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Sales Process Engineering and Sales Training |
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Introduction to Think About It!... The goal of this book is to assist motivated individuals in the continuous improvement of the sales process. What does it take to become an expert? According to the 1,100 page compendium of scholarly research The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, it takes at least one to five hours of intense, daily, dedicated, deliberate practice and training sustained for 10 years. Read that again; s-l-o-w-l-y this time. Get your brain wrapped around that level of commitment. As the title of this volume demands, think about it! And that’s not all they say… Daily practice means every day. That includes weekends. Dedicated practice means exclusive. That includes foregoing all kinds of interesting distractions. Deliberate practice means concentrated on improvement. That means measuring, tracking and dogged pursuit of progress. And that’s still not all they say… It’s not just practice. It’s practice AND training. As the Handbook authors note, "... to improve performance it is necessary to seek out practice activities that allow individuals to work on improving specific aspects, with the help of a teacher and in a protected environment, with opportunities for reflection, exploration of alternatives, and problem solving, as well as repetition with informative feedback." In other words, not a single one of us is capable of attaining expertise alone. We all need bosses, mentors and colleagues ready, willing and able to actively, intelligently participate in our quest. And that’s still not all they say… Doing your job does NOT count. Experience does NOT equal expertise. Got it? We all know lots and lots of people – athletes, musicians and business people – who have been doing what they do for years, maybe decades, and have yet to achieve “above average” expertise. Keep all of the above in mind the next time some alleged “expert” starts spouting his or her alleged wisdom. Keep all of the above in mind then next time you start spouting your alleged wisdom! As a sales management consultant, this rigorous definition of “expert” is quite humbling. I started my sales career in 1975. I have been “doing” the sales job ever since, and 34 years certainly qualifies as lots of experience. I founded The YPS Group in 1999, and 10 years in business certainly indicates that my clients perceive value in what I provide. I wrote the content of this book one article at a time; one each month since January 2001, so I think it is hard to dispute my dedication. That said, I don’t feel like a sales expert ...yet. Here’s my plan… I’m going to re-read each of the issues of the Ideas! newsletter contained in the pages that follow. I’m going to rate them on the Excellent to Poor scale provided. I’m going to fold down the top corner of the page with the Excellent ones, so I’ll remember to re-re-read them, think about them and practice what they preach. I’m going to fold up the bottom corner of the not-so-excellent ones and re-write them. I’m going to think about the improvements made and practice them. I’m going to keep up with publishing the monthly Ideas! That’s a plan that fits the “dedicated, deliberate practice” part of the model described by the Handbook folks. For the “training” part, I hope you will help. Go to www.ThinkAboutIt.saleskx.org and comment please. If you feel really ambitious, go ahead and re-write a few of my weaker efforts. Let’s force each other to learn from each other! Sounds like a plan that will help us both along our paths toward genuine sales expertise. A plan to accelerate continuous improvement of the sales process.
$16.95
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