Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Time to Remove the Training Wheels

training wheelsToday was the last of our preliminary classes for our sales training. Next week, we start the big kids class. As I understand, we will be working on more advanced techniques and spending time role-playing and practicing what we've learned. My attempts thus far to apply what I've learned have shown me that this is really something I need to do. It's one thing to read about this stuff. It's a completely different ball of wax of a different color to actually apply it.

Ironically, I've gone through a process similar to this before. When I first started training in the martial arts, I didn't go right into group class. First we had two or three private introductory lessons so that we at least knew roughly what a punch looked like and could approximate a front kick. This way, when we actually started group class, the instructor could fit us right in with the rest of the students, without having to bore our classmates with such rudimentary concepts.

Similarly, these intro classes with Sandler Sales Institute were designed to help us understand the basics of the Sandler sales process and give us a grounding in the vocabulary that we would be using with the rest of the group. I'll have to let you know if it works as well in sales training as it did in the martial arts.

So, what sorts of training have you participated in recently?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the advice, Dave. I think that one of the things I have to remember is that my sales call is a success if either: 1) My prospect signs an agreement with me OR 2) I determine that there isn't a good fit between the two of us. I'm still stuck in the "If I lose the sale, I failed" mindset.