SALES OR NO SALES

Its one thing to get a well paying job in a big organization and its another thing to mirror the right techniques in order to meet up with the intended tasks imposed by the organization. The truth about the tasks from the organizations is that they appear '' unachievable '' and truth be told, some of them are quite unrealistic.

In one of the big corporations I worked for, one of my colleagues told me to work less to avoid my targets being tripled. In his defense, he had mentioned that '' working hard is good but working smartly to avoid more work was better ''. I understood his point because in the organization, the more you get closer to meeting your targets, the more they increase your budgets with the guise that the initial target was small.

So instead of praises and recommendations for promotions or conversion, I was getting more and more work. The best I could get was a tap or rubbing on my shoulder by my bosses, telling me '' well done''. in some cases, I would get a surprise cheering in the office by my colleagues, they would scream '' PERFORMER!!! '' and I would feel two sets of emotions, the first was the happiness that surges in because of the shared moments, and then the second was the pale emotion because I knew that my budget would be increased in weeks.

Funny enough, I was not even working as hard as my colleagues and Bosses thought but yet I was surpassing my targets every month and every quarter in a year. One time I worked in a bank as a Relationship manager and due to my techniques and sales experience, I was massively promoted within 3 months of joining the bank.

Let me spare you the gist and delve into the Sales skills that helped me all through the while I worked for these organizations and it's still helping me. Sometimes I felt like I was a lazy person because of the technique but over time, I realized that I was just working smart.

Many of you know the secrets but have not explored them, I will attempt to talk about them briefly;

The Power Of Referrals:

There are lots of secrets to sales and meeting your targets especially if you work in a bank or any organization that requires you to sell items or market their products, but if I were to rate them, I would rate '' Power of referrals to be number 1''.

Referrals worked miracles for me when I worked for an Insurance firm, the banks, and in my freelancing jobs. When I started as a Relationship manager in a bank and Financial advisor in an Insurance firm, I would go out once or twice a week and I would target a particular area, by the time I was done, I would have gotten some company accounts, personal accounts, and some deposits. beyond the '' thank you '' I say to them, I am always insistent on them referring me to their family, or colleagues. I then build relationships with them, then the colleagues and family will also refer me to their friends, and so on. So I always draw a tree for every client I get, that tree must have branches and there must be fruits. So in a month, I might end up speaking with just five to ten people but that number is always multiplied by 100 because of referrals.

In fact, I had two to three jobs even while I was working in a bank, the reason was because I already had something in motion that helped me meet my targets every month. For deposit mobilization, I all I needed was just to meet one rich Alhaji, I would so treat him well that when I ask for referrals, he would not hesitate to link me up to 10 or 15 more rich Alhajis, imagine if I replicate the same thing with the 15 Alhajis... you can do the math yourself.

Power Of Pitch:

People see me today and assume that '' He was born with boldness, he speaks well, he can face any crowd, etc '' I am laughing as I'm typing this. 10 years ago I would attend debate tournaments and be sweating when it was my turn to speak, the sweat was not a sign of me not knowing what to say but sign of fear. I read lots of books and watched lots of videos on debating public speaking, and business pitches. I still watch Bo Seo's debate finals on YouTube.

My point is, that nobody was born with the perfect sales pitch. I used to travel a lot by Bus because of those Nigerian local salespersons. Those Igbo guys you see inside the vehicle trying to sell and pitch their businesses to you. I love watching them sell because those guys are good! They can sell anything to you and play with your psychology. I knew that what they were selling could not possibly cure whatever disease they were mentioning but I sometimes buy from them because of how they are pitching the business. I would randomly enter a bus with my notes and observe them, how they start, how they make progress, and how they close their deals.

If you must make good sales and also to the right set of people, you must improve your sales pitch. How do you pitch your ideas, business, or product you are handling? I always look in the mirror and rehearse my pitch to Dangote, Tony Elumelu, etc. I always ask myself, '' what will make these influential men buy my products or open accounts with me? how would I pitch the deal to them without wasting their time, yet very effective and productive ?''

Finally, there are other secrets, but these ones Highlighted above are my top 2. It has worked for me in different organizations and it still works for me now.

In my next post, I would attempt to share more secrets to boost your sales and meet your intended targets.

Thank you

Jude