1920-1945: The Era of Sales Process
The roaring 20's of selling....This era saw a shift occur within sales and sales training practices. Up until this era, the focus had been on helping salespeople identify and close one transaction at a time. Sales teams quickly realized that the approaches grounded in the previous era began to create some challenges. Sales teams were having trouble scaling their efforts to reach more people. Facilitating more transactions in a more methodological manner became the focus. Sales team members and trainers developed methods to train new sales representatives on repeatable sales processes. The sales processes become the foundation for effectively facilitating more transactions.
It was during this Era that many of the terms we use today were coined such as; canvassing, territory, quota, sales team, and sales process. Up until this time, most salespeople learned on the job, through self-directed methods of trial and error or by watching others. Sales managers began using printed tools such as books to teach their sales teams. Training was designed to help salespeople understand the product features and benefits, how to make an effective presentation, and how to close strong. Entire approaches to selling began to focus on the importance of flashy sales presentations and the art of overcoming objections. The importance of a positive mental attitude became a cornerstone of many training classes.
Are you in a roaring 20's sales organization? - Nobody can train salespeople better than the sales manager! - Are motivational talks given to salespeople repeatedly? - Is 75% (or more) of sales training content really product training? - Do sales managers believe all failures stem from a poor attitude or lack of motivation?
- Does your organization have the capacity for multiple transactions at a time? - Is your sales team focused on being "flashy"?
Brian Lambert is the Director of Sales Development and Performance at the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). In this role, he is responsible for meeting the unique challenges of performance professionals focused on the sales profession. He is responsible for conducting primary research and creating resources, articles, and other custom content that helps individuals design and deliver sales training, manage and develop high performing sales talent, and improve salesperson performance. Brian has fifteen years of experience in sales, sales management, sales training, and sales consulting and is an internationally recognized expert on the state of the sales profession as well as current trends in transforming sales team systems, processes, and people.
Brian is a highly sought after world-wide speaker, author, and trainer on sales competency, sales performance, sales process, sales professionalism, sales ethics, and sales process.
Find out about Brian at http://www.brianlambert.biz
Visit the sales competency project at http://www.astd.org/communities/salestraining
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