POLOKWANE – The 36-year-old grew up in Seshego and after school she studied marketing management at the Pietersburg Technical College, now Capricorn FET College, thanks to financial assistance from her aunt, Sarah Masebe.
“My first job was at the technical college assisting in the reception area after they asked me to help with new registrations. It was initially only supposed to be for two weeks but I worked hard and taught myself the system by simply paying attention.
“I was soon appointed as a reception and admin clerk and received the best leadership and telephonist of the year awards during my time there.
“The best telephonist award was especially meaningful as it is a national award, meaning I was the best in the country.
“I came to the realisation I was an outgoing person and during my studies we used to do practical classes where we had to sell and advertise a certain product. It was during these practicals I realised I have a knack for sales which piqued my interest in the field,” she said.
She moved to Johannesburg to find better career opportunities and returned to Polokwane in 2015 but she struggled to find employment.
“My cousin, Dan Phoshoko, used to work for Nissan and when I told him about my predicament he literally took my hand and took me to all of the motor dealerships in the city. I did door-to-door job hunting until I arrived at Mercurius Motors Polokwane.
“They were so impressed with my interview that I was hired on the spot.
“Although I did not have sales experience and didn’t know much about the motor industry, I did a lot of research to improve myself.
“I worked seven days a week and between 10 and 12 hours a day as I was determined to make it in the industry as I was the only breadwinner for my family and my son Neo.
“In my vocabulary and nowadays, there is no such thing as a male-dominated industry as I believe as women we are better equipped than men as we are able to multi-task, it’s in our nature and that’s how God made us.”
Mokgadi describes her Sales Manager, Jaco Coetzee, as a humble man with a passion for sales, or someone who ‘just wants to see tail lights’ (cars driving out of the dealership).
“On average I sell cars to three to five customers a day but if there are no customers it means I won’t get paid so I look for customers on social media, local events, service departments and through cold calling.”
She added Mercurius Motors Polokwane held a networking session last year where they invited different businesses and companies around Polokwane to have dinner with them and get to know each other.
“Being in a sales department is a challenging job as most often work on only commission, but if you work hard, however, it won’t be as challenging. Politics and the economy are the main challenges we as sales executives face.
“There is such a wide field of employment opportunities available if you go into the sales industry and if you are customer service-oriented your chances of getting a job is very high.
“At the end of the day most customers do not buy a product, they buy a service you render.
“In sales you write and sign your own cheque so you have to be passionate about what you do if you want to become a financial success.”
