You know, most people don’t know I was a miserable failure as a BI salesman for 5 years.
Even though I have talked about my 5 years of struggling, failure, self doubt and self reflection often?
Most people know me as:
The guy who was an “over-night success” at BI Sales back in the 90s.
My first million dollar sale was to Philippines Telecom.
But my pal Clive Tilbrook really deserved the lions share of the credit on that deal.
It was Clive who worked very hard for a very long time before I came along and helped him on a deal that was already a long way along the sales cycle.
But no less. It was the first time I was a major contributor to a million dollar BI deal. And that closed in February 1997.
To say I was happy and relieved that all that hard work had finally come to the fruition of a million dollar deal would be the understatement of the millennia!
THE DEAL that put me on the sales map was the Australian Customs Service deal I managed when I was the BI Business Development Manager for Hitachi Data Systems. That also closed in February 1997.
The reason this deal was so important to me was that I was brought on board to break in to the BIG DEALS and so far we had not managed to really sink our teeth in to a BIG DEAL in Australia.
Further, we had no relationship with the Australian Customs Service as they were a 100% Unisys site.
And even further?
Because we all expected to lose the deal to Unisys the sales rep and the branch manager had decided to use it as a “learning experience”.
They were very open to taking my ideas and proposals and running with them to learn for the next deal that came along.
So when we were awarded this 3 year Systems Integration contract which we expected to be worth close to AUD10 Million?
Well? Let’s just say I was in the transit hall of Hong Kong airport when I got the news on my cell phone and everyone around me was wondering why this “crazy white guy” was screaming and jumping around and acting like a complete idiot!
It was like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders!
Forever more I would be a “World Class BI Salesman”.
Of course, those who know me know my most famous deal was to take the Telstra (Australia’s Telco) Corporate Data Warehouse off IBM from right under their noses.
Telstra had moved 3,000 people in to IBM Global Services Australia and actually owned 25% of the stock of IBM GSA.
So to take that crown jewel deal off IBM from right out under their noses was considered one of the greatest sales achievements of anyone around that time. That was the next year in 1998.
Of course, having done that?
The phone rang red hot and even my old colleagues at IBM called and asked me if I was interested in coming back in to the “Big Blue” fold as a rep…..Nope.
I went on to win many more world class clients against all comers in future years.
For example we won Qantas Cargo over IBM in 2000.
But one of my very favorite deals was to win the Carphone Warehouse deal in the UK against IBM, Oracle and Teradata in 2009.
That is the reference deal on my web site because it really was one of the greatest deals and greatest projects I have ever done.
That was a LOT of fun!
There are very few people in the world with similar BI sales success on their resume.
Now I am living in Fiji and only working remotely?
I can “give back” to the BI community by helping young men (or you older gents) become world class BI Salesmen too.
So if you want to be a world class BI Salesman and you are failing?
If you are doubting yourself and wondering if you will ever break through?
This email is for you. (Or someone you know who fits the bill.)
I want to give you hope!
If a young lad from humble beginnings from the small country town of Wagga Wagga can make it to work at NASA and then become a world class BI Salesman?
You can too!
BUT…
And there is always a but.
YOU HAVE TO REALLY WANT TO DO THIS!
You can’t be half hearted about it.
I can’t help you become a world class BI salesman if you are “interested”.
I can only help you become a world class BI salesman if you are “committed”.
So if you want to listen and learn from me, follow my path, walk in my footsteps?
Click on the button below and listen to the 19 audios on the page over the next few weeks.
You can also register to get the training by email on the button below that.
By registering you will let me know you are interested.
Ok?
I would love to help you sell million dollar deals to billion dollar companies!
If you have a pal who is struggling to become a BI Salesman?
Please pass this email along.
He will thank you for it.
With that?
I would like to say thank you very much for reading my latest blog post!
I really appreciate you dropping by and reading this!
Best Regards
Pete.
