Selling With Heart: The Things You Can't Teach
⏱️ 4 min read
By Jenny (May) Shannon
My dad, a lifelong salesman, passed away 5 years ago today. The timing always feels off, with the anniversary landing just after Father’s Day. But grief doesn’t have a calendar. Fortunately, this isn’t about grief.
Frank likes to say no one is born a natural salesperson. And he’s right, for the most part. Most sales skills must be taught.
But my dad was the exception that proves the rule.
My dad was a lot of things: a salesman, a community builder, a man of faith, a guy who could make friends in the grocery store line, and someone who believed a bowl of ice cream could fix almost anything. He lived big, right up to the day he took his last ride on his Goldwing and finished his final scoop of chocolate.
He sold for IFP long before CRM systems, smartphones, or even the idea of work-life balance. He carried a StarTac until we practically pried it out of his hands. He never met a stranger. He had a way of pulling the good out of people: customers, coworkers, even the guy at the gas station. He and Frank were even buddies.
Clients called him at 3am with emergencies, and he always answered. If he didn’t have the solution, he fought until he found one. Not because anyone trained him to do so. Not because it was in a manual. But because he believed that when someone trusted you enough to call, you showed up.
He trained people, too, things like product knowledge, troubleshooting, how to think, and how to solve. He just didn’t call it “sales training.” He lived it.
You can teach technique. You can teach process. But you can’t teach heart.
That instinct to connect, that hard-to-describe spark, that’s the part he gave us.
And the funny thing is… My brother has it. My kids have it. And I like to think I have a little of it too.
The best sellers, especially the unforgettable ones, lead with humanity. They solve problems at all hours. They make people feel seen. They build community without trying.
My dad never thought of himself as a leader, but he was. And he taught me everything that matters.
It all makes me feel blessed to work for River Heights Consulting, where those skills can be appreciated, paired with the things that can be taught, such as discipline, value creation, and customer engagement.
This reflection was written by
Jenny Shannon, the daughter of longtime Iowa Fluid Power salesman Jack May. She
works with River Heights Consulting on content, communication strategy, and
storytelling that connects the human side of sales with the practical skills
distributors need to thrive.
If you want a shortcut to understanding where AI fits in distribution, this is a great start.
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