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Guest post by: Virden Thornton Become an Author

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Some years ago, Earl Nightingale, the radio commentator and lecturer, was being interviewed by a couple who were writing a book about famous people and how they overcame adversity to reach success. In the course of the discussion, Earl pointed out that famous people were no different than the average person when it came to success. He said, “Most people have to overcome obstacles along the way and just because one person receives some notoriety over another does not make that person any more a hero than the average person working through his problems.” The couple persisted to find the key to Nightingale’s success. After much questioning he told them that three simple words helped him reach the pinnacle of his profession. Those three words were simply, “stay with it.”

When working with sales professionals to help them move from order-taking, operational mindsets into successful proactive sales approaches, sales trainers find that these people go through stages that loosely resemble the four phases of learning. These stages are easily recognized in those individuals being trained, as an instructor works to help them make the behavioral changes necessary for successful selling careers.

Since most sales professionals do not set out to be sales representatives, there are certain ideas and concepts inherent in the selling process that may be totally new and foreign to you. In the learning process, we call this stage “unconscious incompetence,”—not knowing what we don’t know. After being taught specific sales concepts, a professional receives an intellectual understanding of a series of sales techniques or methods but still may be unable or unwilling to perform the activities that will bring about consistent sales success. This stage of behavioral change is called “conscious incompetence.”

In the third stage, you encounter a process called “conscious competence.” This is where most sales professionals either make the grade and move from order-taking activities (“tellin sellin”) into proactive sales habits that significantly increase their sales success. Or, at this stage they revert back to their old order-taking habits. This is a difficult step for most professionals because it takes concentration, hard work and a lot of practice. However, once selling and closing skills become second nature, you can reach a final stage of intuitive, successful behavior called “unconscious competence.” It is a fact that many who sell for a living, never reach this level of unconscious sales proficiency because they are unwilling to spend the time practicing the concepts they have been taught. Remember, psychologists suggest that it takes about 21 days to make or break a habit.

It is easy to gravitate back to the things we know how to do or with which we have a high comfort level. Those employees who are truly successful and literally make changes in their behavioral patterns, simply take the sales techniques they have been taught and stay with them long enough so that they achieve a new comfort level—unconscious competence! As you work to learn how to be a better salesperson and you are tempted to give up and move back to the ways you have done things in the past, always remember the three simple words Earl Nightingale used to become successful--“stay with it.”

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