William “Bill” Porter – An Improbable Sales Hero
Many if not most professionals have current or historical figures, universally accepted as models in their field, from whose example they may glean insight and draw inspiration. For a few examples, Statesmen have George Washington or Lincoln; Scientists may look to Louis Pasteur or Marie Curie; Tech Entrepreneurs may look to Steve Jobs or Bill Gates; and the list goes on and on. One might say that the sales profession is a curious exception to the rule. Certainly, there are many speakers, authors and leaders in the sales profession who have taught and motivated multiple generations in the field – to name a few, Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, and Jeffrey Gitomer. Taking nothing
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Would anyone consider these portrayals to positively demonstrate the qualities and value of sales professionals? Have these movies inspired anyone to pursue a professional sales career for noble reasons? I dare say the questions answer themselves. These slanderous characterizations, among many others, have denigrated the profession, and doubtlessly have deterred from understanding the true nature and value of this field (and kept many from considering this career as an option). The many unassuming, principled, service-minded professionals who perform their roles with integrity deserve much better than these scathing portrayals. With apologies to Tina Turner, you might say, “We DO need another hero! We need a champion!” With that thought in mind, we come to Bill Porter.
Most of you reading this post will no doubt be unfamiliar with Mr. Porter. Many who saw him walk his daily door-to-door sales route in Portland, Oregon did not think much of this relatively non-aesthetic man. Anyone familiar with the sales profession knows instinctively that the determination to persevere through obstacles is essential for success. Few in the profession started their career with more challenges to overcome than Bill Porter. As a result of an injury sustained at birth in 1932, Bill was a lifelong sufferer of Cerebral Palsy. This left him with a speech impediment, the inability to drive, difficulty walking, and
It seems clear from the preceding discussion that, although definitely a factor, personality and physical appearance and abilities alone did not adequately account for Mr. Spencer’s success in his role as a salesperson. It seems his dedication and apparent drive to excel, as witnessed by his willingness to sacrifice family relationships, was perhaps a greater factor. There is also some evidence of a motivational and training element within the Tri-American Corporation, as evidenced by the annual company sales conferences, feeding into the findings by Churchill et al. (1985) that influenceable factors had a greater effect on salesperson performance. Finally, one cannot discount the presence of sheer luck in contributing to Mr. Spencer’s success, especially early on in his first year.
A salesperson’s career depends largely on the respect that others have for him. Without respect, Willie cannot sell himself to his family, friends, or clients. Willie understands this, and takes pride in the positive reputation he thinks he has with buyers across the country. In this way, Biff is a client of Willie’s, who purchases the wisdom that his father has to offer.
4. Plato focuses on the ideas of piety and holiness, virtue and wisdom, laws and justice. In the Euthphyro he is
Picture yourself in a situation where life and death were the only options you were given and in order to save your life, you needed to lie. In The Crucible, this situation occurred to a local farmer named John Proctor. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, was taken place in Massachusetts, 1692. Rumors of witchcraft arrive in the community of Salem and cause major chaos. The over exaggeration of events and witchcraft was caused by the Puritan’s extreme ideals. Puritan’s were a heavily religious group from the sixteenth and seventeenth century who wanted to add religious ideals to all morals. Many innocent people were accused for being associated with witchcraft and the court and high authorities were corrupt, leading to pure chaos. Proctor
“How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think” (Hitler, Mein Kampf). As time passed, there has been many times in history where a genocide has occurred. A genocide is a one-sided massacre from one party toward an ethnic or different group of people. As genocides occurred, questions such as “Why do people kill?” and “How can people allow these atrocities to occur?” are asked. There have been many theories made up as people researched the reason behind genocides. Throughout different centuries in history, genocides such as the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, and the Asian genocide, have occurred because of the negative psychological effects on the people caused by propaganda, corrupted leaders, and differences in ethnic groups.
