UCF Professional Selling Program

Getting to Know Your Mentor

Steve McLean
Marketing Manager
Worldwide Sales

Lionel Galvez
Professional Selling Program Member
University of Central Florida
February 2016
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1. What is your selling philosophy? How about your work philosophy (thoughts on work
ethic)?

As part of this assignment, I am fortunate to say that I got paired with one of the most
transparent mentors I ever got to relate with. My mentor for this current semester is Steve
McLean, Marketing Manager & Worldwide Sales for UPS. United Parcel Service is a global
leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including the transportation of
packages and freight, the facilitation of international trade, and the deployment of advanced
technology to manage the world of business more efficiently.
During my interactions with Steve, he mentioned that his selling philosophy is to focus
on customers goals and missions, figuring out a solution to help them reach their goals, and
understand where they want to go. This also means, doing his job with integrity. UPS selling
philosophy is a need-based system; where area is defined as a consulting approach. This type
of approach helps to identify opportunities and provides solutions based on the customers
needs.

2. How did you end up in sales? Did you want to go into sales in college? How did you
end up working for United Parcel Service?

While Steve was attending the University of North Florida, he was working part-time at a
local JC Penney; retail store, getting paid $1.65 an hour. During that time, he had no clue of
what he wanted to do with his life and sales was not near the top of his mind. At age 19, a

friend of Steve offered him a part-time job at UPS loading tractor trailers. On his mind, all he
could think about was to make more money, consequently, tripling his hourly pay to $3.95.
Within six months he gets a raise of $6.00 an hour. As he explains, UPS offers a phenomenal
opportunity of growth and promotion within the company. He said he has been with the
company for roughly 42 years and has been promoted a number of times. He plans to retire at
the end of the year in 2017.

3. What do you like most about being in sales and why? What do you like least and why?

For UPS, Steve is considered a Trusted Advisor which means, helping customers grow
their businesses and achieve their visions. His biggest compliment is when customers have
added him to their Organization Charts and recognized him for it. Steve also mentioned that
he worked for 10 years immersed in UPS strategic accounts, like Disney. Currently, he
focuses on supporting over 100 UPS sales people to help win new business by bringing
commercial insights from the marketing perspective. He stated that this fascinated industry of
sales is very rewarding and the opportunities are unlimited- You be surprised of what youre
capable of doing and how far you can go!
As he discussed, bureaucracy is huge when doing business with large corporations. Steve
said it is very frustrating to deal with internal safe guards that these companies put in place
because it slows down the process and creates an effect of making them not trustable. He
believes that there is no need for so many approvals and regulations, which not only slows
new businesses plans, but other existing accounts procedures as well.

4. What do you like best about working for United Postal Services? What would you
change about them? What sets your company apart from others from an employee
standpoint?

Mr. McLean said he is very compelled with the respect he gets for working at UPS. He
feels very proud to work for such a large organization and his team that is very supportive.
He alleged that UPS has a team-oriented environment, where everyone cares about achieving
their work goals and aligning them with their life goals.
The one thing that Steve would love to change is to give UPS sales people more
flexibility and freedom; and authority to make decisions for customers instead of relying on
higher level personnel.
What sets UPS apart from any other transportation company is not only that they can
adjust to different strategic issues, but the opportunity to advance within the organization;
being able to move from sorting packages to CEOs- executive board roles.

5. Tell me about your first sale. Has anything embarrassing ever happened to you or a
colleague on a sales call?

As Steve recalls, his first sale was a very significant business, a $350,000.00 annually
agreement. His prospect at that time was a Medical Company using UPSs major competitor.
After pitching and trying too hard, he finally got a meeting with the CFO (Chief Financial
Officer) of the company. As Steve prepares for the meeting, he had an idea of how much per

gross average percentage a company spends on transportation, which is 6.5 %. During the
meeting he took the delicacy of breaking through her history and creating pain; and
ultimately earned her business.
Mr. McLean shared with me two embarrassing stories. My favorite one as he describes it
is when he hark back to those old printers where the ink used to take hours to dry. As he
illustrates in the scenario, Steve was at a meeting with some board members of a company
filling them in with some new advances of technology to work their business more
efficiently. As Steve continued illustrating the story, he recalls that the CFO was wearing a
white long sleeve shirt when Steve was passing out copies of the presentation. He thought
that the ink was dry so he did not bother in warning the executive board members. After
going through almost the end of the presentation, the CFO noted black ink on his shirt. Steve
offered to buy a new shirt, but instead the CFO just laughed. Steve thought this was a great
time to throw in a joke so he said we should do a laundry commercial, instead!

