personality of the month
M
ichael Tan, Founder of OTS Group Sdn Bhd, has ventured out into the world of insurance when he was at the young age of 19 years old. He has accumulated 23 years of selling experience right after his high school graduation. Since then, he has expanded his horizons by hosting team building sessions, public speaking sessions and seminars for organisations, both large and small. Entrepreneur Insight is pleased to have a sit-down session with Michael, for him to share his wisdom and to understand his salesmanship thought process. What are the rookie mistakes you often see in new recruits? The young working adults entering the marketplace are full of drive, and passion. They take pride in their work, which will reflect in the way they sell their products. However, these young people need to understand, salesmanship is a tough career, and there will be plenty of sufferings and plenty more rejections, which will sap out every ounce of passion out of them. There will come a time where you can’t deal with rejection and can’t overcome the obstacles in your career. Hence, the first thing you should do is to surround yourself with the right people. You need the support from your family, your colleagues and your spouse, and from the people who truly care about you. How do you deal with rejections then? If you qualify ten customers and get rejected ten times, does that mean you are a failure? Of course not! With each rejection, you grow more as a person, and you understand more of what you are lacking. You need to do proper case studies and personal evaluation, to understand why you have been rejected in the first place. The next time you approach another ten customers but manage to close a single sale, it means you are improving and that you are on the right track. Being rejected is normal and good for you, and many people understand that logically. But there is an emotional barrier that is hard to overcome. That is why it is important to build up your level of confidence.
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THE ART OF
SELLING
Wisdom from Michael Tan By Jotham Lim
You do so by taking the time to research and truly understand your product, your service and your business model. Interesting. Can you share more about your salesmanship philosophy? Third-rate sales people rely on their personal connections to close a deal, people who know them and trust them. Second-rate salespeople rely on their product or service concepts to close a deal. But firstrate salespeople are selling a solution to a