Effective immediately, the new address for our Illinois office is:
Control Sales, Inc.
3701 Algonquin Road, Suite 520
Rolling Meadows, Illinois 60008
All other contact information remains the same. We look forward to your next visit!
Control Sales has moved our Illinois office to a new location!
May 5th, 2025Control Sales Named Manufacturers’ Representative for Electroswitch in Illinois and Wisconsin
May 2nd, 2025
Control Sales is proud to announce our appointment as the Manufacturers’ Representative for Electroswitch in Illinois and Wisconsin. Electroswitch Electronic Products, a division of Electro Switch Corp, has been delivering highly reliable, fully engineered switch solutions and custom value-added services since 1986.
Offering the industry’s most extensive range of standard and custom electromechanical switches—including rotary, toggle, pushbutton, and rocker designs—Electroswitch products are trusted in critical electronic applications around the globe. The company’s strength lies in its ability to provide custom-designed solutions tailored to meet virtually any customer requirement across a wide array of industries.
“We are excited about the opportunities this partnership brings,” said Kingsland Coombs, President of Control Sales. “Electroswitch’s high-quality product line, much of which is manufactured in the USA, is a perfect complement to our premier electromechanical offering. With our extensive experience in switches, we’re confident in our ability to bring immediate value to our customers.
Welcoming Greg Gorsuch to the Control Sales Team
May 2nd, 2025
We are excited to announce that Greg Gorsuch has joined Control Sales as Account Manager for Wisconsin, stepping into the role following the upcoming retirement of John Ivey on May 31, 2025.
Greg brings with him a strong background in sales leadership, account management, and business development, with a particular focus on the electronics and defense sectors. Most recently, he served as an Aftermarket Sales & Proposal Analyst at Fairbanks Morse Defense, where he led cross-functional teams and developed multi-million-dollar proposals aligned with both business goals and customer needs. Prior to that, Greg spent seven years at Bisco Industries in various sales and management roles, overseeing hundreds of client accounts and driving consistent revenue growth.
Greg is known for his strategic mindset, relationship-building skills, and commitment to demand creation. His hands-on experience managing complex sales cycles and optimizing pricing strategies will allow him to quickly adapt to the needs of the dynamic OEMs in his territory.
Based in Wisconsin, Greg will be serving customers throughout the greater Milwaukee area, central and northern Wisconsin. He is eager to connect with our OEM and distributor partners and continue the tradition of customer-first service that John Ivey exemplified throughout his tenure.
Please join us in welcoming Greg to the team! You can reach him at ggorsuch@controlsales.com or through the Brookfield office at (262) 797-9500 x203.
Celebrating the Retirement of John Ivey – May 31, 2025
May 2nd, 2025
After more than three decades of dedicated service to the electronics industry—and eight impactful years with Control Sales—we are both proud and a bit reflective to announce that John Ivey, Account Manager for Wisconsin, will be retiring on May 31, 2025.
John joined Control Sales in 2017, bringing with him a wealth of experience from key sales roles with premier manufacturers’ representatives and distributors in both Wisconsin and New Jersey. From our Brookfield, Wisconsin office, John has built and nurtured long-standing relationships with OEMs and distributors across the greater Milwaukee area, and both central and northern Wisconsin.
Known for his extensive product knowledge—from switches, sensors, and relays to thermal management and interconnect solutions—John has consistently delivered value-added expertise, particularly in the medical and industrial sectors. Whether helping a customer navigate a complex sales cycle or developing solutions for factory automation, food equipment, or packaging systems, John has been a trusted and respected partner to all who’ve had the pleasure of working with him.
Outside of work, John is an outdoorsman and enjoys spending time in the kitchen trying out new recipes. We know he’s looking forward to more time to explore both passions in retirement.
Please join us in celebrating John’s outstanding career and wishing him the very best in this next chapter. He would love to hear from colleagues, customers, and friends—feel free to send your well wishes to him at JIvey@ControlSales.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-ivey-99b4261b/.
Thank you, John, for your many years of commitment, professionalism, and friendship. You’ll be greatly missed!
