Tag Archives: sales

Email is Annoying

My boss asked some of us sales folks to put together a story, a tale from the field, or a little preso to share with our fellow colleague at a recent Sales Summit.

Email is friggin’ annoying. It can really bury you and hinder your sales process. Unfortunately it’s the preferred method of communication for many of my clients in the business technology market.

My little contribution was this Ignite style preso entitled ‘How to Make Email Less Annoying: A Tiny Guide to Outlook Best Practices for Sales People.’

Spoiler alert: Like all good Ignite talks, there’s a picture of a cute cat in it (and a bald Britney Spears!). Enjoy!

Confessions of a Salesperson

I was recently asked by my employer to conduct an interview about myself. It’s a subject I know well. I consider myself an expert. I said yes.

Some of the questions were thought provoking, and I wanted to post my answer to one question in particular.

Many of my friends and co-workers have told me that they’re repelled by sales. Too much pressure. The goal. The deadlines. The cold calling. Yuck.

Yes – those are all part of the job. But for those that think a salesperson’s career is best left for another to battle, I urge you to marinate on the below….

Name three things about working in sales that makes your job exciting.

1. I love that technology is always on the brink of innovation. You can never know all there is to know about tech, as it’s constantly evolving.  I have the opportunity to speak with different organizations every day about their business, their goals and what new product they’re developing. It’s never a static conversation.

2. Being in sales means that you are your own small enterprise. Although I have one definititve goal to hit, the way in which I reach that goal is up to me.

3. My job is about more than closing a sale. It’s an exercise in relationship building. Establishing rapport and trust with a client allows me to evolve from just another sales rep to a valuable parter.

That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?