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The Paradox of Sales Training

Written by: Bill Truax

Article Overview: Companies spend a lot of time and money in providing sales skills training. However, they skip the most important sales skill - Prospecting. The only skill that puts a sales person in a position to use all their other sales skills. Yet Prospecting training is easy, inexpensive, and requires very little time. The best ROI for your sales training dollar!!!

The Paradox of Sales Training

As you know a paradox is a “statement that seems to conflict with common sense… but nevertheless is true.” (Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary)

This may be a stretch of that definition, but why do companies spend such a tremendous amount of time and money on selling skills training but virtually nothing on Prospecting skills training?

I am constantly saying that Prospecting is the only selling skill that puts a sales professional in a position to actually use all their other selling skills.

When we developed The BLITZ CALL® System of Prospecting it was just for that purpose. I was conducting a training program for a large distributor whose sales force was on a 100% commission program.

One of the participants came up to me at the first break and asked if I would just focus on Prospecting training.

He said that the company was great and all their product training really helped, but he needed to get in front of more new people to present what he has learned. The only way to do that is through effective Prospecting, so “just teach us how to Prospect.”

There and then The BLITZ CALL System was born.

I shared with most of you a study that a group of sales trainers conducted a few months ago. They said that the sales teams to whom they teach selling skills seldom actually use those skills.

More often, they just maintain a good relationship with existing customers and hope they get larger “re-orders.” This gives the sales professional no control at all. They are dependent on the success of their customers’ sales teams to grow their business.

Being dependent on others for your sales growth is not a good idea. It is also a tremendous waste of talent and sales training dollars.

How much smarter would it be to take a little time and money to teach Prospecting skills so these sales teams can actually get in front of new potential customers?

Two things about our Prospecting program that surprised me when I did some research. First, it is the only complete Field Prospecting System on the market, and second, it is probably the only Field Sales Prospecting training that a sales professional will ever receive during their career. The only Field Prospecting training - ever!

Imagine how many times field sales professionals go through selling skills training in a career.

Now that to me is the Paradox of Sales and Prospecting training.

Consider how you want to grow your business. Is it dependent solely on others performance that is the growth of your customer base or will you Prospect and grow the number of your customers?

Sell Well and Often,

Bill Truax
Bill@BlitzCall.com



© Copyright 2007 WJ Truax ® BLITZ CALL is a registered trademark of WJ Truax

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Article Tags: amount of time, blitz, common sense, existing customers, first break, good relationship, little time, new riverside, paradox, participants, riverside dictionary, selling skills training, time and money, webster



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