(Blogger’s note: nth Solutions boasts a crop of resourceful, skilled personnel. Here’s a glimpse of one of our many talented staffers.)
His job might be a lot easier if nth Solutions sold products to the big box stores. But with his jovial demeanor, distinctive Philly accent and offbeat humor, he provides tailor-made solutions for the independent retailers he serves.
His name is Bob Klein, and he’s nth’s national sales manager. He’s been in sales pretty much since birth, at least that’s how he tells it.
“Remember insurance debits?” he says, referring to insurance where a premium may be collected on a weekly basis. “My father was in sales and he’d drive around each week collecting insurance debits.When I was a little kid I would ride with him and keep his books. My mother worked in sales at Penn Fruit.”
The Penn Fruit Company, a regional Philadelphia and Baltimore grocery chain, gave Bob his start.He worked as a grocery clerk starting at age 15.But he didn’t even attend his high school graduation – he was already on his way to Coast Guard basic training.
“I joined the Coast Guard because they weren’t going to Vietnam,” he says, wryly. “Guess where I ended up?”
Sure enough, the USCGC Morgenthau sailed to Vietnam in 1968, and Bob, a newly-minted cook, went with it.
“I cooked for the LORAN stations (navigation systems for ships and aircraft) and watched the C-130s do touch-and-gos as they dropped us supplies,” he says, excitedly fidgeting in his chair.“They’d shove out the skids of supplies out the back of the plane and by the time we were getting the stuff they’d be gone.”
After stints on the USCGC Eagle and USCGC Tamaroa, Bob got out of the Coast Guard in 1972 and went on to college, earning his degree in food marketing from St. Joseph’s University.
“My goal was to stay in (grocery) stores, but Penn Fruit went out of business,” he muses.
His first sales job out of school was selling kosher meats.But it’s his 15 years with Johnson Wax that cemented his sales skills: he won top salesperson of the year for the United States twice and once was a runner-up for top sales manager worldwide.Beside Johnson Wax, he’s worked for 7 Up Corporate, Wells Lamont, Hercon Laboratories and Aptiv.But at nth he’s called the Bug Man for his years selling Raid pesticides.
“I never missed a Raid objective in 15 years,” he says proudly.
And he loves to tell wacky stories from his many sales calls.
“One time I walked into a store and the employees made me put on a pair of rubber boots before I could see the store buyer.I ended up pitching him while he was slaughtering cows!” he says, chortling. “The buyer told me that he bought from me because I stood there and didn’t throw up!”
With that kind of persistence, it’s easy to see why Bob is an important part of the nth Solutions team.
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| Bob climbs the rigging on the USCGC Eagle. |
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| Bob's Big Jump - "swim call" in Bermuda off of the Eagle. |
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| USCGC Morgenthau in New York. Note the construction of the Twin Towers in the background. |
