Written by Caitlin Swanson
I never know quite what to expect of our guest speakers, just that they will be extremely influential and great public speakers. I always expect great people skills and a natural ability to convey a message to an audience (aka: sell their idea). Paul Alves did not fall short of this in the least. He had so much valuable information to offer us and his delivery was filled with passion!
The first thing that I identified with was his point about ALWAYS doing the right thing because it will always come back to you. So to me that means, always be polite, even when your potential clients answer is no. You never know where you will run into that client again or who they know so it is best to always be cordial and professional. Sales is full of ups and downs but it is how you handle that adversity that will ultimately set you apart from your coworkers. If you mope around and hang your head when you hear no three times in a row, it will make it much harder for you to bounce back. But, if you remain positive, learn from past experiences and have confidence in yourself, I believe that could make all the difference. How you handle rejection and adversity will come back to you!! So do the right thing, follow up with a prospective client, extend the opportunity for to reach out in the future, build rapport and maintain and develop your relationships. As Mr. Alves said, you never know where that person will be in the future, they could get a job with a different company who is in need of your product or service and remember you because you stood out among all your competitors. That applies not only in your career but in all aspects of life; do the right thing because it will always come back to you.
Mr. Alves discussed some of the rewards of being in sales as well as some of the main challenges. While the rewards are all good and well I think we should be paying more attention to the challenges that he spoke of. Those are challenges that we will be faced with, so we might as well start preparing for them now! The 5 main challenges that I noted were rejection, thick skin, patience, staying motivated and listening skills. All of these challenges relate to one another. In terms of rejection he said to view the glass as half full which ties into staying motivated and positive and developing patience. To have thick skin he said to not take the rejection personally, but to convey polite behavior, be respectful and describe how you think your product or service can help- those aspects are appreciated by buyers. Developing patience is crucial because depending on what your selling, the process can be very lengthy but you must stay true to the process and your own standards. Staying motivated is important because of the amount of rejection we will face. Mr. Alves said to let the positive things keep you engaged and excited, if you LOVE what you are selling that makes it easier as well! Lastly but most importantly is listening skills. He said to take in the potential clients responses and ask open-ended questions to get them talking. The two main questions were: What are you trying to accomplish? Why is that important? I bolded the second question because I think it was the biggest take away from this guest speaker. As our previous speaker said, you have to be empathetic towards the buyer and show that you care about their problems and are invested. This questions brings clients emotions into the mix. People buy on emotion from people they like!!!
I thought that Paul Alves was a great speaker. He had so many great things to say and prompted many questions! These questions will allow us to delve further into the experiences of people in the places that we want to be. Mr. Alves exceeded my expectations, his format was clear and easy to follow and made note taking and understanding very easy. I look forward to connecting with him in the future!
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