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Ask Damon Kilgo about his recent success with securing First Time Accounts (FTAs), and he’ll throw kudos to his Area Sales Manager and former production specialist Trey McFarlin. Even though he’s only been here six months, Damon has showcased the tenacity, grit, and hustle it takes to fill his pipeline and furnish results.

“I’ve been spoiled, because I’ve got (Trey) helping me along. He’s a wealth of knowledge. He has a passion for this industry that comes off the moment you meet him. When we get out in the field, we play off each other really well,” Damon says.

A perfect example of this teamwork? Texoma Christian School in Sherman. More on that to come, but let’s make sure we give Damon his due first. His hustle was witnessed the first week he arrived.

The Business Challenge.

The story about how Texoma Christian came into Damon’s peripheral begins with what he did upon being hired. In between getting accounts set up and normal orientation routines, he noticed a stack of files taller than his monitor sitting on his desk. They were records left behind by his Datamax predecessor.

“I went one account at a time, going through the existing notes and making my own notes. I dug into everything,” Damon said. “Then I sat down and asked myself, what’s the simplest way to attack this? I separated all the files by cities, and the biggest stack was Sherman… my dad always said to do the hardest job first. Let’s attack Sherman.”

That’s precisely where he came across Texoma Christian.

“Judging from the notes I knew that they were due for renewal with their current vendor fairly soon and that the Financial Office there was very unhappy with their current provider, specifically the service. So I said, ‘Trey, we need to swing by there.’”

The Thought Process.

When the duo went in to visit with the Financial Officer for the first time, they were told that they’d be unable to walk the campus because school was still in session.  In the meeting, their contact alluded to poor service response times, down equipment that was creating workflow problems, and generally being ghosted by their copier rep.

“I learned a long time ago in sales, you can’t discover what you don’t know until you ask. So I flat out said, ‘I appreciate what you’re sharing with us, but if we’re going to propose the right equipment, we’re going to see the entire location.’ So she said, ‘Come on,’” Damon recalls.

So that very day, they walked the entire campus.

“Upon our first visit, Damon was not hesitant in asking to see their equipment which enabled us to, not only see what they had but also visit with our contact there a bit more which gave her time to think back on some paint points that they have had with their current provider,” Trey said.

That was back in February. Of great importance is the constant communication Damon maintained with Texoma Christian from that point until they signed a deal with Datamax last month.

“Damon did a great job of staying in contact with our contact between the months of Feb-May. He made sure to check back in with her frequently and also gathered her current lease agreement and invoice documents during this time,” Trey said.

The Prevailing Results. 

Texoma threw a last-minute curveball in the proposal by adding a color machine. After reworking the proposal, Trey and Damon again sat down to review the paperwork. At some point in the meeting, Damon’s tenacity revealed itself again.

“I asked it just like this: ‘What’s it going to take to get a signature today?’” Damon said. “She told me to wait one second and then in walks the headmaster. I thought we were toast. But he started asking several questions, mainly about software specifically for the Chromebooks the students use there. It was very important to him that they were able to print as they needed. We answered the questions to the point and he said, ‘OK, where do I sign?’”

The deal ultimately wasn’t won in one moment. It revealed itself through hustle, quickly providing answers, constant communication, and, perhaps more than anything Damon says, relationship building.

“Honestly the relationship we built and the attention to detail up front. I’m a relationship type of person. I’d prefer to sell a relationship and build a long-lasting customer. As an example, I found out our contact at Texoma Christian was about to have a granddaughter arrive. I made sure she knew I remembered that. I know her granddaughter is about to be born this coming month, so I’ve already got a congratulations card ready to fire off. People want that special touch. They want to know they are a priority… not just a number.“