Hi Shaun,
I have been reading your advice for the beginning of 08 with great interest and curiosity. As the owner of a rep agency and having many salesmen working for me over the years, and like a cop I have heard every excuse from my salesmen, for lack of sales, late call reports, late expense report Etc.
You have the blessings of a saint, when you answer questions posed to you about sales or management, your advise is remarkable and so very kind. How do you do what you do, your motivation is so different from anyone I know in management for the past 40 years.
My real question is “who are you”, have you written a autobiography? I can’t copy anyone’s management style, but I can pick up bits and pieces. I’m semi-retired but I still have young salesmen ask me how to do all that is requires in the best profession that allows anyone with ambition to make a good honorable living. May I end by wish you your family and staff a very happy holiday season.
Kind regards,
Bill Ford
Bill, thanks for your kinds words. With the web the positive side is anyone can start a blog and the negative side is anyone can start a blog. I believe my responses reveal who I am, however, I thought your question was a great opportunity for CloserQ readers to learn more about me than just my linkedin page and my personal site http://www.shaunpriest.com/ with my fictional book and brief bio. I believe the keys to a long successful career are hardwork, being a lifetime learner, working at the right company for you (including running your own company), helping others, and most importantly having the will power to overcome adversity. In every career you are going to run into tall, wide and deep walls. What separates your average performers for your stars is how they attack the walls. These walls includes both professional and personal challenges.
In my career, I have had the advantage of working, selling, and managing for eight different companies in four different industries including a 3 person startup and a fortune 500 company. I have done sales (obivously) and management (hopefully obvious too), but I have also done installs, support, project management, and even manufacturing. This has given me a lot experiences both negative and postive, to better understand complex situations.
The bigger blessing is I have had three very different and very successful sales mentors. Below is an overview of my three mentors:
The Believer: My first mentor loved his product and industry. His selling strategy was very simple, ‘Exchange your enthusiasm for your solution with your prospect’. If your prospect is enthusiastic and wants your solution, the rest (though hard and takes time) will take care of itself. He combined this we continuing education and being an industry expert.
The Stratitician: My second mentor is the best pure sales person I have ever met for both tactics and strategy. Unlike 'The Believe', he did not believe deals took care of themselves. He believes that sales is very hard and deals have to be continually worked because your prospect changes and is constantly getting different information from different sources. He can break down the tactics of a deal to the one inch level (solutions, buyers, competitors,); then take all the information back up to a 10,000 foot level to put together the deal strategy (ex. executive presentation). He has extremely strong follow up and is a great presenter.
The Business Man: My third mentor is a great overall business man. His philosophy is sales is building a long term relationship and we don’t consider a client successful until they buy from us a second time. Anyone, can sell a solution onetime, but it takes a complete company (sales, support, installation, development, etc.) to continue to sell to current clients. These satisfied clients lead to successful new business deals.
I try to combine the components of these three successful sales people and managers, with my continually self development, and my belief in the Lord. My strong believe in the lord includes helping people with their personal and professional lives. The Lord has blessed me with wonderful family and friends.
I have also worked for very poor managers, who have taught me what not to do in regards to deals, partnerships, and managing. At the time, working for poor managers definitely did not feel like a benefit but over time I have come to appreciate, how hard it is to be a good manager.
Bill, I hope this helps you better understand this blogger. Readers, please click the comments to give feedback on my response. Shaun Priest aka CloserQ
I have been reading your advice for the beginning of 08 with great interest and curiosity. As the owner of a rep agency and having many salesmen working for me over the years, and like a cop I have heard every excuse from my salesmen, for lack of sales, late call reports, late expense report Etc.
You have the blessings of a saint, when you answer questions posed to you about sales or management, your advise is remarkable and so very kind. How do you do what you do, your motivation is so different from anyone I know in management for the past 40 years.
My real question is “who are you”, have you written a autobiography? I can’t copy anyone’s management style, but I can pick up bits and pieces. I’m semi-retired but I still have young salesmen ask me how to do all that is requires in the best profession that allows anyone with ambition to make a good honorable living. May I end by wish you your family and staff a very happy holiday season.
Kind regards,
Bill Ford
Bill, thanks for your kinds words. With the web the positive side is anyone can start a blog and the negative side is anyone can start a blog. I believe my responses reveal who I am, however, I thought your question was a great opportunity for CloserQ readers to learn more about me than just my linkedin page and my personal site http://www.shaunpriest.com/ with my fictional book and brief bio. I believe the keys to a long successful career are hardwork, being a lifetime learner, working at the right company for you (including running your own company), helping others, and most importantly having the will power to overcome adversity. In every career you are going to run into tall, wide and deep walls. What separates your average performers for your stars is how they attack the walls. These walls includes both professional and personal challenges.
In my career, I have had the advantage of working, selling, and managing for eight different companies in four different industries including a 3 person startup and a fortune 500 company. I have done sales (obivously) and management (hopefully obvious too), but I have also done installs, support, project management, and even manufacturing. This has given me a lot experiences both negative and postive, to better understand complex situations.
The bigger blessing is I have had three very different and very successful sales mentors. Below is an overview of my three mentors:
The Believer: My first mentor loved his product and industry. His selling strategy was very simple, ‘Exchange your enthusiasm for your solution with your prospect’. If your prospect is enthusiastic and wants your solution, the rest (though hard and takes time) will take care of itself. He combined this we continuing education and being an industry expert.
The Stratitician: My second mentor is the best pure sales person I have ever met for both tactics and strategy. Unlike 'The Believe', he did not believe deals took care of themselves. He believes that sales is very hard and deals have to be continually worked because your prospect changes and is constantly getting different information from different sources. He can break down the tactics of a deal to the one inch level (solutions, buyers, competitors,); then take all the information back up to a 10,000 foot level to put together the deal strategy (ex. executive presentation). He has extremely strong follow up and is a great presenter.
The Business Man: My third mentor is a great overall business man. His philosophy is sales is building a long term relationship and we don’t consider a client successful until they buy from us a second time. Anyone, can sell a solution onetime, but it takes a complete company (sales, support, installation, development, etc.) to continue to sell to current clients. These satisfied clients lead to successful new business deals.
I try to combine the components of these three successful sales people and managers, with my continually self development, and my belief in the Lord. My strong believe in the lord includes helping people with their personal and professional lives. The Lord has blessed me with wonderful family and friends.
I have also worked for very poor managers, who have taught me what not to do in regards to deals, partnerships, and managing. At the time, working for poor managers definitely did not feel like a benefit but over time I have come to appreciate, how hard it is to be a good manager.
Bill, I hope this helps you better understand this blogger. Readers, please click the comments to give feedback on my response. Shaun Priest aka CloserQ
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