On the 145th episode of Listen In With KNN on Fox Sports 1340AM, host Kelsey Nicole Nelson welcomed the founder of Why Sales Network, speaker and author Joyce Johnson to the show.
Speaking of her journey, she was a photographer and wrote articles about sporting events while in high school. Then, Johnson did the same thing when she attended Prairie View A&M University. The Houston, Texas native was grateful for her time at the historically black university and keeps in touch with her mentors.
“They continue to coach, work and develop me and they’re my friends and life coaches. They expose me to so many things. When I went to school, it was to become a broadcaster. Working in that department, I learned marketing, sports information and just a host of other types of roles that I can be in that I had not been exposed to growing up in a medical family,” Johnson said.
After college, she worked in sales selling season tickets. Johnson took the job because it was going to take her where she wants to be and while acquiring the skills, knowledge and experience.
“One day someone said, ‘we’re going to need someone to go with you to the arena and answer phones for a promo that’s running tonight.’ I get over there and someone walks in the door and says, ‘we need someone that types so many words for multiple programs.’ I began to make edits to the sports contract for Hakeem Olajuwon,” she said.
Johnson wrote a book called “Why Sales for Athletes?” that is aimed for athletes. Additionally, they would come to her 10 to 20 years after their playing careers ended for advice because of her sports background. She suggested that athletes should learn how to sell their brand and capitalize on the sports career that they had.
“Everyone that’s playing sports now, only six percent of those are going to move over to the college arena and only two percent of those are gonna actually go to professional sports. You can take any area of study and transform that into a successful sales career. So if you studied accounting, you can go selling accounting and financial packages,” Johnson said. “I want people to know that whatever your transferable skills are, you can take them and go into a successful sales job.”
Johnson faced some challenges in her 20 year sales career as there were times that she was the only person of color in the room. As a result, she has advocated for diversity in the business resource groups within Corporate America.
“When I talk to HBCU students, I really want to tell them to embrace sales and whatever fears, negativity and things that come along with it,” Johnson said. “Think about sales as everyday life all day long where it’s exchanging goods and services for currency. Sales is what makes our economic system turn globally.”
https://player.audiostaq.com/listeninwithknn/sales_for_athle
