Here is why?
For a long time, the public perception for selling has been mostly negative. Only few people think of it as a career choice as they go to school. Only later in life, most of us confronted sales. What a waste, and it should not be that way.
When you have a sales skill, you have all of the following and a reasonable life.
1. People Skill
In business, and in real life, you know relationship and networking really matters and you take everything it takes to learn about people psychology and human behavior. People are decision makers who make or break your initiative and good sales people know how to establish, nurture, communicate and maintain good relationships. When you have people skills, you know when to draw your emotional intelligence, negotiate and serve a win-win purpose.
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Salespeople work across multiple disciplines navigating multiple teams to get things done in time. The ability to work in teams is fundamental everywhere. The people skill you developed as a salesperson is as important in your daily lives.
The ability to find and influence the right person, power person, almost always transverse across initiatives’ success.
… ባጭሩ ምን አገባኝ አትልም። ደግሞ ለሱ ወይም ለሷ አትልም ወይም አትይም።
2. Time Management and Execution Skill
Some people call it task management but essentially it is the ability to get things done in a certain time frame. As a salesperson, you know how deadlines ruin your life and learn to prioritize the must be done tasks. Plans if not executed are mere dreams and being in sales roles teaches you, sometimes the hard way, the importance of doing within a certain time frame. Some magnificent things are relevant only in a certain timeframe. Time can be of the essence, often.
One of the biggest flaws in the Ethiopian market is lack of time management. We show up late and it is not a positive sign at all. You can avoid it if you happen to be in a sales adventure.
… በሰአት አለመገኘት ዝርክርክነትና ለሰው ክብር እንደሌለህ ማሳያ እንደሆነ ትረዳለህ።
3. Problem Solving Skill
Real salespeople are not just good at understanding what customers need or want. They too are good at helping them solve their problems. They know that they can’t sell their products and services to the next target unless they proved it in the existing one. They know that word of mouth and repetitive sales is the easiest and less costly marketing option in business and put themselves in the shoes of their customers until problems are solved. And in life, the ability to solve problems is almost everything. When you develop a good sales skill, you frame problems as opportunities to solve other problems.
…..ባጭሩ ከችግሩ ይልቅ መፍትሄው ላይ ታተኩራለህ ።
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4. Project Management Skill
In business, you may survive in a single or certain expertise but you cannot thrive. Although Job role rotation has been proved effective to install all rounded perspectives among employees, it is not that common in Ethiopia. The easiest way to diversify your knowledge and skill in multiple disciplines is to join project management initiatives where salespeople are common and good at. Right well ahead of implementation, they are used to conceptualizing and analyzing results and outcomes in different metrics (turnover, profit, cost, quality, timeline, teamwork, result etc.). The ability to conceptualize and analyze initiatives end to end is a key skill anyone needs to have.
…እራስክን ወይም እራስሽን የሆነ ሳጥን ውስጥ አታስቀምጥም/አታስቅምጭም።
5. Persistence and Perseverance
Constant rejection is the game in sales. You have sales skill means you are used to rejection. There is nothing personal. You have a rejection here, you focus on the next. There is no burnout or despair. You learn from the experience and move on. Most of us are afraid of failure even without trying and it is one of the biggest obstacles to our growth. It ain’t that a problem for good salespeople. You become unbreakable, and you learn to take responsibility.
….የሰውፊት ማየት አይደንቅህም/አይደንቅሽም። ሃላፊነት ትወስዳለህ ።
6. Personal Branding
In almost all of our daily lives, personal branding has a huge influence. Think of the bigger names in the market. Bigger names have lower transaction cost everywhere. There is no one closer to good branding than salespeople. They do branding on a daily basis and it is part of their genes. You can be one of them in what you do if you follow the sales principles.
…..መታከም ስትፈልግ፣ አቅም ከፈቀደ መጀመሪያ መሄድ የምትፈልገው በደንብ እራሱን ከሸጠና ጥሩ ስም ካለው ሃኪም ጋር ነው። ስለ እራስህ ስትጠየቅ እኔ እንጃ የምትል ሁላ ደግመህ አስብ።
7. Public Speaking Skill
It does not matter what you have or know unless you expose it to the outside world and it happens through effective communication.
Sales pitches and presenting products and services to buyers are daily to do lists for salespeople. They practice communication everyday and they learn for real. Practice is real progress. Practice does not make us perfect, as it is commonly said, but we grow in it. There is no such thing as perfect in business, and the strive to perfection is, in fact, an illusion that keeps us behind. Sales creates the platform to practice public speaking and then grow with it.
Salespeople learn and practice to speak concisely, to the point and contextually and you know what it means in business, and of course, in real life.
…Learn from religious preachers and translate it to business.
…..ስታወራ አትርበተበትም፤ ሃሳብህን ሌሎች በቀላሉ እንዲረዱት ታደርጋለህ ። ለመረዳት ታወራለህ ።
8. Money management skill
What is money management, and is it a skill in the first place? I think so. Somehow, most of us are taught and know how to earn a living but not , much, how we use money. We earn and we spend until there is none. Savings, investments and building assets are not in the radar especially when we are young. Salespeople knew this early on and you can be one.
Watch out for the stock exchange under formation….
….ገንዘብ ማግኘት ሳይሆን እንዴት መጠቀም እንዳለብህ ትረዳለህ ።
9. Future orientation & Technology perspective
The pace of innovation and technology have never been slower. You blink, you got a new one.
Salespeople focus on trends which puts them at advantage to new technology and new business models. They capitalize ahead of the masses. Salespeople are in competition mode everywhere and it is a basic mindset to have.
Non- salespeople make the wrong assumption about technology thinking of technology and of itself. Salespeople think of the real problem a technology can solve. Big difference of mindset. You may have a groundbreaking innovation, yet it means nothing unless it addresses a certain issue of humanity.
Watch out for TikTok and ChatGPT now……
….ነገን ታሳቢ ታደርጋለህ!
10. Leadership Skill
Long time ago, I used to wonder why people in sales and marketing roles are the ones easily promoted to management and leadership positions. Now, I learned that it is for the qualities mentioned above.
In fact, I will do the same if I get the chance to assign or promote people to leadership positions. Good Salespeople think broadly, speak clearly, look to the future and execute more with others. It is the practice in real life that keeps salespeople growing.
Acquire the qualities of good salespeople and do a favor to yourself. It is not just the act of selling that matters but the mindset shift itself. Believe it or not, you are selling one way or another but you can sell better and faster if you change your mindset to selling. The mindset shift is then translatable to other activities of daily life.
…..The End…..
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