Smaller Goals, Larger Rewards
I was fortunate to land the job of my dreams. No, I’m not a doctor or a lawyer. And no, I am not a pilot for NASA. I am a Sales Executive for Alpine Aromatics, a fragrance manufacturing company located in Piscataway, New Jersey. After fighting my way into the sales arena, I learned that the responsibilities involved would be greater than expected.Soon after my inception into the sales position, I quickly learned that I was “low man on the totem pole”, and that I would have to fight my way back up the hill that I thought I had already conquered.
I realized that once I was “cut loose” and given the GIFT of being able to set up my own work schedule, and work from home, I wasn’t blessed…I was cursed. For those of you who are “cursed” by the home office, you know exactly what I am referring to.Weeks went by, sales sputtered. Months passed…numbers were flat. After hearing objection after objection from the R & D manager, Purchasing Agent, or Operations Manager, I decided to re-evaluate my sales calls and GOALS. It wasn’t long before I realized that I was SELLING TOO HARD and not listening enough. In fact, I found that less selling lead to more return calls and sample requests. Initially, my goals were to try to close the sale quickly and move on to the next.
That way of selling may land you a sale here and there, but will not pave the road for continued success. It’s only a way of landing a quick and usually “one time” fee for service. I found that creating small goals had opened doors to more appointments and more overall sales. Small goals like: finding the proper contact, talking that extra 3 minutes with the secretary (if you’re good enough) who answers the phone, giving some helpful market information over the phone, or just executing 2 sample requests per day, took me up a few notches on the totem pole that originally had sneered down at me for my first 8 months of pounding the pavement.In addition to smaller goals, READING became an important part of my evening pastime.
I’ve so far read many books by Zig Ziglar, Frank J. Rumbauskas Jr. (why I’m writing this article), Jeffrey Gitomer, Tom Hopkins, and such…and it’s only helped improve my way of thinking. Listening to audio tapes and thumbing through self help books won’t make you sell better…they’ll assist you with alternate thinking and processing information. Also, you’ll open your eyes to outlets that you may never known existed!Without writing the longest article of the week, I’ll simply state that if you want to improve your sales process, set small OBTAINABLE goals. Most importantly…HELP YOUR CUSTOMERS. The best way to help your customers is by being honest, loyal, and consistent. If you say you’re going to do something…DO IT. Well, I guess that completes my goal for the night. See what I mean?
Robert Yorey, Jr. is a full-time Sales Executive for Alpine Aromatics, covering the Northeast United States and International Sectors. Alpine Aromatics custom creates and manufactures fragrances for personal care, home air care, fine fragrance, industry, and more. Robert can be reached via email at
