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Selling in Color


Dec 28, 2021

Reaching your professional goals is easy (well, at least more accessible) if you take time to invest in your success. In today’s episode of Selling in Color, Donald is joined by speaker, consultant, and business owner Natasha Hemmingway to discuss how she reached the success she has today and how you can do it too by investing in yourself.

Natasha has worked in sales since college graduation.

  • She spent 16 years in medical and healthcare sales, working from sales rep to management.
  • Since then, she has worked in the entrepreneurial business for five years as a speaker and consultant, and she loves it.
  • Natasha is thrilled to serve those around her and that her job is honing a skill she loves.
  • People of color didn’t get into sales because it wasn’t viewed as an opportunity. But earning money isn’t bad, and people of color deserve wealth just as much as anyone else.

Only 20% of people in sales are POC:

  • For Natasha, that means two things. First, where is everyone? Second, companies need minorities in sales because different people communicate in different ways.
  • If you want to be hired at a company, ask yourself if their audience is diverse. 
  • If so (and especially if they currently don’t have many POC employees), you have an advantage in communication over other employees at the organization. 
  • While there does seem to be a discrepancy in the number of POC in corporate sales, Natasha has found more people of color on the entrepreneurial side of sales. 

Business owners and entrepreneurs need to invest in sales.

  • Just as you’d invest in someone to design a logo or even your product, you should invest in someone to properly train your sales team. 
  • People who say they can’t afford to invest in sales, remember that it’s a foundational pillar of your business.
  • People get caught up in the hype of developing social media or other priorities. But you can sell without the bells and whistles. 

Sales is not overnight - it’s not a sprint.

  • You might not have the discretionary income some other folks might have. But the more you invest in yourself, the better you perform.
  • “You can’t be what you can’t see.” ― Marian Wright Edelman
  • Lean into the things you’ve learned from other people. You have to get past the notion of insurmountable obstacles.
  • Go in with the right expectations - the people you work with are not miracle-workers.
  • Every coaching investment won’t result in a specific ROI. A chunk of money won’t fall from the sky and hit you over the head. But you’ll take steps forward. You’ll advance. 

What other factors contributed to Natasha’s success besides external programs?

  • It starts with her advocating for herself.
  • She went to a guy and expressed interest in his job. So, she watched him and watched what he did in his role.
  • When the position came open, he called her and told her to go for it.
  • If she had questions or needed something, he was there for her. 
  • Find those people who genuinely advocate for you. 

Final takeaway? Ask for what you want, and believe you can get it. If you can believe, you can achieve. And then prepare yourself to receive it. To contact Natasha, visit her website natashahemmingway.com, or find her on all social channels (YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook) at Natasha Hemmingway. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by mParticle.

Are you tired of wading through thousands of open sales positions to find the one perfect for you? Well, look no further. mParticle is one of the leading independent customer data platforms out there, and they’re looking for motivated remote sellers (just like yourself.) 

With top-name clients from Spotify and Burger King to Airbnb, we don’t want you to let this opportunity go to waste! For more information and to view open positions, go to https://www.mparticle.com/careers/.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master sales fundamentals and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.