The Pocket Guide to a Sales Career

By Tony Yardley

The Pocket Guide to a Sales Career is written to help anyone who wishes to make a career in sales. Tony Yardley is not a regular author who wishes to promote a small part of his job as his inspiration. He has spent over 50 years in sales and he wishes to pass it on to anyone that is seriously considering taking it up as a career. It is aimed at people leaving school or college or anyone changing careers in mid-life.
This book tries to cover as many aspects of sales as possible including interviews with professionals. Some of these might items might seem basic depending on your experience but please persevere, because a reminder of what you already know can be as good as learning it the first time.
A successful career in sales will give you a skill set that you will be able to transfer to many other businesses, whether you’re employed or self-employed, and will always give you an income even into old age.
Selling is not about getting someone to buy what they do not want. In fact, it is about selling something to someone that improves their business or their life.
Success in any business is to identify a market and supply that market.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jan 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781528993920

Tony Yardley

Having spent over 50 years earning his living in a sales career, Tony Yardley wishes to pass on to someone taking up the career, giving them a head start. He wishes to pass on the thrill of finding new customers that benefit from your products and to show that regardless of the product you are selling, you will always be employed, as nothing starts without a sale.

Book preview

The Pocket Guide

to a Sales Career

Tony Yardley

Austin Macauley Publishers

The Pocket Guide

to a Sales Career

About the Author

Copyright Information ©

Part One

Introduction

All or Nothing

First Impression

Meet and Greet

The Interviews

The Products

Lead Sourcing

Prospects – Leads – Customers

Body Language and Personal Space

Presentations

Sales Meetings

Sales Training

Objective of Your Call

Closing the Sale

When to Change Job

Finally

Part Two

The Five Steps of a Sales Presentation

About the Author

Having spent over 50 years earning his living in a sales career, Tony Yardley wishes to pass on to someone taking up the career, giving them a head start. He wishes to pass on the thrill of finding new customers that benefit from your products and to show that regardless of the product you are selling, you will always be employed, as nothing starts without a sale.

Copyright Information ©

Tony Yardley 2022

The right of Tony Yardley to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The story, experiences, and words are the author’s alone.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528993913 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781528993920 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2022

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Part One

Introduction

Now since I am retired, I have had a lot of time to reflect on my sales career and put together some notes that might help my 20-year-old self or someone starting out.

People used to dismiss my work as being in sales but they didn’t realise the subtleties behind getting a sale. Plus, the enjoyment of finding a prospective customer, presenting a product and closing the sale.

Hardly anyone ends up working for the same company for all their life but a life in sales means you can change companies and still be in the same career. I have tried to give some examples of my changes and reasons further on in the book to show that you should not be afraid to change.

I have tried to write about my experiences but not write an autobiography so have not named companies I have worked for. This is a work of fact not fiction unless I said so.

Over the years, I just thought I was lucky. I have now realised why people say you make your own luck because the harder you work, the luckier you become. There is a Chinese saying, The best man can be beaten by someone who works harder.

During the years, I have been to many meetings and training courses where I have paid for travel and tickets to find someone explaining their favourite topic which is usually only one part of selling and although interesting, does not give a full picture.

Some of you may find it quite basic and already know all that follows but sometimes it does help to be reminded as that 1% change can produce a 10% increase in performance. This book may look short but I do hope you find it informative.

Whether I was employed or self-employed, I particularly liked being called a salesperson, not a representative who calls on customers with very limited chance to increase sales. Nor did I want to be called a sales agent as this would imply that there is no responsibility on my behalf to the company I worked for.

There are many types of sales, from