I arrived in Delhi on February 11th, so I would have a day for the last preparations together with Ineke and Ronald at the Women on Wings office in Gurgaon. It was my first time at the Indian office. Ineke was very busy testing our new Women on Wings website and Ronald and I discussed my presentation for the sales workshop.
The next day we started at 10 am. 7 business partners with 13 people joined us for the 2-days Sales Summit. The first thing what struck me was the enthusiasm and openness of everybody. We started with the ceremony of lighting the lamp and after that a short introduction of myself and all the workshop attendees. I let them throw an inflatable globe to each other to do their own introduction. The globe is a symbol of sales all over the world; endless possibilities.
We discussed the differences between sales and marketing; and the differences between a marketing -, sales – and account plan. People are used to place everything under the heading of marketing. But this workshop was only about sales, sales and sales. And nothing else but sales!
Then we started working on a sales plan and an account plan. I was surprised how easily they work in an interactive way in small groups. They shared their personal business situation and discussed about it. Also great to see how all the groups presented their results and gave feedback to each other. Real fun helping them realize and understand the importance of sales.
Funny energizers brought fun in the group. Like a puzzle with a missing piece. The goal was to get cooperation and communication between the groups to reach a win-win situation. Also in sales you can only be successful if you cooperate with other departments and people to close and win the deal. And we did a funny energizer with orange balloons.
They all got some homework for the evening: everybody had to prepare a sales pitch for their own products and company for the next day.
The next day we started with the nine different steps in the sales process. We did this in small groups and later had very useful discussions in the whole group. Things like ‘what can you do to prepare for a first meeting with a potential customer’, ‘how do you overcome objections’ and ‘how can you ask for the order’? It was again great to see which pragmatic examples were discussed in the group and the level of energy and interaction was very high.
The afternoon was real fun; everybody had to give a sales pitch of his/her own company. We did some role plays; one of the group pretended to be a potential customer and the other one had to deliver a good sales pitch. Again I was struck by the openness and quality of feedback they gave each other. A very good experience for everybody.
At 4PM we wrapped up the workshop and did an evaluation. Everybody had to summarize the last 2 days with just one or two words and write that down on an orange paper plate. The result was a colourful group photo.
For me it was an unforgettable experience with a fantastic group of people. Thanks to everybody for their participation, useful input and feedback!! And I hope that we have given a boost to the sales approach of our business partners.
Marja Verslijen
