The Path from Door-to-Door Selling to Sales Leader with Xactly’s Steve De Marco
Heather Miller, Writer and Editor
Steve De Marco’s sales career began as a summer job selling books door-to-door. People said he was crazy to do it and that he would hate it. Turns out the opposite was true.
After graduating and working as a consultant at Accenture for a few years, De Marco got his first job in technology sales. And he hasn’t stopped since. Now, as Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Alliances at Xactly, De Marco is committed to inspiring his sales teams and sharing the lessons he’s learned along the way.
Why did selling books door to door get you hooked on sales as a career?
When I signed up for the summer job, everyone told me that people would slam the door in my face and I was going to be miserable. But I did it anyway. It was wildly rewarding in a bunch of different ways. First, it was a great opportunity to learn the basics and fundamentals of sales. Second, I also truly believed those books helped kids do their homework. It was a much more consultative sale. I felt like I was just educating parents on a resource that was available. If they wanted them, great; if they didn’t, that was OK.
What do you think is the hardest part about sales?
The hardest part is the same thing that makes sales really great. It’s constantly changing and a game that never really ends, especially with quarterly driven sales organizations. As a sales leader, you have to get a whole group of people behind it and believing — in the company, product, and our mission. There’s always continuous improvement and refining of the sales process to do, which is one of my favorite parts of the job.
How did you make the transition from sales rep to sales leader?
I decided fairly early on that I wanted to get into management for a few different reasons. Part of it was the benefit of having some tremendous mentors and sales managers and leaders in my day. Quite frankly, I wanted to do what they did and be like them. My background in engineering was also a big component of it. Industrial engineering is focused on refining and optimizing processes, and I felt like I could help with that more in sales as a manager.
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