Continuous Learning

Success Mindsets #1 – You Can Improve.

In an effort to give you insight into how to have a better 2011, I felt it would be great to get you thinking about four success mindsets that can drive your personal and business success during 2011. Your ability to win more b2b sales will depend upon your complete understanding of these four mindset principals.

The first success mindset is simply…

You Can Improve Anything You Truly Want to Improve.

This statement is based upon the concept of continuous improvement and continuous learning. Both are important and will lead you to higher levels of performance.

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Sales People Created the Commodity Problem

Why do sales people and sales managers sit around complaining about how their industry has become a commodity like selling environment with “everything” being about price. I have heard enough of this and all the excuses or blame for why it has happened to the market they sell in.

Well, another NEWS FLASH! No one other than the sales team themselves created this mess. And, the main reason the sales people created this environment is simple. Sales people forgot to keep developing their skills and talent. There I said it, now let the comments commence!

For most of the sales people and sales management, I can stop the excuses, anger and even denial by asking one question. And here it is…

When was the last time you spent time engaged in a serious sales development work session?

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Continuous Learning is the Starting Point for Sales Superstars

Okay, one of my favorite topics is sales. Now I’m not one of these blowhards that tell you I started selling as a young boy and became an over night success. No, I missed that fast track! In fact, I had to learn how to sell. At first, I had no clue as to what I was doing, no plan, no guide, and most importantly – no understanding of how selling worked – selling well that is!

Then I attended programs at my first job – the banking industry – and we had a very aggressive business development priority. Now, I’m talking about bankers – some of whom felt selling was beneath them. I attended a required class (singular) and was told that I had to make three customer calls – face to face – every quarter! Talk about pressure – what you don’t know is amazing sometimes. Believe it or not I found my way into the top three for business development for several years. I now know this was a case of luck and really enjoying the customer interaction not selling skills or understanding the sales process.

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