Menjadi seorang "sales person", yes or nope?

Ini akan menjadi hal perbincangan menarik apabila kita membahas apakah karir yang kita impikan adalah menjadi seorang penjual. Saya rasa juga kalau kita survey ke seluruh anak SD dan kita tanya apa cita-cita anda, kemungkinan kita tidak akan pernah mendengar mereka akan menjadi seorang penjual... (Ya gak sih???)

Sales pekerjaan bergengsi?

Nah ini nih kalau di bahas lebih mendalam, kebanyakan profesi penjual itu selalu dianggap kurang bergengsi atau tidak menjanjikan sehingga biasanya para professional sales ini sering terkena dampak jomblo sejati atau di takutin dengan teman-teman sekitar-nya (takut entar di prospekin lagi...).

Well menurut saya seorang penjual itu adalah profesi yang sangat keren sekali.. Kenapa tidak? Mari kita telaah lebih dalam..

1. Fashionable

Tidak hanya seorang artist atau fashion designer loh yang fashionable. Tapi ternyata seorang penjual dituntut harus sangat fashionable dan well grooming didalam pekerjaan keseharian-nya. 

Don't judge a book by it's cover? Well it's only a myth in our reality life.

Seorang penjual harus dapat menjadi reprensetatif yang diandalkan. Sebelum dia dapat menjual product/service -nya dia harus dapat menjual diri (penampilan-nya) -nya dihadapan calon pembeli-nya sehingga dia menjadi penjual yang dapat dipercaya. Setidak-nya orang akan berpikir saya berhadapan dengan orang yang tepat. So working with fashion, bukankah ini sangat kereenn.

2. Society people

Seorang penjual gak hanya dituntut berjualan tetapi juga harus memiliki tingkat pergaulan yang sangat luas. Hal ini bukan untuk berjualan, tetapi dengan luasnya tingkat pergaulan seorang penjual dia bisa banyak mendapatkan informasi apa yang terjadi dipangsa pasar saat ini, bagaimana minat konsumen saat ini, arah perubahan bisnis  dan bagai mana mengoptimalkan target market-nya.

Sangat berbeda dengan back office yang tidak terlalu di tuntut kegiatan ini didalam pekerjaan keseharian-nya. Sehingga sosialita nya memiliki scope yang monoton.

Belum lagi kalo ada event-event yang lagi nge-trend atau hitz... Baik itu yang bersifat professional atau non-professional; dari yang level high society  sampai yang common society sudah pasti seorang penjual professional akan hadir disana.. Selain untuk eksis ya pasti juga berkaitan dengan pekerjaan-nya kaann.

3. Fine dinning

Makan di restoran mahal di siang hari atau malam hari? Jangan heran, ini bisa jadi keseharian seorang penjual professional. Banyak-nya pertemuan yang mereka dengan klien terkadang sering dilakukan di tempat yang lebih bersifat non-formal. 

Mungkin karena ada istilah"don't talk business at the office, it's a place for work not business."

Nah hasilnya kebanyakan pertemuan berbicara mengenai bisnis selalu dimulai ditempat yang seru, seperti cafe, reso, bar atau tempat lain-nya yang bisa berbincang lebih santai. Nah kurang bergengsi apa coba pekerjaan ini? Apalagi kalau sambil di selingi exsistensi di sosial media dengan tempat-tempat yang wahhh... 

4. Full pocket

Gaji penjual itu kecil loh... Apalagi pendapatan-nya gak tetap. Apa yang mau diharapkan?

Jangan salah, seorang penjual profesional sejati tidak pernah melirik ke fix income (gaji) melainkan selalu berbasis kepada komisi dan bonus dari hasil penjualan-nya. Semakin banyak dia melakukan penjualan-nya maka semakin besar isi kantong-nya.

Inilah yang tidak pernah didapatkan di dunia back office, mereka hanya memiliki fix income yang nilainya selalu sama setiap bulan-nya. Sedangkan seorang sales bisa mengatur bulan ini mau mendapatkan income berapa tanpa haris merusak cash flow isi kantong-nya. 

Akan menjadi sangat tidak asik apabila suatu hari ada barang yang kamu suka  seperti gadget baru, tas atau sepatu tapi kamu harus bersabar karena isi kantong mu tidak mencukupi, namun hal ini tidak akan pernah terjadi kepada seorang penjual yang sukses.

5. Flexible time
Memiliki waktu kerja yang flexible adalah impian semua pegawai. Sama hal-nya seorang penjual yang profesional biasa-nya memiliki waktu kerja yang sangat flexible dan tidak terikat working hour.

Biasa-nya seorang penjual dapat mengatur dengan baik jadwal pertemuan-nya dengan calon pembeli, sehingga terkadang susah terikat dengan waktu kerja. Disatu sisi dia memiliki waktu kerja dengan pola yang tidak menentu, tapi disisi lain inilah hal menarik-nya dia dapat menentukan waktu kerja-nya menjadi sangat optimal.

Menentukan waktu kerja, bukankah itu impian semua orang?

Jadi bagaimana menurut kamu? Menjadi seorang sales yes or nope....? :)

Top 5 Skills Every Leader Must Have

The world moves fast and if you can't keep up, your company is doomed. Here are five skills that every leader must have to run a company in today's culture.

 1. Drown out the noise.

We live and work in a world that’s so overloaded with information, communication, and gadgets that fighting that irresistible and constant tug to text, tweet, and check our email is becoming harder and harder all the time. That trend is not likely to change anytime soon.

Ability to focus and prioritize has always been critical to success in just about any field, but these days, managing distraction and not succumbing to its addictive qualities has become remarkably challenging for even the most disciplined among us.

Make no mistake. If you can’t focus, you can’t get things done. And if you can’t get things done, somebody else will.

2. Recognize the bullsh*t.

When you question assumptions, claims, and viewpoints instead of just accepting them as gospel, as in "I saw it on the internet so it must be true," that's called critical thinking. It’s fundamental for smart decision-making. And that, in turn, is key to being successful at just about anything.

The concept dates back thousands of years to Socrates and Buddha's teachings. If you question conventional wisdom, challenge the status quo, and avoid collectivism and groupthink, you’re in good company. They’re all facets of the same concept.  

Here’s the thing. There’s so much garbage out there in the cloud, in social media, in blogs, on TV, in self-help books -- you name it -- that your ability to question what’s real and what isn’t, to reason logically and not generalize from a single data point, is more critical today than ever before.

And, in time, the world is only going to become more and more complex and, that’s right, full of stuff.   

3. Be more than an avatar. 

It’s ironic that, with all the hoopla over personal branding, self-expression, and the “Me” generation, I find that people are becoming more and more like internet avatars every day. In other words, there’s a tendency to hide behind our own social media creations. To become sound bites personified.

More than ever, we need a sense of humility and self-awareness to remind us that we're flesh and blood humans. That we’re not always the insanely great business leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, partners, parents, whatever, that we hold ourselves out to be.

Not only that, but the sheer volume of noise and time we waste on mindless distraction makes it that much harder to stay in touch with ourselves, to be quiet and reflect on what’s going on inside, to understand what our emotions are trying to tell us.  

And don’t even get me started on political correctness, that insidious worldwide trend that dumbs us all down to the lowest common denominator so no single individual is ever left out or made to feel uncomfortable or, God forbid, offended.

In a world of indistinguishable lemmings, where everyone tries to be different and, in so doing, ends up behaving exactly like everyone else, those who are genuine and self-aware will have a big advantage.

4. Truly connect with people.

Communication has always been the means by which great leaders achieve great things. But these days, communication occurs in sound bites, status updates, text messages, and tweets of 140 characters or less. More and more, communication is one-to-many, not one-to-one.

The problem with that is it’s mostly superficial and nobody’s got time to pay attention to even a tiny fraction of all the gigabytes being blasted at them every day.

As for all the online social networking we do, none of it’s even fractionally effective when compared with a simple real-time discussion or meeting.

Sure, the ability to write and speak effectively is perhaps more important today than ever before. But if you have that unique ability to listen and really hear what people are saying, to empathize, to really relate and truly connect with folks, then chances are you’ll be writing tomorrow’s success stories.

5. Get things done.

The idea that successful executives, entrepreneurs, and business leaders are typically driven by high aspirations is nothing but a popular myth. Most of those people didn't get to where they are by walking around with their heads in the clouds. They got there by putting one foot in front of the other and getting stuff done.

If they’re not motivated by grandiose dreams, then what does drive successful people? It’s usually one of three things: their job and a strong sense of personal responsibility, out of necessity to put food on the table and a roof over their family’s heads, or to bring a product to market they think is cool and that people might actually want or need.

Regardless of the reason, they get people working toward a common goal. They deliver the goods. They get the job done. They satisfy the needs of their customers. And in so doing, they take care of their families and stakeholders. That’s how things work in the real world.

These days we have more rhetoric, debate, analysis, studies, theories and research than ever before. We have more grandiose ideals than ever before. We have more rules and regulations than ever before. The challenge to get things done has never been greater and the need for leaders with that capability has never been more imperative.

That’s what I think you and your children will need to adapt to a changing world. Now, what do you think?