Diary of a Salesperson - II

                        Making of a Proficient Salesman - II

As Julius Caesar said “Experience is the teacher of all things”, I believe to attain great knowledge and achieve highest summits one must learn something from every good and bad experiences in life. Some of the most important lessons that we learn in our lives usually come from the most unexpected places.  I learnt one such lesson from a distributor sales boy I came across in my journey towards success.

This sales boy taught me that “You will not achieve more if you don’t demand for extra, always look for what else you can get, what else you can achieve.” I took this lesson into serious practice, I decided I would demand more from every customer and gradually it became a habit.

Once during Diwali holidays I spent 3 days handling my father’s business, he owned a cycle shop. One day while I was looking after the shop, a sales boy visited the shop and he taught me one of the most important lessons in life, he said “you should know your customer well if you really want to win his mind and if you win his mind; you will certainly get business.” It was then when I understood the need of becoming accustomed to my customer’s habits and their needs. I started profiling them, asking them about their family, talking to them about their daily schedule, their hobbies, their likes and dislikes; this helped me understand them even better.

When I was in Jodhpur, I once got a chance to visit rural market with one of my leading distributors in Jodhpur. The 14 hours that I spent with him changed my perception about my own self. A few lessons in life that I learnt from him are – 

·         "Be confident and think of yourself equal to your customer.” It is true that you need them but they need you equally to run their business.

·         “Be a sharp observer.”  I learnt from him that one should spend few minutes in observing the patient sitting area, clinic walls and other details to find different things like any new poster, any new achievement certificate or any competition material etc.

·         “Try to know about 24 hours happening in the clinic, shop and hospital” He taught me that it is important to know about any complicated case handling, number of patients treated every day, any severe case etc. This helps you to prepare on how to start your conversation inside the chamber. When you know what has happened in the last 24 hours it will become easy for you to begin your conversation discussing about it.

·         “Be true to yourself.” Self-confidence and self-acceptance plays a vital role in a salesman’s life. It is very important to be our true selves and not fake anything in front of the doctor. If there is something that we do not know, we should not shy away from confessing it. You can tell the doctor that you don’t know it right now but you can find out and learn about it and get back to him in a particular period of time.

·          “Know your competitor.” This was one of the most important teaching I’ve received in life. I learnt that it is very essential to study our competitors, what they do, their field colleagues, their strengths and weakness, their plans and strategies, cost of products, product packaging and all other details one can acquire.  I developed a habit of meeting my competitors, their distributors, studying their brands and this habit helped me strategize my marketing even better, it helped building my brand.

All these lessons that I’ve acquired from different experiences and some phenomenal people in my life have helped me achieve whatever I have in life today. I have learnt that identifying a right customer; knowing their prescription habits, right product focus and subject knowledge are essentials of a successful salesman. Learning from experiences and implementing those lessons in life is the ultimate key towards becoming “A SMART SALESMAN.” I hope my teaching and lessons inspire you every day to perform better than yesterday and bring you a step closer to your desired goals.