Distributors in the promotional products industry are having trouble finding veteran, ready-made sales talent to fill their job openings. By necessity, companies to come up with creative ways to find qualified hires. One way is by hiring people in non-sales roles and then, as they exhibit the necessary acumen for sales, giving them their own book of business.

Dominique Volker, senior project manager at Whitestone Branding in Brooklyn, NY, has followed that path. A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, she was working as a restaurant general manager before meeting Whitestone owner Joseph Sommer through mutual friends. “We realized we lived on the same floor in the same building, so I started doing random fulfillment jobs for him for extra cash,” Volker says. “He finally said to me, ‘Are you happy at your job? Would you be interested in a change?’” The role of operations manager was a good fit, and Volker started at Whitestone in January 2016. Less than two years later, she had moved into selling full-time and soon brought in more than a million in sales. Advantages spoke to Volker about her unexpected journey to sales success.

Q: What were you doing at Whitestone when you started?
Dominique Volker: At the beginning, in January 2016, it was Joe and one other employee. I mostly did bookkeeping, tracked processes, and took over back-end tasks and presentation building. During that time, Joe bought American Icon Screen Printing, so he took a backseat at Whitestone and I became more managerial around September of that year. Then I slowly transitioned into sales and was fully transitioned by October 2017. But for a time I was doing both the operations manager job and sales while we rebranded and brought on two more salespeople. It was a busy time, but I learned so much and I’ve worked at every position at this company.

Q: Did you have any intention of going into sales?
DV: I actually didn’t want to go into selling! I didn’t want to be pigeonholed and I liked the business management side of the company. But I’ve found I actually really like sales, and there’s a high earning potential. I can work with almost any client. I’m into live music, so I can do festivals, breweries, creative agencies, tech companies. It’s been nice that I’ve been able to buckle down on just sales rather than having to do operations and selling and HR. In my first year, I did $1.2 million. This year, the company is on track to grow 300% from last year.

Q: What interested you about this industry?
DV: It really fits with my product development background. The fact that it’s a niche industry interested me. I’ve always taken the unconventional route. I’m also able to work with people in my fashion background. I like that this job is creative and every day is different, from creative ideas, to custom products, to the analytical side of product development. I could also see the potential for me to grow.

Q: How did your operations manager job prepare you for sales?
DV: Management and operations helped me learn the products, process, price codes, even small things like handling fees and color runs. Knowing those small intricacies makes selling easier. With more experience, people trust your judgment. There are so many tiny details not everyone is aware of. Actually, being a restaurant server is very similar because you’re working with customers and dealing with different requests all at the same time. I often have five emails open while dealing with tracking deliveries. It’s so much multitasking. So if someone is from the food industry, we know they’re probably a decent candidate.

Q: What kind of natural attributes does a top-performing sales rep bring to his or her job?
DV: It’s a go-getting attitude, and it’s important to be proactive instead of reactive. It’s taking certain steps before they happen. And you’re able to price things better, because you get all the information before making an estimate for the client. These are all more innate than taught.