Bringing out the best in one another

I remember my first encounter with the sales industry well. It was in the autumn of 2003, and my pack was loaded with all sorts of different tools. Many years of experience working with people in difficult situations had taught me a lot about a lot of things – everything from calming one person down to helping another person up. I could take all of this with me into sales, but the learning curve turned out be steeper than I’d expected. I knocked on door after door, smiling and being friendly. The people I met smiled back, of course – it’s just what you do, right? – but I made very few sales. After two months I started to doubt myself. Did I have the right tools after all? Was I not strong enough? Lots of questions reared up at the same time. Good advice was desperately needed! My colleagues encouraged me, telling me that soon enough I’d find the key to success. With my positive attitude, I was bound to succeed. This support was valuable, without a doubt, but it was lacking something …

My last resort was to ask the best salespeople in the department if I could trail them, to see how they did it. Not everyone wants this sort of company when they’re out trying to make sales, but most of them responded positively. After a few days’ close observations of the top sellers at work, things finally started moving for me. I’d been shown the way to go, and now I wanted to follow it!

After many years as a seller and sales manager, I can now advise others about just why it’s so important to take advantage of other people’s experience. The impetus has to come from both sides – the person trying to learn must be willing to do so, while their leaders and colleagues need to be supportive in everything from theory to practice. Verbal encouragement is important, but unless the trainee gets to feel a sense of accomplishment, it can very easily just amount to mere words.

With that, I wish everyone out there a fantastic day at work!

All the best,
Martin