Below are the 2 most recent journal entries recorded in dannybean1217's InsaneJournal:

Thursday, February 9th, 2012
10:24 am	Sales Training Courses: Worthwhile Training That Could Deliver Results Many sales training courses are good for when times are bad and even better when times are good. When times are good it will be easier to sell and then some sales people will do really well putting on fat that may carry them through lean periods. The value of sales training courses is well illustrated in the television series known as 'The Office'. The fortunes of a good salesman and a bad salesman are followed taking viewers through the hilarious ups and downs of two characters named David and Tim. David is pathologically unable to listen, and that is as a result of his self centeredness. Tim is a very good listener, and able to take his turn to speak at just the right moment. So the two characters sum up the epitome of good and bad sales technique. In one vignette Tim concludes a sale over the telephone showing exactly how a deal should be closed. The TV series is instructive and entertaining but viewers might be tempted to think that success or failure in selling must be an outcome of innate personality traits rather than training. To an extent this must be true, as it is true in all fields of endeavour. However, the point of education is to grow an individual's genetic abilities in certain directions. Even a person who can instinctively sell ice to Eskimos can improve his performance with training. In selling the sky is the limit and targets can always be exceeded. That is because selling is a dynamic process that is never static. One of the important things is adaptability, and this requires the skill of adjusting constantly to ever changing circumstances. When a person feels that he has learnt everything that there is to know, that is surely time for him to take a course. In healthy organizations people are constantly on the move. Promotion opportunities provide for upward mobility and there should also be shifting of roles to allow for people to gain experience in various roles where they might find more satisfaction. It is such dynamism that generates the need for ongoing education within an organization to equip people for new roles or refresh them in the roles that they continue to play. In fact, good refresher courses provide opportunities for morale boosting if they are well run. They should be fun, so that people learn together how to align their different talents in identifying and meeting the needs of clients. A company will certainly do better if its sales corps is working in unison with other role players such as accounts managers and business development managers. Some sales training courses focus on particular skills that need to be developed further. The skill of listening may be important, but within that one skill there may be sets of sub-skills such as identifying needs and bringing a prospect to the point of closing. There may be no one agreed list of all the skills needed but a good trainer will identify in the group the people who need to develop in one direction or another. In some cases a training company will even follow up on progress by allowing trainees to have email contact with instructors after the course has been completed. (Comment on this)
10:14 am	Sales Training Courses: Beneficial Training That Will Deliver Results Most sales training courses are relevant in both good and bad times. In bad times they are arguably even more relevant because survival becomes an issue for all, and performance is the best way to ensure that. The value of sales training courses is well illustrated in the television series known as 'The Office'. The fortunes of a good salesman and a bad salesman are followed taking viewers through the hilarious ups and downs of two characters named David and Tim. It soon becomes apparent David, who is the boss, is an atrocious salesman because he cannot listen. Tim, on the other hand, does listen and is an excellent salesman despite the fact that he is distracted by the pretty receptionist most of the time. In one memorable telephone conversation he gives an excellent demonstration of how to close a sale crisply. The TV series is instructive and entertaining but viewers might be tempted to think that success or failure in selling must be an outcome of innate personality traits rather than training. To an extent this must be true, as it is true in all fields of endeavour. However, the point of education is to grow an individual's genetic abilities in certain directions. There are strong sellers and weak ones but it is probably the strong ones who will be most keen to learn more. In most cases they will be good listeners, willing to hear what others have to say. Living and working are dynamic processes. Things may seem to go on in the same way every day, but the subtle variations are the things that make the difference between success and failure. In healthy organizations people are constantly on the move. Promotion opportunities provide for upward mobility and there should also be shifting of roles to allow for people to gain experience in various roles where they might find more satisfaction. It is such dynamism that generates the need for ongoing education within an organization to equip people for new roles or refresh them in the roles that they continue to play. In-service training can be very helpful in building the morale of companies and organizations. Although workers may even learn skills and techniques that are not specifically required at particular points in their careers the training can help them to better understand the functions of others in the organization. The all important goal of alignment can thus be achieved. If all workers understand how their particular roles contribute to the overall mission of the organization the work force will be happier and more productive. Sales training courses cover very specific sets of skills that are relevant to the profession. Although listening may encompass one important skill there are various sub-skill within that one broad category and each sub-skill can be identifies analyzed and encouraged. Although a long list of such skills may be relevant it is in the individual's interaction with such skill sets that a trainer needs to work. In some cases a trainer will maintain email contact with a trainee after the course has been completed. Such follow up will allow the trainee to consolidate what has been learnt. That is why sales training courses offer a great opportunity to improve sales performance. (Comment on this)