Monthly Sales Magazines and Sales Improvement Seminars

by Dave Kahle

Q.  Dave, I’m interested in what you would recommend for a subscription to a monthly sales magazine and a sales improvement seminar.

           A. You have touched one of my hot-buttons with this question.  So, forgive me if you give a longer answer than you expect.

     First, let me applaud you for asking the question.  As amazing as it sounds, I have come to the conclusion that only about 5% of sales people ever invest in their own growth and improvement.  My understanding of that number has evolved over the years.  I used to think it was much higher, but the more experience I gain, the more I’m convinced that it’s a rare and unusual sales person who will actually spend $20.00 or so to improve himself/herself, much less to actually go to a seminar.

     So, just by asking the question, you have indicated that you are probably in that top percentile of sales people.  And, the fact that you probably will invest in improving yourself means that, over time, you will distance yourself from the pack.

Sales Leaders – Work Smarter, Not Harder

Let us show you how:

Sales Leaders Excellence & Influence Course

• Four-month immersion into the best practices for sales leaders
• Live coaching, live training, meetings with other sales leaders
• Concepts and skills that will serve you well for the rest of your career.

With our team of experts on your side, you’ll become a hero in your organization.

           Before I tackle your question head on, let me sketch a little more background.  Here’s a phrase to remember: Learning event.  What’s a learning event?  It’s an experience you have in which you encounter some new ideas, you gain insights in new ways of seeing existing ideas, or you are reminded of behaviors and practices of which you may have been aware, but from which you have drifted away.

           So, reading a newsletter could be a learning event.  So could a sales meeting or a conversation with one of your colleagues. So could five minutes spent after a sales call reflecting on what went well and what didn’t. 

           What’s important is this:  As a result of a learning event, you focus on some better behavior which you are going to implement in the future.  Learning, for adults, is all about behavior.  In other words, you must find something that you can do differently, and decide to do that thing. 

           For example, you may have participated in one of my seminars. That’s a learning event. Following the seminar, you say to yourself, “I really should spend more time prioritizing my customers, so that I don’t ... READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE