Salespeople are Like Children

The best way for me to show you that salespeople are just like children is to share an experience I had yesterday with our 3-year old son. While driving him to school I asked, 'Would you like to go shopping with me tonight and pick out a present that you can give to Mommy for Christmas?'

'Oh Yeah!', he replied.

'What do you think she might like?', I asked.

'I think she should like a pocketbook', he said thoughtfully.

I was thinking, 'He gets it. He really understands gift giving.'

He continued, 'Or maybe she should like a train set for me.'

So maybe he is just like a salesperson. After all, your salespeople learn that they should ask questions to learn about the needs, issues, applications and problems that their prospects might have. And some of them actually ask one or two of those questions - like they get it - and then they start to present their product, service or company. Just like our son, they can think about the other person for only so long before they revert to thinking about what's important to them or comfortable for them.

How do you break this child-like behavior? Stickers work for our 3-year old. Perhaps the corporate version of stickers would work to change the child-like behavior of your salespeople. The stickers your salespeople will respond to would be spiffs or recognition - anything that would motivate them to behave the way you would prefer. If they ask the right questions, they get rewarded. If they ask enough of the right questions, they get rewarded. If their prospects provide the right answers, they get rewarded. If they perform those behaviors consistently they make more sales, earn more money and they reward themselves.

Salespeople really are like children.

Salespeople are Like Children - To learn more about this author, visit Dave Kurlan's Website.

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Dave Kurlan Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website

George Ludwig George Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website

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