renewed immediately. “With churches that decision usually goes to a committee or a trustee, but they were so satisfied with our service and the relationship and because I call on them once a quarter to make sure everything is good,” explains Bacon. “They didn’t talk to or get a quote from anybody else. They told me they’d never use anybody else because of the personal level of service we provide.”
Bacon lives on a lake and when not selling copiers you can find her out on her boat, water skiing, white boarding, and enjoying the country life.
However, even in those tranquil moments out on the lake, she doesn’t turn it off. “As a sales person, my phone is next to me all the time and I always have to be ready to go,” she says. “I love what I do and it’s not an inconvenience for me or a hassle if I get a call after 5 or on the weekends.”
She doesn’t miss working in real estate, and appreciates the opportunity that was presented to her at Consolidated. “It’s all because of the company I work for and our management,” she says. “We’re like family; I love it.”
That’s why no matter how many time someone comes looking to hire her away, she’s not moving.
“Never in a million years,” says Bacon. “They’re going to have to forcefully remove me from here if they ever want me to go.”
