Tait Staff Spotlight: Brian Roberts

Tait Staff Spotlight

At Tait, we take great pride in serving the organizations that are so integral to our way of life: they keep communities safe, our lights on, transport flowing, and provide the raw materials for modern life. To provide them with the great support Tait is renowned for, we have a dedicated team of individuals all over the world that work hard to deliver results. In this blog we meet Brian Roberts, Business Development Manager for Public Safety Market at Tait.

Brian Roberts joins Tait as the Business Development Manager for Public Safety Markets. He will be working remotely from his home office in Charlotte, NC.

With a dozen years of sales experience in the communications space, Brian brings with him surprising insights into sales.

Want to get to know our team? You can find other Tait Staff Spotlight posts here.

Meet Brian Roberts, Business Development Manager for Public Safety Markets at Tait

Brian RobertsBrian took an interesting road to get into sales: he actually started his professional career as a chef and begun working in a kitchen at the age of 15. He attended culinary school and served in various roles in a number of diverse restaurant environments, including Country Clubs and even a five star restaurant!

After that, he transitioned into sales, and for the last dozen years he has been working on a number of telecom sales opportunities.

Maintaining that genuine curiosity with a focus on listening has been a practice that has worked well for me in life and in business.  It places the emphasis on the client and gives them the opportunity to drive the conversation in the direction of what’s really important to them.

Why the decision to move to sales? To get to know Brian a little better, we decided to ask him a few questions:

Can you tell us a little bit about your professional background?

Well, I actually started off on the culinary path when I was younger, working as a chef from when I was 15 years old. That was a fantastic experience and really taught me a lot about work ethic and overcoming obstacles.

I am still really passionate about cooking, but I couldn’t  see a future in the culinary world because of the long hours, nights, weekends, and holidays.

What made me move to sales was the realization that I had a way with people and a knack for developing relationships, and one such relationship helped me land my first sales job working for Anheuser-Busch. Since then, I have worked on multiple telecom sales opportunities.

What an interesting start in sales. Can you tell us more about your approach?

I think there is something to be said for people completely new to sales, because new sales people typically don’t know much at first and all they can do is ask questions.

Maintaining that genuine curiosity with a focus on listening has been a practice that has worked well for me in life and in business. It places the emphasis on the client and gives them the opportunity to drive the conversation in the direction of what’s really important to them.

How do you stay busy outside of work?

My 8 month old daughter keeps my wife and I busy. She has a reputation as the happiest baby anyone can remember. I still love to cook, and I recently bought a smoker, so I’m hoping to get a lot of use out of that.

I also love soccer, and I am already a season ticket holder for the Major League Soccer team the Charlotte FC, which debuts in 2022. I am actually a sports junkie all round, and especially love Duke basketball.

What is it like to live in North Carolina?

North Carolina has a lot to offer. It has a little bit of everything from rural to urban, from beach to mountains. I have traveled extensively throughout my career and have had the pleasure of visiting many beautiful places, but none of those compares with North Carolina.

What is your signature dish?

Portobello mushroom, port wine cream sauce over grilled New York strip with creamed spinach and roasted tomatoes.

Do you have any skills or talents that most people don’t know about?

I’m full of useless knowledge. For example, I have an uncanny ability to remember where professional athletes played collegiately.

What would the title of your autobiography be?

I think something like ‘Begin Again’ would be a good title.

Do you have a favorite quote/parting words?

“Whatever your goals, the quality of the journey has to become more important than those fleeting moments when you actually arrive at your destination.”

Brian’s unique professional background, skills and fresh insights make him a fantastic addition to our Tait Americas team. Brian reports to Kevin Sumrell, VP of Sales at Tait.


Tait Head OfficeGet in Touch with Tait

If there’s anything Brian or the team at any of our regional offices can do to help you, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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