Thursday, March 22, 2007

Seminar Day

sales seminarWhat a whirlwind! As a part of the Presidents Club sales training that I'm taking through Marr Professional Development, I was invited to attend one of Joe Marr's additional seminars, called "No Pressure Prospecting". Some good information. I'm already pretty comfortable with business networking and attending networking mixers. This seminar gives me another tool in the toolbox. It's called a thirty-second commercial.

Now this is not a television spot on Super Bowl Sunday, but rather a way of presenting myself in conversation which is designed to draw out a potential prospect and get them interested in what you have to provide. I've learned this lesson before in my Certified Networker training, but this sharpens things a little bit. Of course, some would say that this is just a means to manipulate. In truth, the technique won't work unless I've taken a genuine interest in that other person and found out, really, what challenges they are facing. Also, this technique isn't designed to make people want something that they don't need, so I guess I won't be selling water to any fish in the near future.

Of course, the instructor, Joe Marr, provided a ton of other information (it was a four hour seminar). Some of it I will use right away, some I'm going to have to adapt a little to fit my style. Personally, I want to avoid "cold-calling" as long as I can. From what I've seen, I should be able to manage that. Still, I suppose it is good information to have as, if the worst comes to past, the techniques I learned will at least make me a far less annoying cold-caller. ;-)

So, what's the best seminar you've attended recently?

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