Stewart Woolley, general manager at Calor Gas, tells SalesTarget why he decided that a career in sales was a better option than life as a barrister.
1. What was the first thing you sold?
I sold hot dogs and burgers when I was seven years old. My father ran a series of burger vans along Blackpool’s golden mile, and my job was selling burgers to the coach drivers who brought the tourists– I did that most weekends until I was 24.
2. Did you intend to go into sales when you started your career?
No, I started as a lawyer, and qualified as a barrister at the Council of Legal Education. Unfortunately I ended up in the legal department of a big company and, after 12 months, I was thoroughly disillusioned. I thought about practising as a barrister but didn’t fancy years of poverty: it can take six or seven years to find your feet.
I saw an ad for Calor's sales department and decided to apply – it turned out to be the only sales job that I've ever had, I’m still here after 27 years. When I started, I was put on a three months’ sales training course, which was unheard of at the time.
3. What’s the single most important quality you need to succeed as a salesperson?
Resilience, and you’re going to need a lot of it to keep going. One week you are the team superstar, next week you’re battling to get a single sale. Sales is a long haul game.
What I like about sales is that you have a clear result: it may be a “no”, but it’s a clear decision on whether you have a sale or not. There is a competitive edge to sales and that sits well with me.
4. What is the one thing you would love to sell?
I’d love to sell footballers for £35m a pop: it must be such easy money. How hard can that be?
5. What is the last thing you’d want to sell?
Anything that involves credit, loans or finance. The finance industry has a terrible reputation, and I’m particularly jaundiced about it.
6. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Listen. Even if you think the guy opposite is talking total rubbish, bonkers or just stupid, listen. If nothing else you’ll find out why they're talking rubbish, and you’ll find a gem hidden somewhere.
7. What advice would you give to someone following in your footsteps?
Again it’s listen, not just to potential sales and targets, but to your own team. The person on the ground knows the job better than anyone and how it might be improved. They’re the real experts: listen to them.
8. What did you buy with your first bonus?
A music centre. It was a big affair with record deck, radio, cassette player and radio.
9. Who do you most admire in your industry?
My PA Louise. How the hell she puts up with me I do not know. She’s off on maternity leave and I’ve already gone through four temporary replacements in four weeks. I’m lost without her organising my working life.
10. How would you sell ice to an Eskimo?
I’d make it smell nice. One of the most important elements of selling is creating product differentiation, so to make mine unique I’d add new colours, smells and taste to the ice.
11. How important is image for a salesperson?
Appearance and style are important, but not as important as presence. Some people come into a room and instantly you’re aware that they are there, they command attention and respect.
Even in an age of emails, there’s nothing that replaces that ability to command attention: if you make a good impression and people are aware of you, there’s a good chance they will buy from you.
12. What is the single most important skill you need to close a sale?
You have to be prepared to ask for business because it won’t come by itself. I know people who are really good at sales except they simply can’t ask for that final signature.
It’s partly because salespeople fear “no” – strange, because they hear it a lot more than “yes”. They prefer to keep hope alive rather than risk the question and move on. They think “yes, I’ve almost got it” is practically a sale, when it’s not.
13. Has anything ever gone wrong, that in hindsight, has worked out well for you?
Lots of things. If I’d stayed in law I’d probably have made a lot more money: but I’m not sure I’d have been any happier or fulfilled with the same level of job satisfaction.
If there’s one thing the law did teach me it was scenario planning. It’s preparation, so that you have a plan no matter what happens.
14. What’s been your biggest success?
My part in building Calor’s cylinder business. It was stagnant when I presented a strategy to the board to rejuvenate it and they loved it. The cylinder business has been one of our great success stories, with serious growth in volumes and market share.
15. If you were to pack up your desk and leave today, what would you like to be known for?
Someone who was approachable. A hard taskmaster, but fair.
16. How has sales changed from when you started out?
The basics haven’t changed, but what has changed is the pace. In the past it was slower to make contact with people, it would take weeks. Now it’s done in minutes via email and mobile.
The reporting of data has improved remarkably. We used to get information that was late and meaningless: now it’s up to date, accurate and you can actually work with it.
But we’ve lost something of that personal knowledge. Personal contact is so important - it’s harder for a customer to say “no, I don’t really need this" to a salesperson sitting opposite than it is to say “no” to someone by email or over the phone.
We’ve also seen the rise of salespeople who’ll talk, talk, talk to a screen but are shy of engaging face to face with customers, they’re awful when it comes to meeting clients. Many of them have lost, or never had, that ability to talk with a client directly.
17. What are the current challenges facing your industry?
The things that are most challenging are the “known unknowns” – environmental changes, EU regulation, government legislation. I’d argue the greatest challenge, and the greatest opportunity, is environmental change, particularly global warming and how we respond.
Calor is famous as a liquefied petroleum gas company, but our share holder started out as a coal trading business, and adapted as the energy world changed. It may be that we have to do the same again and look at energy sources like biomass, solar or wind power.
Calor will stay true to its basic function – supplying energy – but how we supply and where it comes from may have to change as the environment and the economy changes. Like any other business we have to adapt to survive.
18. How has the digital age changed sales?
Hugely. It’s not just email, websites and texts – those are now seen as traditional, almost old school forms of communication. It’s now about how do we embrace social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We may not like them but we have to think about how we respond to them, even if it’s a decision to say “no thanks”.
Google has had a huge affect because within three seconds a customer can get all the information they need on us and our competitors – or think they can – which means that negotiations are totally different.
19. What will never change?
The power of a good salesperson. Our business, like every other, is based on the ability to sell our goods and services, and to project our brand. The methods and the channels may change, but the need to have someone who has that power to connect, who has that drive and initiative, won’t.
However – and I feel strongly about this – is the importance of training a salesforce. It’s key if we’re going to get new blood into the business. Natural talent is important but it takes training to produce a true professional.
20. Who is the best salesman ever, real or fictional?
Two people. The first is Richard Denny: he was the first guru of sales I encountered. His ideas although they appear outdated, are still as relevant now as they were when he put them forward: the basics, such as asking open questions, how to use probing questions, have not changed.
The other is my five year old son: he’s the perfect salesperson because he never takes “no” for an answer. No matter where we go he will never come back empty handed, a true negotiator!
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