Selling – No Training Required

I’m going to go on a bit of a rant here. Why is it that so many people think that the only three things you don’t need training for are parenting, sex, and selling?

Apparently, we’re supposed to have an intuitive knack for all three of these things. I don’t know about you, but I would have benefited from some training with the first item, REALLY benefited from some training in the second, and fortunately for my career, I did get some training for the last one.

Like sex, most people can sell. It’s a matter of how skilled you are at the process. Not everyone develops their skill.

Somehow, the general populace seems to feel that if you’ve got the gift of gab, you’re going to be a dynamite salesperson. No training required. That’s like saying just because someone knows how to back up his car, he can back up a sixteen-wheel semi.

There’s no doubt that having an outgoing personality is an asset, but some of these outgoing folks don’t know when to put a plug in it and are non-stop talkers. And when they’re not talking, they’re not listening. They’re planning on what they want to say next.

Good salespeople are not fast talkers, they’re smooth listeners. Professional salespeople go one step further and get trained in their craft. They get trained to know what questions to ask and what answers to listen for. They invest in themselves.

Training makes the difference between a salesperson and a sales professional. That’s why, when I’m hiring a salesperson, I always ask what sales training they’ve had. Sadly, most won’t have any, so I’m happy if they’ve read a couple of books on sales technique!

If they haven’t been trained, and won’t even read some books on their craft, I’m hesitant to hire. I mean, how serious can they be about being a real sales professional?

Anyway, that’s the way I see it.