In meeting Heath Shoup, it’s easy to recognize his passion for his work, the avocado industry, and the people he manages and works with. With over two decades of experience at West Pak Avocado, he has worked in various positions, quite literally from the bottom up, learning everything there is to know about delivering fresh avocados from farm to plate. Today, as Vice President of Sales and Product Management, Planning, and Logistics, Heath uses his multi-department expertise to ensure operations run smoothly as he leads his sales team to success.
What is your title?
Heath Shoup: I am Vice President of Sales and Product Management, Planning, and Logistics
How long have you been with West Pak?
Heath Shoup: I’m in my 22nd year.
How did you get started in sales?
Heath Shoup: It was more of a progressive line for the time that I’ve been at West Pak that I knew I wanted to get into sales. I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps. Randy Shoup is my dad and one of the owners of West Pak Avocado. He’s always been in sales; I was learning from him at an early age and seeing what he got to do and who he got to talk to. I wanted to do the same thing. I knew that the only way to get there was to start from the bottom up and learn everything I could about avocados, what we do, and how we do it, and that would give me the opportunity to speak more clearly about it when I’m talking to customers.
How did you get your start at West Pak?
Heath Shoup: I started out packing avocados on the packing line, sorting and grading, right down in the thick of things. From there, I moved into our Bagging department, where I learned about bagging avocados and how those machines worked and bagging up our programs. Then I moved into Ripening, where I learned how to ripen avocados. When we moved from our old-school style airflow rooms to our higher-pressure ripening rooms, I was at the forefront of that fifteen years ago. There are many things I implemented back then that we still do today.
From there, I got my forklift certification, moved into Shipping and Receiving, and did that for a couple of years. Then I got my commercial driver’s license and drove a semi-truck, a boom truck mostly, for West Pak for three years. I went out in the field, picking up from our growers and working, learning, and meeting those individuals. Then, I moved into the Field department, buying avocados and handling many Southern California growers. I was building relationships on the grower side and with the harvesting crews.
Eventually, there was a need somewhat close to the sales department in Logistics. That’s where I started running our Logistics department for a few years while being more like a customer service rep and sales assistant. From there, I moved my way up into Sales, and now I’m our Vice President of Sales and Product Management, Planning, and Logistics.
How has your experience with your various positions at West Pak helped you with your position in Sales now?
Heath Shoup: I can speak to the process and what goes into avocados, so it’s a lot clearer to individuals who don’t understand how avocados get from farm to table. It has also helped me flourish in my relationships across the departments. When we have individuals who know I’ve gone through the same things that they’re going through now or on the things that I need on the sales side, I have a clear understanding of what it takes and what they go through – for each employee, each position. I’ve been in their shoes, so I understand the good and the bad that goes along with it and the hard and the easy things. Other individuals who may not have that experience might be demanding something of the team that I understand might take longer or might cause some discomfort. I can speak to it more clearly and find a workaround or a way to accommodate both sides of the table.
Tell us what your role is really like.
Heath Shoup: It’s like being a Jack of all trades. I sell avocados to my customers daily and handle customers across the United States, which helps keep me grounded on what the market and the industry are doing. So, when working with my direct Sales team or my CSRs (customer service representatives), I know what they’re going through and what it takes.
When I describe my daily work, it’s me helping be the glue that keeps the company together. I’m connecting the Planning team with Supply Chain and Supply Chain with Sales. I’m helping figure out and troubleshoot or helping the team learn and guiding them to an answer of what would be the most successful for the customer, for the company, and having them elevate themselves to positions that they’re able to think around the corner or what is going to be the next thing that’s going on. It’s about helping each individual learn and grow.
What’s it like being a leader or mentor to your team?
Heath Shoup: It’s a lot harder than you would think. Different people work in different ways. Different things motivate different people. It was probably one of the hardest things for me to learn in my tenure of being a manager. I’ve been through a lot of classes in leadership. I also have a regular executive coach that I work with, and I can talk to him about these things to help me understand what it takes to motivate individuals who may not be motivated in the same ways that I am. Work-life balance sometimes motivates people. Giving the kudos more often to some individuals than others need it. Money motivates people, but not everybody. So, it’s getting down to understanding what each individual wants and knowing them personally. It’s not hanging out with them on the weekend; it’s not doing things like that. It’s more of listening to their needs at the office, being there as a support person to them in their ideas and processes and helping them learn from them. When you make a mistake, it’s also being able to own up to that, being accountable for it, and not playing the blame game. It’s helping to be a part of that and letting the team know you’re there for and supporting them.
What’s your favorite thing about your current position?
Heath Shoup: It’s probably developing those internal relationships, and if you had asked me that two or three years ago, I probably wouldn’t have said that. It’s finding the right fit for West Pak and who’s a team player and who’s not. Understanding what makes people tick and that not everybody is a good fit. As a leader, it’s being able to understand and help find the right fit for them, where they fit into the program, or the piece of the puzzle. That’s what motivates me to be here with everybody. I like the dynamics of working with the different teams across the board.
To see what you’re building, having an end goal in mind, and then realizing the success of that and being able to share that with the team is motivating for me.
How does working in sales become a life lesson?
Heath Shoup: Working in sales really puts you out there in front of people. If you like to have conversations and learn about things or people you don’t know, it takes you out of your comfort zone. That’s for sure.
