Virginia Bowers - Vancouver

I was in the second semester of my freshman year in college enrolled in a Radio and Media Broadcasting program...

 

I had great aspirations of becoming an on air broadcaster, starting out small at a local station and perhaps one day being a local celebrity with my own show.  But it was here that I was first introduced to the idea of professional sales as a career, an idea that I found intriguing but was unsure of because it was not something I had ever really considered.  By the following year and several more sales oriented courses later, my mind was made up: I wanted to pursue a career in media sales.  I felt that it combined everything that I was looking for: learning new things about a diverse array of businesses, meeting new people, getting to ask lots of questions (I’m extremely inquisitive), and most importantly helping those organizations market themselves and improve their brand.  It was all about listening and finding solutions and it offered great income potential for a self motivated individual such as myself!  During the final semester of school it came time to find my practicum, so I did my very first cold call and made the big pitch on myself to the Sales Manager of a local radio station.  She kindly brought me on as an intern, little did I know that this would shape my career for the next few years.  By the end of week 3, I was offered a full-time role. 

I absolutely loved media sales! I attached myself to the top performer on the team and asked to attend at least a meeting a week with her to shadow and learn.  I had some great successes in my time there: I recovered the super hard to handle Harley – Davidson account that nobody had been able to crack in several years, and introduced several new advertisers to the station.  After almost a year and a half the Sales Manager that had bought me on left to launch the free daily paper Metro Vancouver as its first Publisher.  Soon thereafter I was given the opportunity to join the team at Metro and I jumped at the chance, I just loved the product and the younger professional audience that it targeted.  It was at Metro that I really got a handle on what cold calling was all about. Most people I would call didn’t even know the paper existed yet! Persistence was my strength, calling and calling again and again.  I was able to bring on some great clients, a number of whom still advertise with the paper today.

I was tasked with developing Metro's business with the recruitment industry.  Along the way I met and spoke with numerous agencies and was repeatedly told that I would be great in staffing. At first I wasn’t sure but the longer I was exposed to the industry the more and more I thought that it really might be a good fit. So one day I finally decided to take the plunge and accepted an offer from the world’s oldest and largest specialized financial recruitment agency.  This is where I fell in love with the world of recruitment and discovered that this was truly a natural fit!  I love that you are helping people and impacting their lives by aiding them in advancing their careers, and at the same time you’re helping businesses by finding them the right people to suit their needs.  It really is a win-win situation! 

From my first role in staffing I most recently had moved to a smaller staffing firm and successfully launched a Sales & Marketing specialized division for them in the Vancouver market, now I was working with sales candidates and selling my services to creative and dynamic sales professionals like myself.  During this time my paths continued to cross with Jamie Scarborough, Owner of Sales Talent Agency.  I liked Jamie but more importantly I liked his business philosophies and the value he offered to his clients.  All of this contributes to why today I am a Sales Talent Agent: I believe I can help an already strong team be better while at the same time learning from their wealth of experiences. It is my job to know great sales people in the market, know what makes great sales people, and deliver them to my clients.  It is thrilling to meet great candidates that really “get it” and have a clear passion for what they do.

For the love of sales!