SalesTO is launching an initiative with the hope of uniting Canada’s âdispersedâ sales community.
SalesTO’s Sales 30 Under 30 series will celebrate the sales professionals making a difference in their respective companies. Speaking with BetaKit, Kenny Goldman, organizer of SalesTO, said that sales is a skill often overlooked.
âWhether youâre trying to sell t-shirts online and run an ecommerce business, whether youâre trying to sell who you are to someone else while meeting them at networking events, thereâs some aspects of selling and storytelling. And more often than not people, donât associate that with sales,â Goldman said.
âThe demographic we attract at SalesTO events tend to be younger individuals.” – Kenny Goldman
Goldman added that this is thanks to the changing nature of the modern sales professional. Since buyers do their own independent research until up to 80 percent of the buying process, sales professionals now have to focus on the specific ways they can provide value to each customer, rather than regurgitating and spurting out a bunch of general information, which Goldman calls âpremature elaboration.â
âFor instance, people say Slack doesnât have a sales team. They actually do invest heavily in sales, the difference is that they donât necessarily have a sale team designed to go out and cold call everyone and their families, but really, itâs to provide to provide value to people who want to learn what Slack does well.â
SalesTO will begin accepting nominations on December 15, with winners announced in May 2017. While âsalesâ can be a broad term, Goldman said that SalesTO is opening up nominations to the entire gamut of the sales process, including operations and customer success. âIt isnât limited to just people who are selling or people prospecting, or people who are doing operations. We want to really pay tribute to anyone who works in any capacity within the sales function.”
Goldman said that SalesTO is open to having similar initiatives expanding on 30 Under 30, such as a 20 under 40 list. âWe wanted to get something out there to the community, and that meant optimizing for speed,â said Goldman. âThe demographic we attract at SalesTO events tend to be younger individuals, so thatâs who our audience is right now. Thatâs where we feel we can attract the most effective nominees, and build that credibility to start off with.â
Currently, SalesTO is in the process of putting together a judging committee of sales professionals and leaders, as it comes up with a checklist of qualities important in potential winners â and Goldman is calling on Canada’s business community to reach out.
âThereâs been lots of interest from the community. Thereâs people who want to sponsor and want get involved, and contribute to the community, and thatâs part of our goal,â said Goldman.