Tessa Stowe - How I got my first sales job was via the Yellow Pages! This is absolutely true. I was working in Johannesburg, South Africa, for a computer company. I wanted to move into sales and asked my company but they said no. So I simply got out the Yellow Pages, looked up computer companies, and started ringing them and asking to speak to the CEOs. It was when I got to the S’s that I actually got through to a CEO and got an interview! He hired me within 30 minutes of being interviewed.

Well now I had this sales job but no sales experience. I was very concerned I would be "found out". When I was 15, I had read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and this book had had a profound effect on me. So over the next few weeks, I reread this book and listened to a mountain of motivational tapes (Jonathan Livingston Seagull was one of my favourites). I did not read any books on sales techniques; I just focussed on getting a powerful mindset. I thought this was the key and the rest would follow, which it did. Well within 6 months of joining this company, I brought in their biggest deal ever and went on to become their top sales achiever 3 years in a row, all without knowing "normal" sales techniques. I went on to several other sales roles and was consistently a top achiever. Overall I have 20+ years of successful experience in selling. The sales I have made have ranged from a few hundred dollars to over US$10 million. I have made these sales using my Sales Conversation process which I have evolved and refined over 20+ years.