Do you really want that? A sales professionals influence by Aljero Knowles

Marketing & Sales technique : Do you really want that? A sales professionals influence by Aljero Knowles

Image of Aljero Knowles

With a pre-determined career path in mind, high school student Aljero Knowles embarked on an internship with a luxury jewelry retailer that shifted his professional trajectory.  

well first of all good morning now I

want you all to close your eyes for a

moment now I want you to imagine your

favorite product for someone maybe the

latest iPhone Gucci clothing and

footwear or even that fresh new pair of

Nike Air Max just sitting at the tip of

doubt lists or waiting to be bought now

I want you to open your eyes forget

about what the product word products I

listed you what was your favorite

product that came to mind dremel saw-max

you what was your favorite product that

came to mind for a laptop and of course

you what was your product that came to

mind an Apple laptop there you have it

now I want you all to ponder on the last

valuable item you purchased specifically

who helped or influenced you to buy that

product was devise social media

promotions word-of-mouth communication

or was it that sales professional

waiting at the end of the door ready to

help supply you with your personal

tastes and preferences but what I really

want to discuss is how many of your

decisions are independent when you

purchase a product specifically are you

purchase more influenced by people who

are knowledgeable about their product

like a sales professional or is it

simply those outside influencers like

friends and family members who convinced

you to invest in a good based on their

personal beliefs however to be quite

honest with you I really never realized

the value of a sales professional

specifically in our society until last

summer was given the opportunity to work

in an environment that was heavily based

upon sales professionalism now many of

you may wonder what do sales

professionals do or what is their

purpose as to our global economy well a

sales professional is defined as someone

who is skilled in the field of selling a

product to the final consumer according

to salesforce.com 76

cent of sales professionals say using

sales analytics has significantly or

somewhat improved their ability to

provide customers with a consistent

experience across every child now I want

to take you on a journey for a moment

picture yourself walking into that Nike

outlet a stock shelf about seven feet

high showcasing your variety of products

from brand to color color to style style

to size and size to price now what is so

different about that one shoe that

stands out from the rest

automatically when you walk into a store

you're greeted by someone who knows your

main intention is to purchase a new

something new

their main aim is to ensure that you are

satisfied with finding something that

appeals to your desire for that specific

shoe in my training thus far I was

taught that in order to sell something

one must be knowledgeable about their

product but specifically one must be

passionate about what they do

what this generally means is that in

order to have a more effective sale one

will sell a story to the final consumer

sometimes you know when we look at

stories you know when we were younger

and got Cinderella pretty Beauty and the

Beast

The Princess and the Frog and from the

stories they created movies and from

those movies they became a big success

so what I'm saying is that sometimes a

story is often overlooked as something

just to pass the time but there are many

ways in which sales professionals

controls the storyline of a product

during the summer I worked in a luxury

jewelry store I was a minor didn't know

what I was getting myself into I mean we

had to do it for the money but I knew

that my ship ended at 6 p.m. sometimes

11:00 I knew that I had lunch breaks for

an hour specifically an hour if I didn't

make it in that hour then I would be

punished but yeah that was what I did

basically and from that I didn't even

know that I had to sell a product

consumers specifically I didn't even

know that I had to build a strong

customer relationship in order to get

that product to the final consumer as my

time progressed I started to appreciate

the power of storytelling through a

narrative lens for example in the space

that I worked in I sold jewelry

specifically stones in many cases the

consumers perspective is what is so

different about that stone that is

different from another random jewelry

store that carries the exact same stone

well I would respond by appealing to the

emotion of the consumer by doing this

use different modes of persuasion as we

know in English language they're called

pathos ethos logos fall of us who do be

GCSE you said you know

I got an a I got an a I got an A but by

doing this you must appeal to the

emotional aspect of the consumer often

one might say or I may say the color of

the stone is black however black

symbolizes strength and stability this

is often used to convince the consumer

that the product is of high quality

shirts assurance because of the

well-established brand image and by

assuring them that they can get that

price nowhere else

building a store is one thing but

