Lessons from a global sales leader over 30 year of international B2B sales

By Luciano Giol

The purpose of this Ebook is twofold: to present the modern way of sales and marketing by illustrating changes in behavior and practices; and to define the global sales leader, a profile for success in today's business world.

The author is an Italian entrepreneur who built up a successful industrial business and consultancy in China and beyond. He shares firsthand stories and wisdom from over 30 years of experience in business, as he observed and responded to the rise of globalization.

The key message the author wishes to convey is: be ready to change, improve and keep up with the times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Luciano Giol
• Release date: Apr 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9786050424751

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INTRODUCTION

Do you have a role model? Someone who inspires you? Whose actions, mindset and values give you guidance through life? I think having role models is highly important for us psychologically, because, as we grow up, we can look to them for inspiration and as a blueprint for how we wish to shape our life. The most obvious role models for children are their parents, and for me it was no exception.

My father worked in a hydraulic cylinder firm. In the summertime, when schools were closed, he took me with him to work and had me do little tasks. Summer after summer, I was entrusted with more and more jobs and I could actually earn a small salary. In one month, I received 50,000 Lire, half of which I handed to my parents for household expenses, while the rest was mine to keep. It was a real money management school! My father, through his example, gave me my first basic lessons in helping me establish a healthy and responsible relationship with money. The second important lesson I learned from him is related to work and, in general, to life: what a man of reason my father was! He had a motto he began to instill in me when I was very young, and which goes like this: Son, if you want to succeed, you have to become an expert in something. I admit that I have thoroughly put in practice my father’s motto and that he couldn’t have been more right.

So, this is me now, after more than 30 years of professional experience: a specialist in the hydraulic and pneumatic cylinder industry. My father introduced me to this business and I stayed loyal. Almost right from the start I worked in sales. There was a moment in my career when I was about to change sectors completely, but, thanks to a series of lucky coincidences, I didn’t. I will never know where that path would have led me, but I don’t regret it because I’m perfectly happy with where I am and what I do now. I live and work in China, travel all over the world, do business worldwide, and return to Italy as much as I can. My career started in Italy, in some of the leading firms of the Italian hydraulic industry: A.L.T.A. SpA, STELMI ITALIA SpA, Marcegaglia Spa. Thanks to Marcegaglia, I moved to China in 2008 and haven’t left the country since. I’m not a manager at Marcegaglia any more, because in 2012 I decided it was time to strike out on my own and I opened my own company in Shanghai, which offers consulting and trading services to my target market. But, at the same time, I’m still a contract or temporary manager for other companies that turn to me because they face a skill shortage in defining global strategy.

Being a contract manager is a role I highly appreciate because it’s associated with change, improvement and, ultimately, growth. By working side-by-side with companies in need of a turnaround or a re-organization due to a crisis period, you offer them a pattern to follow generated by years of experience, success and failures. I like to share know-how and best practices, and, in this way, to spread all the teachings I’ve gathered from my personal life, from my role models – including my father –, from the trainers I’ve encountered and the books I’ve read.

Change is my key word and, in addition to my father’s motto, which I still cherish, I also have adopted the Chinese saying that goes: what doesn't grow is destined to die. 

CHANGE IS MY KEY WORD

As I mentioned earlier, I work in the hydraulic and pneumatic cylinder industry and it might seem weird at first that someone working in this technical sector sets to writing an eBook. Well, yes, it definitely would be if my idea were to make a manual of how a cylinder is made of, how it works, or where it is used. The subject matter may seem boring to you and not fitting a digital publication. However, allow me just a couple of points about cylinders. To those of you not operating in this field, it might be interesting to know that whenever you see movement in machinery, you have a cylinder at work! Now doesn’t it sound more interesting? We often are not aware of the functioning of the basic stuff of our lives, so knowing that the movement of an elevator, a bike or a motorbike depends on a cylinder might