Some of you may know that in a “former life” I had a business as a Sage Reseller. I was pretty good at it as well, (if I may say so myself) and for a while we were one of the fastest growing Sage Resellers in the UK.
This was long before the advent of the Cloud Accounting products we’re all familiar with now and around the time that Sage Expo started (yes.. I really am that old!). I remember going to one of the first national events held in Birmingham and being blown away by the range of topics covered and the way they were presented.
One of the sessions was an update on the Product Development plans and an overview of how the development team worked. The highly visual introduction was accompanied by one of the most popular songs of the time…. Chubawamba’s “Tub Thumping”. (See…. I told you I was old).
Apparently, it was the Development Team’s “anthem” because it reflected their approach and attitude towards developing what, at the time, was complex and sophisticated software.
Even if you don’t recognise the group or the song, you probably know the lyrics..
“I get knocked down, but I get up again, you’re never gonna keep me down”
It struck a chord at the time (excuse the musical pun), not least because it reflected my own approach to selling my products and services.
Selling is tough…. It takes effort, persistence and a huge amount of empathy to find potential customers, to build relationships based on trust, identify how you might possibly be able to help a potential customer achieve their goals and work with the prospect to (hopefully) close a sale. You won’t succeed all the time, but you can hone your skills over time and become more effective at generating customers who value what you do for them.
There’ll be huge amounts of resistance, rejection and knock backs, so above all, it takes resilience and a willingness to dust yourself off and keep going.
Successful sales people will get knocked down, but they’ll get up again, and no-one will ever keep them down.
If you’d like to explore how Proten Sales Development can help you Tub Thump, get in touch.
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