The Saga of Ed Cates

Next year, in this slot, my hope is to introduce you to Edward Underwood Cates.  Ed is a mid-career, middle aged sales professional.  He has just started a new sales position as his old company failed and he was forced to find a new opportunity.  We will follow Ed as he utilizes his training from the Solomon Sales System to build a revenue stream his new company can be proud of.  More importantly one he hopes will aid them in not failing like the last company did.

As an introduction, Ed is 6 foot, 1 inch tall, 210 pounds, sandy blond/brown hair with gray growing at the temples.  Never very thick, his hair is thinning more than he is happy with but what he has lost in hair, he seems to be making up in paunch.  Where once he was looked over several times by passing females, today a first glance seems to suffice.  He is divorced twice with one child that he sees regularly.  At 43, he doesn’t seem to meet women as easily as he once did, and while it is bothersome, he isn’t quite ready to jump in that game again just yet.

Nevertheless, Ed is a driven professional always striving to be number one on any team he plays on.  He has achieved a degree of success in sales and business and is well regarded by the people he networks with and his friends and other associates.  Ed typically ends up in the top 20% of any sales team he works in and more often than not, in the top 5%.  His new company, a printing manufacturer and distributor sells to institutional and private business. He is taking over an existing territory with an assignment to grow the territory aggressively.

Our purpose in watching Ed is to see his successes and pitfalls as he builds a new sales career.  To watch him strive, fail, learn and strive again.  Ed is a guy who doesn’t give up.  Ed understands that to be successful you have to work hard, learn lots and train constantly.

So what do you think?  Is Ed a story?  Is he worth following?   My guess is if you are in sales, or if you are a business owner, you will find Ed fascinating.  You should learn from his successes, learn more from his failures and maybe cry along with his disappointments.

Ed is an experiment for me too.

He comes to life next week/next year and both Ed and I want you to enjoy and learn from Ed.  Let’s wish him a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year also!  Oh yes, Ed wishes that for you too!

Respectfully submitted,

Michael D. Goodman