Ryan’s Journal: Live From New York
by Ryan Pew
I was in New York this week to visit some clients, but also to conduct some formal sales training.
The client visits are always great because you get to uncover new insights and align with the common goals to achieve desired outcomes.
The same could probably be said of the training as well. You learn, ingest, and hope you improve to a desired outcome. Throughout the week, though, I was struck by the similarities between client visits and training.
The training we conducted was based on the challenger sales concept. Within that book the writers uncover certain traits that enable some sales reps to achieve greater results.
The key takeaway is to understand your client and be in a position to teach them rather than approaching them with a lot of questions. That’s a simplistic view, but even at that level it is a cultural shift for the company.
Sales reps are used to arriving, asking a bunch of questions and hoping some stick with the client. The usual result is a lot of wasted time for the client and lost revenue for the company.
Instead we need to approach it as a consultant who understands a broad set of issues affecting the industry in question and is able to deliver insights. This doesn’t happen overnight and it requires the whole organization to commit to the results.
What I learned through this process was the fact that you cannot just say you provide value. You must demonstrate and deliver it. The same can be said about life as with clients. You lose whenever you cannot be an asset to the organization.
Imagine if we showed up to life like that everyday? We would be crushing it regardless of what our job was. We would ensure success for ourselves, our family and friends.
I realize this week it seems to be a recap, but it’s been busy and there are a lot of moving parts. However I can fully appreciate the fact that with a little preparation we can make our lives easier.
Image credit: Connie
