Community Highlights: Meet Chris Conrad of Redhead Enterprises

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Conrad.

Hi Chris, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I attended college at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in Murfreesboro, TN studying Recording Industry with a concentration in Music Business. In 2010 I co-founded an entertainment company called Hangar Productions; we handled regional talent booking for a roster of 10+ touring bands and provided concert promotion services at various venues in the greater Nashville area for 11 years. I started working in corporate sales back in 2015 at Total Quality Logistics (TQL) which is a national logistics freight-brokerage firm. This was my first experience working in a corporate office environment learning the skills of account management and cold-calling. My next move for inside sales was at an environmental, health, & safety (EH&S) software company called SiteHawk (now called Sphera Solutions) in 2016 where I transitioned to a more strategic process for prospecting which offered warmer leads. Redhead Enterprises offered me a territory sales position in 2017 that included opportunities for outside sales in-person that covers Georgia, Tennessee, & Alabama.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
For any sales job you must have a tough and positive mentality to survive. Some years you will reap great financial revenues and others will be more challenging. But the best sales representatives can adapt their work process to remove the things that didn’t work while building on the things that did. Our biggest obstacles are probably competing with the major manufacturers (aka “The Big 7”) in our industry while we work with smaller independently owned companies. The Big 7 consist of Steelcase, Herman Miller, Knoll, Haworth, Teknion, Kimball, & AllSteel. These companies have product showrooms and large dedicated sales teams in every major to mid-sized city in the United States. The pandemic has also been challenging as far as our clients continuing to work from home and not in the office everyday, but we’ve adjusted to become more flexible with how we promote ourselves to stay in front of them accordingly.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Redhead Enterprises?
Redhead Enterprises was founded by Principal – CEO Kitty R. Conrad in 2000, who has been a member of the Architectural and Design community for over 30 years as both an Interior Designer and Sales Consultant. We represent an eclectic mix of commercial manufacturers of furniture, textiles-fabric, and decorative-acoustic architectural products for healthcare, hospitality, and corporate installations. Through our team approach to problem-solving and our keen eye for detail, we provide great solutions to both designers and end-users. I joined the company in 2017 because I wanted to advance my opportunities in sales and continue the family legacy my mother has created in this industry.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Be flexible. If your pre-COVID process for prospecting and sales efforts has changed then you need to change as well. The one who stays dormant will not survive.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://redheadenterprises.net/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redhead_enterprises/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RedheadEnterprisesInc
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/rhsources