building a strong customer relationship

is another sometimes you may be eager to

buy a product but could be thrown off

specifically by the relationship between

you and the sales rep whereas the sales

rep may have not been so pleasing may

have not been so convincing they have

been just the attitude everything is

just unpleasant

however in let's take for instance in

the classroom relationships are just as

important important to success we may

say a student got a bad grade on the

test but doesn't seek help because he

feels as though his teacher doesn't give

a squat about him I think we all can

relate and it's mostly the child's fault

air quotes the child's fault but because

he got that bad grade but at the end of

the day it's up to the teacher who's the

expert to provide that product by

selling that learning strategy and think

of it like those short ins that I

mentioned earlier you know you wanted

you know you need it but you just have

to get that extra little nudge that's

gonna persuade you our influence you to

buy that product specifically sales reps

will influence your overall way of

thinking and because of them they know

their product and from them knowing

their product it will influence your

knowledge about that product which will

often convince you to push that extra

nudge even if the Jordans maybe two

hundred and fifty dollars three hundred

dollars we may we may want them Easy's

you know they're like what five hundred

dollars but it's because of that sales

rep and the things that they add towards

that's gonna help influence your overall

way of thinking and it helps you to

close that that sale not only

efficiently but effectively I like to

think of an item like this it's a 50/50

chance of buying that product the first

50% is the influencer is brought about

via social media word-of-mouth

communication on local TV ads and so

forth however the real deal which is

that final 50% isn't sold until you pull

up at that store just waiting to be sure

waiting to be served to ensure your

overall purchase of the product you so

strongly desire just ponder on a world

without sales professionals our

professionals are guiding entities down

the path to making long-lasting but yet

so detrimental life choices of

purchasing a product that we'll never

forget

take for instance the Bihari clothing

line we all know that this is during our

national independence celebrations

vihari is the hottest selling brand

throughout the islands of the Bahamas

however many people do not realize that

it is we as a people who often influence

our independent culture through the

shirts by creating a domino effect

during that time of Independence so

every time you see someone wearing that

mihari shirt you're automatically gonna

be like so this is the thing that's

trending now and through those trends

and those influences made by your

friends your families your peers they're

gonna often persuade you to get that

Bihari shirt just because it may not

look so good but no friends

am i open it I wear Bihari by the way we

might say that the Bihari shirt is not

good but it's everybody as a pool it's

our shared knowledge it's everyone that

comes together that's gonna influence us

to wear that shirt with pride because we

want to express our bohemian culture we

don't want to be left out you know so

that's mainly like what professionals do

and to relate back to this so here's my

idea I think personally that we're all

sales professionals and mainly we are

all storytellers

it's like the prices artifact your

Grammy continuously tells you about

every time you walk into her house she

may be like oh my little antique but

she's automatically 7u that story and

that story will often influence our way

of thinking and our perception so we're

some way somehow responsible for our own

purchases as well so I want to challenge

each and every one of you to think about

a product that you know you can sell a

story in which only you can tell best

because that's just something that you

feel passionate about that's something

that's gonna influence that overall look

that overall view like what we're doing

here today that's gonna help you to sell

that product and the story in which you

tell will one day often be sold to that

consumer to shift their overall way of

thinking and their perception of how

they perceive that product

Who is Aljero Knowles

 Knowles shares his experience and explores the role that sales professionals play in consumer perceptions of products, concluding that it is highly undervalued.

 Aljero Knowles is a 12th grader at St. Andrew’s International School where he serves as Student Council President and a Prefect.

He is passionate about helping others by providing messages to help shift ways of thinking. He won the Kingdor National Parkinson’s foundation 7th annual speech competition and continues to serve as a youth ambassador raising awareness about the disease.  He also recently won the Rotary Club of Nassau Sunrise’s 1st annual National Speech Competition.

While education is Aljero’s primary focus, he believes in the brawn of work experience and during summer breaks works in spaces where he can use his gift of public speaking not only to sell a product, but to build a strong customer relationship with anyone he meets.