Strategy January 09, 2019
2019 Distributor Salesperson of the Year Finalist - Jim Hirst, Interform
Get to know Jim Hirst, a 2019 Distributor Salesperson of the Year Finalist!
Salespeople of the Year: Get the complete list here
Distributor Finalist
Jim Hirst
Interform (asi/231501)
Each business day until noon, Jim Hirst knows what he’ll be doing: going out to visit prospects and clients. It’s what the team calls “sacred selling time,” when all reps go out to meetings. For Hirst, it’s making time to see friends.
“Face-to-face relationships are paramount,” says the sales manager at Interform, which is based in Centerville, UT. “We’re easy to replace, and you avoid that by building connections. I think of myself as a professional friend-maker rather than a sales rep.”
From early on, Hirst has been a people person. He’s the middle child of seven kids, and he also spent two years as a missionary in Cambodia at 19 years old, right before joining Interform at the behest of his brother Mike, a co-owner of the company. Since then, he’s increased his sales steadily, including an average of 15% year-over-year since 2015.
Undoubtedly his sales growth can be attributed to his relationship-building skills and his commitment to finding solutions. His experience as a missionary taught him a life (and sales) lesson early on: Something always goes wrong. The best reps, he says, take a distressing situation and make it better, and pay enough attention to detail to control what they can.
“Cambodia taught me how to be more detail-oriented and gave me the wherewithal to push through difficult circumstances,” he says. “In sales, that lets you reach an ideal outcome for your clients. This is a relationship-based business, so you never want to let anyone down. And you have to be grateful for all the business you have.”
One of the most creative projects Hirst is currently working on is for a medical device company. They came to Hirst with 2-D renderings of cartoon viruses their device diagnoses. Interform worked with overseas factories to turn them into hand-painted figurines.
“They’re a hot item at trade shows,” says Hirst. “Of 1,500 employees at the company, only a handful has all 22. They’ve been made into keychains and magnets, and now we’re looking at plush. They’re so popular they’re produced in the hundreds of thousands."
Getting to Know You
What’s one fun fact about yourself?
I’m fluent in Cambodian.
Sum up your selling style in one word.
Responsive
What industry trend are you most excited about?
We’re going to see more kits for organizing tech products, similar to toiletry bags.
If I wasn’t working in promotional products, I’d be …
A lawyer – I love details and proving myself right. Or an airline pilot.
What’s your favorite promo product? T
he Thule Subterra PowerShuttle (9020-71) from Leed’s (asi/66887). It’s a tech organizer that resembles a toiletry bag. I put my logo on it and gave it to clients as this year’s holiday gift. I like items that are practical, useful and have high visibility.
What’s your best advice for other sales reps?
Focus less on the numbers and more on the relationships you’re building with your customers, suppliers and production staff. You’ll have better long-term success when you sincerely build relationships instead of simply collecting sales. It’s been a frequent occurrence to have a customer leave a small company and obtain a position with a large company with an equally large marketing budget. Treating each relationship as the most important relationship will yield long-term success and you’ll make a lot of great friends along the way.