Age Factors in Sales/Management Training – Part 5 of 5

Hello everybody,

I hope you not only have enjoyed the first 4 parts but have been enlightened as well.

In the final part of the series we are going to relate one of the 8 basics to the mix. Enthusiasm! There is no question the younger professionals bring a tremendous amount of enthusiasm to the table. Remember life is still all new to them. They have that “can do” spirit. They don’t believe they can fail. They think they are the beacon of the future. In a great deal of ways they are right. But they must not let the exuberance of youth cloud their judgement and take for granted that their excitement will completely, 100% take them to where they want to go. It still is JUST part of the formula. They still must have mentors.

On the other side of the equation, the experienced sales professional, just like in a lot of marriages, has let the flame on the candle not shine through quite as brightly. Also, just like in marriage, you have to constantly stoke the flame. Keep the love burning.

Wel, in our great profession so many experienced sales persons have all but let the candle extinguish. Imagine what a professional you would have if you could have the experience AND the youthful enthusiasm. WOW! As you have read in these posts each group brings a lot to the table. I have found and encouraged the approach that the young can and should learn from the more experienced and the more experienced should definitely take a refresher course from these youngsters on the proper attitude and enthusiasm in which to attack their profession.

I can’t wait to hear your input.

REMEMBER your “Specialist” gear will be hear soon along with our new user friendly web site.

“The Specialist”.

Age Factors in Sales/Management Training – Part 4 of 5

Hi everybody,

It’s me again as we close in on the final 2 parts in the series.

So far you are getting a little insight into the complications of training various groups of people in our great profession. Tonight we are going to focus on the ability for the different age groups to learn new things. Boy is this interesting. It seems that the older ones’ ability to memorize or learn a new sales presentation is very difficult. Think about it…they have been out of school for many years and to get them to discipline their minds is almost impossible.

I have given many sales professionals a script to learn and, no matter how well intentioned, it becomes an insurmountable task. Some companies won’t even hire someone over 28 years of age for just that reason. Many feel like the old saying states, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. That is not necessarily true. The sad part is they really want to do well it’s just that they have been out of school too long and, without being an avid reader or something, they just don’t use that part of their brain. It’s just like not working out for 10 years. It takes a long time to get the muscles back in shape.

The only difference is that the employer doesn’t have the time to invest in you retraining your mind. On the other side of the coin the young professionals are fresh out of school and their minds are razor sharp. All they have done for the last 12 years is study and memorize stuff. It’s a natural setting for memorizing a sales script. Plus the young person is very eager to learn new stuff if for no other reason than to impress their friends and family members.

I have tremendous compassion for the older salesperson that needs the job and just can’t memorize the material. It is unfortunate but a fact of life. I have zero tolerance for the young sales person that won’t learn the material in a timely fashion when I know full well that the only reason they don’t know it is they did not apply themselves. As you can see regardless of the age factor there are pros and cons of each. As usual I can’t wait to hear your opinions when the series is over. I wonder aloud sometimes, who would you rather train?

Don’t forget to be on the lookout for the new website! The teleseminars are going to be out of this world. The amount of people requesting them has been unbelievable. Plus how about that “Specialist” gear…I can’t wait to get your feedback on that.

“The Specialist”

Age Factors in Sales/Management Training – Part 3 of 5

Hi everybody,

Yesterday we talked about the motivation of the young sales person opposed to the…well, the experienced sales person.

Tonight we are going to focus on the responsibility and reliability of the two groups. Without a doubt the older experienced salesperson usually exhibits much more responsibility and reliability characteristics. Because most of these people have families or have had families they have definitely realized the importance of responsibility. I have found that the older professional salesperson is also more reliable. Having trained both groups recently on almost on a daily basis, the difference is staggering.

The experienced sales person realizes it is up to him. You know the old saying, “If it’s going to be, it’s up to me”! On the other hand the young sales person can really fool you. There are some that at the beginning will display incredible responsibility and reliability! Not so fast! It is just when you can’t believe what you are seeing when the truth rears it’s ugly head. The young person comes down off the ether of having their first real job and realizes the price one must pay to succeed. Then the cracks begin to show through.

There is an old saying, by the way I have a lot of old sayings because i’m OLD! 1st you get negative then you get sick and then you die. I think that fits the description of the young salesperson. 1st they start getting negative about how much responsibility and reliability it takes to make it, then they get sick and then you never see them again. I have literally trained thousands of young sales persons and quite frankly it takes an incredible motivator to keep them on point. Again, there are exceptions in both cases.

