Segev Zadok, 33, used to think that sales was too scary.
[h3]Segev Zakod[/h3]
[h5]Zadok Jewelers, Houston, TX[/h5]
[componentheading]PROFILE[/componentheading]
2009 personal sales: More than $1,000,000
[dropcap cap=S]egev Zadok, 33, was born into the family business and blessed with the outgoing personality of a salesperson. Still, he didn’t always see himself in sales. “I never wanted to be in sales — too scary, I thought.” Zadok earned a bachelor’s degree in business management, but the GG degree he earned after college was the missing ingredient that led to his successful sales career. “Knowledge is power. I blossomed into sales,” he says. — EILEEN MCCLELLAND[/dropcap]
[componentheading]INTERVIEW[/componentheading]
FISHING: I always tell my sales associates, “Go fishing.” You might catch a fish. Get on the phone. You might get nine “Nos” but you might get one guy who says, “That sounds like a nice new watch you’ve got in.” Don’t let “no” bring you down. Stay persistent.
PERSONABLE: When I call a customer, I start by not discussing jewelry. My strategy is I need to be personable. So I’ll say, “How’s your wife? How’s your dog? How’s your brother?” And then work up to whatever I called them for — “I just got in a beautiful necklace.”
READ: Don’t talk past the sale. You have to read the client and see how much information they really want. It’s easy to over-sell somebody where they get so bogged down with information that they don’t want to buy it from you.
TRUST: Building relationships with clients is very important. I might only sell them a few thousand dollars at first but with time I’m building up trust and they are more comfortable spending more money each time. That’s how you can build your numbers.
PASSION: If you exude a passion for what you do, you have a better chance of being successful because the person on the other end will absorb your passion and will want to buy that passion.
CHIT-CHAT: I like walking clients to the door, chit-chatting while we are walking through the store, and trying to open the door for them. It makes it a little
more personal.
[span class=note]This story is from the April 2010 edition of INSTORE[/span]