National Sales Center

I Get A Kick Out Of Silly Sales Training

No, I’m not going to poke fun at the sales training industry. I just want to have some fun with the silly sales training that pops up from time to time. For me, sales training gets silly when it’s either outdated or just isn’t logical. Let’s cover the outdated stuff first.

Some sales training is so outdated and overused, prospects see right through it. When that happens, it hits my silly sales training classification. How about these gems,

• “Is Monday at 8:00 good for you or is Tuesday at 11:00 better?”
• “If I could _________, would you buy today?”
• “If you had a magic wand and could change anything about your present supplier, what would you change?”

These outdated and overused “sales lines” are still being taught today and when that happens, it’s silly sales training.

Some of the silliest sales training has to do with getting past the gatekeeper. I consider these sales training concepts silly because they either don’t work or everyone already knows them, or both. Here are a few gatekeeper concepts that hit my silly radar,

• Tell the gatekeeper you’re returning the Decision Makers call to you.
• Call before 8:00 or after 5:30 because the gatekeeper is not around to intercept your call.
• Tell the gatekeeper that the Decision Maker was expecting your call.

So much of silly sales training has to do with tricks. The top pros never use tricks. If you think professional selling is about tricks, you had way too much silly sales training during your career. I urge you to forget all that stuff. Tricks are not featured in any professional selling training programs.

Here is another silly sales training piece of “advice”. If the decision maker isn’t returning your calls, have your child leave a voice mall message asking why the decision maker isn’t returning their Daddy’s phone call.  I’m serious about this one and it came from a respected sales trainer. I guess we all have our silly moments.

A lot of sales training starts out silly. I get a kick whenever I hear “A lot of people always ask me about _________.” The sales trainer then goes on to talk about whatever is in the blank. Their material may be rich but the way it’s introduced is just plain silly. Am I expected to believe that people trail them all day asking questions?

Have you been exposed to some silly sales training? If so, I’d love to hear about it. Feel free to use the comment section below.

To your sales success!

Nick

Tags: Sales Training