Juan De La Torre
A native Floridian, Juan grew up in a retail environment selling shoes, doing stock room work and helping his parents run the family’s children’s clothing and furniture business. While attending college in 1986, he was employed by UPS into their Air Operations function. During the first 3 years of a 21-year career at UPS, he worked his way to management assuming responsibilities for the South Florida air gateway operation.
Once graduated from business school, he was chosen to join UPS’s South Florida Business Development team in 1992. There, he spent 9 years in consultative selling roles as an Account Manager, Major Account Manager and International Account Manager. He was directly engaged with C-level decision-makers, accommodating their business needs with a portfolio of solutions. In 2001, Juan was promoted to Sales Manager, enabling him to share his passion for sales and increasing his ability to influence teams on strategy, best practices and proven fundamentals. As South Florida’s Sales Staffing and Training Manager in 2004, he created an “entry-level” sales team (Sales Representatives) and developed a customized training program to assist with a growing turnover issue, along with training responsibilities for a sales staff of over 50 resources.
In 2005, Juan accepted a special assignment opportunity in the Americas Region as interim Sales and Marketing Manager responsible for Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Residing in Puerto Rico, he was responsible for a $45M sales plan, a staff of 38 and identifying/training his permanent replacement. He was then promoted to Director of Sales within the American Region that same year.
As Director of Sales, Juan spent the latter part of his UPS career leading sales growth for Trade Direct, the industry’s most integrated supply chain solution. He managed a dedicated sales staff of over 40 and was responsible for the growth of a $125M sales budget. In this role, he had the opportunity to create/execute successful initiatives, motivate and achieve results via diverse cultures in the region and engage in global negotiations with Fortune 500 organization’s manufacturing abroad.
He decided to leverage his strengths and diversify his career in 2008 by accepting an opportunity as Director of Regional Franchise Development and Latin American Marketing for Norwalk, a domestic U.S. custom furniture manufacturer with more than 1,300 dealers in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. He used his extensive experience in customer relations, sales training, sales management, marketing, and business development to support 11 retail locations in Florida, of which 4 are corporate-owned and he directly manages. He continues to work on expanding the breadth of the company’s international business.
Juan currently serves as a Senior Business Consultant with Motivational Speaking and Training Solutions, MSTS. MSTS is an international training organization dedicated to helping business leaders connect their events and training needs with the right professional speakers and trainers. Juan is recognized as an international sales and marketing expert.
Juan attended the Plantation campus of the University of Phoenix, where he earned his MBA in 2001 and graduated with his Bachelor’s in Business and Marketing from Florida International University in 1991. His professional and executive sales training includes the successful completion of a number of Huthwaite programs, leadership seminars and public relations training. Juan is fluent in English and Spanish.
Languages
English and Spanish
Areas of Expertise
- International and Domestic Sales
- Training and Staffing
- Sales Strategy Development
- Business Consulting
- Business Marketing