My wife laughs because I can be at any bar, restaurant, or any place, and I can pick something out about somebody and start a conversation. By the end of the night, we’re exchanging numbers and contacts or whatever it is. My wife just says, “How do you do that?” I’ve never been really comfortable with doing it, and it takes me out of my comfort zone, but I keep practicing because it’s contacting, it’s networking, it’s knowing somebody. I may never talk to that person again in my life, but I have a network contact. It’s an “I know a guy thing.”
It may take you out of your comfort zone for sales, but it helps when you have those conversations outside of work. It probably even helps me in my personal life and my family life. The biggest thing for relationships is communication. So, being able to communicate and not being afraid to talk about something or if there’s a problem with a customer only helps you communicate in other aspects of your life.
So, going into sales, you have to be able to communicate, and you can hone those communication skills at work, at home, and with friends and family. That’s what I’ve learned the most in sales.
What are 3–5 values you hold near and dear?
Heath Shoup: I would say, be truthful and honest, be helpful – lend a helping hand. Don’t just stay in your lane. Always rise to the challenge.
There’s a saying that a past colleague taught me, and it’s stuck with me over the years: if you don’t ask, the answer is always no. It just goes with anything in life. It’s a value that I’ve always learned: take the shot, try it. Yeah, we will make mistakes, but we’ll learn from them and move on.
Tell us something about yourself that will surprise us!
Heath Shoup: Up until about a year ago, I was a professional off-road racer. I’ve raced the SCORE race series in the Baha 1000 and in the Best In The Desert (BITD) series in the USA.
I also currently hold two U.S. patents for items related to the avocado industry.
Who are three mentors that played a key role in your journey, and what did they contribute?
Heath Shoup:
- I’d say one of my biggest mentors would be my dad, Randy Shoup Co-owner of West Pak Avocado. The way that I do things in my life. I’ve learned a lot from him. The way I conduct myself, the way he’s always conducted himself, is an image that I want to portray. He is highly respected in the industry, and he’s known by a lot of people. I want to follow in his footsteps. I’ve learned a lot from him. Early on, he set the groundwork and base for how I should be in life.
- My executive coach, Joel Garfinkle. He’s helped me get to where I am today and helped me understand and learn how to work better with my team members. He’s taken the things that I’ve learned from my dad and given me tips and tricks and guidance on how to amplify and change them to give me a different perspective of those things and life as well.
- Recently, Mario Pacheco, West Pak’s CEO, has given me a different view of business and how to run a business.
How would you describe your work ethic?
Heath Shoup: Hard-working and dedicated.
Share some words of wisdom for the next generation.
Heath Shoup: If you’re going to try anything, put your full effort into it.
Everything takes time. I didn’t just come in and get to where I am today. I’ve had to put the blood, sweat, and tears into this role and learned every aspect. I’m still learning today.
The old analogy is when you’re in elementary school, you learn to read, and then you read to learn later in your career. In the early stages of any job, you will learn the job. Then, you will apply that and grow into other positions that make you more of an asset to a company. Be dedicated to it. Give it your all. It won’t be all roses and butterflies at the beginning – no job is. But you’ve got to find something that you like, and you got to invest in it. Don’t do your hobby as your job because it will burn it out. Find something you like to do that you’re happy to do and invest the time to do it well.
Find a good work-life balance. Take care of yourself. I’ve learned that more recently. The stress of the everyday job, find something outside of that, whether walking, running, or working out. Find something that will take your mind away from it and help you relax and downturn. I think that’s an essential part. I didn’t understand that early on. I didn’t learn that from my dad; I learned a little from my executive coach. I learned a lot from Roger Conway. He was on our Board of Directors for a while, and he helped me learn a little bit more about that work-life balance of what is important to keep your body in your mind and a good working state.
How do others describe you?
Heath Shoup: If people were to describe me, you’d probably say I’m a no-nonsense kind of guy. I’m direct. When we’re in work hours, I’m about work and getting the job done. I’m about moving the company forward, and outside of that, after the normal workday, I can shut work off. I don’t need to talk about work. I can separate the two.
In describing me, others might say that when I’m at work, I know what I’m talking about. I want to move the company forward and be the best I can be. Outside of work, I will have all the conversations about you about your family, friends, dogs, cats, hobbies, etc. That’s me as a person. I will get to know you on a personal level. I will remember a lot of things that are going on in people’s lives and be sure to check on them. That’s where I think I’ve changed a lot from before. I listen to the team. I do a lot of talking, but I do just as much listening now.
What’s something that you’ve learned recently?
Heath Shoup: I’ve been told to listen to people more as a leader. Don’t be quick to respond; listen to them, hear them out, and check on them. So, now it’s about knowing what’s going on, trying to keep a good vibe and a good pulse on the team, what people might be having going on, and being willing to work with them.
Anything else you can add?
Heath Shoup: The one who supports me the most through everything is my lovely wife, Lindsay. We’ve been together for over twenty years and married for twelve. She’s the one who has helped me from the beginning. She is my biggest driver and pusher. She helps me understand things from a different perspective at times and helps me understand things on how others might view them. She is just as much invested in West Pak as I am. I could not do it without her support. She has given me two wonderful kids, Bodi (8) and Piper (5). Everything I do has my family in mind. We’re a very active family; we like camping, off-roading, boating, and doing all kinds of sports. Everything you can imagine, like golf, soccer, the gym, gymnastics, horseback riding. etc.
