Joseph P. Smith

An accomplished senior sales management professional with long-term tenure and documented sales results.  11+ years of sales management and director-level positions in the Telecommunications and Data industry.  Significant experience in developing sales environments geared to generate new business through a high-activity sales platform and a loyalty-based team environment.

To learn more about my career and qualifications please see my online resume at Visual CV.

Career Bio

Joseph P. Smith holds a Bachelors Degree in Advertising from Southern Illinois University and is a native of Westville, IL.  He currently holds the position of Director of Channel Sales at an AT&T Solution Provider agency, Simplified Business Services.  In his current role, Mr. Smith leads a diverse team of telecom equipment and service providers from across the nation as part of the AT&T Alliance Channel, AT&T’s Indirect Sales division.  His position includes an array of responsibilities including agent recruitment, sales and product training, sales management, and organizational administration.  In addition to developing the agent channel, Mr. Smith has also taken on the role of Search Engine Marketer, utilizing SEM and Local Search Advertising to dramatically increase the success rate of the agent recruiting process, as well as generating new sales leads through inbound marketing.   

Prior to his current position, Mr. Smith was the Senior Regional Manager of NC Division Sales at Birch Telecom, a regional CLEC in the Southwest and Southeast which focused on small and medium sized business accounts primarily utilizing POTS lines and DSL services on a UNE-P platform.  Having started with Birch in 1999 as an Account Executive, Mr. Smith was promoted a total of 5 times through the various ranks of sales management before being placed in charge of the entire state of North Carolina.  Mr. Smith’s career at Birch was highly distinguished, having earned numerous awards and recognition, including the highly regarded honor of Presidents Club (known as Birchievers) 5 out of 6 eligible years.  A leader amongst his peers, Mr. Smith was also used on a regular basis in sales management training capacities, including a video series on the sales management process produced by Birch at the corporate headquarters in Kansas City, Mo.

While at Birch Telecom, Mr. Smith’s sales organization consistently ranked at the top of company-wide sales results.  An avid evangelist of high-activity based sales techniques, he led his sales teams to outstanding performance levels by closely inspecting these activities and by leadership through action.  In addition, Mr. Smith headed-up an initiative to move Birch up-market by focusing on the acquisition of high-value multi-location accounts, including many well known retail chain corporations.  The efforts of this initiative led Birch to create a new division within the company, the National Accounts Team, which originated in the Charlotte office. 

In addition to sales results, Mr. Smith’s career at Birch was also highlighted by the tenure and career development of his sales team associates.  Members of Mr. Smith’s team went on to become Senior Account Executives, District Managers and even the company’s first National Accounts Manager.   The average sales representative tenure in the Charlotte sales office was the highest in the region, which clearly reflected Mr. Smith’s passion for career and leadership development within his organization. 

Since the late 90’s, a hallmark of Mr. Smith’s career has been the opening of new sales regions through market expansion.  As an Area Sales Manager for Birch, he was selected by the Regional Vice President to assist in creating the first Southeast Regional sales team for Birch Telecom in Atlanta, GA.  He was later charged with opening the Carolina markets by staffing the first teams in Charlotte and Greensboro, as well as remote offices in Raleigh, Asheville and Wilmington.  Prior to Birch, Mr. Smith was an AT&T Campaign Manager at Cydcor, an outsourced Direct Sales Force for AT&T CLEC services.  While at Cydcor his sales and management skills were utilized to assist in the opening of new AT&T sales offices in Indianapolis, Boston, Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth.  His early personal sales success fueled his career in sales management and continues to drive his passion for success in the telecom industry today.