Top Performers Spotlight featuring Mylene Talavera
Being an account manager is like having your own business. The more you put in, the more you get out. Our potential is limitless, and I have experienced first-hand & have taught thousands of salespeople just like you. I’ve earned 4 back-to-back Presidents' Circle and led the historically poorest performing sales team to #1 in the nation within 2 years.
So let's get you thinking like a business owner.
In this interview series called “Top Performers Spotlight,” I am talking to sales representatives who have also excelled and have been recognized as the top performers in the medical industry. They share their expert insights with sales professionals who want to achieve the same success. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mylene Talavera.
Mylene Talavera
has over 15+ years of medical sales experience, among the most recent role with Obagi Skincare. Mylene has a proven track record of success earning Presidents Circle in 2016..
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1. Tell us about your career journey and how you transitioned into medical/ pharmaceutical sales?
I began my career in outside sales while working at a printing and packaging company owned by Time Warner. I had always been interested in getting into sales, but given my lack of experience, I knew no one would give me the opportunity. So, I created my opportunity. I saw a need at the company I was working for. I researched my niche market, taught myself PowerPoint, put the presentation together, and went before the VP of sales and presented my idea. Three months later, they welcomed me into the Warner Media Services Sales team. A year later, AOL purchased Time Warner, and the company started downsizing and re-organizing. I lost my job because of this, but the change made me re-evaluate my life.
A friend of mine told me about the pharmaceutical industry, and I decided to look for a position. Since that day, I have transitioned from calling on the GI space, to the dental space, and lastly, to the medical aesthetics space.
2. What do you love about the industry within medical sales you work in (dental/general med/ medical aesthetics/ pharmaceutical)?
The thing I love best about medical aesthetics is how it makes a person feel. Having great-looking skin sets the tone and helps create a positive mindset and attitude, boosting a person’s self-esteem and giving them a different perspective and outlook on life and themselves.
3. Tell me about the three most influential people in your life and how they impacted you?
My mom and dad were influential in my life as they instilled a solid work ethic in me since I was a child. In the 30+ years that they both worked, neither ever took a sick day. They were always at work on time and told me never to say no to a task, even if it was not part of their job description. Learn as much as you can from as many people as you can. This will only make you more marketable in the long run. They pressed me to be fluent in both the English and Spanish languages. Being bilingual will get you far, they used to say. While neither one graduated from college, they encouraged me to pursue my degree when I first decided to further my education. Had I not earned my degree, I may not have gotten the opportunities to learn what I have thus far.
My grandmother was an influential person in my life as well. At the age of 96 years young, grandma had the most amazing-looking skin! Sure… grandma had some wrinkles, but her face was soft, hydrated, and beautiful for the most part. According to her, the secret was Ponds cold cream. My grandmother always told us not to smoke, not drink, not stay up late, and stay away from the sun. She never got angry, and she was always happy, smiling, singing, and bestowing blessings upon us whenever we walked out of the house. Grandma made me want to take care of myself in more ways than one. I want to say that my sunny disposition comes from grandma. She is the one that gave me that glass-half-full attitude. I always tend to look at the brighter side of things because of her. Heck, if I can look like her at 96 years old, I will be ahead of the game!
4. What has led to your success?
Zig Ziglar once said, “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” Having a great attitude is what I contribute to my success. If I were to sit around and “whine and pine” about things that were out of my control at work, school, home, I would never get anything accomplished. I have learned that while I can’t change anything, I can change how I look at it and respond to it. Because of my attitude, I have learned to pivot and adapt to constant changes in every aspect of life. And finally, if you do right for yourself and others, you will be rewarded.
5. What’s your biggest failure—and what did you learn from that experience?
Early in my career, I was haphazardly going into offices without creating a viable plan to help me achieve the goals that I had set for myself. It didn’t get me very far. I was frustrated, upset, and not very happy. I felt like a hamster on a wheel. To be successful and move the needle in the right direction, I had to have a tailored plan for each of my offices depending on their needs and the solutions I could provide. Planning and executing that plan is essential in being successful!
6. What advice would you give someone who wants to earn Presidents Circle?
The first thing I would say is to visualize and verbalize it! Put it on your vision board if you have one. Break the goals down to feel less overwhelmed, write them down, and create an action plan. Set target dates to achieve each goal, reassess if you need to pivot, stay focused, celebrate the wins, and never give up!
7. What is your favorite leadership development book?
Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson is a 94-page, easy-to-read book that highlights something constant in our life: change!
Change happens, anticipate change, monitor change, adapt to change quickly, change, enjoy change, be ready to change again and again quickly. Isn’t this what life is all about?
8. What is your next big goal, and how will you reward yourself when you achieve your goal?
My next goal is to get my dream job. After working hard and achieving my goals, I will celebrate by vacationing in Greece once again!