Also, experienced sales persons are very aware that in our great profession there are good times as well as not so good times. The young person completely loses it, especially if they start off fast and then hit the bump in the road. Very few in the big picture ever recover, instead leaving this profession to find something else. I have been very blessed in finding the exceptions in both groups. What I think both groups need to realize is that you do not PAY the price for success. You PAY the price for failure because that you get to live with for the rest of your life! Working with both groups has not only been educational but extremely rewarding. As always I give you the facts and let you decide.

I have been mentioning to my loyal readers about the new web site. It is very exciting and you will love how user friendly it will be. From the feedback I can tell you will love the ability to join in on the teleseminars and of course you gotta be the first in your area to get your “Specialist” gear.

Tomorrow in part 4 of the series we are going to talk about the ability to learn new stuff when it pertains to different age groups. Have a nice night.

“The Specialist”

Age Factors in Sales/Management Training – Part 2 of 5

Hi everybody,

Yesterday we talked about the wonder of youth and the experiences of age. Tonight we are going to elaborate a little more dwelling on the motivation factors of these two wonderful groups of sales professionals.

“The Specialist” has found that the reason that a young person wants in on the sales profession is quite different than his or her older counter part. The young person is a great deal of the time looking for validation that he or she cannot find in routine jobs. They love the excitement, the contests, the fun but most of all they like the actual part of being part of a team that is motivated to be all for one…almost like belonging to a club if you will. The idea of the big money that lures many into sales is not a major factor to the young person and I am not sure that they believe it anyway. They want their job to be fun and they love the excitement of possibly winning trips and awards that give their life validation.

On the other hand the older sales professional is almost 100% money motivated. They have been to the dance. They think they have seen it all. They just want to get paid and work for a company that is not going out of business, steal from them, change the deal or short change their check.

Now, to both scenarios there are exceptions. Without changing the subject, the ultimate trainer’s dream is to run into the older salesperson that is motivated by the young person’s motivation and their own! If you think logically, you can see why the young person is the way they are and the older salesperson the way they are. Most young people really do not have overwhelming overhead and can make ends meet with very little income. The older person probably has a giant nut and HAS to make a certain amount of money just to keep the family going.

Boy was it great to be young! I understand both situations and both motivations but as usual you the reader will have the final say. I can’t wait to hear your opinions.

By the way don’t forget, the new web site will be unveiled soon, so be ready to get your “Specialist gear. It’s the best “Specialist” gear out there. I also cannot wait to hear from you on our new tele-seminars. Talk to you tomorrow.

“The Specialist”

Age Factors in Sales/Management Training – Part 1 of 5

Hello everybody,

Tonight’s post is so in-depth I had to make my 1st 5-part series. The subject is on the difference, obstacles and advantages of training for sales and management within different age groups. Tonight I will take on the obvious one. As I go through this series I will leave it up to my kind readers as to which you think is more advantageous. I have and still on a daily basis have been blessed with the opportunity to train both the very young and the…we’ll call them experienced sales persons.

One of the most obvious is the young, open mind opposed to the experienced person that has predetermined ideas. I have found that there is an upside to both! It is definitely true that the young salesperson has an open mind that is readily cultivated and eager to learn, while the experienced person coming in with a predetermined notion has to be shown that that the person doing the training not only is his or her equal but also somehow has more knowledge than them. Not easy to pull off unless you really are better and have a lot to offer.

While the young mind is easy to impress it is incumbent upon the trainer to teach the young salesperson the right way with integrity or you could ruin him or her forever.

Unfortunately, the experienced person usually has an “I know everything” attitude and you have to break through that before the learning process can begin. If you can break through, the training is a lot less tedious because they usually have a lot of the basic skills, even some advanced skills. They also bring the baggage of some bad habits. With the young person, even though their mind is open, you are literally starting with a blank canvas. There is a lot to teach!

I find enjoyment from training both but as usual I will let you the reader when the series is concluded make your own judgement.

“The Specialist”

The WORST Small Talk Story

Hi everybody,

I had to share this with you.

Before I do that I want everyone of my loyal readers to be on the lookout for Major changes in the site in the next two weeks. Not only have we made the site more user- friendly but we will now, by popular demand, offer services like tele-conferencing, personal coaching, and available speaking engagements for your Companies or special clubs or groups.

What I really like the most is the new “The Specialist” GEAR! Mugs, t-shirts, hoodies, bumper stickers as well as ball caps. Be on the lookout for the changes. Now back to the post for tonight.

