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Your learning/self-improvement process is probably obsolete

Guest post by: Todd Youngblood

Article Overview: I don't know enough. The pace of change in the world of sales, sales management and consulting is such that my traditional process for learning simply can't keep up. I know you're in the same boat. Guess what? We can help each other.

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Your learning/self-improvement process is probably obsolete

Anyone who has been successful in the sales game is a good student. To solve our customers' problems, we need to know - therefore we first need to learn - more than they do about not only the problems, but also the solutions. But my goodness... new ideas, technologies and applications are flooding into our world faster than ever. Something's gotta' give. We need to change the way we learn.

I hate to use the old three-legged stool analogy yet again, but if fits anywhere, if it fits with regard to constantly and rapidly increasing our personal knowledge and understanding. A little research reveals that virtually all of us use a two legged approach to learning. We first absorb information from web pages, books, blogs, podcasts, other people, etc., then roll that information around in our brains, combine it with what's already there then move to the second leg, apply. Next we observe what happens, absorb yet more information from the results produced and continue on with the two-step learning process.

Not good enough!

One of Albert Einstein's pithier comments was, "You don't really understand something until you can explain it to your grandmother." Think about that and recognize that you are not very good at teaching many of the things you are quite good at doing. Why is that?

Quite simply, it's because you don't really understand. Now - think about things that you can not only do well, but can also teach well. Again, understanding is the difference maker. So how can we deepen our understanding?

The answer is contribute. There is absolutely no better way to learn something than to be put in the position of needing to teach it to someone else. There is absolutely no better way to teach something than to first put it down in writing. If you don't believe me, call grandma right now and teach her how to articulate the value proposition you used for your last really big sale.

After apologizing to grandma for confusing the daylights out of her, take the time to write down the customer's "before" and "after" situations and why and by how much "after" is better. Write out that winning value proposition. Write-down specifically how it highlights the key improvements made to the customer situation. Keep it all to 150 or so words. Revise and rewrite it at least two or three times.

Assuming your grandma is still speaking to you, try teaching her again how to articulate your value proposition. Pretty amazing difference, huh?

Don't have time to expend that much effort? Well, of course you don't. Not for everything... But what about those dozen or so things that are fundamentally critical to your success? To state the obvious, you simply cannot afford to not deeply and thoroughly understand those things. For them, absorb/apply only doesn't cut it. So do it! Contribute/Absorb/Apply!

Better yet, after you write it - publish it and invite others to comment on it. You can publish it easily at the unique website of the Sales Knowledge Xchange (saleskx.org). (Think of it as the Wikipedia for sales and sales management.)

It's a brave new world out there, folks. To continue our personal success, each of us needs to adopt this 21st-century model for learning.

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Home > Sales > Todd Youngblood > Your learningselfimprovement process is probably obsolete
Article Tags: albert einstein, analogy, brains, game, goodness, grandmother, nbsp, pages books, personal knowledge, pithier, regard, something s gotta give, three legged stool, web pages

About the Author: Todd Youngblood
RSS for Todd's articles - Visit Todd's website

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 � 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 It� 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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