Passion makes sales job interesting

Let me take you through the different phases of the sales person world

A subject matter expert:

In my experience, this is the toughest and important phase of any sales person’s life. No matter what, to every customer, a sales person is “The subject matter expert”, so without invitation he is forced to learn the complete dynamics of the organization and this includes the product knowledge, process knowledge, operating knowledge, profit and loss, market trend, competition and sometimes even the history of technology, world and earth. In short he is expected to be up-to-date. Most of the times sales person are left with the least two options 1) he talks the subject where he is a master 2) he masters to pretend as a subject matter expert for unfamiliar subjects. This cycle will follow him in every organization he is employed. Now you know why most sales person are talkative

A meticulous workaholic:

This is the frightening phase of any sales person career. Every organization expects a sales person to be the most organized and the most punctual person. Organized in maintaining the follow-ups and punctual in meeting the customers because these two qualities decide the profit and loss of most company’s balance sheet. And this is a really a haunting phase of any sales person because nothing could fear them like missing a meeting. A missed meeting is a missed business.

A Dramatic Hero:

It does not matter, if an organization is giving a due respect to this brand ambassador or not, he needs to dream himself always as a hero or an achiever. This hope and passion is what keeps him running successful throughout the life. This is exactly what makes him presentable, well read, well informed, up-to-date and finally a meticulous workaholic.

In short, he needs to be well connected from the production team till customers, keen to learn technology, process, operations and much more, focused to achieve targets while being chased by pressure. Throughout his life, he needs to stay connected with all his contacts personally and professionally because this becomes the only proof for his experience and success.

After every successful sale, he refreshes himself to be prepared for another sale. Like every movie, every customer is different and their story is different.

Basic rules for successful entrepreneurship

The reason that inspired you to start a business may be anything like ambition, passion, freedom, innovation, customer demand and sometimes it could be a simple reason that you are a subject matter expert. What so ever may be the reason; the following rules will help you to build a great company and a successful entrepreneurship.

Rule 1: Understand your business well

A business is like a river; they flow, they find their own path as they go. The responsibility left with most entrepreneurs is to identify the starting point, name it and closely watch the flow. If they flow right then it becomes the sign of prosperity and if they flow wrong then it is becomes a disaster. In short the starting point of any business is very important; the rest of the most will be guided by business itself. The critical role for any businessman is to have a clear understanding about his business in the market.  Then second most important role is to develop the ability to convey others about the business.

You will be forced to clear two tests while you do this 1) Justify yourself 2) Justify others. The first step will make you confident and the second step will help you understand others perspective. Be open-minded to accept lot of critics, advice, feedbacks, recommendation and sometimes help. Here is where the river flow will come into the picture, you will be forced to consider and de-consider your ideas but do not worry the flow is towards the prosperity.

Rule 2: Create your own business model

Business and Business model are totally different. Do not confuse the both as same. It does not matter whether your business will compete or compliment your neighbor. It only matters what your selling point is. For example, in hospitality sector (boarding lodges), the business is always a competition to the neighbor but they engage in business in such a way where the business model is different from one to other. Some sell luxury stay, some sell economy stay, some sell heritage stay and some sell modern stay. So if you closely watch, the business is no different but the business model is different. So in most cases, the business model becomes the selling point for business.

Rule 3: Identify your customer

In my opinion, customers are everywhere; even beggars who don’t sell anything have customers and sometimes a regular customer. In my opinion, identifying customer is no big difficult task, if you have a clear understanding towards your business and your business model. The following example will help you understand how to identify your customers. CRM is a product that will address the requirement of multiple industries but the customization is the key. You cannot be “know it all” when you are a start-up. So pick one industry, where your expert skills are. In that industry you see your customers.

This blog is an outcome of my experience and my understanding by working with great sales team and great successful companies.

Qualities, a sales person should possess

Passion is the only fuel that makes every sales person run and thrive for success. The responsibility of every organization is to trigger this passion in the right spirit and this could be one reason why most companies include profit percentage in sales person salary package

By meeting hundreds of successful sales personalities who sold products from consumer till enterprises, I understood the following two are the most important qualities that any sales person should possess

            1)      Self Esteem

            2)      Brand Esteem

Self Esteem:

Every sales person is the brand ambassador of his own company. It does not matter which celebrity comes on TV channel to promote the product but at the end of the day, it is the sales person who meets the customer and without doubt he should be treated as the brand ambassador. First by himself and then by the organization. It is not the quality or the quantity of the product that makes sales successful but the promises and the word of mouth from a sales person, which adds confidence to the customer’s decision. Self-esteem is achieved only when he is 100% sure that he is working and selling the right brand

Brand Esteem:

I have seen numerous sales people working for start-ups taking real pride and talking much about their product and organization and this is exactly what I mean brand esteem. It need not be multi-billion dollar organization to create brand esteem. Brand esteem is a feeling that you create in the mind of sales person that he is working for a great organization and selling a great product. Any organization that fail to create this brand esteem to their own sales people will never be able create the same outside

In simple example, you need not go to Microsoft or Google to find a sales guy with this quality. You can simply find him on the road selling dolls and fruits

Management in any organization has a huge responsibility in creating the both. And this could be the only reason in most organization; you will find sales team working very closely with the management team. Unless the vision and mission are properly transformed, the success is never easy.