True Colors Explores Concept of Trust

By Susan Kim, STAFF WRITER



After 25 years as a salesman for Fortune 500 companies, Mark Slatin felt something eroding beneath him as corporate relationships began to change.

"I felt like the culture had shifted quite a bit, and employees were being treated like a number," he said.

In an effort to try to explore why he felt this way, Slatin decided to sample an array of sales training programs.

"I started to investigate what I consider to be the best sales training programs in the country. I put myself through them one at the time, and discovered there was one missing ingredient: trust," he said. "They all had advantages and disadvantages. But the missing ingredient was the importance of relationships, the importance of building a trusting relationship."

It was through this realization that Slatin's company, True Colors Consulting, was born. Fifteen months ago, he opened his corporate doors in Ellicott City, offering sales training, individual coaching and strategic planning services.



Chamber Involvement Critical

As True Colors has taken shape, Slatin said, with such an intangible business, he absolutely must network to build relationships. The Howard County Chamber of Commerce has been instrumental in helping him expand his reach, he said.

"It's not about how many relationships you have, it's about how deep those relationships are," he said. "It's critical to take an active role in one of the Chamber committees, get involved, and walk side-by-side with other Chamber members."

Slatin is co-chair of the Chamber's Small Business Council. After speaking at a conference for small businesses held at Howard Community College, he was asked to serve as a co-chair.

Slatin reaches out to his community in other ways as well. He is an adjunct professor at Loyola College in the graduate business program, where he teaches sales management and strategies to MBA students. In addition, he is a contributing editor for On Point magazine.

His speaking engagements have also been on the rise, with appearances recently in Las Vegas, Nev.; Sarasota, Fla.; and northern Virginia. He also helped create the Business Learning Institute, a training and speaking organization within the Maryland Association of CPAs.



Real World Experience

As a client systems manager for IBM, Ed Potter leads a team of 18 sales representatives. Before he became aware of True Colors, he had been through many sales training programs in his 23 years of selling professionally.

"I've been with a lot of startup companies, and before that, I sold donuts door-to-door when I was a kid," said Potter. "Every time I was with a different company, I went to a different sales school. So I've had exposure to many different sales schools."

Potter was impressed with Slatin. "I really learned from Mark," said Potter. "The thing I liked the most about him was he brought his real-world experience to the conversation. He talked about his experiences in the office products industry. I found that extremely valuable."

In a sales world often brimming over with arrogance, Slatin has humility balanced with confidence, added Potter. "As a trainer and speaker, I found him extremely refreshing. I was really open to the things he had to say. But I really valued what he said because of the confidence he had when he spoke it. That was quite pronounced to me. That really resonated with me."



Living the Values

Charles Green, co-author of The Trusted Advisor and author of Trust-Based Selling, has teamed up with Slatin by offering True Colors the licensing to present Green's material.

"Mark is very, very good at working together, collaborating and being a teammate with very little ego," said Green. "He's there to do a good job for whoever he works for and with. We like to say 'live the values.' He is great at that."

Like Potter, Green values Slatin's real-world experience. "He has seen sales from a hard and dirty side, and rejected it," said Green.

Despite challenging economic times, demand for Slatin's appearances and his services has only increased. Right now Slatin believes his business is right where it should be. "You always hope that a whole bunch of business comes in quickly, but the reality is, I think it'll come in when I'm ready for it," he said.