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 4^th 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.