I am honoured to be appointed the chairman of the organising committee of the 30th Distinguished Salesperson Award programme.
The theme this year is 'Professional Salesmanship in the 21st Century'.
To me, 'professional salesmanship' denotes certain attributes that every sales professional better have, such as excellent communications skill, updated product and market knowledge, macro view of the service and products they are selling, super after-sales service and strict adherence to ethical conduct.
Some salespeople may claim they do not command all the attributes mentioned but still have good sales results.
In my opinion, being a professional salesman is a matter of whether you have long-term commitment in the field or not. If you become a salesperson only for short-term gains, being professional or not is out of the question.
However, if you are totally committed to your business in the long run, being a professional salesman will give you a bigger edge over your competitors. It happens most of the time that only the professional salespeople survive in times of economic downturn.