Most sales technique blogs don't account for why you are in sales or
transferable skills. When I came into sales it was as if everyone looked at me
as a baby and I knew nothing about their world. I quickly picked it up and
applied my skills from being a professional athlete to the every day skills
needed for a sales position. I don't see on the market where you have the
comparison of the two being avidly projected. That is where I come in.
This blog will be an accumulation of stories, experiences, and techniques and
how they all coincide.
I have been in sales for 7 months but I have managed to be on the top of
my team since day one. I did this by applying transferable skills to my every
day job. I used to be an avid skateboarder with lots of support. I skate for
the likes of Nike, Red Bull, RVCA and various other companies. With this I got
to travel and interact with various cultures and plenty of people. The first
thing I took into sales is an understanding that I did not want to sell but I wanted
to consult. I wanted to share my knowledge with people looking for knowledge.
One of the first great things I was told about sales is from a man named Jacco
Vanderkooij. Jacco told me “Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice.”
This taught me to listen instead of speak.
The next lesson I learned was about repetition. Knowing that because
something happened once did not mean it would happen every time. The example
given to me was about sports. Say you run an amazing play in Football. Your receiver
is wide open but drops the pass. Do you go right back to that play or do you
not call the play for the rest of the game? Obvious answer is run that play
again. Unfortunately most people don’t think that way. This was the first time
I started thinking about how sports applied to sales but after this blog, it
definitely will not be the last!
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