Techie salespeople key to growth in technology.

RGB Interactive's hiring mistakes were costly, but taught the value of matching skills with company culture

Keith Bray believes that out-of-work tech professionals are the ideal salespeople for his strategic online services company, RGB Interactive.

"You can teach someone sales, but you can't teach someone to love something," said Bray, chief operating officer of RGB. "When I met with these salespeople I saw that they love this, they eat and breathe technology. And that is key in getting new business. It is very key, at the moment, to our success."

Unfortunately, Bray came to that conclusion after doling out thousands of dollars worth of free Web services. When RGB Interactive formed in early 2002, Bray and his wife Alison were selective about many of their hiring choices. They went about assembling a close-knit group of talented tech employees, many of whom had been expelled with pink slips in the dot-com bust.

But he took a different approach toward the sales department, an area where he admittedly lacked experience. Instead of hiring directly, he used an outsource staffing company to contract a salesperson -- a strategy that he now recognizes "failed miserably." In the first few months, the salesperson was hitting all of the sales numbers and revenue was streaming in. But before long it became evident that he wasn't a good fit with the company.

"He was more focused on the quick sale than long-term development of client relationships. And that goes against our company culture and values," Bray said. In one case, the salesperson committed RGB for an extensive project that included copy and custom graphics along with other services. The price he quoted was inaccurate, and by the project's completion RGB was out of pocket $15,000.

"He (the salesman) accepted clients' proposals that were completely inappropriate. He was selling a Ferrari and promising the client a Yugo price," he said. But, Bray did honor all of the contracts and RGB didn't lose a single client from the incident. After dismissing the salesperson, the next challenge was finding outgoing techies to peddle technology in a field where most prefer a hacker's solitude.

His sales staff now consists of three certified techies, well-versed in Cisco, Microsoft and other software programs, while also capable of breaking down the complex concepts for the average nontechie client, he said. The new sales team has doubled sales and increased revenue in the past year from $463,293 in 2002 to a projected $750,000 in 2003.

Bray chalks up the financial loss to experience. "I learned a valuable lesson. I realized you need to surround yourself with people that complement your weakness and share a like-minded core of values, and things will work themselves out," he said.

RGB Interactive provides small and medium-sized clients, like Chris Harrison, host of television's "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette," and Ziglar Training Systems with design, marketing and e-commerce services.

Richard Oates, chief operating officer of Ziglar Training Systems, said a tech-savvy and personable sales staff was a critical factor in choosing RGB. "They have a bent on customer service and that is so important as customer service seems to have been lost, particularly in this business," Oates said.

By the end of the year, RGB plans to hire several more salespeople, a project manager and a Web site designer. "We are growing moderately on purpose," he said, "We never want to lay off a single person. We want to sustain them in good times and in bad."

Contact Dallas Business Journal writer Sandra Zaragoza at szaragoza@bizjournals.com or (214) 706-7112.