Aug 7 2007 6:58AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (1) |
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Every once in a while you run across a situation that causes you to step back and say, “I just don’t get it.”  Well, guess what?  I just had one of those situations.  And it just didn’t make sense.

To tell you the truth … it doesn’t happen often … but it always happens with the same sort of people. You know what I mean, the type of people that … if you owned the company … you’d never hire.  Here’s my story.

I was on-site working with associates on some advanced selling strategies.  The main focus was matching their selling process to their customers shopping agenda.  More specifically, we were working on some new techniques that produce instant rapport.  Here’s where it starts to get interesting.

I had an associate tell me that they didn’t need any help.  I was shocked.   “Why not”, I asked.  Which produced an answer that didn’t make any sense, “I’ve been in the business twenty years.  I know exactly what I need to do.”  

Amazing, I thought.  Here’s a person that’s ranked in the bottom half of their sales team … telling me they can’t get better.  But on the other hand, the best sales people on their team were “soaking” things up.  And no matter how much I gave them, the more they said, “This is cool, tell me more.” 

All of this really got me thinking.  And after a while, everything fit.  As I thought back to all of the different presentations, workshops and clinics I’ve done in the past … one thing always stood out:

The best sales associates always wanted to learn more.  And the sales people near the bottom didn’t.

Sound familiar?  I don’t know, you’ll have  to be the judge.  But it might be worth a quick look at your recruiting and interview procedures.  I’ll guarantee it’ll make a difference.