Whether you are in a profession or not, the one thing I know for sure…you are in sales. As a matter of fact “if we are alive we are in sales.” You don’t believe me? Read on…
If you are with friends and they want to go to a specific restaurant and you want to convince them to go to a different restaurant…you are in sales!
If you are an engineer or architect and you want your client to accept a specific design for a building…you are in sales!
If you are an employee and you want your boss to give you a raise in pay…you are in sales!
If you are an accountant and you have to put together a financial proposal for a client to go to a bank to borrow money…you are in sales!
If you want a specific job in a company and you are competing with others for that job…you are in sales!
If you are a person who answers the phone when clients call…you are in sales!
The trainer, manager or speaker that presents material and facilitates sessions has to do it in such a way that others “buy into” the material being presented…therefore he or she is in sales!
If you promised your partner or spouse you will be home by 10pm and you roll in at 2:00am you are really in sales! 🙂
Everyone on the planet is in sales. The only problem is that most of us don’t realise it.
Every day of our life we need to listen so others will talk, we have to clarify to make sure they understand us, we need to deliver our point so that others will listen, and we have to say it in such a way that they will “buy in” to what we are saying. In addition we need to negotiate to get what we want as well as find middle ground with others to make the relationship work. At times we need to use methods and ways to get others to do what we would like them to do.
These are skills that are used in selling. Selling is influencing and we all have to influence others. Therefore we are all in sales.
I like what Shane Gibson, my son in Canada says: All that selling is, is “creating an environment so an act of faith can take place”
Professional Salespeople Are Needed
In a competitive society, which is now the world market, manufacturers and suppliers of services and products have to continually improve in the value of what they offer. Every organisation has to compete. Even the Post Office has to compete with couriers, e-mail, social media and other forms of distribution.
A company may have the best product or service in the world, but if that product or service doesn’t get to market, the company will be “out of business” very quickly. Some of the best ideas in the world never made it to the market because an executive did not do a good job of selling it to his or her associates.
The two main keys to business success are:
- Be and deliver the best in the market place.
- Let others know how good you are so they will buy.
You can’t rely just on advertising to let others know how good you are. Advertising in most cases doesn’t sell the product or service. What it does is create an awareness, enhance the value of the brand (help build an atmosphere so an act of faith can take place), create enquiries to a call centre, drive traffic to a business, or help the buyer be more receptive when you make contact. (On-line shopping and often exceptional direct-response type selling can and will sell some products and services).
Newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, electronic media all have pro-active sales forces. If advertising sold products and services the advertising companies would not need salespeople. All they would have to do is advertise in their own form of media. They know that will not work and to make sure they have advertisers and can gain their market share they employ Salespeople…whether face to face or by telephone.
Today the competitive edge often still lies in the competence and effectiveness of the people in your organisation that sell and service the clients.
Professional Selling Positively Impacts Everyone
The fact that competition continues to motivate manufacturers and suppliers of services to get better and that marketers and salespeople must keep getting more effective at letting the clients know about their improved product and services, society in general, benefits with an improved quality of life. This quality of life can be in whichever area of life they consider important to them.
Medical equipment manufacturers improve the services that hospitals, doctors, dentists, chiropractors, therapists and other medical service providing organisations offer. In the end consumers benefit with improved care and better prices.
Software Organisations, Capacity Building Consultants, Efficiency Experts, Office Equipment Manufacturers sell to Government, State Corporations and Business in General. The consumer and business clients benefit with improved service and lower charges.
The highway you drive on, the sidewalk you walk on, the street lights that light up the sidewalk and the traffic (robots) that organise traffic flow and improve our safety are there because someone sold to someone.
The text books in schools and universities, the equipment in the laboratories, the computers students use, the desks students sit at, the white boards in the classrooms, the sports equipment, the school busses, and even the bricks and mortar in the building were sold by someone.
The impact of selling reaches far and wide and into every corner of our society. Professional selling ensures that we continually see growth and improvement in all aspects of our life. These aspects include family, social, spiritual, physical, financial, career, mental and community.
If you have a role as a salesperson be proud to be a Professional Sales Representative. As you can see it is an important function in our society. Many people will benefit from what you sell and hopefully you are rewarded handsomely for providing the valuable service of helping people and businesses with what they need, want and desire.
Yes, it is true that not all Salespeople contribute positively to our communities and the companies they work for although the majority are providing a great service to us all.
