I Sold Hijab to Male Christians — my experience as a Sales Representative at ctmafri.com

My first meeting with the CEO of ctmafri.com unfolded hidden knowledge about sales to me — like most people, I equally thought selling was an art for a calibre of people with a pre-determined goal to just sell and get their money.

Hi, I’m Gladys Cudjoe; the lady who landed the role as an SDR by selling an imaginary hijab to my “all-male Christian” interviewers at ctmafri.com — okay, you would want to read that line again and analyze the margin of possibilities — so easy, right?

I vividly remember walking gorgeously into that conference room in my black “I mean business” outfit, getting seated with crossed legs at the round table, listening to Karl Jenkins’ Adiemus song being played at the conference room, and just waiting eagerly for the company’s onboarding and orientation for interns and volunteers to commence.

Notion was introduced as our working space for working remotely. Although it was herculean for me to get acquainted with Notion as a newbie, it later became easier to navigate the interface as time went by.

So back to my official meeting with the CEO which was a coaching program for the SDRs. There and then did I realize there is more to buying and selling. As SDRs, our core aim in alignment with Algo Peers, the company’s edtech program, has been identifying the STEAM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Arts, and Maths) education needs of prospects, and meeting their needs with the value they deserve from Algo Peers through customer relations. Sales at ctmafri.com seek to build a genuine relationship between the value propositions of the company with the needs or pain points of clients/prospects.

The journey has not been easy, but my teammate and I gave our best in closing our sales quotas. Out of the numerous tasks assigned to me, my major challenge was with outbound sales where I needed to step beyond my comfort zone and schedule sales meetings with leads above the line of educational institutions to pitch the impact and relevance of Algo Peers to their STEAM education needs — a challenge I had to overcome was the imposter syndrome, which I did through consistent motivation and sales techniques from the company.

The weekly and monthly stipends paid to interns and volunteers extrinsically motivated me to meet peculiar needs that eased my workflow. But I would not share my internship experience at ctmafri.com without mentioning how fulfilled I felt at Algo Peers Connect after inspiring young talents at Bliss International School to embrace STEAM education and their relevance to future development of Africa through storytelling. Maybe Yuki, Yang, Kamel, Reinhard, Nazmul, Billy, and a few of our international collaborators at Algo Peers, would soon share their stories on how they are also inspired by the mission of Algo Peers to help local talents in Africa meet the 21st Century demands with STEAM education.

For the past weeks I have worked with CreaTech Motives Afrika, my life has changed. And even as a salesperson who could easily sell imaginary hijabs to people who clearly DO NOT NEED THEM, I am now passionate about not just selling, but establishing genuine relationships with prospects and helping them meet their needs with the value they deserve and wish for.