Forget Sales Training

Recently I was working on updating our Sales Masters Course, and I had one of those fraud moments.

Impostor Syndrome
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
The Impostor Syndrome, or Impostor Phenomenon, sometimes called Fraud Syndrome, is not an officially recognized psychological disorder, but has been the subject of a number of books and articles by psychologists and educators. Individuals experiencing this syndrome seem unable to internalize their accomplishments. Regardless of what level of success they may have achieved in their chosen field of work or study, or what external proof they may have of their competence, they remain convinced internally that they do not deserve the success they have achieved and are really frauds.

Here is what happened. I was working on the Opening the Sale chapter with our Vice President of Product Development, Steve Previdi. I was developing better ways to drive across to our students certain techniques for the course. This is kind of fun. But I always have a little voice in my head that continues to talk at the same time I do. Let me make matters worse: the voice is schizophrenic. Sometimes it tells me that I am not using currently accepted terminology as voiced by academic organizations. Words such as “metrics” instead of my favorite, “statistics.” Other times it tells me I am voicing too complex of a concept for a simple technique.

I do have to be careful. There are a bunch of people in about 20 countries using this material. That means it has been accepted and used with success. So here I am in Los Angeles writing, and a salesperson in Brazil reads Nao, Obrigado Estou So Olhando! (No Thanks, I’m Just Looking! translated to Portuguese), and they make a few extra sales. I should be thrilled and satisfied. And yet that ever-present voice pops up in my head.

Dear readers of this article: I really shouldn’t let you in my head; it’s kind of personal. But you’re invited just this once.

“This is too much!” The voice says, “Silly, complicated, and over the top. All salespeople need to know about opening the sale is to greet people with a truly welcoming and genuine smile. You know, an ‘I’m glad you’re here’ kind of thing that is not threatening.” So I pause for a moment. Steve, who is tape recording my dissertation, turns off the recorder and waits. He’s polite that way.

What I have never expressed to him is, “You’re going to have to wait a few moments while I battle the voice.” Inevitably I start chatting again, and further progress is made on delivering a very good course.

Any particular point that you’re making here with this article Mr. Friedman?

Yup. All you need is a salesperson who wants to make sales and managers who want to help salespeople make more sales. Think about it. How many salespeople do you employ that are there because it’s a job? Their personal motivation is not to become a great salesperson and be proud of their career.

Twenty-five years ago a sales trainer friend of mine, Jack Berman, told me that the two attributes all great salespeople share are drive and empathy. I have spent those 25 years trying to disprove the theory as too simple. Alas, he was right, darn it. I have spent all this time on technique, and it all boiled down to something I didn’t even come up with. The fraud of it all.

But I shan’t be so hard on myself. After all, people continue to participate in our courses and buy tons of books. Here is my way out. There are better ways to probe and make demonstrations. There are proven methods to handle objections that result in more sales. And my thesis on opening the even useful to salespeople who do not have the drive to succeed and express empathy for their customers.

Find that out first – because if they don’t have it, you won’t need sales training. Thanks for reading; I am going to take a couple of voices to lunch.

© 2008 The Friedman Group


Forget Sales Training - To learn more about this author, visit Harry J. Friedman's Website.

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