Private Sector must change mindset amid Guyana’s economic development – Int’l sales specialist

– urges investing in staff to improve business reputation

As Guyana’s economy rapidly transforms due to the extraction of oil among other resources, the private sector is urged to reassess its strategies to ensure that it can maximise its full potential to benefit from this phenomenon. `
This call was made by developmental strategist of Sandler Mississauga, a global leader in corporate sales training, Robin Singh during his appearance on the Energy Perspectives podcast hosted by the Guyana Energy Conference.

Singh reaffirmed President Dr. Irfaan Ali’s call for businesses to reevaluate their mindsets to fully capitalise on the opportunities in Guyana’s new economic era.
He explained that for business to thrive amid Guyana’s economic development, stakeholders must invest in the development of their staff, noting that these individuals are the pillars of the organisation and play a major role in developing business reputation which is a key factor to potential new clients.
“I think that mindset must change. I’ve got to change the mindset of my people, the mindset of my employees, the mindset of associates. Because when you think about it, that’s who represents your company. They’re the face of your company. And they can dictate whether the reputation of a company is high standard or low standard. And in this growth economy where maybe they’re not accustomed to it so we’ve got to upskill our people,” Singh stated.

Moreover, the sales expert further highlighted that business owners are under the impression that if they invest in the development of their employees, they might leave the company and utilise the knowledge and expertise gained at other companies.
However, Singh is adamant that if businesses invest in their employees, it will foster a positive working environment in which workers will continue to contribute towards the development of the organisation, as such he encouraged business owners to not let this misconception stymie their development trajectory.
Singh highlighted that if these simple but necessary strategies are not rolled out, the Head of State’s plans of grasping every opportunity will not come to fruition.
“Those are all components of it. And if you don’t do that, I’m not sure the president’s wishes and desires will take place but he’s got to lead Indeed” Singh stated.
Additionally, he also spoke about the importance of members of the public service to be able to provide a high standard of service to citizens. As such, he called on the high-ranking officials at the various government agencies to be reexamined.
“If you think about the public service group, and if you think about us walking into, you know, a public service department or division, looking for help or looking for information or looking to buy something, I may be wrong, but the mindset is, why are you bothering me? We have to change the mindset from the perspective, of what starts at the top, the top of that ministry, right? How well is that minister trained? How well is he coaching his supply, his management, and his different management levels? And how well is that different management levels training those employees to understand, giving them customer service training, but also to understand that when I walk in, I am paying your salary, not whoever it is” he stated.
Sandler Training which is a global leader in corporate sales training who trains some 30,000 sales associates per year. The organisation also offers professional development programmes in sales training, customer success, and personal and professional development among others.