Juan F. Gonzalez is currently a Corporate Account Executive with ISN Telcom. He has been in the Telecommunications Industry for over 12 Years. 
"Back in 1996, I landed my first outside sales position selling Professional Motorola 2-Way Radios to businesses. My first big account was Miami Air International. I remember the day as if it was yesterday. I had an appointment to meet with Charles "Chuck" Giurtino, the Vice President of Maintenance. At the time of the order I was very excited to have won the account. It wasn't until later that I actually found out that Charles was not only the Vice President of Maintenance, but one of the founders of the company!"
In 1996 -1997, a company called NexTel was introducing Motorol's NEW iDEN technology in South Florida, which combined enhanced digital cellular service, alphanumeric paging service, and two-way radio service into one telephone. It was going to revolutionize the industry with its Direct Connect feature.
"I remember going to the launch in Fort Lauderdale. Most of the Independent Motorola Dealers were present. We were introduced to the New All In One Cell Phone, Pager, and Walkie Talkie! Nice!"
Juan immediately saw the potential NexTel would have in the South Florida market, so he applied to the company for the role of Direct Sales.
"I met with Claudia Tine, Sales Manager for NexTel in the Miami Market. Although I was a little disappointed that I did not get the position, she was able to refer me to another company, a wireless pager company called MobileComm."
Recognizing the lack of outside sales experience to join NexTel, Juan accepted the position with MobileComm. At MobileComm, Juan managed over 200 business accounts including Brandsmart, with over 300 pagers.
As the need for more advanced communications, pagers were now being replaced with more advanced and affordable cellular phones.
"I decided to join an industry leader, AT&T Wireless."
At AT&T Wireless, Juan managed to sell to business to business accounts. It was during this time, the need for high speed internet access for business was going to be the next big thing.
"One of the greatest advantages of being in outside sales, is that you are always meeting with different people and learning where the market is headed."
At Mpower Communications, a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC), Juan was a Major Account Executive selling local, long distance, and internet services to small and medium sized businesses.
"When I first started with Mpower Communications, we were just offering POTS lines to our customers with substantial savings plus FREE Unlimited intraLATA calling form Vero Beach to Key West. The company launched a great product and service at the right time and at the right place. The south Florida Real Estate & Mortgage market was HOT, and dial-up was NOT! DSL from Bellsouth was great if your business qualified. The solution? New Mpower Office Accelerator & Velocity Packages! An integrated T1 which combined voice, data, email, web hosting, all on one bill and from one service provider! Distance was not an issue and just about every business qualified regardless of distance to the Central Office. The combination was LETHAL!"
Just like the current Real Estate market, everything that goes up, must come down. In the beginning of 2003, Mpower Communications was acquired by FDN Communications.
"When Mpower Communications filed for Chapter 11 Restructuring, I decided to stay with the company. I really believed in myself, the service, and Mpower. I was still able to generate new sales even with the competition using the Bankruptcy filing against us. But, when we emerged from Chapter 11 and then were acquired by FDN Communications, I was the ONLY one who decided not to join FDN. I resigned and received my severance package plus accrued but unused Paid Time Off (PTO). It was a great ride!"
After Mpower Communications, Juan started a couple of businesses including Dragon Motorsports (A High Performance Shop which is still open today), Final Lease (A Car Buying Service), Auction Spin (An eBay drop-off store), and Blue Nile Interactive Media (A website marketing company which includes Google PPC, SEO, and Website Design). 
After many attempts to start a successful business, Juan decided to go back to the Corporate world and joined Maroone Toyota, an AutoNation Company, as a New Sales & Leasing Consultant! Yes, a car salesman! You're probably thinking Why would anyone in their right mind choose this position? Right? Let's Google car salesman under images and lets see what we get.
Here are the results:
Why Auto Sales?
"I decided it was time for a change and wanted to go from business to business (B2B) sales to business to consumer (B2C) sales. I chose Toyota, the world's number one manufacturer and inventor of the Lean Production System or TPS."
"At Maroone Toyota, it was probably the most challenging sales I have ever been in. Why? Because, if you really want to test all of your selling skills including meet & greet, needs analysis, product presentation, features & benefits, overcoming objections to closing and asking for the sale more than 2 to 4 times per day, there is no better environment than the dealer showroom. I learned a lot working for an automotive dealer. The most important is the following one which might come to a surprise to many."
Contrary to popular belief, car salespeople DO NOT SELL CARS!
I did NOT sell cars!
Toyota, the manufacturer does NOT sell cars!
The distributor, SET (South East Toyota), does NOT sell cars!
The internet does NOT sell cars!
The full color high gloss brochures do NOT sell cars!
So, who sells cars!
The human nature to move forward in life sells cars. It is us that drive those cars forward. To move forward with your family, in your career, in life!
The only car I will ever truly ever sell is my own.
So why did I choose automotive sales?
To help us BOTH, move forward!
Meet Juan Today
Juan is very excited to have joined ISN Telcom. He feels that the company has all the right ingredients to be the Leading IP Solutions Provider for Businesses in south Florida!
You can read more About What's going on at ISN Telcom by visiting his NEW Blog @ http://juan-f-gonzalez.blogspot.com
Juan, what moves you forward?
"That's an excellent question. The most important part of my life is my 4 year old daughter, Saphie! "