In this episode of The Channel Zone Podcast, host Mark Edwards sits down with Steve Dawes, Chief Growth Officer at syclonX, for a conversation that spans nearly five decades of enterprise sales evolution.

Steve shares insights from his early career at Mars, where discipline, structure, and relentless activity defined success—22 calls a day, strict processes, and constant accountability. From there, the discussion moves into the legendary Rank Xerox era, widely regarded as the birthplace of modern solution selling. Steve reveals the intensity of Xerox’s training programs, the power of role play, and how sales excellence was built through immersion, coaching, and real-world experience—not dashboards or digital tools.

The conversation highlights a stark contrast between past and present selling environments. Steve and Mark explore how face-to-face selling, team camaraderie, and “learning by doing” created stronger salespeople—and question whether today’s reliance on Zoom and remote selling has weakened those fundamentals.

Steve also reflects on his time at Wang, one of the pioneers of word processing, and how simplifying technology for users became a powerful sales advantage. Along the way, he shares memorable stories—from managing a misfit team into top performers through energy, culture, and belief, to selling high-value systems through live demonstration and customer engagement.

The episode closes with hard-earned lessons from a 50-year career in sales, including the importance of showing up, building real relationships, and maintaining emotional connection within teams. It’s a rich, nostalgic, and highly practical discussion for anyone interested in how great salespeople are truly developed.