Anybody can become a good salesperson
Anybody can become a good salesperson
When I left school I didn’t want to be a salesman. Few teenagers leave school with the idea of going into sales, they want go into teaching or catering; they want to become attorneys or engineers.
Selling is rarely considered to be a career, and when I was young very few parents would have encourage their children to become salespeople. Very little has changed in this regard.
I followed my basic education with two years at Hotel School where I was taught how to be a waiter, a chef and a hotel manager. I learnt how to make beds and why you can always get instant hot water in a hotel bedroom even though the water heater is as much as 100 meters away.
In the first long holiday while I was at hotel school, I got a job as a waiter at the Garners Steak House in London. I wasn’t allowed to serve in the restaurant until I had undergone a full day’s training but I wasn’t trained how to be a waiter. They just presumed that I knew that the food was served from the left and cleared from the right, that I knew how to fold napkins and “Crumb Down”.
The training course focused entirely on selling skills.
The customer walking into a restaurant is a “prospect”. You know he has a need (he is hungry) but we have yet to discover how we are going to satisfy that need. In many cases that ‘need’ would be satisfied with a bowl of soup and a slice of bread so it is the waiter’s job to create a ‘desire’ for something much more exciting (and more expensive of course).
During the training I was shown how to encourage the customer to buy two bottles of wine instead of just one; why the waiter must never just offer sweet, but suggest that the lady in the group may enjoy a crčme caramel or fresh strawberries flown in from Israel. I also learnt not just to offer the most expensive items on the menu first, but the ones with the highest profit margin. I discovered that customers come into a restaurant not just to eat but for the ambiance, the fun, the friendly service and the good company. Customers don’t mind paying more if all these are in place.
The restaurant certainly knew how to do these things and was always full, mostly with regular customers.
My money at the end of the week was dependant on my ability as a sales person to satisfy the customers, rather than as a caterer and I enjoyed being well paid for the first time in my life.
So I started in catering before I became a salesperson, you may have been a teacher or an engineer.
Selling does not have the charisma of many careers but it is a noble task none the less. Industries would collapse without us. Customers would not know what is available or what is possible if sales people were not there to help. Selling helps make the world go round and good salespeople are hard to find.
Good sales people are made not born. This is the whole Nurture vs. Nature issue and in the case of sales people I am very clear on the result. In fact, the stereotypical sales person who look and act like the ones you see on the television and think they are born to it are not the best of the sales people out there.
I was asked, by the senior partner in a firm of attorneys in Durban, to train his team to become sales people. “We have very good attorneys, but they are not good at getting new business or closing the sale, can you help?”
“Of course” I said.
I prepared a proposal for the customer based on training 25 attorneys the finer arts of selling. I proposed a series of sessions with assignments in between that would at least give them the basics, and presented that to the customer.
“Oh no” he said, “We just need a day. Just come in for a day and tell us what it takes to be good in sales.”
ONE DAY! It takes seven years to be qualified as an attorney and they want to become salespeople in just one day.
To become a good sales person, like many other tasks, takes skills and practice. Anybody can be good in sales if they are prepared to put in the time and study the skills, then practice what they have learnt until they get it right.
Anybody can become a good salesperson - To learn more about this author, visit Richard Mulvey's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
Anybody can become a good salesperson
When I left school I didn’t want to be a salesman. Few teenagers leave school with the idea of going into sales, they want go into teaching or catering; they want to become attorneys or engineers.
Selling is rarely considered to be a career, and when I was young very few parents would have encourage their children to become salespeople. Very little has changed in this regard.
I followed my basic education with two years at Hotel School where I was taught how to be a waiter, a chef and a hotel manager. I learnt how to make beds and why you can always get instant hot water in a hotel bedroom even though the water heater is as much as 100 meters away.
In the first long holiday while I was at hotel school, I got a job as a waiter at the Garners Steak House in London. I wasn’t allowed to serve in the restaurant until I had undergone a full day’s training but I wasn’t trained how to be a waiter. They just presumed that I knew that the food was served from the left and cleared from the right, that I knew how to fold napkins and “Crumb Down”.
The training course focused entirely on selling skills.
The customer walking into a restaurant is a “prospect”. You know he has a need (he is hungry) but we have yet to discover how we are going to satisfy that need. In many cases that ‘need’ would be satisfied with a bowl of soup and a slice of bread so it is the waiter’s job to create a ‘desire’ for something much more exciting (and more expensive of course).
During the training I was shown how to encourage the customer to buy two bottles of wine instead of just one; why the waiter must never just offer sweet, but suggest that the lady in the group may enjoy a crčme caramel or fresh strawberries flown in from Israel. I also learnt not just to offer the most expensive items on the menu first, but the ones with the highest profit margin. I discovered that customers come into a restaurant not just to eat but for the ambiance, the fun, the friendly service and the good company. Customers don’t mind paying more if all these are in place.
The restaurant certainly knew how to do these things and was always full, mostly with regular customers.
My money at the end of the week was dependant on my ability as a sales person to satisfy the customers, rather than as a caterer and I enjoyed being well paid for the first time in my life.
So I started in catering before I became a salesperson, you may have been a teacher or an engineer.
Selling does not have the charisma of many careers but it is a noble task none the less. Industries would collapse without us. Customers would not know what is available or what is possible if sales people were not there to help. Selling helps make the world go round and good salespeople are hard to find.
Good sales people are made not born. This is the whole Nurture vs. Nature issue and in the case of sales people I am very clear on the result. In fact, the stereotypical sales person who look and act like the ones you see on the television and think they are born to it are not the best of the sales people out there.
I was asked, by the senior partner in a firm of attorneys in Durban, to train his team to become sales people. “We have very good attorneys, but they are not good at getting new business or closing the sale, can you help?”
“Of course” I said.
I prepared a proposal for the customer based on training 25 attorneys the finer arts of selling. I proposed a series of sessions with assignments in between that would at least give them the basics, and presented that to the customer.
“Oh no” he said, “We just need a day. Just come in for a day and tell us what it takes to be good in sales.”
ONE DAY! It takes seven years to be qualified as an attorney and they want to become salespeople in just one day.
To become a good sales person, like many other tasks, takes skills and practice. Anybody can be good in sales if they are prepared to put in the time and study the skills, then practice what they have learnt until they get it right.
Anybody can become a good salesperson - To learn more about this author, visit Richard Mulvey's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Richard's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Press Advertising Why Banks Say No eguide Instant Scripts Pump Up Your Calendar Recession Proof |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Blogs For Startups
Top Blogs To Watch In 2009 | |
 |
Top 50 Niche Blogs 2009
Top 50 Niche Blogs 2009 | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||