Sales Is a Process, Not Luck, Says Marcos Vinicius Pereira
Newe Seguros director details how past business failures and stints at Prudential and Smarters shaped his commercial strategy.
In an interview with Bruno Gimenes, Marcos Vinicius Pereira shares key insights gained throughout his career. The executive breaks down the mistakes made in his early business ventures and explains why he views sales and marketing as structured processes.
Marcos Vinicius Pereira, Director of Commercial, Marketing, and Customer Service at Newe Seguros, joined Bruno Gimenes on Marketing - The Podcast to discuss his career journey and the lessons learned from setbacks and fresh starts in entrepreneurship. In an excerpt from the episode, which also covers broader management topics, Pereira details how hands-on experience and repetition shaped his approach to sales and marketing.
In the video above, Pereira explains that expertise comes not merely from years on the job, but from frequent repetition and practical attempts. Emancipated at age 16, he took over a business with his father that ultimately failed to thrive. The setback motivated him to study advertising and marketing. "When you first study the four Ps, I realized I was failing precisely at the four Ps," Pereira says, recalling the realization that basic management fundamentals were missing in that initial venture.
From the transition into sales to a second construction business
After starting his career in marketing and rising from intern to coordinator, Pereira was encouraged by leadership to transition into sales. Relocated to Rio Grande do Sul, he spent two years in the role before launching his second business: a structural steel assembly company serving the construction industry, founded in partnership with a fellow motorcycle enthusiast.
The company operated for three years before shutting down. Pereira identified that the primary issue was sales pace. "That time, I realized the shortcomings were heavily linked to low sales activity—actual sales frequency. Every company needs to sell something to accelerate," he explains, emphasizing that no business gains traction without steady momentum in sales.
Viewing sales as a method and moving into tech
Analyzing the commercial function, Pereira argues that selling does not rely on improvisation or luck, but on technical planning and researching the prospect beforehand. In his view, marketing and sales must stay closely aligned, executing joint negotiation strategies.
"Sales is a process, not a coincidence. You can structure a sale, you can prepare for a sale, you can gather information, understand who is on the other side of the table, figure out what path to take, and map out plans A, B, and C," Pereira points out. This approach led him to co-found Smarters, a chatbot-focused tech startup that later expanded internationally, from which he exited during its first investment round.
The insurance industry and learning from failure
Pereira later joined Prudential, working under high-performance sales methodologies, and spent eight years at Potencial focused on surety bonds across regional hubs such as Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro before taking on leadership at Newe Seguros.
Pereira emphasizes that resilience and rapid recovery from setbacks are essential in the business world. "The grieving period has to be very short. Something went wrong? Fine. Stop for one minute, one hour, or one day, depending on the scale of the fall," Pereira says, noting that every rejection overcome moves a professional closer to success.