Simon Sinek video gave me a total new outlook on sales. I had no idea that my thought process was backwards all this time. After watching the video I began researching what NHLC mission statement was. Once I read our mission statement the wheels started turning. I caught myself thinking about why I wanted to become a member of the sales team. What was it that makes me get out of bed every morning? After some thought I began to realize, it’s a number of different things.
Bill Gates made a lot of changes to the way the world operates through technology and made life at lot easier for other people around the world. Bill Gates (also known as William Henry III or Trey) is an American entrepreneur, business mogul, investor, philanthropist, and one of the most richest and influential people in the world. He was also known as the best businessman in the 20th century. In his years as a child, he had the attitude for math and science as well as showing interest in computer programming in his teenage years.
Salesmen act as persuaders and have a knack to be able to convince others to their way of thinking. Salespeople have the ability to create trusting relationships with people and are great negotiators. They are charismatic and have the innate ability to make others just want to agree with
Although your old life contains many memories you may wish to forget, you must remember the determination and commitment you always brought to your work. Your desire to succeed first manifested itself at a very young age, but unfortunately your environment did not offer you opportunities to use your good qualities in a positive fashion. However, today, in the field of sales, the same determination that allowed you to succeed in the world of crime can also allow you to excel as a salesperson.
Although nicely dressed with a proper shirt and a tie, the image of this man sends warning signals to our sympathetic nervous system. Behind the mask his face is wearing is undoubtedly a whole array of emotions ranging from deceit to anxiety. Because the audience is usually unable to determine whether this salesman is acting out with true compassion and sincerity or is working to fuel his greedy desires of enlarging his wallet, they would assume the former. After all, he appears to be a kind and gentle soul who doesn’t belong to the type that would try and squeeze out as much money from others as possible. On the other hand, some people would immediately be able to see through his façade and would give up entirely on attempting to purchase
When people think of a hero they think of Superman, Batman, or Spiderman, but what they should think of are people that make difference. Bill Gates has made a huge difference in today’s world; he is an extremely successful entrepreneur, an active philanthropist, and a very motivated person in general. With this motivation he has and will accomplish anything he puts his mind to. He was CEO of Microsoft and became the richest man in the world. He also created one of the most credible and generous charitable organization in the world. As a positive influence on today’s world, Bill Gates has proven himself as person with his good work ethic, positive attitude, and great accomplishments.
The next stage in the personal selling process is approaching the prospect. This means actually having an initial first meeting with the prospect for the first time, face-to-face. (Personal Selling, pg.136) Like most things in life, “Practice Makes Perfect”, and in this particular case, this statement holds true in that the more a sales representative practices and rehearses their sales presentation, the better. Practicing and rehearsing one’s presentation assist sales representatives in
Being a salesman has always carried a negative stigma since the early 1900s. Being seen as pushy, high pressure, deceitful people; the dreaded activity of purchasing some car or new appliance has haunted everyone at some point or another. Many words have come to describe salesman such as “sharks”, “cons”, “thieves” etc., and these words have stuck with the profession throughout the century. Two very realistic depictions of such phonies can be seen in Death of A Salesman by Arthur Miller and Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet. They depict the styles of two salesmen who have very similar selling techniques, but at the same time can be contrastingly
A leader is someone that you can look up to, someone who has a conglomerate of attributes that motivate people to follow them. There are many reasons why you can find someone amusing, intriguing or interesting but the conglomerate of actions performed by them is what makes them stand over others. A global leader is someone who has transcends the geographical limits with their contributions not only to their field but to humanity as well. In this essay I will briefly discussed the attributes of the global leader I selected, his visions and his contributions to
Software is the basis of technology. Without software most of the devices used today would not work as they do. Bill Gates, the cofounder of Microsoft, is one of the people who are thanked for the software used today. A hero can be someone who has shown act of courage in the danger, someone who has help to preserve and protect the planet, or someone who has made innovations to help to enhance every day life. Bill Gates is consider a modern day hero because of the innovations he has made in the world of computer software.