6. What is a typical workday like for you? How many hours do you work each week? How
important are time management skills to your workday? What type of a time
management system do you use?

Steves typical workday starts very early. He said by 6 o clock in the morning he is in
front of his laptop doing internal updates and reading the Wall Street Journal or US Today.
He meets every workday with his team at 8 oclock in the morning and spends one hour
planning. From 9:00am to 3:00pm, Steve visit existing customers. Typically, he has four

sales calls a day. The rest of the day, he use it to do the recording of his productiveness,
research, reports, phone calls, cold calls, and e-mails. Steve works 65 hours weekly. But
during the weekend, he treats himself by relaxing and spending time with his girlfriend and
son. Time management definitely plays a huge role in Steves schedule because he travels
every week to visit clients all over the State. Being organized is the key for his success. We
both agreed that the best management system is the urgency vs. importance.

7. What are your thoughts on prospecting? How do you generate new leads? How do you
feel about cold calling? What works best for you when you cold call? How much time
each week would you recommend a new salesperson spend cold calling? How about
seasoned sales professional?

Steves thoughts on prospecting and cold calling are that it is a painful necessity. That is
the most unattractive obligation for a salesperson, which comes to the bottom line; if
someone does not do it, simply they would not succeed in business. He generates new leads
by visiting known UPS customers and asked for references. Mutually, taking advantage of
the relationships. Is all about exploring 100% the opportunities! He said that if someone
have a well-established relationship with a client, they would not mind recommending one.
What works best for Steve is the penetration approach. As he defines, this is a process in
which a salesperson does some customers shipping history research, categorize them by
industry, then after, visit and validate them; and ultimately brings more business. An example
that Steve describes is visiting these customers that only ship two packages a week, asked

them why they are not shipping all their packages through UPS. By doing so, he is observing
for areas of improvement to tailor them. Dont get lazy! Dont get over confident! If you are
lazy, they will leave you. Steve recommends a new salesperson should establish at least 70%
of their time prospecting and a seasoned salesperson 30%. However, he said that this would
depend on the company and industry. Most new salespeople are given a book of existing
clients and it is their job to keep their businesses and establish those relationships. He said
UPS is 70% farming and 30% hunting.

8. How do you cope with the rejection that is common in a sales career? Give me an idea
of the types of situations where Ill experience rejection and how often that might be.
Are there any good inspirational/sales books that you would recommend as a pick-meup when times get tough in the profession?

Steve said that he handles rejection in a constructive way and not personally. He
described that at the beginning of his career, he learned quickly to take rejection as
constructive criticism. He learned from each prospect that he failed to deliver the message
and altered his tactics for the next meeting. His advice was to understand that rejection never
gets easy, and that no matter how much someone tries to act like it does not bother them,
rejection bothers everyone. He told me to do my best at not taking rejection personally and to
understand that in any industries where I like to pursue a career in sales, politics play a huge
role. Steve mentioned that the key to overcome rejection is to be confident. Therefore, being
rejected by someone may not have anything to do with the salesperson, but the fact that they

do not need what the salesperson have to offer. He clarifies that in sales 70% of the time
people would not buy and 30% of the time is a sale. When Steve loses a sale he would
normally ask the prospect, Is there anything I could it had done different to earn your
business? He said that this technique really helps because the prospect would now look at
Steve differently and perhaps trusting him. When he wins a business he would ask, What is
the purpose of why you chosen our business? which clearly helps him understand what is
the value of UPS and how he can acquire this to his next meetings. Steve warned me that I
may encounter tough times in my profession, which he highly recommended me as a pickme-up book to read, The Mind of the Customer: How the Worlds Leading Sales Forces
Accelerate Their Customers Success by Richard Hodge and Lou Schachter.

