Great Salesmen Rule the World

Another blue ribbon worthy speech tonight. Awesome. This was delivered by Alan Goon, the President of the ING Leadership Toastmaster's club.

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Great Salesmen Rule the World

Good evening fellow toastmasters.

I believe that Great Salesmen Rule the World.
People who have the ability to sell things, make the most money in this world.They are the most successful in business and they are always ahead of the pack in the workplace. Those who have the gift of selling are also the ones who hold powerful leadership positions in business and in government. In other words, if you want to rule the world, you need to be great at selling a product, selling a vision, selling an idea or maybe more importantly selling yourself.

If salesmen make the most money in this world, then Bill Gates the richest man in this world, must be a great salesman. He definitely was a revolutionary visionary, because way back in 1977 he had a vision of Personal Computers being pervasive in all our lives. This was at a time when computers were the size of a whole room and most people did not know what computers were.Having a great vision is not enough to succeed. You must have the courage and the ability to sell your great idea to others, to make them believe in it and to follow you. Microsoft is where it is today because Bill Gates succeeded in making others follow his vision.

When we talk about great salesmen, another icon of the technology industry comes to mind. Steve Jobs is the definition of a consummate salesman. He can sell ice to Eskimos. He knows what the customer wants and more importantly, he is able to communicate this and make you want to buy whatever he is selling. People queue up to hear Apple’s keynote session when Steve Jobs is supposed to reveal some new product. Everyone wants to hear Steve Jobs sales pitch. Apple is successful because Steve Jobs is such a great salesman. Steve Jobs is a rich man because he has the gift of selling.

If salesmen rule the world, then the most powerful man in the world must be a great salesman. To become the President of the United States, it takes years to sell yourself to your political party to be selected as a candidate for the Presidential elections. The job interview process happens once every 4 years and it is a long drawn out sales campaign to sell yourself to the American voters. No one gets elected President if he is a bad salesman.

Closer to home, recently as a member of the Talent Review Board, we were tasked with selecting 5 fresh graduates as candidates for ING’s Local Management Trainee Program. It was an intensive, detailed selection process. Despite all the IQ tests, the academic records, the job experiences, the psychological profiling, we basically selected people with great presentation skills who managed to sell to us that they were the best candidate for our management program. We were selecting the future leaders of this company and we did that by selecting the best salespersons out of the group.

In conclusion, if u want to be hired for your dream job, if u want to be the richest man in the world, if u want to be a corporate icon, if u want the job as the most powerful man in the world, you need to be a Great salesman.

How do you become a great salesman?

For some, it comes naturally. Some people just have the knack for selling. For others, it can be taught. To be a great Salesman, you need to be a great communicator and a great listener. You need to be able to speak confidently and have the courage to connect and maintain a connection with people you do not know. You need to manage your body language and vary your approach to suit different people. You must be able to think on your feet to handle objections. You need to become a master at persuading others to do what you wish

The good news is that all of you are in the right place tonight. The Toastmasters competent communicator program teaches in a step by step way all the things you need to begin your journey to be a great salesman. Being here tonight means all of you are on the road to Rule the World.