DSR of the Month

For Shawn Kirk, a rising star DSR at Yancey’s Food Service, becoming a sales person was never part of the plan. A one-time stay-at-home mom, Kirk joined Yancey’s nine years ago as an entry-level customer service rep. She was soon promoted to a lead position in that department and later was bumped up to national account management. Just under two years ago, she was assigned a high-profile customer that, while part of a national chain, had just a couple of units locally, didn’t buy on contract and needed dedicated attention. So began her transition to the street side, and she’s never looked back.

She now services 24 street accounts in Denver, including a six-unit local restaurant group. She’s transitioning out of national accounts and eventually will focus all of her attention on the street. Her sales hit $4 million this year. But in her mind’s eye she’s still not a sales person—and never will be. “I recently rode with our new sales manager and tried to convince him that I’m really not a sales rep. I just don’t see myself that way, and that’s not how I work,” Kirk says. “A typical sales person sells products. I focus on going out to solve problems and make customers happy. Selling cases of products comes as a side benefit or a result of doing that.”

It wasn’t without trepidation that Kirk decided to give up the relative comfort of national account management to take her career to the next level on the street. “Going out and having the pressure of selling still scares me every day,” she says. “But I absolutely love what I do and over the past year I’ve had some great successes. And it’s not so much the pressure to sell, per se, but the pressure I put on myself to help my chefs and my kitchen managers, to do whatever I can to help them.”

A project she recently took on illustrates her dedication to providing solutions. Asked by a customer to look into less-expensive, more eco-friendly takeout packing options, Kirk over several months researched the category and new product development, secured samples, made presentations and tested products. Eventually, an alternative line was selected and added to the Yancey’s order. “The switch ended up saving that customer about $3,000 a month in packaging costs,” Kirk says. “Some would argue that we hurt ourselves by switching them, as we’d also been selling them the more expensive product. Yes, it was dollars out of our pocket in terms of margin, but we were able to show the customer something new and something different and we were there to benefit them. Ultimately, that benefits us. Those are the types of solutions I like creating, solutions that show we’re truly a partner and that their success is our success.”

A former produce house that over the years has become a strong independent broadliner, Yancey’s continues to go to market with special expertise in perishables. For Kirk, that’s typically where she starts, leading with produce and building the business from there to help meet customer needs in additional product categories. Account penetration is a key goal for her as she continues to grow her business. “Once I’m transitioned out of national accounts, I’ll do more prospecting and could see doubling my street account base. But for now, I’m focused on building business with current customers. In some locations, I may have only their produce and dairy so there’s a lot of room to grow. My goal is to work up to being their prime supplier.”