Clip from Episode 36: Camille Clemons – Financial Services Sales Career Transitions:

The three that I’ll share are the first is just be patient and appreciate every stage. Like you’re so lucky that you’re in a sales role where you have the ability to make an impact with a firm. Enjoy it and learn from your mistakes. I mean I think you know you set out in at least I set out I wanted to be in sales that was my goal. And I think I did take the time to learn everything I could not only about my industry but about my prospects. And I designed a template and I went through a methodical procedure before every call and I made sure like I said that I knew I knew what questions I wanted to ask and oftentimes I even knew the answers to them. I think I’ll mention in a minute I did that because I didn’t know what else to do. To me that felt like I was preparing. I was taking the safe route and I was going in knowing what to expect and that was a good thing. And then I guess the third thing is you can’t overprepare you could never be prepared enough to walk into a meeting. So I would say that those are my top three.

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Clip from Episode 36: Camille Clemons – Financial Services Sales Career Transitions:

First is I don’t give up. So I think it comes from my background of being an athlete and just like nobody likes to lose. Well I don’t like to lose. But if you lose you realize OK get back up and try again. I mean I’ve been told No I’ve been hung up on I’ve been denied entry. Like literally they just wouldn’t open the door. I’ve been told I’m not the right one for the job. I have been told to make a career move that I wasn’t interested in. And at the end of the day you’re the only one who knows what you’re meant to do. So don’t give up realizing your goals because of some external force trying to push you a different direction. You’re the one in charge. Just remember that. And I think that leads me to the second. And it’s funny when you realize your goals and I think I’ve talked maybe a little bit about this but I’m a reflective person. So it’s important for me to take a step back and I think that this is literally happening to me right now. And if anything if anything I could take away from it it’s when you feel you’ve reached like your perceived pinnacle. You step back and you’re like wait a second. There’s another mountain range behind me. I need to go do that next. And realizing that. What maybe enough for some people and it’s a very respectable thing to be satisfied. It doesn’t mean that’s enough for you.

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Clip from Episode 36: Camille Clemons – Financial Services Sales Career Transitions:

I abhor mediocrity. And when I say that I cannot say it with enough conviction. I think that there is nothing worse than being mediocre. And we in sales are fortunate to have the roles that we have. And I noticed that and I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to just meet my expectations. The goal has always been to exceed them. So mediocrity for me is no.

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Clip from Episode 36: Camille Clemons – Financial Services Sales Career Transitions:

As I look at my approach. I think that people might think it’s crazy that I don’t think you can fake being genuine. Having a genuine interest in people is something that has to be just that. It has to be genuine and you have to want to get to know people and have a real want to help them. And what that means isn’t just you know being genuine in your smile or having a firm handshake but it means that you’re willing to do the little things that take time. So being responsive being helpful. If it’s not in your wheel house finding whose wheel house it’s in and connecting the dots. It’s doing the extra work. It’s just finding time to make them understand that they are important and you’re going to do what it takes. You’re their advocate and you’re going to help them solve their problem.

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Clip from Episode 36: Camille Clemons – Financial Services Sales Career Transitions:

I read all the books. I take stock of how my process and approach lines up to what I’m reading or listening to. And I would say I take kind of the Steve Kerr approach and I don’t know if you listened to his podcast or his interview on being a leader but you have to find. Like I said you’re .almost your magazine or your library of resources. Read them listen to them hear them and not just read the words but like figure out as you’re reading how to practically apply what they’re saying and then almost make a decision. Yes this will help me in my approach or no this won’t. Don’t dwell on it but remember it because there could be a time where oh wait you’re right the little gold book of yes attitude. Oh I could use that right now. And you can go take it out and you can reread it or whatever the case may be. But I think you you do run the risk of being being rigid in your process. If you only subscribe to a single approach.

