May Rhynold
Account Executive
416.240.4493
“It is nice to just pick up the phone, contact a stranger, and see if we can help them.”
Around thirty years ago, a young student in the twelfth grade enrolled in a co-operative education class to get a head-start on the working world she would eventually need to join. Her instructors guided her towards a position at a company called Van Smith, where she quickly began to stand out to her supervisors. At the end of that semester, those supervisors approached her and asked her if she’d like a job at the company.
Roughly thirty years and one merger later, May Rhynold is a true force for good on the SVS Marketing sales team, thanks to her innate, honest desire to see her clients succeed. For May, the work she performs on a regular basis at SVS is all about building real relationships, and this goes far beyond simple “supply and demand” partnerships.
If you’re skeptical of this, you could always ask her customers — or better yet, ask their children, whose hockey and soccer games she’s attended happily in the past.
“You have to keep a tight relationship with your customers; to me, that’s key.”
Considering her natural affinity for the task, it might be surprising to learn that May did not begin her work at Van Smith as a part of its sales team; originally she worked in Shipping & Receiving before finding a better fit for her working style in Sales. Since then, she has developed a strong affinity for the work, and now specializes in promotional marketing. She enjoys working with promotional branded products because they force her to be creative, hardworking, and always ahead of the customer. This active kind of work appeals greatly to May, and it is little wonder that she has found such a strong enjoyment for each project involved.
Over her many years working at SVS Marketing, May has developed her own unique system for sales work. In many ways, she sees her sales approach as being “old school;” she still does the odd cold call, and thrives off her referrals, preferring to allow her excellent relationships with existing clients to bring in new opportunities. When she does meet a new customer, she often wins them over quickly through simple kindness. May stands out for trying to build, on some level, a personal relationship with all of her customers.
Of course, there are some challenges that a strong first impression can’t always overcome. When clients are searching for competitive pricing or for truly unique products, May works hard to find solutions that work for her team and her customers. Her creative side often manifests itself in situations like these, allowing her to innovate and augment existing products to help her clients stand out from the crowd. She is very good at adding to and enhancing existing products, and enjoys the opportunity to apply her innate creativity.
May’s best clients are usually the ones whose own personalities work best alongside hers. These are the customers who will join her for lunch and dinner on occasion, and a few who have even been to her children’s sporting events. As someone who is willing to go the extra mile for her clients — in the past, she’s both picked up and delivered samples to customers herself to accommodate sudden changes in deadline — and as someone who makes a true effort to build a strong, lasting relationship with each of her customers, it feels as though May’s journey from Co-op to Shipping to Sales could not have ended in a better way for her — or, indeed, for any of her clients today.
“I enjoy the industry and the people that I work with. … I tried it, I liked it, and here I am!”