Control Sales Welcomes Larry Fleischman as the New Account Manager for Southeast Wisconsin
January 27th, 2025
Control Sales is proud to announce the addition of Larry Fleischman as our new Account Manager for the Southeast Wisconsin territory. Larry joins us with over 20 years of experience in field applications engineering and sales, having held key positions at Avnet, Heilind and Future Electronics. Larry earned his B.S. in Biomedical (Electrical) Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, bringing both technical expertise and practical experience to his new role.
Kingsland Coombs, President of Control Sales, shared his enthusiasm for the new hire:
“I am thrilled to welcome a professional of Larry’s caliber to our team. His deep technical knowledge and ability to tackle complex applications make him an invaluable resource for our customers and principals. Larry’s unique insight will also drive demand creation across our product lines, further strengthening our partnerships.”
Larry expressed his excitement about joining Control Sales, saying:
“Throughout my career, I’ve had the privilege of teaching in both academic and professional settings. Those experiences have sharpened my technical communication skills—an essential foundation for success in field applications engineering and sales. I enjoy collaborating with design engineers, delivering product training, and resolving technical challenges.
“Having grown up in a small farming community and lived in larger cities, I bring a strong work ethic and small-town values to every workplace. I’m eager to serve and support the talented engineers of Southeast Wisconsin.”
Please join us in welcoming Larry to the Control Sales team!
Arrow Tech Expo 2022
November 15th, 2022
Control Sales and Panasonic Industrial Devices Sales Company of America were proud to exhibit at the Arrow Technology Expo on Thursday, November 3rd, 2022 at the Stonegate Conference Center in Hoffman Estates, IL. A productive day of sharing new products and diving into the latest technologies. Thanks to Arrow for a great event!
Control Sales Announces the Addition of Mike Marshall
November 8th, 2021Control Sales proudly announces the addition of Mike Marshall as the new Account Manager for the Southeast Wisconsin territory. Mike comes from TTI, Inc. in Brookfield, Wisconsin where he was a field sales representative with an impressive growth track record.
Mike comments “I am excited to start a new challenge as a manufacturers’ representative at Control Sales. From my roles at TTI, I bring sales experience with many of Control Sales lines including ITT Cannon, Panasonic, C&K, and Sensata. Also, I have been working with customers in the territory for over four years. I am eager to leverage my experience into the rep sales model where I can work closely with engineers to deliver high-value, design-in solutions.”
Kingsland Coombs, President of Control Sales, said “We are very proud to announce the addition of Mike to our team. He is a proven electronics sales professional who comes with industry knowledge and customer experience. More importantly, he has the energy, enthusiasm, and flexibility necessary for selling in an industry undergoing growth and change. Mike has tremendous potential and I look forward to helping him succeed.”
Mike can be reached at 414-313-9787 or mmarshall@controlsales.com.
Virtual Sales and a Call to Action
November 8th, 2021
Article Published in The Representor Fall 2021
Author Kingsland Coombs
President, Control Sales, Inc
We need to have a conversation about virtual meetings. From my perspective, there are far too many virtual calls that still have the feel of a technology thrust upon us during dark times. Something reasonably effective, but a temporary substitute for “real” selling. Alas, we have come to realize that virtual calls are here to stay no matter what happens with Covid. They are efficient, effective, and many customers PREFER them. So, why haven’t we 100% embraced this medium and become experts?
Aren’t we in the business of selling our brand, our manufacturers’ brand? How is that accomplished if we don’t present ourselves in the best possible way? In the ERA Virtual Training classes, a lot was discussed about best practices for virtual meetings. I will share three main thoughts with a focus on customer sales calls.
#1 Energy and Professionalism
We are now selling our brands through a virtual medium that is an invisible barrier to personal connections. Before Covid, our skillset included ways to maximize our physical presence with firm handshakes, food, eye contact, vocal tone, body language, and carefully reading a room. Are these skills suddenly less relevant? In fact, the opposite is true! We must enhance our skillset to create a virtual presence that achieves the same personal connections that our physical presence once did.
This begins with how we present ourselves on camera. Must the camera be on? Even if the customer’s is not? A thousand times yes! If you were invited to a face-to-face meeting, would you join via a conference call? Customers want to see your smiling faces no matter whether they have their camera on or not. Professional dress, personal grooming, and bright, flattering lighting will make you camera ready. Frame yourself so that your head and shoulders dominate the screen. Make sure the sound is clear. Your appearance matters in person and matters virtually as well.
