 |
Bill Brooks |    |
|
|
|
|
|
by Bill Brooks What is it that salespeople really need to master in order to be more successful? What do you have to know and do to stay at the top of your game? Is it skills? A set of behaviors? Product knowledge? Marketplace know-how? Computer and related technology breakthroughs? It’s all of these…and lots more. The way the Triad is growing it takes lots of acquired knowledge to get around without getting lost here, too! New highways, renovated shopping areas and office complexes pop up almost daily. How do you stay on top of these changes? Fortunately, that is a lot easier. You learn from experience. You drive to an intended destination, find it’s not there and simply ask directions to find where it has been relocated! Or check your latest map of the Triad and find your way. The stakes are too high to do that with your sales career. As a consequence, you need to be a lot more proactive than simply going to your garage and getting into your car. You can’t afford wasted time, effort, energy or motion. You can’t afford to lag behind when it comes to acquiring new and updated information. In my particular case I subscribe to numerous magazines, newsletters and related publications monthly. I find ways to search the Web for relevant, meaningful research and ways to continually upgrade my selling skills and knowledge. I urge you to do the same thing. Let’s take a look at twenty-one ways you can upgrade your knowledge of sales skills and the world of selling daily. Here they are:
Perhaps the most fundamental issue is this: How important do you feel it really is for you to constantly be retooling, refining and enhancing your professional competencies? How competitive do you really want to be? How essential do you really believe finely honed sales skills and know-how are to your professional sales success? Nobody (including you or me) will ever invest any time or effort into anything we don’t feel is worth the investment. And that’s the real bottom line. I am certainly not going to attempt to convince you that you need to invest time in improving your skills or knowledge. That’s strictly up to you. But I will point out that competition is keen…that your best customer is someone else’s top prospect…that your prospects and customers are looking for constantly improved service, delivery and product solutions. If you don’t strive to be better at every turn, perhaps your competitors will. But here’s the real problem – it’s called the "Psychology of Good Enough." If I’m doing as well as I think I am capable of doing – or better than I thought I’d ever do – isn’t that "good enough?" Why should I strive to do better? Or perhaps closer to the point, "How could I do any better than I’m doing now, anyway?" Why should you is, of course, your choice. How could you is an easy option. There should never be an excuse from a salesperson, anywhere, that goes like this, "My employer never taught me how to do the job." The real truth is that success in any venture, including sales, is a real "inside job." In the final analysis, it’s up to you to guide, direct and orchestrate your own success. Never delegate it to anyone else! You get the picture, I’m sure. I certainly can’t motivate you to do any better. But I can tell you this: There are more resources available to you today for improvement of your knowledge, skills and know-how related to your professional growth than at any time in the history of the planet! It is up to you to make the decision to retrieve it. It is easy to get, is easily affordable, available and accessible. Will you decide to retrieve it or will you leave it there for your competition to grab? The choice is clearly yours isn’t it? |