SalesHQ

Great question Kit

   The one that opened my eyes the most would be the first sales training seminar I attended.

    It was also at this time I realized  how much of an affect company mentors had on me. I had no idea exactly what they had taught me until I relized I needed a process.Once a process was entered on paper I found out everything I did that was natural or so I thought .I also started too ask the question of why do I do this or that. This was when I found out how much I learned from the very first sales technician I was around.

   I started to ask those who where better than I , why . Most were happy to give me the key to the mint. The ones who were the best  help gave me just a taste and then sent me in the direction I needed to travel to find out the rest of the story. I will always be grateful to those valuable people in my life.

  This is where I started to read books,attend seminars,attend Saturday  sales speeches from sales gurus.

  Now it is my exerience and willingness to learn and experiement with different techniques. The techniques do not make the sale.They are a tool to make the transition smoother.Being prepared for the client makes the sale. This preparation includes value,product knowledge,find out who the client ,is the psyhcology of the client,answering questions,concerns and objections.

  Once we find out why the client likes and wants to own they own.

I chose personal also....I have also done seminars and read books, but i think it is not until you apply knowledge into your own personal experience that you can really see what helps.

I agree with Smile that you get your best training through experience and accepting failure.  That being said, one of the best things that I did when I was a young neophyte salesperson was getting involved with The Sandler Sales Institute.  I joined their President's Club, which is continuous sales education and it changed me in ways that I can't describe. 

Top athletes like Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Annika Sorenstam to name a few, constantly practice and work with coaches to get better.  Why should a sales person be any different?

I think you need to have drive and experience is not all it

if you give a go and if you tell yourself you will succeed

you will

but tranning is clearly the most important

 I think the one main ingrediant that is forgotten.We would not have the expeirence if it was not for some guiding light.We all had major influeneces  that made us want to jump out of our skin to learn more and stay in this business.

 We added to what others taught us ,this being experience.At this point and time I agree expereince is now the trigger.We all have said we can learn more everyday  someone influences us on a daily  basis to grow with our sales process.

   I know I am inspired by those in this site on a daily basis.I am also inspired by those who have sent emails expressing a great concern to become better. It  is amazing how each of us can inspire another into action and keep  us grounded at the same time.

 rich

ch. why? There are some really great ideas at the seminars that you can implement into your own process combining   the best of all worlds.

  I have only been to  one seminar where I did not come out more motivated to learn as much as I can.Usually it is contagious as people are fired up rewady to take on the world. You see it in thier body language,in thier eyes and how passionate they speak.

   The more you learn the more unstoppable you become. I wil take this one step farther,even learn the strategies of sales processes you do not believe ,even these will give you practices that are right on the mark.

 One on one mentoring is a wonderful way of learning.We need more than one way to develope an outside the box mentality.where you can use solution selling with features and benefit selling  with rebuttal selling with relationship selling techniques with pain selling and have a total process that can adapt to any and all situations.There are many different types of selling when combined with what works for you is amazing

My son is a master carpenter, and a contractor.  When he hires a new carpenter, who has learned his trade from experience, he has to re-train them to do every thing from hammering a nail properly to using the right tools for the job. 

Likewise, salespeople, who learn from experience only, can seldom match a professionally trained one.

 all of the above plus seminars.

Kit has many of us agreeing on "experience" as the best teacher....I smile as I realize like you that ALL four are worthy assets of the true professional.

Sooooo, My new years 'revolution' here:

* I don't read enough so I better get with the 90's and put talking books in my car!!!...listen to more books

* Seminars - I will be the first to sign up for the next one my company offers - as Smile says, many of them can be a waste...(Has presenter ever sold before...?)

* Mentors - yes, there is a lot to learn from others.  It is not hard to find someone nearby who seems to get the sale or have the confidence when others to not. 

Growth and professionalism is beeing open to learning unless you are an ole dog with no more tricks...key is to always be illing to look at things differently.  The only way to solve new problems (not the same ole problems of yesterday or yesteryear.  So, happy 2009 and let's strap on the seatbelt and take a ride!!!

I'm reading your post dozen and thinking heck ya!...that's what I'm talking about!!

larryprg says ...

Experience is everything.

When you succeed, you reinforce the fact that you know what you're doing.

When you fail, you learn that what you're doing is not appropriate and needs changing.

Success is nice, but you only learn from failure. If you're not failing you're not learning.

If you only succeed, you're just setting yourself up for an eventual huge and devistating failure, possibly even difficult (if not impossible) to recover from. The current economic climate is a terrific example.

The environment is constantly changing and you adjust by trying different approaches and learning from the failures, even though you've had nothing but success with previous approaches.

A good example is the wildly successful Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) in the 70's. They arguably had the finest small computers for businesses and engineering on the market. They stubbornly refused to make smaller computers for the expanding personal computer market. Why change anything when they've got a great thing going? The result was total and complete failure.

Always push and test yourself by doing things differently. Welcome little failures, because they are the essence of education.

A collection of small failures ensure success. No failure ensures total failure.

 

 

 

Martin Sylver says: We are moving closer to our goal or further away.

 Hence as I posted before..

Life is great.

People are beautiful.

And I am Happy.

 NO Rich.

It is not about me.

You are missing this one.

Your only as good as your last sale...anyone heard of that one? lol

Mentors and Personal Experiences helped me the most. Practice really helps.