Chris Archer Reflects on 10 Years on the Job at Machinesused.com
Chris, who works as our go-to guy on machine/auction sales, recently celebrated 10 years with our company. We asked Chris to reflect on how his position has evolved over the years.
“I always have done sales at MachinesUsed.com,” he said. “When we were a smaller company, when I first started here, it was just John, myself, our office administrator Sharon, and our machine tech Jonathan. John and I primarily did sales roles, but we had our hand in everything. For example, when work got heavier in the warehouse, we would help clean machines and fix things. So, we had to jump around whenever we were needed.”
One of the areas where Chris excels is customer engagement. Chris has put in a lot of time building relationships and being a trusted resource for our customers. That means that when the time is right for them to buy or sell machinery, Machinesused.com is top of mind.
Speaking of customer interaction, Chris is a natural on the phone. His approachable nature contributes to his success.
“Primarily, my job consists of what I would call cold calling, or really warm calling customers that we know are out there in the industry. We cultivate their trust and gain their business when they have the equipment to sell or when they're looking for new machinery,” he said. “And a lot of that is talking to people you've never met for the first time.”
Beyond forging new relationships, Chris says he enjoys the variety of the work. In his words, “I like the fact that on the job, no two days are ever the same.”
Each day brings new challenges and interactions. Plus, there’s the fact the industry is advancing, and Chris has frequent opportunities to immerse himself in the developments.
“I can learn as much as I want, as long as I'm willing to apply myself and keep my eyes and ears open,” he said. “It seems like it's an industry where everyone is willing to teach. If you want to listen, and they see you're engaged, they'll talk about their engineering, their products and their process. It kind of blows my mind how much people are willing to share and teach. And I feel like that's been extremely valuable to me.”
Of course, the job itself presents learning opportunities. Chris described one recently that stretched him professionally.
“(The client) basically came to us with an extremely hard and unique machine to sell with stringent requirements for when it had to be sold,” he said. “And on top of that they had a pretty ambitious price in mind for the machine. So, it was difficult on every corner.”
However, Chris and his capable team were able to meet their requirements and facilitate the preparations, shipping details and everything else that needed to be done to complete the sale.
“I was really happy with (our work) and we did it all within the customer's timeframe and got them money,” he said. “The user who bought the equipment was ecstatic and happy with it. It was challenging, but everything went well. It was a really bright spot for myself and our team.”