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6 Similarities between Sales Job and Early Days of Motherhood

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If you know me personally or follow me on social media you would be well aware that there has been a major status change in my life. I am now entirely responsible for a tiny human being!!! This change in profile and the tasks that came with it is the most challenging thing I have ever done and I'm still learning the tricks of the trade every single day. During this process, I happened to realise how a sales job and early days of motherhood are similar in the following ways. #1 Things may not go as planned When you are preparing to welcome your baby, no matter how many books you read, websites you browse, videos you watch and apps you download, things may not happen as you had planned. You may plan to handle a sales call in a certain way but the situations may be very different from what you had expected. #2 Every baby/client is different All babies and all clients have common traits. But they are also unique in their own way. Each new client is a new experience and new l
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Why ask Questions?

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Something which differentiates kids from grown ups is that they are extremely curious about everything and they ask lot of questions. They will not stop unless they are convinced with the answer. A salesperson should imbibe this quality of a child when he meets clients or goes for calls. But what's different here is that doing your homework will help you to avoid dumb or basic questions like for example "What is your core business?". You are supposed to know that basic information, unless you are meeting someone unexpectedly and you genuinely have no idea or did not have any means to know about the client and the business. Asking questions with depth gives an opportunity for the client to speak about themselves and the information that you need comes from the client himself. Everyone loves to talk about themselves so you need to take advantage of that. Even if you get a feeling after a while that you may not be able to close a sale here, you still should gather infor
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Is Sales That Bad?

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A large number of MBA students prefer Marketing when it comes to choosing a specialization. Everybody loves marketing!!! But when placement season arrives the same people who used to loooove marketing stay away (or rather run away) from the sales jobs which are offered to them. Why?? Is sales that bad?? Most MBA graduates consider sales as the monster under the bed. This attitude has a lot to do with the image that a normal individual carries with him of  a salesperson - a guy who carries a bag, comes to your home and insists on explaining the features and benefits of the products in his bag. This particular exercise is not encouraged by the client or customer  most of the time and so he is not the most welcome person at a household or in our lives in general. So obviously you would not want to put yourself in those shoes. So why pursue sales? If I may quote what a successful professional once said, "Kochi pazhaya kochiyalla", similarly I would say, "Sales pazhaya s
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Loving the word "No"

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NO .. A simple two letter word, but one of the most common reasons why people fear to be in a sales profession. Not only in sales, it is a word which is disliked and dreaded by many. It brings with it the feeling of dejection, sorrow, despair and the like.. The fact is, the reason salespeople exist is because people say 'no' all the time. They would be jobless if everyone agreed to everything all the time.The key to success lies in how you approach the 'no'. Always anticipate and expect the 'no'. Be prepared to hear it and that will help you in handling it better. People often say 'no' because it is easier to say no than say yes. With experience you will realize that 'no' at times means 'maybe or not now'. So your journey with the client/customer need not and will not end with that 'no'. Getting a 'no' in the beginning of the sales process is much better than facing a 'no' towards the end. The ones arising
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The Know It All Salesman

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Like any other job being a salesperson is also tough as there is an uncertainty attached to the profile. You meet different clients with varied needs and desires. In the initial days you may find it really difficult because, however well you prepare for a call you may have to face situations which you had never dreamt of. On the contrary, this is also a reason why sales is an exciting job.You never know what's in store for you.       But once you grow in the role, you identify certain clusters of clients or situations and you program yourself to handle them accordingly.Taking the various cues into consideration you switch yourself to that programmed mode and you handle the call based on your assumptions. There.. I said it.. "Assumption". This is a very dangerous term in sales and it will even cost you the sale. We tend to be a ' Know it all salesperson'. The truth is, even if you are a very seasoned salesperson, you may go wrong in your assumptions.          
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Procrastination: The Bad Guy In Your Sales Journey

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Procrastination: "The action of delaying or postponing something" The above mentioned is the reason why there was no blog post here last month. I guess this phenomenon happens to everyone, it does happen to me all the time. Since I have had this realization many times in the past, I decided that now I should sit and act immediately. This tendency to delay things can cause serious harm when it comes to sales. It creates a sense of guilt and anxiety and procrastinating does not make the task go away.Salespeople often tend to procrastinate the following activities Making calls for new prospects Returning phone calls or emails Informing the client that you cannot satisfy their requirement and many more What causes the salesperson to procrastinate? You want to avoid the discomfort that might be caused by that action You feel it is really simple, so you can do it at a later time Self doubt. You are unsure of completing the task. So you rather not start it
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5 Ways For Qualifying Prospects

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When you're in the field, meeting people after people, how can you identify which of these people are really worth your time? This is known as qualifying prospects. A lead is a potential buyer. A prospect is a lead that is qualified or determined to be ready, willing and able to buy. For qualifying prospects you need to ask him questions to determine if he has the desire and ability. One of the biggest and common mistakes salespeople make is to right away present the product to the prospect without even trying to understand what the prospect wants. You need to sit back and do some probing to make sure you are talking to right person. Prospects will want to talk if they are asked the right questions. 5 ways for qualifying prospects are as follows #1 Does your prospect have a need? Is your customer actually having the need for your product or service? If he doesn't, no matter how great your pitch/sales presentation is, he will not say a yes. #2 Does he/she have the
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