It didn’t take Collin Rabbia long to learn that he had a lot of resources around him to leverage.

It was his first week on the job as a Dallas/Fort Worth-based Business Process Consultant when Area Sales Manager Jason Black handed him the details on Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen. Before he even glanced at the notes, it was clear that Datamax resources were already at work: Lead generation specialist Samantha Morgan had helped get them back in the door after a lengthy absence.

So off he went to meet with key people at Cottonwood, on a potential deal that could net six MFPs and possibly even a production unit. He had little time to study up on the equipment, was not yet wholly familiar with our industry, and his previous experience was running restaurants. However, Collin had three things working for him:

• A will to succeed.
• All the resources he needed to deliver a solution.
• The adherence to Datamax principle #8 to steer the ship beautifully at every turn.

“I’m not afraid to talk to people. In the restaurant (he served as a GM) industry previously, I’d see 2000 people a day. I’d sit there, visit with them, make them feel welcome. But here, being new in this role, I didn’t know much about the product yet. So I knew it would be advantageous to get key people involved from the start. Let’s get some experts on board,” Collin said.

Collin Called Up the Specialists.

With Jason’s blessing, that’s what he did. He first reached out to Pete Rouget, a production specialist, to meet with the church about a relevant solution for their production needs. He also called upon Business Process Consultant Jamie Porter (who served as a trainer in a previous role), to give a demo during the proposal process and then provide deeper onsite training after the deal was secured. All were happy to jump in and help.

“Samantha got us back in the door. Having Jamie out there was huge, and obviously, Pete was in there doing the dirty work to find the right production solution for such a large church. It was really all hands on deck,” Collin said.

Collin Had the Customer’s Best Interest at Heart.

When it was time to deliver the proposal, knowing everything he knew, Collin put his ego (and earnings) aside to do what was right for the customer.

“We went in there and said, if you want to move forward with the six machines and the production, we think it’s important to note that you have a large buyout. Knowing that we don’t think it’s in your best interest to move forward with the production unit right now. We just want to do what’s best for you, so we recommend revisiting the production unit this summer…. His eyes perked up and he said OK, and as soon as we said that, he asked if we could get a demo in. That was a real turning point in this deal,” Collin said.

Collin Has some Serious Communication Skills. Here’s Three.

What’s also important, beyond collaboration and client communication, was Collin’s innate ability to keep everyone informed along the way. He was the voice of the project and the point person for the customer. It was his job to deploy #8, and that’s exactly what he did.

1. Be accessible.

To keep everyone informed, you’ve got to start by being wholly accessible. Collin likes to give out his cell phone on the front end.

“I think it just builds trust from the beginning. Anyone can give out an office line, but to give them my own number, all of a sudden if they’re trying to get a job out on Sunday morning, they have access to me. Giving any and all lines of communication is worthwhile in my opinion.”

2. Be transparent.

“I’m going to be transparent with colleagues and customers, and I look for that as well. That goes a long way in building solid communication and keeping everyone properly informed,” Collin said.

3. Be the Point Person.

From his previous experience in restaurants, there are a lot of rungs on the leadership ladder. Playing a game of telephone from bottom to top will end with a heap of misinformation. In this deal with Cottonwood, Collin was the Point Person.

“Any time there was a question or uncertainty, I wanted to be the source so I knew everything that Cottonwood was telling me, what my coworkers were telling me, etc. My goal was to make sure nothing was misconstrued, which is easy to do when you have multiple emails and text messages going around.”

The loop of resources is wide at Datamax. Leveraging them successfully, while keeping everyone informed, is what made Collin’s venture an ultimate success.