Focus on Life

CHAPTER 1

I started as a salesman

Yes, that’s right. I started as a salesman in the 1990s.

I began my working life as a part-time salesman in Tottenham Court Road. At the time my boss had few shops. In his day, business was hard. We sold TVs, video players, hi-fis and headphones, etc. We were only earning a small commission.

Making a sale in those days was hard. How to sell became very important. My boss held a small training session after work and so we had to stay behind after hours for another half an hour or so. Quite a few years later mobile phones arrived from the top technical firms such as Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, etc. They were large multinational names. Companies like us, at the time, were selling phones for about £500.

Because of the demand, I decided to become an independent mobile phone salesman and I received a lot more commission in the heydays. However, Motorola continued to sell the 8500 and 8800 phones and the popular accessories made big profits for them.

After this we experienced the popularity – if you were lucky – of home cinema with Bose speakers, etc. Selling these became all-important. It was crucial to get to know your product well by researching its use and, therefore, making sales became far easier. Finding ways to close deals quick before the customer changed his or her mind was both a skill and a challenge.

Instead of diving into the deep end with the customer, you need to make them feel important by asking them questions; what are they looking for, what do they want to use it for and how much do they wish to spend? Of course, some customers already know the answers to these questions, but some do not!

The key fact is that, if a customer says they would like to spend £300 or more you need to upsell, which is when a seller invites the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades or other add-ons to generate more revenue. In 1990, selling was still hard but face to face sales were good.

There are a couple of things I remember – waking up at 7:00 to leave the house at 8:00. I would start work at 9:00 – like a robot for six days a week. On Sundays I would visit my local temple for prayers. I would then play football at 4:00. In those days there were no computers or mobile phones for entertainment.

Life continued like this for about ten years before I realised I wanted to make changes to my life. I decided I wanted to own my life properly. In my mind, I wanted to become my own boss. I knew it would be difficult because I would need the money to start up my own business. I began to research what I could do to achieve this.

In 1990, I started selling at Saturday markets in Finchley Road, Hampstead NW3. I sold phone accessories such as cases, aerials, holders, etc, with big profits. This was a massive opportunity for me to learn how to sell and do business. I learned even more about selling face to face to the general public – as you can imagine, I had to deal with all sorts of customers.

Also at this time there were films that were inspiring to me such as those starring Bruce Lee, James Bond and Rocky. By this stage, most people had more time on their hands, not like nowadays where you can buy everything on-line because everyone is too busy to visit the shops and retail parks.

Most people still had the old-style cars. I had a Ford Granada and my father owned a Volvo. Fixing your own car was quite normal in those days as it was cheaper and car