NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW
Water Technology
® talks with …
Kelly Thompson
Sales professional, public speaker, teacher, author
and comedian — Kelly Thompson does it all.
By Nick Phillips, Assistant Editor
From humble beginnings as a newspaper boy and door-to-door salesman to regional sales manager for Clear Water Systems Kinetico, Kelly Thompson has dedicated his life to sales. Recently, Thompson left his position at Clear Water Systems to devote his life full-time to Moti-Vitality LLC, a company he found- ed that provides sales training presentations and consultations to water treatment dealers.
Water Technology
®
caught up with Thompson in February to discuss the water treatment industry and his new book,
Flowing to
Success (An Excellent Book with a Cheesy Title for the Water Treatment Sales Professional).
er and my WQA certification. I had no knowledge on how to develop and manage a territory or what kind of very real situations I would run into in this indus- try. There was a ton of generalized sales train- ing material, but nothing specific to the water treatment industry. I made a ton of mistakes that could have been easily avoided. My book is designed to be a step by step tool for any water treatment sales profes- sional whether they be a novice or experi- enced. My experience as a stand-up comic comes out a bit too, which hopefully will make the book entertaining as well as valuable. So far the response from some of the industry leaders that have read it has been excellent. Many have said that our industry has needed this tool for a long time. This being said, I welcome criticism from any of my readers, positive or constructive. In fact, I think that everyone reading this interview should not only buy a copy for themselves but also for their friends, fami- ly and co-workers so that they can criticize me too.
WT:
What are some core values every sales training and consulting program shouldhave?
KT:
While there are always the obvious val- ues like honesty and integrity, I try to focus on staying connected with real situations
Water Technology:
How did you get started in the water treatment industry?
Kelly Thompson:
It was kind of an accident. I was trying to support my young family as a motivational speaker working primarily with troubled kids, but I was also doing some sales training. In my quest to find a job with insurance, I stumbled across a Kinetico deal- er that needed a sales trainer and recruiter. Having gone to school to become a high school theater and speech teacher, the water treatment industry was the last place I ever expected to end up. Now I can’t imagine doing anything else.
WT:
Why was it important for you to get WQA-certified?
KT:
I was tasked with trying to manage and train professional water treatment salespeople. We had the number one Kinetico salesperson in the country and two more that were in the top 20. It did not take long for me to realize that I was out of my league. I was a guy that had never opened a test kit and frankly barely knew what hardness was. I looked around for the fastest most organized way to become an expert in my field. This was the only way I was going to be able to serve the team that could have sold circles around me. WQA certification helped provide me with the knowledge, confidence and credibility I needed. I came to realize that even a CWS I often had a better understanding of how water treatment worked than many people that had been in the business for 20 years. If an individual can combine this text book knowledge with real life experience and integrity, then you have a sales professional that is virtually unbeatable.
WT:
Tell us about your book,
Flowing to Success (An Excellent Book with a Cheesy Title for the Water Treatment Sales Professional)
, and what inspired you. What feedback have you received so far?
KT:
I spent about a year in management before I decided for various reasons to go into sales. The only training I had in this industry was the necessarily canned, but good videotaped sales presentation provided by the manufactur-
Cover
IFC
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
IBC
BC
Zoom level
fit page
fit width
A
A
fullscreen
one page
two pages
share
print
SlideShow
fullscreen
A
Open Article
A
article text for page
add comment
|
read comments
|
close
Share this page with a friend
Save to “My Stuff”
Subscribe to this magazine
Search
Help
An error has occurred with your request.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
