Hello! My name is Alexander Horncliff.

I am a Bay Area native who has carried on a family tradition of attending California State Universities by being the third person in my family to attend one.

At my university I had the opportunity to hold major leadership positions in over 4 different organizations, present to groups of over 300 people, lobby our state government for educational resources and work with people of all ages from toddlers to senior citizens. I am naturally curious and enjoy problem solving. I work at a frenetic pace and often have high expectations of the people I work with.

I started down my current path desiring a medical career. I had hopes of being a doctor of some sort, saving lives and making the world better. My curiosity combined with my aptitude for problem solving are two strong factors that led me to believe that's where I would work best. However, while working side jobs to pay for my college education, I realized sales was far more accessible and connected better with my skillset. Sales gave me the ultimate opportunity to showcase my talents while helping people solve real problems. It allowed me to build strong connections and constantly challenge myself to find inventive ways of solving problems I had never before conceived.

Since that decision, I have dived in headfirst to the world of sales. I worked my way up from cold calling SDR work to Mid-Market Account Executive responsibilities with many scars to show for my efforts. My passion for the sales life is unscathed as I don't believe any career could offer me the type of challenge sales presents.

Variety is the Spice of Life - A Brief History

My roots in sales began when I was working at EXPRESS. This was my first foray into up-selling, rapport building, and various other social tools that would later become central to my sales style. This was immensely helpful and the manager was probably one of the most informative men I will ever meet. I then bounced over to MINDBODY, Inc to sharpen my phone skills and excelled for a year with an outstanding close percentage. This was my first dip into the pool of tech sales and the challenge instantly excited me. Next was NetApp and my education about cloud and on-premise storage. This also gave me a thorough understanding of security laws and the types of compliance various businesses need concerning domestic and foreign data storage. For the year after graduation, I was a Residential Solar Consultant at Sunrun, Inc and got my first taste of closing deals. This was a straight to consumer role that sparked my consultative streak that has shaped the way I approach sales today. In the following years I would close at Adobe as well and for a stint I worked at Insightly as a BDR to get an idea of startup life. Here in 2018 is the culmination of my work as I am at a company size I love and selling something I truly believe in with Hustle.

Why does it matter? - What is my "Why"

I have a firm belief in the importance of people's "Why". There is nothing quite like understanding underlying motivations to see why people make decisions. Often these are hidden deeply in layers and require careful questioning and rapport to uncover. For the purpose of this website, I think it's important you as the reader can understand my "why".

My mother raised me and my sister as a single mother until she remarried. Her hard work and unwillingness to compromise our quality of life gave me the motor and desire to be great. I had to choose colleges based on what I could personally afford, not based on where I had gotten into. While this hurt initially I can't imagine a better path for my life than through Cal Poly. The friendships there have given me perspective and a twinkling of the man I can be when I put forth my best effort. Most personally, my father passed away in late 2014 leaving me as the last remaining "Horncliff" in the world. Our name will always follow us as we go through life. I aim to make mine a name worth remembering.

All of this to say that I enjoy doing sales because I get to be around people of all backgrounds. People who have it both better and worse than me but my experiences help me relate, and their experiences help me grow. I am not sure where my path will lead me quite yet. I do know that I will greet every challenge with a smile, because it's just another problem to solve, and that's what I do best.

Things I try to remember - My Core principles

You will only get out what you put in. Show up and expect to work hard before you get results.
Remember that the little things matter. Send that text to your friend when you're thinking about them, ask people how their day is going and actually listen. You never know the impact of something small on someone else.
The day is not over until you make it so. There is always time to find meaning in a day, be productive in some capacity and you'll spend more time remembering what you did than regretting what you didn't.

So what else?

I was born in the bay area. I went to college in San Luis Obispo at Cal Poly SLO. I am a great cook and love hearing new recipes. My family animal is the bear. I do not have a birth mark. I like to read at least 3 books a month. I'm from the Bay but I love Portland. I am an extreme fitness fanatic if you haven't already noticed. My favorite animal is a penguin!

Thanks for visiting my slice of the WWW.

Check out my personality profile(s) below!

To get a better understanding of my personality, feel free to click the links below to get a very accurate snapshot of the kind of worker and person I am.