“If my own experiences have taught me anything, they taught me this: if you want to become an indispensable part of the team, you need to earn it… You need to start learning, and you need to do it now, tomorrow, the next day, the next year, the next decade, and all the way up to when you’re ready to retire.” – Aaron Regev
Today, we have invited over Aaron Regev, Sales Manager at one of the fastest-growing home warranty companies in the United States. He was Brooklyn-born and raised by parents that taught him to value hard work, determination, and honesty above all else.
Find out what it takes to be an indispensable part of any team that you join in our special interview with Aaron below:
Hey Aaron! How have things been going for you?
Aaron Regev:Well, thank you. Affected by the world’s current state, of course. As I imagine everyone is — even if places are finally beginning to open back up again. But my parents did not raise me to be a quitter and I’ve learned over the years how to stay strong in times like these. I pray that everyone will be able to get through this with a smile on their face.
Speaking of your parents, can you tell me a little bit more about what it was like growing up for you?
Aaron Regev: Well, I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. I was born and raised there after my parents immigrated to the United States from the Middle East. I can’t say that things were all that easy growing up. Brooklyn in the 70s was an entirely different world. But my parents raised me as best as they could. They taught me to work hard, to chase after my goals, and to work honestly no matter what.
What kind of work did you end up going into?
Aaron Regev: I have a long history of working in sales, as a salesperson to start with. Nothing fancy. But I knew how to do my job and how to do it well. When it comes to sales, my mission is to treat all the customers I greet as if they were my family (as if their pains and troubles were my own, even) so that I can make sure that—not only are they being treated as their own unique person, but also—they receive the best possible service that I can give them.
That’s something that I teach my people now too, at least, now that I’m working as a Sales Manager — where my job is (primarily) to train salespeople to be better salespeople.
And how do you go about imparting your experience in Sales to your current team? (Do you have any leadership advice that you can spare for our readers?)
Aaron Regev: If my own experiences have taught me anything, they taught me this: if you want to become an indispensable part of the team, you need to earn it. Seems pretty straightforward, right? But the ‘earning’ part is a bit confusing for some. I had a mentor once who tried to teach me that ‘screw the next guy’ was the answer to finding business success, but not only is that not a way of thinking I could ever subscribe to, things just don’t work that way in a group setting.
Instead, if you want to earn a place for yourself and keep it, you need to start learning, and you need to do it now, tomorrow, the next day, the next year, the next decade, and all the way up to when you’re ready to retire.
The competition in business is fierce. There are too many people, too few jobs, and if you want to stay on top of the game, you have to educate yourself and continue educating yourself because the world and its people aren’t going to stop moving forward just because you’ve decided to stop trying to catch up.
Can you tell us about an experience where the advice you just gave ended up working out for you?
Aaron Regev: As mentioned, I’ve been in sales for a while. But that doesn’t mean that I stayed in the same industry throughout. In fact, five or so years ago, I was hired into a company that was in an industry that I had very little experience in. I had to learn everything from scratch. Not just for myself, but to be able to support those that were placed under my charge as well. That meant having to learn things I didn’t know about and relearn things I may have known before but had shifted because of different contexts or circumstances.
