When we hear the word ‘sales’, we don’t know why, but we immediately think of sleazy used car salesmen trying to pass off a car with no handbrake as ‘living on the edge’.
But we’re here to tell you, sales isn‘t a dirty word and doing it well doesn’t need to come with the trickery of smoke and mirrors.
We’ve teamed up with sales legend and all-around unsleazy Abbie White to invite you to the workshop of all sales workshops, The Ultimate Sales Workshop with Abbie White. Before she takes it away at Business Chicks HQ, we sat down to ask her five quick questions about her sales journey, what’s next and what you can expect from her workshop.
Tell us about your career journey to reach where you are today.
I ended up in sales by accident, after initially saying “no I’m not a salesperson”. I was doing an internship at IBM in sales operations and the sales team thought I would be good in sales – I didn’t take that as a compliment! It wasn’t until I shadowed the sales team, I understood what sales was all about and fell in love with serving customers. I joined the IBM graduate sales programme in London, did a 2-year Sales School before flying the nest. I continued my career at IBM, then went into Sales Leadership roles with IBM, which brought me to Australia. After nearly 10 years in corporate I decided to leave and start Sales Redefined and now work with SMB through to world-leading corporates.
Have you always been interested in sales?
Anyone who knows me knows I’m a people person and a fan of a good chat, so guess that gave me an advantage. Sales wasn’t a “career” I thought of or even considered as a career choice for many. I fell into it. I’m now obsessed as everything is sales and everyone is in sales, you just might not hold that job title. Trying to get your 3-year-old to put on their shoes? Asking for a pay rise? Getting your colleague to help you? Helping your clients to achieve an outcome?
What advice do you have for people who find sales an icky part of their business?
This is normal, don’t beat yourself up. Everyone sells! Sales is a skill you learn and develop and build confidence. No lawyer, doctor or marketer is just a “natural”. They invested and developed their skillset, same is true for sales. You can 100% be successful at sales whilst being true to your brand and true to yourself. No used car salesman tactics are needed (and they don’t work!). Sales now is far more than just the sales conversation and relationship. The pandemic accelerated digital sales, so digital sales channels also need to be part of the sales strategy.
Can you ever know everything there is to know about sales?
I’m a learning junkie, so I always think you can learn more. Ecommerce was accelerated by 5 years+ due to the pandemic, which has had a knock-on impact to the digitisation of sales. As this evolves, we need to learn new skills and new ways of selling to meet the demands of our customers. 44% of millennials want a seller-free experience, so how do you create that too?
What can people expect from your workshop?
A highly practical, hands-on workshop, which is all realistic to put into action. We will break it down into bite sized chunks and make it simple. We will cover what’s changed in sales, where the opportunities are, how to increase your sales without being salesy, what high-performance sales people do differently to the rest, and what the most effective lead generation approaches are in today’s market.
If you haven’t signed up for The Ultimate Sales Workshop, there’s still time! Register your spot here! And just because Abbie really knows how to sell it in, she’s giving everyone who registers entry into the draw to win an hour of 1-1 mentoring with her – heck yes!
