Terry Brock gives real-world, practical tips on how to generate revenue and increase productivity.
Here is something that I’ve discovered which can help you get more sales in today’s white-hot competitive world. It is something that seems simple, however, it is not easy. I’ve seen it in the lives of successful people from many walks of life.
I call it aggressive learning.
It is not just reading a book now and then. It is more than just listening to a nice feel-good audio.
It is aggressively embracing new skills. It is to stretch your brain to grasp new concepts that help you in the marketplace to serve customers.
Aggressive learning will be what sets you apart in sales. There are a lot of smart people you are competing with today. They have access to the same Google searches you do. They have access to the same YouTube learning videos you do. They have gone to similar schools, read similar magazines, and might even know some of the same people you do. However, by embracing aggressive learning, you can increase your sales.
Devotion to excellence
While they are resting, relaxing and taking it easy, you can read that extra book or even chapters in a book. You can listen to the extra podcast they didn’t. You might also attend that extra workshop where very successful business leaders share ideas and concepts to help you shave years off your learning curve.
Most people would agree that learning is important in sales. However, most are not willing to make the sacrifices to achieve success. They want to dabble at something rather than be devoted to excellence.
Be willing to pay the price. Be willing to part with your TME (Time, Money, Energy) to learn the sales skills you need.
Here are some steps that I’ve seen helping others and that have helped me in my own journey. I’d be very interested in hearing from you and getting your perspective on these:
Principle No. 1: Embrace relevance
You need to learn relevant, market-valuable information. Don’t just learn about tsetse flies from Ethiopia in the 15th century. There’s not a lot of market demand for that skill set!
Find what paying customers (those wonderful people!) are ready, willing and able to pay for, then become the master in your niche about that. Become THE go-to resource for something that people need to know about and use.
Principle No. 2: Embrace more than life-long learning
I think we need to continually learn and grow. We have to embrace new skills and techniques today as never before in history. You might have heard people talk about the concept of “life-long learning” (LLL) meaning that you should keep learning all your life. While I agree with that concept, I’ll see your LLL and raise it to DLL, day long learning. What do I mean by that? I mean to learn regularly throughout the day.
Zig Ziglar gave us some great advice to (I’m paraphrasing here), “When you’re sitting, read, and when you’ve moving, listen.”
In his day audio cassettes were very popular (remember those?). He would encourage people to listen in their cars as they made their daily commute or on long trips.
When you’re sitting, he recommended reading from good-quality literature that motivates you and helps you acquire new skills and mindsets to face the challenges of living. Zig’s advice is more relevant today than ever before.
Principle No. 3: Decisively and emphatically reject drivel
This is the hardest part of aggressive learning. It means you not only embrace the good material, but you also reject the drivel that gets in the way. Let me give you an example.
