The Courier queen of sales

Meet Wordsmiths marketing manager Laurette Batstone, the vibrant and energetic lady who recently scooped the prestigious Caxton Digital Sales Consultant of the Year award.

The former Mrs South Africa 2011 has been in the sales world since she was 19 and has blossomed in the tough environment.

“I started as a sales consultant at ItalTile. Back then we had a target of R300 per month that we had to achieve. It was a very strong selling environment and I worked long hours but it was good training for me,” said Batstone, who now lives in Ballito with her husband, Gary and two children, Donné (12) and Nathann (10).

“I have always worked with what I have passion for.

“Then I set myself a goal and put my head down and go for it. That means I learn everything I can about it – eat, sleep, breathe it. I sew it into every part of my life so that the people I meet know what I am about too. It is personal branding. Heck, I can even turn a cup of coffee into a marketing strategy!”

She said the best advice she has for a new business owner who wants to advertise but does not have a lot of budget is to plan.

“Decide what you can spend on advertising and discuss it with someone you can trust. Plan three months at a time and have a debrief on the campaign you ran so that you can see if it worked according to the objectives you set out for it. From there, marketing decisions start to get easier as you know what works and what doesn’t and what budget to use.”

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