Conquer the Art of Professional Selling

In the book “You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar” David Sandler compares learning how to sell professionally with learning how to ride a bike.  “People don’t learn how to sell at a seminar,” writes Sandler.  “To conquer the art of professional selling, you need to learn a system.  You need to master techniques…and you need to be nurtured and supported.”

As children, we needed lots of practice, nurturing and support to learn how to ride a bike.  Now, most of us can ride a bike without even thinking about it.  In the same way, as adults sales professionals need ongoing reinforcement of the right attitudes, behaviors and techniques, along with a nurturing and supportive learning environment to truly “conquer the art of professional selling.”

This week was an excellent example of this process in action.  On Thursday, Brittney, one of our President’s Club members came in to the Sandler Training Center to make her cold calls.  Why?  There were three main reasons:

1. Practice – Salespeople can practice the wrong habits all day long and never achieve sales success.  The key is to practice a selling system that works.  Brittney came in to have us listen to her cold calls and get ideas on how she could improve her technique.  The real-time coaching and reinforcement helped her make the classroom training stick.
2. Accountability – I haven’t met a salesperson who likes making cold calls.  Anyone who says they do is lying.  Knowing that it’s easier to avoid doing things we don’t like, Brittney set a trap for herself by coming in to Sandler.  She wanted to make sure she would be held accountable for making her cold calls.  By inviting us to hold her accountable, Brittney benefitted by accomplishing her daily behavior goal.
3. Support – Cold Calling can be brutal on a salesperson’s identity and self-esteem.  That’s why Brittney wanted to be in a supportive, encouraging environment while she made her dials.  There’s power in having a community of support to uphold you while venturing outside your comfort zone.

Are you practicing a selling system that gets results?  Who is holding you accountable?  What will you do today to make sure you are supported in achieving your sales goals? 

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