Sales Excellence: The Core of My Work
I despise the term “sales training” as a descriptor for what I do because my work is unique, people-centric, and research-based. I frequently opine to those who call it ‘training’ that I am not a trainer because you train dogs and train seals, but my work is different: I develop people.
Salespeople are my specialty: I assess, develop, coach, challenge, and encourage talent. Companies hire me for a variety of reasons but all of my clients are people-centric. For me to work with them they must consider their salespeople professional resources — not cannon fodder to berate and blame.
I have been fortunate enough to travel the world transforming lives and careers for those who dared test their mettle with courage to chase their potential. This has been my greatest reward: knowing I gave a boost to a man or woman who wanted to “be somebody some day,” worked hard to learn what he or she needed to learn, and applied those new skills with discipline en route to becoming a greater, stronger, professional.
Sales, I am fond of saying, is the fairest profession because it honors those who honor it. Great salespeople beat mediocre reps, and mediocre reps beat slugs, and slugs beat each other. Each result is fair. The key question is, “What’s the difference between mediocre and great?”
I preface the answer to that important question by advising that, for safety’s sake, never stand beneath the canopy of a leafy tree on a windy day because nine “sales trainers” will fall out. Virtually all will be hawking re-merchandised intellectual property developed a generation ago, tweaked perhaps with a sexy spin or fancy name that offers very little that’s new or life changing. “Challenger Selling” is an example. The Challenger model is simply a tweaked rebrand of Neil Rackham’s Implication work in SPIN Selling with a sexy name, built-in distribution outlet, and superb marketing. Rackham was right 30 years ago, so Challenger can work too. Nothing new, just a clever, modern mash-up of proven techniques.
The problem is — and here is where institutional off-the-shelf work like Challenger veers left while I fork off to right — is that my approach invests in people, not techniques.
Employees who are growing stick around. Those who are not leave. Loyalty matters in stability and results. And because my work and relentless research in changing behavioral dynamics keeps evolving, its relevant, real-world learning lessons adapt to keep strengthening above-the-line revenue generators and below-the-line staff members. This is especially vital today for two reasons:
- Millennials now comprise the greatest slice of the work force pie, and
- The stunning findings of my latest research and book, “The Impact of Technology on Behavior & Happiness” are jaw-dropping. Companies that know this will win. Companies that don’t will lose. And as we said before, that outcome is fair.
The whiteboard explainer below is a quick overview of the eight areas of sales excellence I am most commonly hired to assist with. This is a broad-brush, an umbrella over the 100 or so modules I customize based on client needs. The clip lasts about 90 seconds:
To discuss how this research and behavioral and life skill-based, people-centric sales excellence talent development approach will benefit your organization through performance, loyalty, and increased worker engagement, drop me a note at ted@oceanpalmer.com. In the USA call (303) 810-1086. Overseas callers should add the ++1.
Thanks for reading and watching….and continued good selling.
Ted Simendinger
“Ocean Palmer”