Sunday 10 January 2010

Selling is a part of marketing a company. You will find that products and the services that are sold make the money for the business. It is very important, not only to each individual seller, but to the business to have high sells. The high sells will get you what you need for the company and it will also give you a sense of pride as a company. As an individual, you will want to consider that the more you sell, the more money you will make. Although money isn’t all what you earn from high sells, but you will also find that your pride will swell too.
You will begin to feel apart of the company and take pride in yourself and in the company. You will want to make sure that you do everything you can, as individual, to build as much profits as possible. With the profits you will be able to make a huge difference in the way that you are seen in the company. You will not only be a worker of the company, but you will be a piece in the company that is valued.
When you are salesperson you need to live, eat, and breathe sells. You will need to do anything that you can to build your numbers. As an employee and sales person you may want to consider something like a competition. Competition will get your blood pumping and you will be able to work on your ultimate sales goal. You will find that competition is not the only thing that you can use as a drive. You will also want to take pride in yourself for all the accomplishments that you have had. With the accomplishments you will be able to do a lot more, because you have a sense of pride in the work that you do.

Wednesday 6 May 2009

When I worked as a junior employee for a large corporate I found it really iritating when i wasnt involved in decision making, things will change I thought when I have my own company.Now I do have my own company (well at least a share in it) ironically I receive the same complaints that I myself once voiced.

Something I have learnt is making all your own decisions and simply telling people what to do is not the way forward. People are not mindless robots (even sales people), and don't like being treated like one. They want to understand and agree with decisions before starting to action them. For a team to work effectively, they need to be convinced that the company direction is right.

This leads to my second point. If you give people the opportunity to contribute it’s more likely that decisions will be correct.


Getting your team involved early on in the decision making process will help the become becoming fully committed to your plans and engaged in the process.The truth is we all make mistakes. If the process of communicating decisions is consultative, people will be completely on board while we reduce the potential for errors.

A while ago, at a team building session, I gave a number of teams a video to watch and then posed various questions. We compared the team results with those of each individual person. Interestingly, the worst team did better than the best individual. If you want to improve your decision making, then allow a wide group to input. That will ensure that no important angles are missed.Everyone finds it easier to work in a direction that they believe in. And nothing makes people believe in something more than being involved and making a difference. It’s also more likely that the decision taken is right, so you can win in every direction.
So what makes a good sales person?
Hello and welcome to the first instalment of the Small Business Big Voice blog. The aim of the site is to give comment about small business and in in this first post about sales in particular.

I welcome your feedback and questions and if I can either give you cause for thought or answer a question or even offer a little advice then great!

I have spent the last 20 years working as either a recruitment consultant in the sales arena or as an interim manager/consultant managing sales teams. I don’t claim to be an expert on all things sales but would like to think that I know a thing or two; the main thing is getting the best out of people.

Over the time that I have been in management I have of course lost a few people along the way but overall the vast majority of people that have come across my experience have gone on to do well with me or to succeed in another organisation.

As a seasoned recruiter, people I know often say “I’m looking for a sales person, what I should look for?” “So what makes a good sales person?” That’s the fun bit for me, both as a sales recruiter and manager because the honest answer is, there isn’t one. I have seen graduates and people with zero academic achievement succeed and fail. I have seen people with track records in other professions attempt a career in sales fall at the first set of targets and objectives, whilst others who have struggled to keep a job absolutely fly.

There are a few ingredients to look out for, Enthusiasm being one, commitment being another and work ethic being a third (who you can ever determine that at an interview or selection I will never know). Personal presentation, reliability (turning up on time or completing a requested task) is other good indication that the candidate is a genuine prospect.
It is however the relationship that the sales person has with their manager that is the most important thing.
When recruiting for a sales team the first question a CEO or hiring manager should ask is can my managers manage, can they motivate, can they train, and can they lead their new sales person to be successful. It is my genuine belief that a candidate with just an average level of ability coupled with some real commitment can do well in a sales career but it is the management of that candidate that will make them a success or failure.