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Clip from Episode 36: Camille Clemons – Financial Services Sales Career Transitions:

I’ve taken a ton of time to make sure that this is like a pristine part of my of my job. So when you have tools that do not work for you don’t think that there’s not a better way to do it because there is there’s always a better way. I think the bank issued laptop that I had to deal with for a couple of years. Finally I just bit the bullet and bought my own laptop and we figured out a way to have a virtual desktop in the office that got all the updates that it needed to get the new software and the patches and all of those things. So it took that off of me and allowed me to carry an efficient machine with kind of the most up to date software. So that was number one my MacBook is half of my life. The other half is my iPhone. I don’t leave the home without that or my Jabra elites which our little ear buds that are wireless. But I’ve tried probably 15 different ear buds in the marketplace and none of them were sufficient either the person on the other line couldn’t hear or you couldn’t hear or it muffled when it was windy. And I found that these are really helpful.

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Clip from Episode 36: Camille Clemons – Financial Services Sales Career Transitions:

I need shoes when I’m on the road because I consider like my dress shoes are almost my new Nike’s because I I sell in New York. So you literally run from meeting to meeting or you’re up and down the subway stairs or whatever you’re doing. For me I’ve found that my shoes take a lot of the brunt of pain. And so I find myself having to buy shoes. Which isn’t an awful thing.

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Clip from Episode 36: Camille Clemons – Financial Services Sales Career Transitions:

I do have things that help me stay sane. I’m hopeful that they will be at least helpful to know that you can stay sane on the road. I know travel is tough but I think for me it became much easier when I realized that. All right if I’m on the road that means that I’m gone gone gone. Like I’m traveling away from home I can use those hours I’m away to maximize my time on the road. So for me a successful day on the road is no less than five meetings. And if I’m going to be away I’m going to maximize my time so I’m going to make a breakfast. I’m going to make a mid-morning. I’m going to make a lunch a mid afternoon and then hopefully a dinner or something like that. And then when I’m done with those three or four days on the road I come back to the office and I follow up and if I’m late one day because someone cancels and you can’t really get all bent out of shape if somebody cancels because things do come up and just kind of rolling with it and realizing that nothing is the end of the world. And taking some of the pressure off of you know being as prepared as you can be like if you forget your shoes you can buy shoes or if you forget your toothbrush. You can find a toothbrush. So just taking a deep breath and realizing OK I’ve found a process that works for me. I’ve got my bag. It’s got my toiletries in it. My shoes are all like preparing that way for me. Is it minimizes the risk of forgetting like your driver’s license and not being able to make it through TSA.

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Clip from Episode 36: Camille Clemons – Financial Services Sales Career Transitions:

I wake up probably around 6 o’clock in the morning maybe sometimes earlier sometimes a little later. I grab my coffee. I read some articles whatever’s come through overnight. And then I get the kids off to school and I think I pride myself on not having a set routine where every day I brush my teeth at 6:05 and I take a shower at 7:15 and like I don’t do things like that and I think that there’s some freedom in the flexibility because my day isn’t really determined by me. It’s determined by who is calling me or what do I need to finish for that day. And one thing I do have discipline around is planning tomorrow today. So as much as I can figure out when my first meetings are. Have I done everything I need to do to prepare for those? Do I have time to go to the gym today? Do I not. And if I don’t how can I fit something else in? Take a walk. It is important for me everyday to have some sort of a level of activity. I find that when I don’t I have less energy to become a night owl too. And I always feel stronger after a workout. So I would say I try to get that in everyday and otherwise I just kind of let the day take whatever turns it needs to take.

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Clip from Episode 36: Camille Clemons – Financial Services Sales Career Transitions:

Preparedness is something that early in my sales career I OD’d on. I would say that I to maybe a fault was prepared. Every time I walked into a room to have the answer to every question that would be asked and as I evolved in my sales career I would say that it became less important for me to know all the answers and almost a challenge to not because I think part of the process of a sale and building that relationship is learning about someone. People love to talk about themselves and people love to talk about what they do and if you have a genuine interest in wanting to get to know someone and I do I think I like people generally. I like to help people. And if you just let them open up and talk about themselves you learn so much more than you know spending hours trying to figure out where they went to high school and who their college mascot was and if they played on the basketball team. So I do think that there is something natural that comes out in that process.

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