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How to make the most of sales skill and technique books
Written by: Lynn HidyArticle Overview: Every time you turn around, an expert has written another self help book on sales techniques or specific sales skills. Someone always is selling salespeople and managers a new book that is going to launch their sales like fireworks on the 4th of July. Which brings up today’s question: How do you make the most of self help style, sales books?
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How to make the most of sales skill and technique books
Every time you turn around,
someone has written another self help book on sales techniques or specific
sales skills. Jill Konrath, Art Sobczak, Debbie
Mrazek, Mitch Anthony; have all authored books, plus there are compilations
like Top Dog Sales Secrets (those are just some of the ones on my shelf) -
someone always is selling salespeople and managers a new book that is going to
launch their sales like fireworks on the 4th of July.
Which brings up today’s
question: How do you make the most of self
help style, sales books?
If you’re a salesperson, here
is your favorite answer - it depends
(salespeople use “it depends” when; asked about sales forecast, how likely it
is that they will earn someone’s business, why people buy from them, and even
what their voicemail message strategy is).
Instead of accepting that as
a valid, answer a little research was in order, where this startling statistic
appeared:
“96 per cent of
respondents agreed that individuals required advice and support if they were to
take on more responsibility for their own learning.” (Eric Parsloe and Jessica
Rolph 2004 Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development survey)
96% of people needed advice and support to
make lasting change. That is a huge percentage, so to see real world examples,
participants in an instructor led sales book club were asked what they found
most helpful about the program.
Their answers backed up the statistics, all
stated that knowing other people were facing the same challenges, plus being
asked about their progress weekly made a significant impact on their ability to
implement new strategies, tactics, and techniques.
“I
probably wouldn't have done such an extensive forecast if there wasn't a group
of people keeping me accountable for following through with the exercises in
the book.” ~ Mindy S
To continue objectively
looking at how to get the most out of skill and sales technique books, the
research was refocused to the idea of sales books as training. The Kirkpatrick Model is one of the most well-known and used model for
measuring the effectiveness of training programs. It was developed by Donald
Kirkpatrick in the late 1950s and updated by Donald L. Kirkpatrick and James D.
Kirkpatrick in 2005 in their book Transferring Learning to Behavior.
For the purpose of this article we are only using levels 1-3 and
skipping over level 4 which is about organizational benefits of training.
Level
1 - Reaction; How
did participants react to the program?
· If
you bought the sales technique book, there was something about it that
interested you. Title, author, content, or presentation of the material. Level
1 success, a positive reaction.
Level
2 - Learning; To
what extent did participants improve knowledge and skills and change attitudes
as a result of the training?
·
When
you read the whole book and learned something new OR remembered things you had
learned in the past, but forgotten. Success at level 2.
Level
3 - Behavior; To
what extent did participants change their behavior back in the workplace as a
result of the training?
·
You
apply everything you learned and created new routines, where it makes sense for
you. Success at level 3.
To successfully transform the content in a book
on sales skills and techniques into new habits to increase sales, the reader
has to change their own behavior. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development survey tells us that a majority of people need accountability
partners, support, and/or instruction to successfully implement new skills into
their careers.
Here
are three options to explore:
1. Determine if taking an instructor led
class is something you need to absorb the new sales strategies and tactics.
2. Have an accountability partner, read the
book together and meet weekly to discuss what you need help sticking to.
3. Join a business book club, where all
participants have committed to read a chapter, take action, and share results
each week. Think accountability partnership on steroids, as everyone has made
the same commitment.
The key is to determine your personal
learning style and choose the best way to move from thought to learning and
then taking action to change.
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About the Author: Lynn Hidy RSS for Lynn's articles - Visit Lynn's website Lynn Hidy founder of UpYourTeleSales.com, is the specialist at creating profitable telesales sales people and organizations. She knows you can make six figures over the phone - she does it! Lynn's 15+ year TeleSales career started with her earning a Golden Circle awards her first year. Then she moved up to Presidents Club status and looking for new challenges migrating into inside sales leadership roles. Her sales and business background allow her to easily work with individuals and organizations in finding ways to help them move from good to fantastic. Working with Lynn you will learn to create a phone experience where they will forget you aren't actually having a cup of coffee together. * As a trainer, Lynn takes a real world practical approach to goal setting, skill building, and performance improvement. For a more informal conversation check out Lynn's Coaching over Coffee blog. Click here to visit Lynn's website How to make the most of sales skill and technique books Goal Setting The Flip Side Why We Dont Achieve Them |
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