If You Don’t Invest In Your Development, Why Should Your Customers Invest In You?
Surprisingly, I run across a lot of sales people who don’t invest in their own development. They say, “I’ve been through all the training programs, I can’t learn whatever business new,” “I’m an experienced and successful (??) sales person, why do I need to learn whatever business new?” Frankly, I don’t waste a lot of my time with people that reckon this way. They are dinosaurs waiting to learn they will be extinct.
The mark of the best professionals I have ever met is they can never learn too much. They actively look to develop themselves, learning new skills, developing new capabilities, continuously improving. They recognize the world is varying and maintaining their leadership position mandates constantly learning and adapting.
The highest performing professionals also look at their development very broadly. They just don’t participate in the once a year sales training workshops their companies sponsor. They read widely–not just on sales, but also on a variety of business and other topics, they read and participate in blogs and other social media, they attend industry events–seeking to learn more about their customers, they learn from their peers. The highest performers are constantly looking for an edge, actively seeking every resource for their own development.
It’s amusing, when I conduct a workshop on some sales topic, I can always tell the top performers. They are the one’s that probably have the “smallest amount” need to attend and participate. Yet, they are the one’s most actively engaged, they challenge me, they question questions, they jump to do the exercises, taking each opportunity to try something new. As a facilitator, I never have to worry about challenging them, they are making the challenge themselves. I can also tell the dinosaurs and low performers. Those are the one’s that just don’t want to be there, they already know all they need to know and can’t know why they should take the time. They are the one’s too consumed in reading email on their Blackberries, to even hear new thoughts. They are the one’s that don’t participate in the exercises. I don’t worry about them too much, I know their management will announce their extinction soon.
But the most vital part of this discussion is our customers. Our customers are varying the way they buy, they face many new challenges to their businesses and are actively seeking new ways to grow or become more efficient. It is an opportunity for sales to provide real leadership, but the only way sales can do that is if the sales professional has invested time in learning, developing, and exploring new thoughts. Our customers have no time for the same tired product pitches. They are looking for thoughts and innovation. Sales people who don’t invest in their own development will never be able to provide those new thoughts and innovations to their customers. If they won’t invest in themselves, their customers will never invest in them!