Meet David Ortwein | President of Vision Sales Group

We had the good fortune of connecting with David Ortwein and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Being in the business for 30+ years, I had the benefit of accumulating knowledge from several resources and mentors throughout my career. I thought with this accumulated knowledge I could create a team that elevated the traditional model and could be more aligned with the needs of product manufactures

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Vision Sales Group is an independent sales agency that represents manufactures in the Western US. Our products span decorative Plumbing, Hardware and Architectural products for Home, Hospitality, Commercial and Municipality projects. We are hired as the manufactures sales force to drive brand sales and awareness through client training, specification and support.

When I started the agency 5 years ago, we essentially had no product lines and had to build our brand partners and team from scratch. This was a significant departure than my previous role of VP for a well established brand. This “starting over” forced me to be nimble and consider opportunities in a more holistic manner and how each brand alignment would benefit from the other in establishing relativeness and opportunity.

My goal was to build a team that outperformed our competition in 2 key areas
– I was going to build a sales team that thrived through a supportive culture that emphasized constant improvement & leveraging the team vs. recognizing glory and ego which can create divisiveness amongst a group..
– I was going to leverage the team experiences through monthly training conversations that combine our various skillsets throughout the team. In sales, one can become too routine in their selling tactics. Using team collaboration we constantly improve everyone’s skillset and we have a “no judgement” policy in our meeting to reinforce leaning and support vs. specific sales results

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My favorite thing to do is to jump on my Harley and get back into the canyons. Simply being surrounded by the desert landscape overtakes any pressures I am contemplating and an almost ZEN effect overtakes my thought process.

The incredible thing about living in AZ is the accessibility to this feeling & the abundance of outdoor activities we have with almost immediate access. When you add all the benefits of other large markets – major sports teams, golf and recreation and top that off with incredible dining experiences, this really is an unmatched lifestyle in State 48.

My Favorite food spots are
Mexican – Jalapeno Inferno
American – The Greene House (gotta have the pot pie)
Steak – Prestons
Breakfast – Soul Cafe
Pizza – Sorry to all but has to be Lou Malnati’s

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My mentorship was provided through experience and learning and it would be hard to point out an individual person as it is a collaboration of people through the years as well as a willingness for me to set my ego aside and learn from those that were better than I.

Website: www.VisionSalesGroup.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visionsalesgroup/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/visionsalesgroup/?viewAsMember=true