Dan Rocknage

Satellite Office Leader | Pittsburgh PA

Following college graduation, I jumped into a sales position at PLS. When I first started, I never really considered myself as a salesperson but knew that if I worked hard, I could be successful. For a while, I struggled to find my way at PLS. I was living paycheck to paycheck and realized that if I was going to make this career work, I needed to step up and make a change.

My manager at the time expressed a simple piece of advice that transformed my entire outlook on selling.

He told me to stop trying to sell like a car salesperson, and instead, find a way to start selling myself.

This piece of advice presented me with an entirely new perspective that truly made me realize how much control I have over my career.

I used this advice to my advantage and started to excel and even set PLS records. Fast forward eight years, and I am still working at PLS in the Pittsburgh office and have accomplished my goal of a management position. In this position, I have assisted account executives to achieve higher job status’ as well as encourage them to work hard every day.

With all the great moments in a management position, there are also many overwhelming and stressful situations. I found out rather quickly that you either sink or swim, and I am not the type of person to sink. I am the type of person who will come out swinging for success if trapped in a corner.

One thing that motivates me is improvement, for myself and other people around me.

Sales is a constant movement, and once you realize that concept, it makes the job a little less difficult. For me personally, I have an office of over 40 people who started in their positions not sure that this would be the best career path. I took this as a challenge to encourage them to keep improving, and most of them have proved they are meant to be in the sales industry.

Many people ask me what skills are needed in order to be a successful sales rep, and I can honestly tell you that everyone in the Pittsburgh office has unique skills that are all keys to success. One skill that everyone has in common, and it can sometimes be difficult to identify in a person, is the ability to accept failure.

If someone says no, keep moving forward. If an opportunity isn’t there for you, find the next one.

The people that succeed the most here at PLS are the ones who make the decision day one that they are going to be successful.

My favorite part of my day is coaching and sitting down with reps to identify strengths and weaknesses that make them unique and help them to succeed the best I can. I love the opportunity to get to know all my reps and encourage them to keep working hard in their position. I love seeing my sales reps be successful.

To the future of PLS: Here is the reality. This is not what I call a quick sales job. You must be willing to put in the effort and time to be successful. If you want an opportunity to develop and improve your sales skills, improve other businesses bottom line, or build relations with other companies, then PLS is the place for you. This is an industry that has been around for years and will be around forever. You need to prove to your customers that you are different and worth their time. You must be willing to work hard, and if you work hard you have the potential to grow quickly and will be rewarded. If there was a blueprint for sales, everyone would have it, but there isn’t. It all comes down to putting in time and effort.

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