I personally have invested a lifetime in the field of sales. I felt it was time to carefully and respectfully remind those that do not see themselves as salespeople that professional ethical salespeople are a benefit to us all and that “if you are alive you also are in the business of sales (influencing others). “Hats off to all professional salespeople.”
Thank you for reading this article.
My upcoming 2 day sales conference titled Bust Your Sales Targets In Turbulent Times on April 14th and 15th in Johannesburg can be a great asset for executives, professionals, sales personnel, marketers, business owners and anyone interested in improving their sales, marketing and influencing abilities.
Following are the details of the event. Our capacity for attendees is limited. Please book early to avoid disappointment. If you wish to communicate with one of my associates or me personally in reference to the event or other matters I can be emailed at bill@kbitraining.com or you can phone me on +27(0)11-784-1720 in Johannesburg.
The event is not a FREE SEMINAR or LOW PRICED SEMINAR utilized to sell you a more expensive package. It is two days of down-to-earth proven strategies, tactics and skills that can be put to work immediately back at the workplace. It is not just a teaser, it is a two day program focused on helping you and your team to be even more effective in grabbing market share in these turbulent times resulting in more sales and profits.
To help you get to know me better, I have included a 52 minute podcast link with me on Timothy Maurice Webster’s UnBranded show on Cliffcentral.com that was recorded on the 26th of January 2016. http://cliffcentral.com/unbranded/unbranded-powerful-personal-brand/. You may want to play this at a sales meeting and have a discussion with your team about what was of value and ideas that could be implemented.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Hope to meet you personally at the sales conference.
Bill Gibson
Executives-Business Owners-Key Staff-Sales & Marketing Professionals-Industry Professionals-Industry Marketers-Association Personnel & All Those Who Want To Succeed In Turbulent Times Will Benefit By Attending
Bust Your Sales Targets
In
Turbulent Times
With
International Speaker / Author /
Sales & Marketing Specialist
Bill Gibson
Thursday, April 14th and Friday, April 15th, 2016
Registration – 7:00am – 8:00am Seminar – 8:00am – 4:30pm
CedarWoods of Sandton, 120 Western Service Road, Woodmead, Sandton, 2148.
Bill Gibson And His Processes And Systems Deliver Results
“It is the best money we have invested / spent in 12 years even including capital investment. The return on investment has been awesome. Our entire business has a totally different mind-set and direction. After the 2 day seminar we have retained Bill as a business coach as well…he is by far the best sales & marketing professional in the business.
Brendon Cowley and Nick Grange – Owners of C3 Shared Services (Pty) Ltd 16 March 2016
“Leaders In Intelligent Security Solutions.”
“The concepts you are teaching allowed me to build “Attooh” into a R100 million business in the last 2 years, Bill thank you for sharing!”
Wouter Snyman, CEO – Attooh Insurance Brokers, Pretoria and Cape Town 27th January 2015
“Bill, I reviewed all three presentations and the “team task” case study. You are a master at interpreting a client’s needs, requirements and listening to his brief and then delivering true value. Looking forward to a powerful and enjoyable two days of LDP training.”
Jacques Kotze, Head of Facilities & Procurement – AURECON Group – Africa, Middle East
“When Nedbank adopted your program some 10 years ago, I really embraced it and over the past 7 years, I have taken a newly formed and relatively small sales team in Pietermaritzburg and doubled its size, both in terms of people and in asset size, in the first 3 years. We then split it into two area teams (commercial and agric) and we were able to double the portfolio again in the space of 2 to 3 years and are currently on target to double it again in the near future.”
John Bush, Area Manager: Nedbank Limited, KZN Inland, Business Banking 26 March 2015
About The “Bust Your Sales Targets In Turbulent Times” Two Day Program
According to Bill Gibson, (Spoken To Over One Million People World Wide) and the author of the book Boost Your Business In Any Economy, “the best and most easiest time to grab market share is in a down or turbulent economy.” Why?
- The competition are depressed, without energy and immobilised with fear.
- The “advertising and marketing noise level” is much lower and it is easier to be heard and seen with less marketing investment and effort.
- If you have the right solutions people want to hear them…never before have your clients and customers needed real bottom line assistance.
“A larger share of a smaller shrinking market is often bigger and better than a smaller share of a larger aggressive market”, cites Gibson a Canadian living in South Africa.
“The keys”, he says, “are to get proactive, get aggressive, double your training and development efforts for yourself and staff, stay away from the negativity, get even more positive and pro-active, utilise additional creative selling efforts and “charge forward” with the continual use of the basics that work in your industry”.
