Supporting its sales representatives with communication training to help enhance their selling skills was the focus of True Blue’s Sales Conference this year. True Blue’s executive director, Brad Macdougall, summed it up in a single sentence, “the more successful you are as salespeople, the more successful our business is.” INCLEAN’s editor, Kim Taranto, reports.
Celebrating 30 years of Australian-owned and operated service, True Blue Chemicals held its sales conference on 3 March at its head office in Caringbah (Sydney). The conference introduced an agenda that offered business development managers the opportunity to learn more about the products they’re selling through chemical training and live demonstrations by innovation and NPD chemist, Rianna Goodwin.
“We align ourselves with ethical businesses and distributors that share our business philosophy of honesty, integrity and respect,” remarked Brad Macdougall. “We see you as an extension of our business and therefore want to have a high level of interaction and work closely with our sales team and distributors so we can grow the organisation nationally in a fun work environment.”
However, the highlight was the strategic sales training delivered by guest speakers; education specialist and co-founder of training company Learning Unlocked, Ross Robinson, and leading learning and development expert, Greg Hammond.
“We wanted to offer something of value from today, which is why we have made a substantial investment in this year’s speakers and workshops in the hope that it will unlock some hidden skills or ignite a new passion for selling,” said national sales manager, David Stephenson, in his opening address.
Brad Macdougall also commented, saying that it is the company’s obligation to make the conference events rewarding, and also increase the frequency of these events. “The more successful you are as salespeople, the more successful our business is as well,” he stated. “Selling is a lot more than just knowing the product – it’s about interacting with people – and it can be difficult to stay motivated and driven. So we’ve got some expert advice on how to stay on you’re A-game.”
Greg Hammond spoke about Learning Unlocked and how by unlocking or discovering a person’s communication style, one can then find a successful way to engage successfully with them. “If you’ve got belief in and passion about the product you’re selling, then you’re halfway there,” he shared. “But to make it a complete circle you need to have the right attitude. And that comes down to resilience – the ability to bounce back and get back up when you can’t.”
Greg continued to discuss the different levels of emotional intelligence, quoting Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory, and the aspects related to selling. “Confidence comes when you focus on your past successes,” Greg remarked. “As salespeople, you need to be resilient above all and the three ways to strengthen your resilience is perseverance, choice and perspective.”
This was followed by a relaunch of the environmental choice range of True Green products by marketing coordinator Vivienne Aitken and an interactive workshop about the toolkit, the market and trial criteria.
The day finished with a selling to succeed workshop that encompassed the focus of this year’s conference – to unite and motivate the sales team, promoting strategic business partnerships, and True Blue sales.