I had to share this with you. We have talked about small talk before. We have even gone into the purpose of it and certain techniques that make it most effective. Well, recently a young man was having trouble with his small talk. He just couldn’t break the ice with the families. He was a door to door salesman. Having crossed paths a couple of years ago this young man had no problem asking “The Specialist” for some help.

At first I thought he just wanted some advice, instead he asked if I would accompany him in the field and observe him in the field and see what I thought he was doing wrong. No problem for “The Specialist”. In fact I thought it was my duty. I never could have expected what I saw! You know how I tell you to kinda look around the business or home and find something you know something about that you would feel comfortable talking about or at least giving a sincere nice compliment about something you saw. Well this is the WORST small talk story of all time.

We were knocking on doors in this apartment complex when we approached this door that was wide open and almost completely melted! As we glanced inside the apartment everything was charcoal burnt from an apparent fire. There was NOTHING left in the place that wasn’t burnt to a crisp. It was horrible. The only thing left standing was a partially melted floor lamp with the shade hanging on the side by one or two threads and completely charcoal black from the apparent fire. I started to leave and the young salesperson knocked on the door. I was already ready to leave when a haggard worn out horribly depressed man came to the door and said come in.

Kind readers, what came out of this young sales persons mouth I will probably never forget! He walks in and introduces us and then glances around the ruins of this man’s house and says and I quote…WOW, I love your lamp! I almost fell to the floor. The poor man had nothing left but a melted floor lamp and the lamp shade holding on by a thread and that’s what he said! I apologized and took the young man outside. Not only had he forgot one of the most important of the 8 Basics…SINCERITY, but he didn’t have an ounce of compassion in him and at least ask the man if everyone was okay and was there anything he could do. I was blown away! I asked this young man what was he thinking? His reply was that he was taught to always find something in the home to compliment the customer on. A melted floor lamp? And he was wondering why he was having trouble in his small talk? I thought I had seen everything!

No matter what you learn in sales you MUST apply some common sense! I guess the moral of this post is that no matter how good you are in sales you will never be great until you incorporate SINCERITY into your profession! I just had to share this story with you.

“The Specialist”

Become the Complete Package in Sales

Hi everybody,

I often see sales professionals perplexed as to why they just don’t seem to posses the “Complete Package” as a salesperson. The truth is that when we all first start out our enthusiasm is at an all time high. I mean, come on, we have a new opportunity with an unlimited future, it’s a no-brainer.

The problem is to achieve our goals we find that we are just a tad short in the product knowledge area. What happens during the course of our career is that, as our product knowledge grows, our enthusiasm starts to shrink. If you did a graph you could almost see one’s knowledge going up like an elevator while our enthusiasm is going down. The shame of it all is no one has informed the salesperson that in order to become “The Perfect Weapon” one must maintain his or her enthusiasm just like a new person and let the knowledge catch up to the level of the enthusiasm. Then and only then are you the “Complete Package”!!

It is ironic how often I see sales persons that have an abundance of enthusiasm only to lack product knowledge, and see another salesperson with tremendous product knowledge only to fall way short in the enthusiasm category. The veteran sales person that is operating with a 100 percent product knowledge and no enthusiasm is really only operating at 50 percent capacity.

The way I managed to reach and maintain a peak with both was to give back to the industry by helping others. Yes, by passing my knowledge on to others it not only kept me young but because I was always working with young people eager to learn it helped me maintain my enthusiasm, even more so when I heard from someone or saw the look on their young faces when something I showed them worked as planned. The enthusiasm the young persons injected in me because they were so excited about their accomplishment was definitely contagious. It didn’t take me long to realize there was a lot of benefits from helping others.

Rate yourself…draw two straight lines on a piece of paper from north to south and label one enthusiasm and one product knowledge. See where you stand. I guarantee you will see your product knowledge coming up to your enthusiasm level and your enthusiasm level going to meet your knowledge level. I have given you not only the formula to find out where you stand but also the answer to how you get your enthusiasm at the top where it belongs.

Let the product knowledge chase the enthusiasm. I guarantee it will be worth the wait!

“The Specialist”

Neat Appearance in Sales and Management

Hi everybody,

I am really jacked up today. I gave a great training class today. I will share that with you in another post.

Today I want to share with you one of the 8 Basics of Success…Neat Appearance!

You probably all have heard your mom or someone tell you that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. Well that’s true, but they left out a key part. That is that most people won’t pick up the book if it doesn’t have an attractive cover. You need to present a neat appearance where ever you go regardless of what you are doing. There is always someone watching you. For the sake of this post I have sat in many malls and watched the crowds go by and always the people that stand out are the ones with the neatest appearance.

