#sparkchamber 090720 — Terry Barge
Today is Labor Day in the US and Canada — a day set aside to honor working people — and in honor of all the hard-working members of sales forces everywhere, #sparkchamber welcomes corporate educator and author, Terry Barge. Terry has been specializing in strategic sales and business development since 1995. “Following my divorce, I decided that having lost a lot of material possessions, the best way forward was to combine my experience with my passion to contribute to others’ success. I became a corporate educator in the area of sales, business development, and a little marketing too.”
His consultancy is based in the UK, but he operates internationally, working with leading organizations in the technology, telecommunications, logistics and manufacturing, and financial services sectors in more than fifty countries. His primary sales philosophies are contained in two books. The first, Sales Value Propositions: The Cutting Edge explains and positions the powerful role and proven effectiveness of a Sales Value Proposition — a statement outlining the value delivered should a customer choose to buy the product or use the service — in advancing customer relationships and winning sales opportunities. The second, Selling Strategically: A 21st-Century Playbook provides a step-by-step "how-to" guide for sales professionals to “up their game” to achieve and sustain revenue growth and profitability.
We love those lemons-to-lemonade stories! For Terry, “a strong spiritual ethos and a pragmatic faith in God’s guidance” helped show the way and keep the faith all along the way.
To learn more, connect with Terry on LinkedIn.
1.] Where do ideas come from?
What I perceive to be “original thought” or at least having an insight of something familiar and reshaping or crafting it into something different or even unique that becomes useful or even valuable to others whom it affects.
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
Reshaping the way in which professional sales and marketing specialists view their role as needing to be less transactional and more strategic in their approach.
3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?
I’m mainly driven by two forces. One is my inner passion and motivation towards a specific type of mastery; in my case strategic selling and marketing. The other is the appeal of that mastery to my prospects and clients. They respond to a recognizable level of expertise and professional passion.
4.] How do you know when you are done?
When I’ve shaped, crafted and polished my position, whether writing a chapter of a book or provided a client with a resolution of a problem. I sit back and feel inwardly fulfilled, not just satisfied, by what I’ve accomplished.