9. What are some good icebreakers and topics for rapport building when meeting with
clients? How do these differ when you are meeting a client for the first time? Are there
any topics you consider as off limits?

Avoid asking general questions about photos in office! Mr. McLean suggested that
some icebreakers and topics for rapport building is to ask appropriate social abilities
questions or simply ask How is business going? Asking these type of questions can help to
detect the success of the business. People love to talk about their businesses, so if someone
listen and pay close attention to what the prospects are saying, one could identify
opportunities that lead to the companys strengths and weaknesses. If the prospects likes
talking about religions or politics, Steve said to remain neutral because sales people do not
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want to be on the enemy side from the prospect out-look. Also, do not ever ask for their age,
they can get offended. Also, do not curse and do not tell dirty jokes; is not very smart!
Todays world is much focused on political correctness so anything one say that is off
topic could be offensive to someone. Last thing he mentioned, ones attitude and
confidentiality simply helps strengthen personality through self-reliance, which allows
prospects to like you. To conclude, people buy from people they like and trust.

10. What is your philosophy on gatekeepers? What specifically do you do to build

relationship with them? What approaches work best and what doesnt work at all,
based on your experience? Any good gatekeepers stories?

Steves philosophy on gatekeepers is that they do what the tittle proposes, open and close
the gates between the salesperson and the prospect. His opinion is to respect them because
they have a role. First of all, treat them as if they are the owners and also assure them that
one will not waste their time as individuals doing the gate keeper for. He said that being
upfront could determinate if one is getting to the decision maker or not. As a result, avoiding
any conversation that would make them feel uncomfortable.
Steve did shared a story in which one time he had to go around the gatekeeper. He
walked quite a few times into a business wanting to schedule an appointment with the CFO,
but the gatekeeper insisted that he was not available. As he describes in the scenario, he used
to walk right into the business and waited in a large lobby with two hot coffees and two
bagels. Normally, it is not common for people to be there. After the fifth time, he

immediately introduced himself and offered the one coffee and bagel to the CFO as he saw
him walking into his office. After six months of meetings with the CFO, it turned out to be an
$8 million agreement.

11. What are the top 5 things you recommend I consider when choosing an organization to
work for as a salesperson?

Steves five recommendations as I consider choosing an organization are: first to find a

company that offers an opportunity for promotion. Getting bonuses is a perk, but that is not
all it is; getting promoted by productivity, not by seniority. He believes that the effort put into
work should always out-perform the compensation. Second, seek a company that would treat
their people with respect. By means, recognizing peoples performance and not treating them
as they are just a number. Third, training program; the only way to be successful is to have
knowledge of ones products or services; and of course, a mentoring program that support it.
Theoretically speaking, no one can do their jobs by themselves. Fourth, ownership
opportunity; this principle supports what Steve mentioned that he wished UPS could give
their sales people authority to make decisions. And last, community commitment. I believe
this is one of the most important aspects because it is not all about the company, but instead
giving to the community and making a difference in the world.

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12. What specific pieces of advice would you give someone like me looking to begin a
professional selling career? What is the toughest thing(s) for a new sales professional
and what do suggest I do to overcome it?

We both agreed that the best piece of advice Steve suggested is to read widely and to
immerse myself in learning a variety of business journals. He alleged that is all about using
my time effectively and getting more knowledge of what is going on in todays world of
business. It is very important to use them as preparation before making a sales call. Learn
as much as you can about your prospect and listen carefully. You cant learn anything, while
talking. Another piece of advice he offered me is that networking is important to a
successful career in the transportation industry.
Steve articulated that new sales people have a hard time focusing on their customers
goals. They spend too much unproductive time on their agenda rather than the customers
agenda. His principal is called customer centric. Initially, works by asking the customer
where their business is now and where would it be 10 years from now; focusing around his or
her needs.

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