Emergence Of Successful Sales Leaders

Hello Friends,

Hope all of you & your family members are safe and healthy during this pandemic. Covid 19 has created a global crisis and the after-effects are expected to be massive. Its adverse effect on most of the industries & professionals has made us restrategise for near future. It is being said that professionals need to reskill or upskill themselves in order to survive in post covid era. It is a fact that we all need to upgrade ourselves frequently in terms of our skill sets to compete in the business world. At the same time we can not deny that however demand may arise for upgradation, a very strong knowledge of basics of any skill set will help you to sail through any sort of drastic change in the market. Today I am going to talk about a book which narrates how getting your basics right can win you accolades in your profession.

Introduction

Sales Magic by Vikram Kamat, probably the name itself is a good enough indicator of what skill we are talking about. Sales is a skill probably most of us use at various junctures of our lives whether personal or professional. I myself being a sales professional for more than a decade feel that selling is an art. The more you sell, the more you master it. Before we get into detailing about sales or the story that the book explains, let me give you a brief overview of the author. Vikarm Kamat has been an integral part in the expansion of VITS-luxury business hotel chain and also Kamat restaurant across the country. He is a sales enthusiast who loves to explore various sales techniques in his business. Some of them have been exhibited in an extremely simple manner in this book which is a delight to read.

The Journey Begins

The story starts with a young man named Brian who is eager to get into sales but finds it difficult to convince his parents. Our society is still skeptical about this profession and considers other professions more secure than a sales job. That is the reason why parents are unsure whether their kids would be able to achieve greater heights by joining a sales job. But I am sure that with emergence of so many successful business leaders across the globe who belong to sales background, their perception is bound to change. Coming back to the story, Brian joins a hotel management course in pursuit of a stable career. But due to his enthusiasm for sales, he gets selected for a sales role in hotel industry. It was a dream come true for him as he has got into a profession he always wanted to. But what next?? Landing a job of your choice is just the beginning of your professional journey. But surviving & succeeding in the same takes a lot of effort. It was challenging, but Brian was up for it.

Learning From Setbacks

Initial days were really tough as he had to workout a strategy to close deals. An early marriage also resulted in higher family responsibilities. In spite of lack of success at the early days his zeal to succeed was intact. He kept reviewing his entire sales mechanism starting from sales pitch, follow ups, asking for referrals, closing techniques and what not to ensure that basics are strong enough to achieve desired results. We know that results are mostly an outcome of a strong process. Hence Brian was working hard to get the process right all the time. While in his urge to get the process right, he learnt the " Process of elimination", a technique most of the sales professionals use these days. He learnt that from one of the science experiments being performed by his daughter. This also shows how eager he was to learn new things. He used the same technique in his profession along with few other which he had acquired over the years. A newly crafted process did wonders for him & not to forget that this methodology was also based on a strong foundation of basics. He went on to become one of the top most salesman in his organization.

He kept on climbing further mountains in his career along with a financial stability. Lot of times while on a path towards greater success we tend to miss out on following the basic rules which brought us to that successful juncture of our career. Same happened to Brian too. Some of the incidents took an ugly turn resulting in not only loosing out his reputation as a stellar sales person but also his job. It was difficult for him to accept the fact that he was sacked from a company where he was the top performer a while ago. Nevertheless he had to start from the scratch again. Months' of effort landed him a job in luxury hotel business. He started using all his sales techniques. Results were not that encouraging though. Further in the story we found how he continued to grow in his career & also how a visit to a doctor helped him learning lifelong lessons for success.

A Valuable Resource For Sales Enthusiasts

While reading this book I was able to relate to every chapter. I am sure all the sales people out there will be able to do so once they pick up a copy of it. Various phases & techniques of a typical sales process have been explained with ease. In fact personalized experiences have made it an interesting read. Otherwise only with sales techniques it could have been ended as another sales handbook. There have been quite a few personal life incidents narrated from where Brian learned a few sales techniques. We all are engaged in selling something or the other in our daily lives. Hence it is really important for a sales professional to keep an eye on every small or big incident in surrounding to draw an inspiration in his/her sales journey.

There have been several sales tricks explained in the book. But let me tell this to all the sales professionals who are new to this field that just following these techniques doesn't assure you success. At the same time these are the basic principles which have to be inculcated in your sales process to make a strong sales pitch. There is no guaranteed formula for success in any profession. Sales is no exception to that. But as I mentioned at the beginning that a strong basics can do wonders in your career, the same principle has been depicted in the book too in a very simple language. Also through various incidents author has illustrated some of the very common characteristic traits of sales people. Good to see that different sales techniques have found a separate place in the book to make it worth reading. Sales is an ocean of learning. This book probably exhibits some of the droplets of that ocean. Anybody who loves selling should pick up this book not only to learn new sales techniques but also to sharpen the axe which is being used throughout their career.

Image Credit: amazon.in

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