Just how much a talented salesman can influence a company is evident from a few very famous stories. We tend to look at rich and successful people as some sort of unattainable ideal. But, for a lot of them, living in the lap of luxury at some point seemed just as impossible as it does to you. What helped them reach the heights wasn’t magic – it was just a little bit of talent mixed with a lot of resourcefulness and courage. In this article, you’ll find three stories that are all the proof you need that a sales genius can change a company’s trajectory!
Ralph Lauren and His Many Firsts
Although now synonymous with luxury, Lauren’s life wasn’t always glamorous. His real name was actually Lifshitz, as he was born into a family of Jewish immigrants who escaped Poland before World War II. He was the youngest of four siblings and lived in the Bronx, New York City, where he completed his high school education. After that, he enrolled in the City University of New York as a business student but dropped out after two years.
Lauren joined the US Army in an attempt to escape poverty. Upon seeing that his path wasn’t with the military, he joined the clothing retail industry following his discharge. First, he was a sales assistant for Brooks Brothers and then joined Rivetz in the same position. Their primary merchandise was men’s neckties. He managed to convince the company to allow him to design his own line of products, and not three years later, The Ralph Lauren Corporation would be launched.
His company also sold men’s ties, and Lauren made the deliveries himself! Seeing the amount of success he was garnering, expanding the array of products was the natural course of events. In 1971, he launched a collection of women’s shirts and introduced the famous Polo emblem. During that same year, Lauren opened his store in Beverly Hills, which would also be the first time any American designer had a freestanding store.
His successes didn’t stop there – just three years later, he was tasked with creating costumes for the male cast of The Great Gatsby and, four years later, Annie Hall. In 1978, he launched two fragrances – one for men and one for women – at Bloomingdale’s. This feat made him the first to launch two fragrances simultaneously.
In the spirit of giving back to the community, Lauren donated a large chunk of his wealth to cancer research programs. He even founded one himself, the Nina Hyde Center for Breast Cancer Research, in memory of a dear friend and Post fashion correspondent.
Zig Ziglar
We can’t really talk about influential and inspiring figures from the sales world without mentioning the great Zig Ziglar. However, his life didn’t always make him as big of an optimist as we know him to be today. He was born into an impoverished family as the tenth of twelve children! And since misery loves company, when he was a young boy, he lost his father to a stroke and his younger sister just two years later.
Similarly to Lauren, he dropped out of college as well. His luck would change completely following this decision; he joined the WearEver Cookware firm as a salesman and rose to the role of Regional Supervisor in just three years. His knack for sales allowed him to quickly climb the corporate ladder and even open up his own company, the Zigmanship Institute, which was later renamed Ziglar, Inc.
Although a talented businessman, Ziglar found his passion to be motivational speaking and writing. Over the span of his lifetime, he authored over 30 books and spoke and some pretty notable events. His most significant contribution to the industry was that he asserted the importance of sharing one’s knowledge with their peers and used his speeches and texts to inspire others to follow in his footsteps.
Chris Gardner
If you’ve ever watched The Pursuit of Happiness, you’ve heard of Chris Gardner. He was born into a very low-income family as one of three children. His life, unfortunately, got off to a rough start, with his father moving away and an abusive stepdad coming into the picture. After his mother’s imprisonment, Gardner ended up in the foster care system.
He spent his youth as an army medic, where he got close to a decorated cardiac surgeon who offered him a position at the University of California Medical Center as a researcher. He quickly learned the ropes of managing a laboratory and performing surgery. However, the paycheck Gardner received at the center wasn’t nearly enough to cover his life now that he was living with his girlfriend and son.
He then decided to switch careers and became a medical equipment salesman. That’s how he caught sight of a wealthy stockbroker driving a Ferrari, which inspired him to switch jobs yet again. Interestingly, once Gardner got enough money to buy a Ferrari, he bought it from Michael Jordan and had his license plate read NOT MJ!
He enrolled in multiple stockbroker training programs, but the entry-level jobs weren’t enough to keep him afloat. During this stage of his life, Gardner and his son were secretly homeless, scraping by thanks to soup kitchens, motels, and airports. But he quickly managed to get a hold of a rental house, where he and his partner had a daughter a few years later.
Not too long after getting out of the worst years of his life, the best ones came around. He founded his own brokerage firm with only $10,000 start-up capital and a desk that was also the family’s dinner table. That same firm would grow over time and eventually get sold in a multi-million dollar deal, making Gardner the CEO of Christopher Gardner International Holdings and allowing him to open offices across the USA.
Chris Gardner never forgot his struggles and donated millions to projects aimed at helping the homeless community, as well as being a board member of the NEF and sponsoring education awards.
Conclusion
To be a good salesman, you undoubtedly need to have a little bit of talent. But if you mix it with a high level of education, a business-oriented mind, and a dash of creativity, your business will prosper immeasurably. As a leader, you already know how important it is that your products and services be functional and of great quality. Hopefully, this article emphasized that this (in)tangible product needs to be accompanied by a professional sales rep in order to reach its full potential.
And that’s exactly what we’re offering! NextPilots provides your company with staff who are naturals at sales and who can help you boost your numbers. Give us a call, and we’ll take care of the rest!