Reading Time: 3 minutes

Eric Mueller

VP of Sales

Years at Telcion: 4

What’s one professional skill you’re currently working on?

One professional skill I’m working on is collaborative selling. And really, collaborative selling is about getting off my mental map and onto the client’s mental map, to help understand their problems, what’s going on in their business, and ways that we can collaborate together to help solve their problems.

How do you prefer to start your day at work?

Coffee, coffee, coffee. Typically my day starts with email and meetings, and lots of coffee.

What was your first job?

My first job was delivering newspapers to my neighborhood, and it was a job that I learned how to wake up very early and so I’ve carried that on into my career by waking up early.

What energizes you at work?

I get energized when I see other people meet their goals and succeed, and invest in themselves in growth, and then actually see the results—that really energizes me. And if I’m part of that growth and helping them develop, that excites me too. But it’s great to see people invest in themselves and grow.

What drains you at work?

What drains me is doing work that is outside of my skillset or my wheelhouse. Meaning, doing stuff that I shouldn’t necessarily be doing that I should be delegating instead. I feel like when I do that, that’s when I get drained.

What behavior or personality trait  do you most attribute your success to, and why?

I would say perseverance, and just persevering through difficult times. Especially in sales you have to persevere through a lot of nos, or persevere through difficult clients and clients that shop you or don’t value what you’re bringing to the table even when there’s a lot of value in it. So just persevering though those situations.

What’s a mistake you made early on in your career, and what did you learn from it?

One big thing was don’t talk your way into something you’re not prepared to deliver on. Early in my career, I had some skills, but I talked my way into a job that I had no business doing and I didn’t last very long. I think I had a 90-day probationary period and I made it to the end but that was it. So just make sure that what you’re saying you can do, you can fully deliver on that. And I just wasn’t prepared for that job

What do you do to turn things around when you’re having a bad day?

Just focus on what’s going well, or how blessed I actually am in my life. And not focus on the negative of the situation that I’m dealing with but focus on the learning lesson. Focus on the positive of the situation if there is a positive in the situation, but don’t focus on the negative.

What advice would you give to your teenage self?

Invest, invest, invest. Not only monetarily, but invest in your spiritual development, your physical development, and monetarily, invest every penny you can possibly get your hands on… and don’t buy stupid things you can’t afford.

Thanks so much, Eric!

🤝 Connect with Eric on LinkedIn