Owner/Founder

About Gary

Gary is a founder and co-owner of Pivotal Advisors. In his role at Pivotal, Gary is primarily responsible for business development but will gladly take on a few clients in a consulting role. Gary speaks with and partners with other firms that help drive top-line growth.

Gary helps organizations define where growth is coming from, helps them hire and/or develop the sales team, identifies ideal clients and markets, and leverages true differentiators (even in commodity markets). He also implements sales processes, targets specific KPIs, increases activity, creates and applies sales compensation plans, and develops sales leadership skills.

He has worked in the following industries and go-to-market channels, helping his clients sell to small businesses and large enterprises alike:

Industries:

• B2B Manufacturing
• Contract Manufacturing
• Food and Beverage
• Construction
• Technology and Software Sales
• Professional Services
• Software as a Service (SaaS)

Channels

• B2B direct to end-user
• Business to Distributor and/or Reseller
• Business to Manufacturer Rep to End/User and/or Reseller
• Some B2C

Previous Experience

Before Pivotal Advisors, Gary worked for more than 20 years as a salesperson and sales leader. He began his career right out of college in the harsh world of selling copiers door-to-door to businesses. Then Gary moved to a fast-growing manufacturer of desktop publishing equipment called LaserMaster and was responsible for selling through a dealer network. His role there was to recruit, train, and manage resellers and help them sell products. This is where Gary got his first taste of management, running the west coast.

From there, Gary moved to a reseller, Digital Equipment Corporation, selling new and used computer servers, storage, networking equipment, and licensing to Fortune 1000 companies. This is where he learned the ins and outs of enterprise selling, how to map out organizations, and how to find the various divisions, locations, and decision-makers needed to "land and expand" these large accounts.

Gary was recruited away from that reseller to join a "startup" at the time called Digital River, which sold outsourced e-commerce services. Initially, he was tasked with chasing down strategic software vendors and dealers, but he was soon leading the sales team as well. During his time at Digital River, company sales rose from $1M in revenue to over $400M.  This is where he learned how to implement repeatable systems and processes. Those would allow the sales team to grow to the point where average salespeople could be successful if they followed the playbook Gary had developed. Then, in 2008, he got a phone call from his brother, Mike, to start a new firm called Pivotal Advisors, and the rest is history.

Education +

• The University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire - Business Administration
• Miller-Heiman – Strategic Selling Sales Training
• SPIN Selling – Sales Workshop Target
• Target Account Selling (TAS) – Sale Training
• Guest Speaker:
  • Vistage
  • Allied Executives
  • Inner Circle
  • Rayven Performance Group
  • CEO Roundtable
  • Minnesota Chamber of Commerce
  • American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP)
  • Sales Management Association
  • Spoken Impact

Interests

When he is not helping his clients, you will probably find Gary on a golf course or at a sporting event. He is a raving Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Twins, and Minnesota Timberwolves fan. He is even starting to get into the Minnesota Wild. He also has two adult daughters that make him proud every single day.