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Invest In Yourself
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Article 2: Sales Training
The typical small-business owner went into business because he or she was good at doing something and figured out how to make money at it. But most owners aren’t naturally gifted at selling.
Luckily, great salespeople aren’t necessarily born. With the right training, a business owner who’s weak at sales can turn this liability into a strength.
“It’s really fairly simple: In selling, you need to be doing the things that will help you grow your business, find new customers and make more profits,” says Jeffrey Mayer, the president and founder of SucceedingInBusiness.com. “Everything in sales should be geared toward finding new customers every day, because without customers, you don’t have a business.”
Sounds simple, sure — but anyone who has pounded the pavement knows that you don’t just roll out of bed in the morning, make a few phone calls and go collect orders.
“A lot of self-employed people think there’s nothing to selling,” says Brian Jeffrey, CSP, president of Sales Force Training & Consulting, www.salesforcetraining.com. “But while the non-salesperson may make the occasional sale, he’s like the blind squirrel who finds the occasional nut. You can’t run a company without knowing all the ins and outs of your business, nor can you run one without knowing how to sell.”
Jeffrey’s most important piece of advice when it comes to sales training: Go with someone who knows. “Never take a sales training course from someone who doesn’t have real-world experience in sales or sales management.”
Many people and organizations bill themselves as “jack-of-all-trades” trainers, but this doesn’t cut it for sales training.
“An organization may include ‘sales training’ on their laundry list,” notes Jeffrey, “but if they haven’t been out there and done it, they haven’t earned the right to train you.”
Jeffrey, whose firm offers a workshop entitled “Selling Skills for the Non-Salesperson,” also recommends sales training workshops, as opposed to seminars. “These are often geared toward people who don’t sell all the time to make a living, but who must sell if their business is to succeed.”
“Sales training should really be a process, not just a one-time event,” he says. “Think of it as an investment, not an expense.”
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