Sales training courses How you can use negative feedback to create positive sales
I recall many years ago when I was asked by the company I worked with to attend a sales training course which was going to give me all the tools I needed to succeed.
The truth of the matter is that the training course did not give me all the tools needed in fact when I look back on it the sales training side of the course was quite poor. Never was I more certain of the old adage ‘those who can sell, do sell, and those who can’t sell train.
In saying all of that the course did change me and make me realise that if this is the standard I am competing against, there is no reason why I can’t create a career for myself in sales.
Up until that training course I have to say I was a little lazy, I found the job easy, I found selling easy but due to my laziness I didn’t really spend any time at the job. I used to work probably if I am honest 1 day a week and tell my manager I was out knocking on doors 5 days a week.
What I did not mention about that sales training course was that at the end of the 5 day course a report was sent back to my manager on my performance and the sales trainers thoughts on my future.
You have guessed it the report was not great, in fact the trainer had said I was in the wrong position and did not have what it takes to sell life insurance on a commission only basis. Now I am a little older and wiser I do wonder whether there may have been a bit of a personality clash between myself and the trainer.
I was called in to the managers’ office and he was not happy with me and he more or less also accused me of being in the wrong position (even though my sales results were not bad against my colleagues –particularly for 1 day a week).
The Problem was that I could not tell my manager my results were only for 1 day a week, how could I, as I had previously told him how hard I found it and all the hours I worked, the bad luck stories about the prospect that was meant to close this week but was sick when I called—you know the kind of stuff, sales managers are listening to the same tales every day of the week, it doesn’t change, generation after generation.
My manager told me I had 4 weeks to prove I could do the job-what would I do?
Decision time, here I was in a job where really I could choose my own hours write my own pay cheque and do the job with ease but I still had this lazy streak. But this time it was different I kept thinking back to that sales training course and the trainers comments about my ability and for some reason it gave me the motivation I had lacked. I needed to prove that idiot wrong.
I spent the next 2 years working 5 days a week instead of 1 day and yes you guessed it I did become very successful and eventually ended up as National Sales Manager managing 400 salespeople for the company whose sales trainer said I would not make it in sales.
It just goes to show you that if you can turn negative feedback into motivation you can achieve greater heights. The other thing that I often think of is that what appeared to be the worse sales training course I ever attended years ago probably produced a far greater result than I thought I or the sales trainer was ever capable of achieving.
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