Tweak Your Biz » Sales » The World of Sales Is a Stage

The World of Sales Is a Stage

by Tori Hawthorne on September 3rd, 2010
14 Comments



How many of us are lucky enough to work within a Business or own a Business that is our ‘Dream Career?’ If you answered ‘me, I am’, you know ‘What Makes Your Business Amazing!’

It would be a mad world if we ALL looked at life and said ‘what will make me the most money?’ I want to be/do that… There is only enough room for one David Beckham and only one Brittany Spears.

Through school and university we are guided by professionals towards subjects that we show an aptitude for.
Little did I know this would be useful for the position I now hold within My Sales World; with an outgoing personality, vivid imagination and little interest in mathematics. I spent most of my time in the Drama Block of our school, working out the most dramatic SFX/LFX (special effects/ lighting effects) for our next school production…

How does this relate to My Sales World?

To quote Shakespeare;

Jaques:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
As You Like It Act 2, scene 7, 139–143
(I won an award when I was the Stage Manager for our version of this when I was 16).

Every time I conduct a sale or recruit a representative I have to do several things, and so does anyone in business. Whatever it is we do, we all have to:
1. Plan
2. Practice/Prepare
3. Order/Produce
4. Deliver/Finalise

The End (round of applause)!!

Whether it’s a business plan we follow or the creative flow from our imagination, we bring pieces of our inner-selves to our businesses. I am in the business I am in because I can give it the best of me… and also my representatives and clients… But isn’t that what we all do?

When I opened my Twitter account, when I devised my Facebook  page, (when I madly decided to start blogging), as many in business have done, did my parent company tell me to do it? Did the book tell me to? No… I did it because I thought it was a good way to put me and my business out there… As so many of us in different businesses have done.

I see it as a good way to perform the play that is; Tori Hawthorne, Business Developer.

There are hundreds of people who do the job I do and only one me. Thank god, some might say!

Maybe it’s a very romantic way to look at things, but when we take a chance and put our head above the parapet and choose to do something a bit different to what’s been done before; whether we are a sales person, marketeer, business/Life coach or accountant to name a few.

We are what makes our business amazing.

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This post is part of the HP SugarTone contest: “Making your business amazing”, sponsored by Hewlett Packard



Category: B2B sales, Direct sales, Sugartone

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The Author:

The Training and Up-Skilling of your team, whether it is just you a Sole-Trader or you and a team of 200 is vital in the development of your Business. I have worked for over 15 years in Traditional Sales & Direct Sales spheres; I advanced from being a Direct Sales Agent to becoming a Business Development Manager involved in the Recruitment and Training of other Direct Sales Agents. I have developed Sales Training Programs that are effective and fun, bringing Sales Teams together up and down the country. Because I have worked in a Sales and Customer Service capacity for over 15 years, in both the retail and direct sales environments, I have learned vital techniques that can establish Customer & Sales Agent behaviors. This has allowed me a great understanding of Sales Processes. I have gained valuable experience in all aspects of Sales, Sales Training and Customer Service: Sales Pipeline Establishment and Development, Objection Handling, Closing Sales, Business Development, Networking, Customer Service, Complaint Handling, Complaint Resolution, Training and Education of Sales Agents. http://www.inspiringsales.ie

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  • http://recessionsolution.wordpress.com/ scott aughtmon @rampbusinesses

    Michael’s advice is totally correct!

    After interviewing 38 business, marketing and sales experts I discovered that the common mistake most business owners in a recession is that they stop marketing. As best-selling author Jay “Guerilla Marketing” Levinson said, “Stopping your marketing to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.”

    There are two dangers for business owners when times are tough:

    1. The danger of doing the wrong thing. (As Micheal warned here.)

    2. The danger of doing nothing.

    Another common mistake that business owners make during a recession is they do nothing at all. They “bury their heads” hoping it’ll all be over soon. The problem with doing that is that this action can many times cause your business to be over soon!

  • http://www.codegaconsulting.com/ Una Coleman

    Thanks Scott for your comments. Good to get feedback and other experience. Please do come back again to comment on future posts.

  • http://twitter.com/Micheal_Nagle Micheal Nagle

    Hi Sian. Thanks for the comment. Its really great to hear some first hand experience that backs up the main point of this post. The majority of businesses that I have spoken to make the common mistake of reducing marketing & advertising spend, it is sadly rare to see a business which increases marketing spend in a recession such as the one you mention from the London online directory. Many Irish businesses could learn from this example.

  • http://twitter.com/Micheal_Nagle Micheal Nagle

    Thank you for the comments Scott and for a great quote from Jay Levinson!

    It is fascinating how many businesses the world over are guilty of reducing marketing spend in a recession, this fallacy seems to arise time and time again. While it has to be acknowledged that managing in a vacuum has its difficulties, like you say the last thing a business should do is take an ‘ostrich approach’ and bury its head in the sand or be paralysed and overcautious. Businesses need to take a ‘boxer in the ring approach’ and meet their problems head on if they wish to survive the recession. This includes implementing aggressive marketing strategies such as this post preaches.

  • http://www.codegaconsulting.com/ Una Coleman

    Micheal, thanks for participating in the discussion and getting involved. Your commentary has been most informative. Good luck with your new venture: Greenpages.ie and greenbizpages.ie and your linkedin group, “Green Business Ireland. a “how to” guide for businesses to become more cost efficient by minimising waste and reducing energy consumption.

  • http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

    Welcome to Bloggertone Tori! I am in the business I am in because I can give it the best of me, luv this & that’s also the most and the least we can ask from ourselves. Great post, you’re a natural :)

  • http://www.sianphillips.ie Sian Phillips

    Brilliant post Tori. And your success proves that you know what you are talking about too. Looking forward to seeing lots more of you on Bloggertone :)

  • Torihawthorne

    Thank you for your kind words…. I think I’ll like it here ;-)

  • Torihawthorne

    Thank you…Its all baby steps ;-)

  • http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

    Welcome to Bloggertone Tori – you are learned and obviously love what you do. A fellow blogger, Frederique Murphy asked a similar question on twitter recently “What makes your business unique” I immediately answered “ME”. When she published the blog, I checked out the other answers – lots of them were simply “ME”. I was impressed and excited to see that people recognise themselves as their business’s USP (unique selling point).

    In your and my line of business, this is very important – we are our business essentially, just like Niall and Sian below :)

    We are who we are, and it’s when we try to be someone else, then we are not authentic. This is not to say we cannot emulate business models, and learn from those who have been there, done that :)

    Great post – from the heart in every respect. Keep being AMAZING :)

  • Torihawthorne

    Hi Elaine,
    Thanks so much for taking the time to comment… I Appreciate it…
    I thought your Blog rang true for my business too when I read it…. Great read ;-)
    Thanks again

  • Pingback: Rehearsals and Auditions: Practicing the Perfect Interview | Tori Hawthorne

  • Pingback: Rehearsals and Auditions: Practicing the Perfect Interview | Management

  • Debi Harper

    Well done Tori,great read, love your passion.Looking forward to reading and learning more as I really dislike sales and find it so hard.

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