Why we all need to get back to (the right type of) selling school

After all of my recent warnings about the need to step up your marketing activity.........

There is little point in following that advice if:

• Your treatment plans are boring and

• Your TCOs and/or clinicians don't know how to close a sale.

I was sharing with a client earlier this week the story that back in the early 1980's I was sent to "selling school" by my financial services based Employer.

I hated it.

It envisaged closing a sale as a kind of gladiatorial combat between the salesperson and the prospect - using smarmy and manipulative conversational techniques to either persuade or browbeat the victim into submission.

Rejecting that as a lifestyle, I searched for either an alternative methodology (or career!) and, thankfully, heard speakers at a sales conference who changed everything.

The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance

George Dudley and Shannon Lechter

Occupational psychologists who explained why professional people struggle with the "sales" word - and what to do about it.

And here it is still in print and at a bargain price on Amazon UK - CLICK HERE.

That was my game changer and it could be yours (that, and Ashley Latter I suppose).

Given the market conditions I've written about in the last week, we all of us need to get back to selling school (and closing school) - and refresh our skill set in this vital area.

If what you do for a living makes a positive difference in the world, you have a duty of care to get better at selling it.