Brother, Can You Spare Some Sales Training?
Sales Training
Last year there was a major controversy in Toronto around panhandlers and others on the street and their impact on tourism and the like. All this was sparked by an unfortunate set of events. Of course the solution proposed by the ever-enlightened leadership in the city was to ban all these people. As there was no rug on the street, I guess they were proposing that they be swept under the sidewalk. This of course stirred further controversy and debate on the street, in the papers and talk radio, my favourite media vice.
I know, you’re reading this wondering what this has to do with sales training or cold calling, but stay with me.
One caller into the radio had a great suggestion - they were joking, but I think they missed the brilliance of their own suggestion when looked at from my perspective. The caller suggested that we should take all the panhandlers, put them in suits, provide some basic sales training, and give them all jobs as cold callers. These people clearly had no issues engaging strangers; no fear of rejection; no call reluctance - and they seem to have the proper work ethic, as they were putting in a full day of work every day without costly sales training or supervision. He was right; even though it was a joke, there was no flaw in his observation.
Sales Training
When you think about it, why do the people on the street panhandle? You would think that for the majority it is very simple: if they do not, they will not eat; simple and straightforward. There are, of course, those few who are out there because they can make loads of tax-free money, and they earn more net panhandling than many others do at work. The question still stands: how do they overcome the fear of walking up to strangers and asking for money? That's something that takes professionals a lot of sales training and preparation, and the panhandlers don't even need the sales training. As sales reps we usually only have to ask for the appointment, but they go right for the gusto and ask for the close! How do they find the discipline to do it day-in, day-out, for 5, 6, 7, or even 8 hours a day? They understand that if you don’t initiate the process, there is little chance of reaching your objective. I wonder if they know their ratio of approaches to cash.
Unlike many sales people, they do not spend time in sales training, planning meetings, or doing research trying to figure out who to call and who not to call. They don’t pretend to be clairvoyant and be able to divine if someone is a buyer or not just by looking at their business cards or faces. They just systematically and consistently approach everybody in their territory; they make the call and deal with the results and the rewards.
Sales Training
They do not spend a lot of time planning and researching, or any of the other things that seem to consume the "prospecting" time sales reps set aside. Once they get to work, they make sure that they have what they need and then spend their time executing rather than rationalizing.
That kind of motivation you can't learn in sales training.
They also do not fool themselves that their “pipeline is full,” “I need to work on what is in the pipe and then I can prospect.” They are never too busy planning and hoping. They execute. They have a system and process and they execute. They don’t worry about interrupting or bothering their targets, they just approach, present their value proposition “need to eat”, and execute. If someone says no, they are that much closer to the next close.
Sales Training
I am not suggesting that we all become panhandlers, (although I am sure some of the ones on the main streets of Toronto are making more than some sales people in Toronto), but I would encourage everyone to stop and ask themselves why the panhandler can consistently act and execute. Maybe instead of having them do cold calls we could hire them to do sales training.
Source: Tibor Shanto
http://www.salesopedia.com/index.php/component/content/1878?task=view&ed=143&Itemid=10479
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Brother, Can You Spare Some Sales Training?
