Sales Skill Evolution or Evaporation
When I first started in sales I worked
with a guy who back then was a pure
inspiration to me.
He had so many sales tapes he studied
all the greats from Tom Hopkins to zig
Ziglar Jim Rohn and everyone in between.
Sales Training at a young Age
I was 17 years old and I started doing the
same and it’s this habit that has been
largely responsible for my success in
sales.
But a couple of years ago something happened
that totally blew me away.
You see this guy had gone on from an employee
in the business where we both worked to owning
his own wholesale business.
He’d represented one of the leading brands in
the action sports industry and had had
some fantastic results.
Then after what must have been about 15 years
he left the comfort of his tried and true
brand and his business and started up another
company.
This time selling a product into a market that
was way more competitive than the one he’d been
selling before.
This is where it gets weird…
He contacted me and wanted to know if I had
any good ideas for him to sell this new product.
Ok that’s not so weird but here’s the thing…
what I realised after we finished that conversation
and I had asked him a few questions was this…
He had essentially forgotten everything that had
initially made him successful in sales.
What he was asking me in effect revealed that he
had been essentially in an order taking role with
little or no salesmanship for so long, that he’d
forgotten what to do.
Which brings me to a couple of key points…
1. often sales people stop doing what made them
successful in the first place.
2. if you are not constantly honing your craft
and your skills in the field of sales and marketing
you will get left behind.
for example I bought a book on sales today
did I need it? no but I can guarantee it will either
remind me of an important idea that I may have taken
myself away from in recent months PLUS I will learn
something new that I can use from it.
Don’t get me wrong I have 100’s of books tapes CD’s
DVD’s and online memberships in sales communities
but
School is never out for the pro.
I will never simply keep serving up the same stuff
in my training’s simply because I can’t be bothered
with anything new.
Sales is a moving target and it is continually
evolving…
The principals of human influence will never change
but how we activate them will always be evolving.
So my question for you is this…
What are you doing to upgrade the skills of you and
your team to keep pace with an ever changing and
evolving market?
Have a great week and Happy New year to you.
Looking forward to making 2012 a cracking year
