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A Toasted Bagel and Five Minutes to Understand the Impact of Sales Training

Guest post by: Dave Kurlan

Article Overview: Salespeople may be like children, but in training they're more like bagels in an oven.

A Toasted Bagel and Five Minutes to Understand the Impact of Sales Training

This morning I placed a bagel in the oven, turned on the oven light, and experienced an epipheny. This is one exercise you'll want to try at home - really.

1. Cut Bagel in Half
2. Place Bagel on Cookie Sheet in the oven.
3. Turn on oven and set to Broil.
4. Don't leave the oven.
5. Turn on the oven light.
6. Watch the bagel through the window.

Here's what you'll see:

The oven heats up and hot air is blown in the bagel's direction but nothing happens.
This continues for about three minutes.
Then, all of a sudden, the bagel starts to turn brown, slowly at first, and then really quickly, and finally, a moment later, it's done.

Now apply the following translation:

Bagel=Salesperson
Oven=Sales Trainer
Air=Training
1 Minute=45 Days

Translated Story:

Sales Trainer provides sales training to salespeople and for the first four to five months nothing happens. The salespeople remain in the training and all of a sudden, after about 6 months, the salespeople appear to understand the training. And then, very rapidly, after just a couple of more months, they're complete.

Salespeople may be like children, but in training they're more like bagels in an oven.

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Article Tags: bagel, bagels, cookie sheet, epipheny, exercise, five months, hot air, oven light, salespeople, salesperson, three minutes, translation



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