Have you upgraded your Android or iOS system lately? Portable, handheld, wireless communications devices are essential for how business is conducted and consummated in today’s globally competitive environment.
You can’t wait for the next upgrade to your system, can you? How many new and/or upgraded Apps have you downloaded in the past month (games excluded)?
How would you react to my suggestion of upgrading yourself as a Salesperson and Business Person of Worth?
I just got an eye roll from you. You mean you weren’t waiting for the next opportunity to upgrade your sales skills? Oh, I see. You were waiting for your company to provide this upgrade for you.
You tell me it’s up to your employer to provide additional skills-based training for you. You don’t want to pay for anything. You don’t want to spend any more time than you have to on selling.
Besides, you are so overworked making your numbers and keeping your CRM system up to date, that you are just plain exhausted by the end of each business day.
OK, you admit it. You feel you already know all that there is to know. Your company has the latest and greatest enablement system for the sales force. Your marcom stuff keeps you “competitive.” Your have an awesome arsenal of sales tools at your disposal.
You just pick and pull what you need. You don’t think. You use and re-use whatever’s recommended this month or whatever has worked for you in the past.
Besides, you tell me you are meeting your quota comfortably. You make a nice income. You have a decent customer base that is easy to sell to and doesn’t make a fuss at renewal. Your manager is not on your case this quarter.
In your eyes, there’s no need for improvement. Why upgrade your sales and business skills until you are forced to?
Because your competition is continuously upgrading theirs. While you are in comfy sales couch potato mode, your competitors are learning what it will take to grow and expand their business 18 months down the road.
Have I got your attention?
You are the ultimate Sales App. You aren’t an enabling technology. You are the living, breathing conduit of how selling is transacted in the marketplace.
Your iPhone or Android device isn’t going to consummate the sale for you. You are. Your tools of the trade only make your own sales efforts more portable or virtual.
The single distinguishing factor for sales, business, technical, engineering, financial, legal, economics and scientific thought leadership is that these individuals are constantly learning. They are curious about their surroundings.
Thought leaders constantly upgrade themselves. They are constantly reading, collaborating, discussing. They neither work, sell nor think in a vacuum.
It’s always time to upgrade yourself. What will you learn today? How will it improve your business outcomes?
Babette Ten Haken catalyzes businesses, startups and professionals who want to grow. Contact her at babette@babettetenhaken.com for relevant coaching and consulting programs to catalyze your business. This post first appeared in the October 14 edition of Top Sales World weekly magazine (free subscription) and is expanded and reprinted with this author’s permission.
Leave a Reply