Join the Sales Mastery Mission and Make a Difference

By Mike Kunkle

When I was writing my own blog, Transforming Sales Results, I was fond of reminding readers that we must continue to “elevate the sales profession." When I learned about the Sales Education Foundation, I was intrigued to learn they used the same phrase. I think it's apropos and a worthy purpose. And if Dan Pink is right in Drive, purpose, autonomy and… you got it… mastery, are the building blocks of true intrinsic motivation.

I suppose that's why I get annoyed with those who drift through the sales profession, as well as those who do the same in our equally-worthy training and sales enablement profession. Either holds us back from achieving all that we can, which I partly wrote about recently in a post entitled Sales Transformation - No Guts, No Glory.  

This got me thinking again about sales mastery, and how we might rekindle the wavering masses, or further fuel the souls who already care about excelling in our profession, but can do more to help others along the path.

You can have everything in life you want if you will help enough other people get what they want.

~ Zig Ziglar ~ 

My first advice? Stop the "tips and tricks." Instead, start a Sales Mastery Mission.

My Personal Journey
I got into sales in late 1984, working for an entertainment company, after spending two years making a living as a musician. It was a tenuous time for me, leaving something I had such a passion for. After many years of lessons and four intense years of music school and endless hours in rehearsals and practice rooms, I finally had to come to grips with the fact that I was really good, but was not going to be really great. Exit, stage left. Enter the world of selling.

At first, I wasn't so good at selling. Fortunately, the business owner saw something in me and was good at training and coaching. I started on another journey over the next few years.

During that time, I read everything I could get my hands on about sales. I checked books out of local libraries, bought tape sets, and spent money I barely had on a Dale Carnegie course. I started to develop an interest in training and coaching, so I joined ASTD and ISPI to get the magazines, mostly, and subscribed to Gerhard’s “Personal Selling Power” magazine (the original name), and joined Toastmasters.

Practice, Practice, Practice

I also did something else I didn't see many others doing. As if I were still a musician, I practiced. I practiced asking questions, I practiced talking about my products, and I practiced resolving objections. I practiced in the mirror and I role played with others when they would tolerate it. I did a lot of inside sales (“phone sales,” in those days), and often called other reps in the company to practice over the phone.

Oh, but that wasn’t all. In my car, I talked along with my cassette tape sets to internalize them, I audio and video taped myself and reviewed them, I asked people I respected for advice. I learned to write scripts conversationally and rehearsed them. I write down every objection I heard and talked to top producers about how to resolve them, and mimicked what they did.

For those who can't imagine these horrendous prehistoric conditions, I did this without the internet, with cassette tapes, using VHS videos instead of digital camcorders and YouTube. I actually wrote things down on paper. (I may have done it by candlelight while avoiding Velociraptors, but I'll never admit it.)

So What?

What's my point?

It's honestly not to impress you with my story about how I walked through 6-foot deep snow drifts, back and forth from school daily, uphill both ways, wearing only a wind-breaker. Without shoes.

But it is this: how often do you see this behavior today? Are you driven toward mastery? Are you encouraging it in others? Just how committed are YOU to your personal mastery and inspiring others to take the journey with you?

Whether we hire for it, inspire it, reinforce it, gamify it, or set up the culture and systems so it can't be avoided, we need to foster the obsession drive toward mastery.

The good news is, the world has changed and doing it today is so much easier... videos can practically be recorded and posted on demand, mobile technology abounds, we have knowledge management, apps, performance support, excellent training, content all over the internet, and more. And, the information about how to succeed is all around us. If you’re a sales pro, hopefully, your company invests in the processes, methodologies, systems, and tools and supporting training and coaching to help you. But if not, what are YOU going to do to become a master? If you’re in sales training and development profession, what are YOU doing to build mastery systems?

We need to get behind a ubiquitous Sales Mastery Mission. This is the difference between just offering training and building a continuous learning environment and culture, focused on building sales competence and excellence. You know I’m a fan of aligned process, methodology and systems, so an organizational voyage toward mastery is more effective than just a personal journey, but no organizational efforts succeeds without the personal commitment. It starts with each of us. And, of course, if there is no organized company effort, make your own journey. But if your company is offering support, meet them halfway. Bouncing between sales tips and tricks is not a effective as getting everyone rowing in the same direction.

It’s Time. Challenge Yourself – Challenge Others
Some questions to consider:

• Why did you get into sales, sales leadership or the training and sales enablement profession?
• Do you need to recommit to mastery?

–      If yes, how will you do it and what will you do next?

–      If no, how can you further spread the word and involve and inspire others?

• How can you develop and encourage sales mastery at your company?
• How can you get involved in your community?
• How can you get involved with the Sales Education Foundation?
• What else can you do?
• How can those of us in the sales performance improvement industry better serve you, as you do all this?

This is a topic I’m passionate about and I would enjoy hearing your feedback, whether you agree or have another perspective. I’ll end with some related reading and a few resources that may help along your journey. Please feel free to share resources that you think might help others.

And by all means… please… let’s join forces in a Sales Mastery Mission. The future of our profession may depend on it.

Related Reading

• Sales Hits the Big Time at B-Schools
• The Future of Sales with Neil Rackham (video)
• Daniel Pink - Autonomy, Mastery & Purpose (video)
• Remembering Zig Ziglar: Keys to Sales Success

Resources

Associations

• ASTD Sales Enablement Community
• Sales Management Association

Publications

• Sales & Marketing Management
• Selling Power
• The Sales Journal
• Top Sales World

Independent Authority on Sales Training

• ES Research Group, Inc.

Vendor/Providers

• Alinean
• CallidusCloud
• Chally
• Revegy
• Sales Latitude
• SAVO

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