His message has been helping thousands of business owners, executives and their staff continually “bust sales targets and grab market share through innovative sales and marketing, strategies, tactics and skills.”
At this Two Day seminar / workshop you will be shown how to:
- Take a “Down Economic Cycle” and switch it to an advantage with clients and customers resulting in a shift to a positive pro-active approach to succeeding in turbulent times. (Increase morale, sales and gain market share).
- Take control of your own economy by staying in front of clients more often and focusing on what really counts. (Staying out of the melodrama of other peoples’ lives, ignore issues you cannot control and “focus on and mind your own business” and stay on track).
- Implement the “Targeting Process” that has helped take Wouter Snyman’s company Attooh to a R100 Million in a few short years and helped many South African companies achieve major sales growth in a very short time period.
- How to effectively “Win Back” lost or past clients.
- Sure fire ways to attract and gain high value clients.
- Turning low volume clients into big retain clients.
- Keeping and growing your best clients and creating high barriers to entry for your competitors.
- Launch a “Most Wanted” client’s program that can boost your annual sales results.
- The five stages of getting to and staying at the Unity Stage of your client relationships.
- Making Social Media “add to your income and your daily performance” rather than “reducing your income and taking away your daily productivity.”
- Get up and stay up both mentally and physically during tough personal and business times. (A person’s ability to perform is only equal to their motivational and attitudinal level at the time…attendees will pick up “easy to apply” tips to keep themselves up and continually performing).
- Turn objections and hurdles into sales with ease.
- Sell to and connect with anyone, anywhere and anytime utilising the “Quick Read” tool.
- Talk less and sell more by being client-driven and solution focused with the needs analysis approach to selling. Listen so others will talk and talk so others will listen.
- and much much more.
Your Training And Development Investment:
R5 995 including vat per attendee (Lunch and Tea Break included)
3 or more attendees…ask about our group rates
Payment Methods: Quicket / EFT / Credit Card / Debit Card / Cash at the time of booking
Each Attendee Will Receive:
- Handouts of the slides Bill Gibson uses plus copies of “How To” Tools for future reference and sustainability.
- A Certificate Of Attendance from Bill Gibson, Knowledge Brokers International SA (Pty) Ltd.
- Plus R5 800 in Special Bonuses (No Charge). See below.
Special Bonus:
Each participant will receive Bill Gibson’s Boosting Sales & Profits With Focus Selling Program on a USB Memory Stick which includes 12 Audio Tracks and a 345 Page Learning & Implementation Guide valued at R4, 000. Bill also will include on that USB Memory Stick, a 90 Page Objection Handling 
Guide with 103 Common Objections we get in selling and examples on how to handle them valued at R1, 800. Total Value in Bonus Products R5, 800…FREE!
Bill is one of the world’s most credible masters on how to Bust Sales Targets In Turbulent Times. Be There…Seats Are Limited. “Book Now!”
To Enrol Right Now And Secure Your Seat Via Quicket Click Here: http://www.quicket.co.za/events/15872-busting-your-sales-targets-in-turbulent-times/#/
For Additional Assistance:
To use an Alternative Method Of Payment rather than Quicket, for Group Rates, to have someone contact you with More Information On The Event or for a FREE copy of Bill Gibson’s Quick eBook Guide to
“Making Your Tradeshow Booth Or Expo Stand Really Work” contact us at: bill@kbitraining.com or Phone +27(0)11-784-1720
Knowledge Brokers International S.A. (Pty) Ltd
5 Sandown Hills, 103 Katherine Street, Sandown, Sandton, 2196
Tel: +27(0)11-784-1720 Email: bill@kbitraining.com
“If you have found this blog article to be valuable for you and/or if you think one of your associates may be interested in the two day program “Bust Your Sales Targets In Turbulent Times,” I would be grateful if you “shared” it with your Social Media Networks. Also feel free to circulate it by e-mail or other means internally within your organization or externally to your clients, suppliers and personal and business network. Thank-you!” – Bill Gibson
Bill Gibson is a Canadian who is living in South Africa. He is an international speaker and author and a developer of sales, service, marketing, collecting, employee morale building, personal development and entrepreneurial training programs and systems. His blog is www.bill-gibson.com and his website is www.kbitraining.com. He can be reached at bill@kbitraining.com or phone +27-11-784-1720 in South Africa. You can follow Bill Gibson on Twitter: @billgibson1, connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gibsonbill or Knowledge Brokers International SA Pty Ltd Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/knowledgebrokers?ref=hl