Networking 101 – We Are All Sales People

Networking 101 – We Are All Sales People

By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting (Pty) Ltd

I am not a sales person!  There I’ve said it and therefore it must be true!  What a load of rubbish! 

We are all sales people in this journey that we call life!  We ‘sell’ ourselves every single day of our lives – whether it is to the person that we are romantically interested in, or to the person that we interact with at the coffee shop where we are having breakfast, or when we meet someone new (irrespective of whether it is a personal thing or a business thing) or when we go for that all important interview – we all sell!  Acknowledge it, deal with and get over yourselves!

As small business owners (SME’s) or Entrepreneurs, we are all responsible for selling our product or service and will in turn generate income for our businesses.  Granted some people are better at sales than others.  Granted many of us have never received any kind of professional sales training to help us generate those sales and granted some of us, in all honesty need more than a little help to get going, but the bottom line is that we are all sales people!

Some of the sales methods that are available work for some and don’t work for others.  Cold calling, for example is something that I have never been able to bring myself to do.  As an introvert, the very thought of picking up a phone and talking to a stranger about my passion and what I do, is enough to send me rushing for the nearest cupboard in which to hide myself in.  Yet there are some that swear by it and who love the challenge.  Not for me thank you.

Now Networking, well that’s an altogether different ball game – that works for me.  You see, at a Networking event (well certainly the ones that I attend), I don’t have to deal with complete strangers.  The events are ‘semi’ facilitated which means that I will be ‘introduced’ to the person and this of course makes conversation a lot easier.

The person attending the Networking event is usually someone who is ‘like minded’ and that means that they are there for exactly the same reason as I am – to Network, and that makes conversation a lot easier.

So for me, the sales solution is to get myself off to a Networking meeting.  Actually, if the truth be told – you should to, it will change your life!

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za  or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za