Sam Yank: “My Favorite Thing is Building Relationships”

Even at a young age, Sam Yank earned a reputation as a closer. His innate sales ability did not go unnoticed by classmates at McHenry East High School, who teased him with a unique observation.

“When I was in high school, the running joke was that I could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves,” recalls Sam with a laugh. Today, as Vice President - Sales for Industrial Inspection & Analysis (IIA), he sells something considerably more important: services that help make the world safer.

Sam’s career in sales can be traced back to high school, when he sold tools at Sears (and made frequent appearances on the leader board). But the seeds for a sales career were planted even earlier, in his grandfather’s machine shop in Northern Illinois.

“I grew up in a machine shop, so I’ve always had a mechanical background,” says Sam. “When I was really young, I watched my grandfather sell people his services, and it was always very fascinating to me.”

After graduating, Sam moved to Arizona, where he leveraged his mechanical know-how and natural sales ability in machine shops and tire stores before joining Diversified Inspections, a leading provider of lift equipment inspections, in 2012.

With the goal of building a sales career at Diversified Inspections, Sam first gained experience in the field. He became EVT, ANSI and crane certified and spent several years inspecting cranes, bucket trucks, and other lift equipment across the U.S. He then moved into an inside sales role, managing and maintaining contracts worth millions of dollars.

In 2018, Diversified Inspections was acquired by IIA, and Sam’s role switched from internal sales (renewals) to external sales. This involved obtaining new business to fuel the rapidly growing firm.

In 2020, Sam was promoted to Director of Sales. In this role, he helped build an internal sales organization from the ground up, while managing a full team of salespeople across the United States. In 2025, Sam was named Vice President of Sales at IIA, responsible for formulating, implementing and evaluating high-level strategies to sell IIA’s lift, field inspection and laboratory services in the U.S.

“The company is growing and evolving rapidly, and sales spearhead that growth. The company’s overall sales goal is my personal sales goal,” says Sam. “Any salesperson worth their salt wants to know what their goal is because they’re always trying to beat something.”

When the goal is to relax, Sam enjoys outdoor activities like hiking and camping with his family. As a lifelong motorhead, the garage is his happy place.

“Cars, trucks, and jeeps are still my passion. I love doing the mechanical stuff, but I learned it’s not as much fun when your hobby becomes your job,” says Sam, reflecting on his early years working in machine shops. “Now I can tinker in the garage at night and on the weekends, and it’s fun again.”

Throughout his career, Sam’s mechanical background has allowed him to speak the language of customers in an array of industrial settings. This, along with a genuine appreciation for people, has allowed him to forge lasting relationships along the way.

“Sales people can be developed, but I think some people are born with an innate ability to connect with people, to read people, to relate to people. I think I had that from an early age,” says Sam, who enjoys helping the next wave of salespeople rise through the ranks.

“My favorite thing is building relationships. It means a lot to me that I’ve built some lifelong relationships with customers and the people I work with. There is a true brotherhood and sisterhood here at IIA.”