A friend who works in sales just sent me a PowerPoint Presentation of a reputable training company in the field of sales titled just like above. It was a rather plain sales brochure trying to create awareness of their services.

The problems as resulted from a study involving 100+ sales managers on the market were no surprise for any professional in the field:

1. Listening the client
2. Preparation of the sales call
3. Professional development
4. Handling objections
5. Negative attitude

The authors also suggested that such problems could be “repaired” through training which I seriously doubt because I am perfectly sure that a great majority of the sales representatives have been exposed to such trainings before (except maybe last year in some companies) and problem still persists.

In my opinion there is one problem which should be ranked first in the list and that is… the sales representative’s manager. Should he be performing well his job there is a slim chance that sales people would keep having the rest of five problems.  However, I have to admit, would be rather unlikely that the 100+managers would happily say: “I am the main problem of my people, should someone more professional replace me… no problems”.

And it is more profitable for training companies to keep persuading the bottom of the pyramid, because it is larger and business will always be there. No company will search for a drug that will keep you healthy no matter what until you die because is not profitable.

It is amazing how people think that others once will understand the reason and the way for a change they will automatically change. (Everybody understands how and why smoking is dangerous but still a lot of them (including myself from time to time) keep smoking. This is why I am skeptical that training alone can properly address the problems above.

I was talking the other day with a fellow trainer about his move from corporation to a solo trainer job. He expressed his satisfaction about getting rid of what he called “employee brainwashing” tactics of his former corporations which he admitted he’s not supposed to talk about during his training. Even more, he confessed to be actually giving his hand to such brainwashing during the trainings he delivers. (more…)

We are in full mass messaging campaign. I keep getting SMSs from pople whom accidentally got my phone number years ago (together with some from close friends). This messages are non personal (some limmerik like) probably sent to whole address book! They can say in the best case: “Hey, I’m still having your phone number! I don’t care if you still own it but you know: I do not care!” (more…)

TRUE STORY:

There was once a medical rep that came to his colleagues and proposed to play a football game against (possibly) their biggest competitor. In a macho style atmosphere (they knew nothing about football capabilities of the others) the majority of his colleagues subscribed and a place and a date have been set. (more…)

This is probably a question that should not be missed in any job interview for a managerial position. I do not like too much superlatives in supporting a point of view so I would resist stating that setting appropriate targets is the most important skill of all in a managerial job. However, both my sales and consulting experience convinced me that this skill is seriously overlooked in today’s business (especially sales) world and has one of the highest costs on the success of the organization. (more…)