Understanding the Sales Force

Yesterday, I was listening to a radio promotion when they said, “Take a selfie with a standie and then, using your smartphone or tablet, upload it to Facebook, or tweet your image using hashtag [something I can’t remember].”

These aren’t the 10 sales competencies you read about and listen to all the time. No way! These 10 are hardly ever discussed, seldom, if ever written about, and the most difficult to learn. Ready?

Andre Agassi’s autobiography, Open, was a great book! I kept wondering what it would have been like if Agassi was in sales instead of tennis. Would he have been the best salesperson in the world? Would he have won all the biggest deals? Would he have earned as much money? So I thought about the areas that would have supported a quest for #1 salesperson, as well as those that would have thwarted the effort.

Mary always succeeded in finding new opportunities, but her weaknesses, especially her Need for Approval, Discomfort Talking About Money, and Tendency to Become Emotionally Involved, would usually interfere with her ability to gain traction and close the sale. During the past year, she has improved enough so that she is not only finding new business, but closing it too. But she isn’t out of the woods yet.

Prior to learning about healthy eating, I believed a bagel was a healthy alternative to a donut. After I was shown that a carbohydrate converts to sugar in the blood and there wasn’t much difference between bread, bagels or rolls; and donuts, cake or pie, I changed the way that I ate.