Put everyone at ease by being relaxed and confident on camera. This can feel awkward at first, so practice. Smile and make eye contact by using the camera, not the monitor. Use hand gestures for emphasis and vary your vocal tone to keep your audience engaged. Share your personality by telling stories that help form connections and memories. Eliminate all distractions like notifications or noises to ensure your focus.
Importantly, bring your positive energy and enthusiasm. You may have to amp it up for it to translate virtually! Be willing to try new things and seek feedback and coaching.
#2 Follow the Scout Motto “Be Prepared”
The best salespeople prepare for a call. Virtual calls require extra planning to compensate for the loss of the natural conversation when meeting in-person. We need to replace the quick glance around the customer’s office for clues about common interests and the impromptu factory tour that provided more ways to sell our line card. Instead, we do more research before the call.
Ask questions, review websites, scrub your CRM data. When reviewing websites, focus on the customers’ products you are confident are designed in your area. Try as best you can to break down the product in your mind and how it relates to your line card. A block diagram visual is a method to help focus your thoughts. Then, prepare meaningful visual content and possibly invite a technical expert from the factory to join the meeting. Also, leverage modern search tools to learn about your audience and find personal connections through previous positions, companies, achievements, or interests.
Virtual calls are time sensitive. Create a meeting agenda in 10-to-20-minute increments with time to establish rapport and wrap up. Be prepared to shrink or expand call length depending on last minute customer requests with a plan B,C, and D.
#3 Display Competence
You have one chance to make a first impression and fumbling through a virtual meeting is not the way to gain confidence. Practice, practice, practice all aspects of virtual meeting technology. Nothing is worse than an unforeseen delay that causes participants to drop off the call.
Know the meeting platform ahead of the call or be sure to practice before the meeting. Master the virtual meeting essentials: seamless screen sharing, file sharing, and website navigation via a good connection with fast internet speeds and clear audio. If you are hosting a larger meeting, why not include Chat? Chat allows a level of participation often not seen in face-to-face meetings.
Embrace Change
The sale is the same, only the tools are new. Now you can meet with more people in less time and do it from almost anywhere. In the long run, virtual technology will gain you access to more stakeholders. It is time for account sales representatives to be THE experts in virtual sales calls.
New Manufacturer: Panasonic Industrial Device Sales Company of America
October 27th, 2020
Control Sales, Inc. is proud to announce it now represents Panasonic Industrial Device Sales Company of America. The company provides cutting-edge components for a diverse range of wireless and electro-mechanical devices. Standard and custom components range from industrial automation devices to passive components, relays, connectors, sensors, wireless connectivity, and more.
“We are thrilled to represent the engineering and manufacturing power that is at the core of Panasonic,” said Kingsland Coombs, President of Control Sales. “They are a global consumer electronics powerhouse, but equally important, they bring strategic innovations to our customers’ development process.”
“Panasonic is already embedded in many of our customers’ products, often supplied through our closest distribution partners. Adding these new products to Control Sales’ existing electro-mechanical offering allows us to further penetrate sub-system component functionality of complex designs. We look forward to expanding the Panasonic brand into the newest applications we see in transportation, healthcare, building and home automation, and IoT. The challenge is vast and extremely exciting.”
About Panasonic Industrial Device Sales Company of America
Panasonic Industrial Devices Sales Company of America is the advanced industrial components and electronic devices sales division of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation. Panasonic Industrial Devices Sales Company of America provides key components that power the home appliances, consumer electronics, computers, communications, and commercial and healthcare products used by millions of people each day. Control Sales represents the Panasonic Industrial Products Division and Panasonic Electronic Components Division in Illinois and Wisconsin.
Diana Nawrocki Featured in ERA Representor Spring 2020
June 3rd, 2020
Control Sales’ Executive Vice President Diana Nawrocki is featured as a Rising Star in the Spring 2020 issue of the ERA Representor magazine. Diana shares insights for young industry professionals on challenges, training tools, networking tips and more. Congratulations Diana on empowering the next generation!
https://era.org/era-publications/the-representor-current-issue/representor-spring-2020-rising-stars/
