Are Limiting Beliefs Holding You Down?

by Dave Kahle

“In your training, do you focus on instilling new skills, or do you try to remove the hindrances to people using their existing skills?”

            That was one of the best questions I have ever been asked.  I recall it clearly.  I was having lunch with the CEO of a large non-profit organization, for whom I was training their social workers in sales skills.  As a professional speaker/author/trainer, it is a question that I have considered for decades. It really speaks to the heart of the task of helping someone improve and develop.  And, while it is a deep question that I’ve considered, I never expected to hear it from a client.

            The answer is that we – the teachers and trainers in the world – do both. We teach the practices and competencies that are proven and fundamental for success in sales and leadership. In many cases, these are new skills, new ideas and new practices for the learner. 

            At some point in the process, though, a very predictable phenomenon occurs.  While the learner accepts, intellectually, the value of what was been taught, he/she makes no — or very limited — attempt to actually put it into practice.  

The Process

            It’s a two-step process: First, the learner needs to become aware of some practice, process, idea or skill. Then, they need to intentionally work to put it into practice.  

            The first step is the easiest.  It only takes a small amount of effort to identify practices, processes and skills which have been proven to be effective in your job or profession.  No matter what your job, or profession, I suspect that there are at least five books written on the subject, and at least 20 websites offering solutions.  A 15-minute web search will probably uncover enough practices and ideas to keep you busy for weeks.

Goal Setting for Salespeople

Join me on January 19^th, at `12:30 (EST) for a one-hour webinar. 

You’ll learn:

• The benefits that goal setting brings to a B2B salesperson
• Why goal setting is the first step toward effective time management and the beginning of rapid self-improvement.
• When to set goals
• A specific, step-by-step process to set goals in your personal life 
• Two ways to set sales goals.
• A system to help you use the goals to stay on course.

I expect that, following the webinar, you’ll modify your goals, or create a whole new set. You will take the first step toward an outstanding  2024.                      

$47  Click here to register

From the trainers’ perspective, the more important issue is identifying that combination of practices and processes, ideas and strategies, that will have the most impact at this moment for this group of people.

     Whenever I’m contracted to speak at a national sales meeting, for example, in a conversation with the meeting planner,  I always say something to this effect:  “I could do 40 hours of training for your group   But we don’t have 40 hours, we only have 3 or 4.  So the question is which combination of principles and practices will get you the biggest bang for the buck. Let’s sort through the possibilities and prioritize those that hold the greatest potential for making an impact. “In the course of a 60 – minute phone call, we always identify a group of practices that will bring the greatest improvement in results.

            So, that part of the process – identify the new things to teach or learn – is relatively simple.

            The real challenge lies in the second part – helping the learner to actually use those practices.  For someone intent on helping people develop, tap into their potential, and become more successful, it is the primary hurdle. I call it the “gap between  ... CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE