5 Career Lessons I Learnt as a Copier Salesman

5 Career Lessons I Learnt as a Copier Salesman After working for the same company for 5 years- I reached a point in 2011 , where I was not feeling challenged anymore, with the recent changes in Top Management â€" the future looked bleak. I had a decision to make â€" I could either continue where I am -feeling bored,unchallenged unmotivated or Take on a new challenge.In the Fall of 2011, I was approached by Canon Canada for a new opportunity for the role of selling copiers in a given territory. I went through the interview process, and I accepted the job offer.A part of me felt that I was making a big mistake. I heard a voice saying “Why would you want to leave a job where you have established yourself for 5 years and start from scratch again?”.evalI thought to myself â€" I needed a new challenge, needed to learn new skills, expand my horizons. And after a tug-of-war between two parts of my brain ; I decided to take the job.I did not get a lot of support from my company In all our weekly sales meetings our Sales Manager Remo repeated the same mantra “This business is simple, all you need to do is to manage your activity â€" put in the effort, do the work and the results will come”.If you are in Sales, I am sure you have heard about this mantra “It is a numbers game”. I believe that mantra applies to anything in life. Quantity always precedes quality. Do more of anything, and overtime your skills will improve, and so will your results. I was listening to an audio program once and I learnt a valuable lesson. Success is directly related to your level of Skill, and your skill is directly related to your level of Action.Action â€"â€" Skill â€"- SuccessIn order to get massive success, you need to increase your skill level quicker , and this can be done by taking Massive Action.Massive Action â€"â€" High-level of Skills â€"â€" Massive Success.evalI embraced the above idea, I decided to go all in â€" Embrace Action to the Fullest â€" working longer hours,working during lunch hour and over the next few months I became very competent eventually very successful at that job.3. Simplicity is KingOur Manager also repeated “This is very simple, all you need to do is to knock on 35 doors a day, hand them your business card and you will get customers calling you when there is a need” “But if you don’t take that simple action,no one will call you and won’t sell anything”.Initially I thought to myself, it can’t be that simple “What about the 13 steps Sales Process and the 103 Closing Techniques?”.I realized that none of the techniques mattered as long as I focused on the fundamentals. Success in any endeavor is simple 5. People do business with peopleCanon has a reputation for making top-notch products â€" lenses,cameras,copiers,etc. And every year they win numerous awards. But that does not always mean people are flocking to buy the products.This is the same with every organization â€" if all that mattered was the best product, then there would not be salespeople, marke ters, customer service reps, quality assurance team,etc. This is something I learnt â€" it is up to us â€" salespeople, marketers, professionals to make sure our potential customers benefit from our products. And it is our job to reach out to them,educate them and persuade them to use our products. Even though we live in a hyper-connected world â€" people still make the products, people sell the products , people buy the products and people use the products. Working for Canon , and selling copiers was definitely a fruitful experience for me. In one year, I learnt more street-smart business skills than from 4 years in school. I have been able to create a strong foundation in Sales Career as a result.Companies like Xerox, Canon still continue to provide the best training programs and have been able to shape the careers of numerous individuals. In fact the Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks started off selling copiers at Xerox. Similarly Bill McDermott , the CEO of SAP also started off selling copiers at Xerox.evalIf you are a new graduate and you are considering a career in sales or in the business world â€" I recommend starting out selling Copiers. The skills you will learn, will forge a strong foundation in your future career. “If you can learn to sell copiers you can sell anything”.