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Pam Sanders is an Owner and Mechanical Systems Engineer at TSA Sales Associates. Her firm designs the supply systems for manufacturers, which includes solids handling, storage, air pollution control, air movement, conveying, and other processes.
She talks to Cynthia about the early stages of her career, being the rare female engineer at Proctor and Gamble before spending years doing missionary work in Mexico. Ultimately she returned to St. Louis, where she and her sister now run the firm their father started. She wears many hats and shares wisdom from the perspective of an entrepreneur, sales leader, and engineer.
1 – Introduction 00:23
2 – Tell us what you do 01:54
3 – Air pollution element of Pam’s business 03:27
4 – Understanding what Pam’s company offers 04:05
5 – What do you calculate in your business? 04:45
6 – What is required to be passionate about what you do? 05:27
7 – Decision to go to Georgia Tech for Engineering 06:23
8 – You bonded with a lot of women from GA Tech, why do you think that is? 08:04
9 – What was it like walking into first engineering class? 08:55
10 – Were you used to large ratios male to female? 10:00
11 – Challenges faces as a female in engineering major? 10:42
12 – Length of the program 12:21
13 – Challenge of engineering and project managing 13:33
14 – What helped you be most successful in that role? 14:33
15 – Importance of Project Management Skill 15:49
16 – How did you lead fresh out of college 16:44
17 – How did you know a company had few women? 18:23
18 – Feeling being the only woman 20:02
19 – Was it hard to ask for help as the young female? 21:21
20 – How long did it take to find the right role? 23:07
21 – Knowing the role is right 24:15
22 – How long at Proctor and Gamble? 25:27
23 – Why did P&G want to keep you? 26:18
24 – How did you build relationships in the office 27:20
25 – Building relationships in post-Covid world 29:14
26 – Want to hear from team on how to improve 31:23
27 – How did Mexico non-profit come up? 32:16
28 – What was the group doing in Mexico? 33:33
29 – Similar to Summer Program? 34:40
30 – What’s it like to live in a real Mexican city? 35:39
31 – Relationships in Mexico 36:48
32 – Kids open minded 37:45
33 – Value of being open 38:28
34 – Why did you end up leaving Mexico? 39:41
35 – You intended to go back to Mexico? 41:07
36 – What did you do next? 42:18
37 – Why did you want to own you own business? 44:57
38 – What parameters in place to see how it goes? 45:45
39 – Was there a moment when you knew it would work? 48:19
40 – A lot of pressure to get it right 49:38
41 – Additional layers of challenges with family and female component? 51:07
42 – Did clients see you differently? 53:32
43 – Was it helpful not to lead with relationship to your father? 54:28
44 – Worried about not being taken seriously because of family connection. 54:44
45 – Did your sister have similar challenges in taking over? 55:06
46 – How did you get comfortable with sales? 56:10
47 – What do you do to build relationships? 57:23
48 – Any challenge to being a female salesperson in your industry? 59:00
49 – Helpful to have teammate redirect questions to the expert. 1:01:49
50 – How do you demonstrate credibility without bragging. 1:03:46
51 – Any other business owner tips or tricks? 1:04:57
52 – How do you stay in your zone of genius? 1:07:09
53 – Summary of Pam’s approach 1:08:53
Content Notice
This podcast and all She Lift Project content represents the opinions of Cynthia Kirkpatrick and her guests. The content here is for informational purposes only, and should not be taken as professional advice – financial, legal, medical, or otherwise.
Views and opinions expressed in the podcast and across all She Lift Project media channels are our own and do not represent that of our places of work. While we make every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors.
“Young Shannon became an overachiever because she was a people pleaser. She needed to please others. And so that really developed in my adulthood as well. “
“They say, I’m still working 60, 80 hours a week. I got into this so I could pick my kids up from school and so I could attend their soccer games that are after school and I haven’t been able to attend one. I got into this so that we could go on great family vacations. And I haven’t been on a vacation now in five years. More people are coming to us for those reasons…it’s the lifestyle sacrifices that are causing people more pain than taking home a paycheck that isn’t what they thought it would be.”
It’s not about me selling and, you know, me making money. It’s about you being satisfied and happy with what you want and what you need. And I’ve always had that kind of philosophy, and my dad had that, too. And people recognize you’re not in it for yourself, you’re in it for them. And you’re sincere, and it really goes a long way.
Leadership is not about the leader. And I equate this back to basketball. When you have coach or coaches, they can’t go out on the court and shoot the ball and dribble the ball and pass the ball. But coaches have to be really good at getting work done through others. And so from a leadership perspective, that’s how I see it. As a leader, I have to be really good at getting work done through others.
“Gallup just got done with their survey for 2022. They found 25% better profitability in companies that have great employee cultures. Because when you have happy employees, happy employees make your customers happy. Happy employees want to invite other people to come work at their company. Happy employees want to share their ideas to make the company better. All of a sudden, you’ve created this culture where people want to contribute, and that’s the reason we do what we do.”
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