From the day I was old enough to hold a ball, I loved to play whichever sport that was in season. One of the great things about being a kid was that you didn鈥檛 have to be great, you just had to have fun. When I was a kid, we didn鈥檛 even have Little League, so our natural talent was all we had, and often times our talents peaked early.
Today, it seems like kids are receiving almost professional training from the day they arrive at kindergarten.
When I was a kid, we all played hard, but not necessarily well. With our fathers as about the only coaches around, kids with natural talent鈥攁nd a lot of it鈥攚ere just about the only ones to become high school players, much less make it to the pros.
Now let鈥檚 look at the similarities between salespeople a generation ago and today. We have always had salespeople but often in title only. In the old days, far fewer salespeoples鈥� performance was measured as it is today. Maybe sales this year compared to last year, number of days the salesperson was on the job, new customers this year vs. last year, etc.
In modern times, 50 to 75 new sales training books hit the market each year vs. maybe a dozen or so 20 years ago. But how many of these books are read by our industry鈥檚 so-called sales pros? For the most part, sales books are written by sales professionals who are offering their advice from their experience. This is especially true of authors from our own industry.
Most of our industry鈥檚 associations present sales programs that are not only loaded with content but also with salespeople from our own sales teams who freely share what they have learned over their careers. 聽 聽
My advice: Make a list of books and seminars and after you have read them or attended them, place a marker on the page(s) or on your notes that impressed you and review them at least twice a year.
It is difficult to compete with competitors who have more talent than you do. Make sure you set a goal to become a competitor that no one wants to compete with.
