What's Your NBT as a Sales Athlete?

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Fri, May 16, 2014

sales training Perhaps you're a weekend athlete and chase the little white ball around on Saturdays. Maybe, you're on the other end of the spectrum like my friend, John Sohikian, back on the bike clocking 30 miles runs just two weeks after major surgery. James Geshwiler, one of the two Managing Directors of Common Angels, is out rowing on the Charles most mornings in every possible weather condition, including a little ice now and then.  Me?  I'm somewhere north of the center, in the gym promptly every weekday morning at 5, thinking through the day and typically counting the minutes until breakfast.
 

We push ourselves because we do.  We say that it's for our health, and that's a large part of it, but, it's really for our head since exercise-at whatever level-is part of our own definition as personas. As much as we love the physical activity, we also just like to do it. We love to talk about exercise.  Increasingly, we measure and track it on smart connected devices. We blog and post our exercise routines when we achieve a new goal or, and share stories with our fellow tribe members at the gym, on the slopes and on the courts.  Exercise often becomes a piece of who we are, and we often find ourselves searching for The Next Big Thing in our exercise routines:

  • What could take me to the next level? 
  • What's the next program I could run? 
  • Should I get an instructor? 
  • Should I join that spinning or yoga group?
  • What about the Marathon or a Tough Mudder next year?
All very good activities to do, and, oh-by-the-way, great for both your physical and mental health.

So, what are you planning as The Next Big Thing to up your sales performance?

  • With summer coming, what's the one sales book you'll finish?
  • What's the one sales skill you will really push to improve by 9/1?
  • Is it...Negotiating?  Cold calling?  ROI analysis?  Presenting? Closing?
  • What are the sales tools you'll use to make your training easier?
  • Have you thought about a coach?  What about you coaching someone?

...and a long list of other questions.   

If I were to push you for a personal training plan to run five more miles a week, or lose 10 pounds by Labor Day or lower your cholesterol by x points, you'd have a definitive training plan.  You may or may not actually accomplish it, but, I know that you would absolutely create a formal activity plan for yourself.

sales skills training

 

So, tell the rest of us, in the Comments below, about your activity plan to up your own performance or your team's as a whole? 

-What have you found to be most useful?
-What programs have been most effective?
-What have you used for coaching skills?
-What about the really hard stuff like sales leadership training?

 

Have a great weekend!

Keep Selling!  Keep Running! Keep Pushing! Keep Learning! Never Give Up! 

Jack Derby 

Head Coach  

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Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, Sales Management Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales culture