This year I will diet, exercise, and give up clichés.

How often do we make the same resolutions? This year, consider switching it up and focusing on professional development. Your competition is. According to the American Society for Training & Development, the average training investment per employee is $1,195. The benchmark has been set. Just to keep up with your competitors you will need to invest at least $1,195 per employee.

“We don’t have time,” “Our people are experienced, they don’t need this,” and “We don’t have the budget.” These are typical objections for not training and developing your salespeople. Ironically, these are the same objections your salespeople hear every day.

Don’t you have time to become a more effective salesperson? What if your surgeon didn’t have time to learn a new life saving procedure?

Experienced athletes still practice every day, watch film, and train. Experienced accountants still need to develop their tax law acumen as it changes every year. What if they were too experienced to sit through this training? This notion that experienced salespeople don’t need training is false.

Budgeting is arbitrary and can be adjusted as needs arise. What need is greater than developing your most important asset, your people. Corporate America is finalizing their budgets for 2014. In order to keep up with your competition, add $1,195 per sales and service professional.

In my first sales job, I had the opportunity to spend a day with our top salesperson. Kevin had won President’s Club three out of the last five years. I was eager and ready to learn from the master.

Before we walked into our first appointment, Kevin looked at me and said, “Do me a favor. Observe the sales call and let me know how I can do better on the next one.”

I learned a valuable lesson that day. We can all get better, even if we’re already the best.

PS. Our next Sales and Service 101 public seminar is scheduled for February 11th and the investment is only $295 per participant (only ¼ of your budget per employee).

Click here, for more information! Call us at 636-537-3360 to register.

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