PPB February 2020

had to be shipped in varying quantities to 125 countries with multiple locations and recipients in each country. The client insisted on doing a Google Doc and had all their recipients update their delivery addresses before placing the order with me and giving me access to the document. I spent a lot of time printing the document and reformatting the addresses so that the factories would be able to dropship the goods accordingly. I triple-checked everything prior to shipping only to find out that after four of the products shipped, there were people who were still updating their company addresses, and so there were goods being sent to incorrect addresses. The only reason I knew this was because I had printed out the document at the time the order was placed, and so I spent three days on the phone with FedEx rerouting shipments and, in the end, the client didn’t want to pay for all the rerouting costs because they felt I should have been monitoring the Google Doc sheets daily for updates on the delivery addresses. They understood their error and paid in the end, and they still work with us, but I will never allow a client—no matter how large—to put me in a position of liability like that again. PPB What is some of the greatest sales advice you’ve ever received? Marais I still reference the saying, “Do sales activity and sales will follow.” It’s so simple and basic, and really gets to the root of succession in this industry. Anytime there’s a low sales week, ask yourself what sales activity you have been doing and, more than likely, you’ll see you haven’t made those follow-up calls or checked in with a certain company in a while. The other thing I would add to this is don’t be afraid to fail. Failure is the best teacher and constant success leads to complacency. Fail and fail hard, then pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get right back to it with the knowledge that you will do better next time. PPB You speak four languages and counting. Do you feel this has influenced your work in sales? Marais I feel like having learned those languages gave me a reason to visit the countries where they are spoken, and those cultural experiences are priceless. Our clients are from all different walks of life and often have diverse backgrounds, so being able to chitchat in their language or understand little- known things about their culture really helps to develop a sense of trust that I feel is a necessary foundation of all relationships in this industry. And now that we are multinational, these languages certainly come in handy when dealing with our clients, business partners and vendors abroad. PPB What motivates you to continue growing, taking risks and ambitiously expanding your skillset? Marais I’m definitely a highly ambitious and driven person at my core, always looking forward and moving on to the next thing. I need to see progress in myself or my work, or I get bored and feel stuck. When I take an interest in something, I take my time to learn it, so that I can be the best I can be doing whatever it is. Sometimes it means watching tutorials online or reading books or going to a university to formalize the training—it just depends on my interest level. Danielle Renda is associate editor of PPB. Marais has a wide range of interests and hobbies. Here, he is participating in a dolphin excursion, where funds collected are funneled back into helping oceanic wildlife. | FEBRUARY 2020 | 77 CONNECT