Techniques and tactics as well. If you have a question about virtually any aspect of selling, a simple Google search will reveal a bounty of answers and, frankly, most of them will be quite good. That’s not to say that you won’t discover a variety of totally dissenting opinions and … therein lies the rub.
I happen to be cursed with a boundless thirst for new knowledge. I am also known to rat hole much of this away in various cloud and desktop folders as well as neatly categorized labels in my inbox. Occasionally, occasionally, I have a need for some article or eBook and occasionally, occasionally, I am able to find the document in question. How many will I act on? Too few. My bad.
God only knows how much time and energy I devote daily to these tasks but, I am also semi-retired and I have the time to do so. Beats working but, if you are a full-time sales professional, you need to be in front of your customers vs. being constantly on the search for the next BBD (bigger, better, deal).
Your focus needs to be on selling and not on reading. Still, this statement in itself flawed and short-sighted. If you want to read up, good on you and you can do so during non-selling hours (evenings, early mornings, weekends, whatever applies). The consummate salesperson always makes self-improvement a priority.
We have already answered the “when” question. What remains is … “what”. For example, if I want to improve my emailing results, I’m going to query that task on Google. If I do this while looking in the mirror, I will be able to watch my eyes physically glaze over while drool drips from each side of my mouth. So many results and so little time.
Earlier I stated that there are ton of very good, yet dissenting opinions, on every topic. Is it possible for two ideas to be quite different yet equally good? I think so. I also think that, if I am researching a specific sales technique, I am probably not very good at that particular aspect of selling and therefore … anything will probably make me better than what I am now.
While I may be a sucker for research, I am also pragmatic and I will choose to do something even if it is not necessarily the best solution. Why? Because I simply do not have the time, or the chops, to properly research, test, and vet every possible answer to every recognized challenge. I need to put something into action … now … and then carefully evaluate the results.
One of the ways that I use to limit my search is through filtering. I have maybe a dozen or so proven resources who, I believe, have consistently been proven to disseminate quality stuff. Of those, I probably have my top six or seven.
All of these resources have been added to my Feedly reader and I scan new articles and resources, from these select resources, as they are published. If need to do a search, I will append that search with my resource names and/or then look for them specifically in any results.
Since I am a giving kind of guy … here are a few to get started …
Now we have another issue. I do not have a very long attention span and my patience is even shorter. While we want to get this train moving, we also don’t necessarily want to jump on the first solution that presents itself. Therefore, without getting stuck in the weeds, take some time to research ideas and products before jumping in with both feet and then … you must jump in with both feet and give your chosen solution an opportunity to bear some fruit.
If you are impatient, this will be your biggest challenge but, if you don’t do it right … everything that you have done before will be for naught. A complete waste of time and effort and something none of us can afford to do. Your thoughts?
Craig M. Jamieson
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