The University of Sales

Guest post by: Todd Youngblood
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“The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.” - By Todd Youngblood

Is there such a thing as the University of Sales in your company? If not, and you're somewhere in between the most junior sales assistant and the 2nd in command of the whole sales organization, you better start thinking very seriously about how on earth you'll ever pick up the essential sales knowledge and skills you need. If you're the top sales executive, shame on you!

Do I really need to write a paragraph about how critical it is to make sure that every single member of any sales team needs to be methodically, relentlessly and continuously acquiring new knowledge and enhancing professional selling skills? Frankly, if you need to be convinced of that, don't bother reading any more of this newsletter.

Operating an internal University of Sales takes some real work, but it's not really that difficult and doesn't cost all that much. The "Professors" are the current members of your sales team. Every one of them has creative solution to at least one problem - probably many. Every one of them has at least one really good success story to tell - probably many. Every one of them has at least one presentation, value proposition, intro letter... - probably many of all of them. They all read sales books and can share the authors' insights.

Given that, wouldn't it be a shame to keep all that intelligence hidden from the rest of the group? Most reps - egos not withstanding - don't realize how much valuable stuff they have in their heads, filing cabinets and hard drives. All they need is some structure to help pull it out, write it down and communicate it.

Here are a few simple steps for operating a U of S:

Schedule a 15 to 30 minute slot in every monthly sales meeting for internally delivered sales education (You do have monthly sales meetings or web conferences, right???)
Put every member of the sales team into the rotation to develop and deliver their self-developed educational material
Set up a "Sales Knowledge Mine" on your internal network to store & deliver all of the handouts (Creating thorough, high quality documentation that is understandable by the rawest rookie is an absolute requirement and MUST be done by each presenter.)
Rate the value/quality of each module at least once a year (What was an "A" last year, might be a "C" this year. Keep the material fresh and relevant to match the changes in your marketplace.)

The friendly competition among the reps to have the best module will develop almost immediately. You'll wind up "stuck" in an organization with a habit of continually thinking, learning and improving.

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“The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.” - By Todd Youngblood

About the Author: Todd Youngblood

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Todd Youngblood is passionate about sales productivity. His 30+ year career in Executive Management, Sales, Marketing and Consulting has focused on selling more, better, cheaper and faster. He began his career in 1976 as a Marketing Representative with the IBM Corporation and for fifteen years progressed through a wide variety of field and staff assignments. He then founded and operated an Information Technology Outsourcing firm providing Software Development and Maintenance Services. In 1994, he joined an electronic commerce firm serving the insurance and healthcare industries, as Vice President of Sales & Marketing. He established The YPS Group, Inc. in 1999 based on his years of experience in Sales Process Engineering ï¿½ that is, combining creativity and discipline in the design, implementation and use of work processes for highly effective sales teams. Todd has worked extensively with firms in the Distribution, Manufacturing, Insurance, Services, and Telecommunications industries. He is the author of two sales management books, The Dolphin And The Cow and Think About Itï¿½ He is married, has two daughters, enjoys cycling, is a second degree black belt in Choi Kwang Do and serves on the board of the Cobb Symphony Orchestra.
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