You see if you stand out people will notice you…If people are noticing you among the thousands in the crowd you never know when an opportunity will come your way that will enhance your life. How many times have you left your house just to run up to 7/11 or something and you’re hoping no one sees you? Well, we all know what happens. Of course, the one person you never wanted to see you in that condition pops up out of nowhere!

I always try and present a neat appearance. But neat appearance plays a much deeper role in sales and management. You would be amazed the young and seasoned alleged “sales professionals” I run into that are at work and their fingernails are dirty. Their clothes aren’t pressed, or worst yet they have some kind of body odor. The funny thing is that in your social life you wouldn’t think of meeting the opposite sex without taking care of all these things, yet in our professional life someone actually has to educate you about the very same things. It has gotten to the point that even people interviewing for jobs look like they just got out of bed! The law requires that you let them fill out an application…you do not have to grant an interview or even begin to hire them.

This next sentence will not win me a lot of friends, but those of you that have been my loyal readers know I show no bias. If you are completely out of shape to the point of obesity and it is not induced by medical reasons all you are demonstrating to your employer or employees is that you can’t take care of yourself. If you cannot take care of yourself how are they supposed to believe you can take care of them or their customers?

Remember what I said in my earlier post, the difference between a successful person and one that is not, is the successful person is prepared when opportunity knocks. Try this one day. Go to your neighborhood mall and stand on the second level and just watch all the people go by…remember, this is one mall out of thousands in the country, not to mention thousands of other places where large crowds gather. Think about it …no one would even know you were there and nothing would stop if you were gone. You must do everything to gain the edge so you can be noticed and get more opportunities in life.

Neat Appearance will make you stand out in a crowd. I cannot tell you how many people I have seen miss opportunity after opportunity simply because thy did not possess the easiest of the 8 Basics of Success “NEAT APPEARANCE”

“The Specialist”

Ethics and Morals in Management

Hi everybody,

What a beautiful day today. I have a couple of interesting things to go over tonight. One is actually a question I omitted from Open Forum on Saturday.

The poor person asked me for help because he or she had been working 6 days a week 8 to 10 hours a day for 2 months and had only gotten ONE sale!! This directly relates to Ethics and Morals in Management!

Before I go there, in regards to helping this person I need a lot more information, like what are you selling? Where are you selling? How much is the product you are selling? I believe I can…I take that back. I GUARANTEE I can change your fortune IF I get a chance to speak with you.

Now lets get to the Ethics and Moral issues. First off I don’t want to crush anyone, having said that I find it inexcusable that any management team would allow any sales person to work for two months without making it happen for them!! It is IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to go two months with one sale if there is any kind of decent training program! I personally have trained heroin addicts, people with speach impediments just to mention a couple, and they have all had much better results! Keep in mind, I am taking you at your word in regards to your work habits.

If you WERE the one in a million person that just cannot do this type of work…by the way I have never met one of those kinds of people in 40 years. Your employer at the least had the Ethical and Moral obligation to talk to you about career choices! In other words before you physically and financially starve to death it was your employer’s obligation to tell you that perhaps the position was not for you. I personally would never agree with that assessment. Anyone and everyone can be trained to become a sales professional. Now whether or not one chooses to pursue that line of work is strictly up to the individual. Remember, anything the mind can conceive and believe, IT CAN ACHIEVE!! You must surround yourself with the right situation. Putting yourself where the training program is equal, if not better than your effort. Please contact me, I will be glad to help.

On to the next subject. Never mind, let’s leave the next subject for tomorrow. I think I will be much more open and my mind will be clear once I have at least heard from this person and am able to help. Thanks.

“The Specialist”

Open Forum… Questions and Answers

Hi everybody,

It is question and answer day and N-Lo had a sad question that I would like to address.

N-Lo states that the company she works with is shutting down her store and has offered her an opportunity to relocate, which she is unable to take advantage of.

Well N-Lo you have been responding on this blog for a long time and you certainly asked some great questions over this period. Unfortunately there is really nothing you can do with the company you are with since you can’t relocate. If I were you I would be very flattered that they thought highly enough about you to make this offer. I am sure your teammates did not receive the same invitation. You should use this powerful fact as a springboard for your future endeavors. My gosh when your next employer finds out that your previous employer thought that highly of you it will most certainly increase your market value.

I would also take every thing they taught you and apply them with great enthusiasm at your next job. I am glad to hear that you are going to continue to read the blog and as always I want to keep up with your progress. Remember when one door shuts another one opens. The only difference between a successful person and one that is not is the successful person is ready when opportunity knocks! That’s all for tonight everybody.

“The Specialist”