Professional Sales Training: What’s In Your Library?

Wes Schaeffer
February 21, 2017

In 1992 I graduated with a B.S. in Geography from USAFA.

In 1993 I graduated with a B.S. in Meteorology from Texas A&M.

In 2006 I became The Sales Whisperer®.

Aurgh?

Your Input Determines Your Output

While still on active duty in the Air Force, I was preparing for a career in sales.

I began reading

Zig Ziglar’s “Secrets of Closing the Sale”,
Tom Hopkins “How to Master the Art of Selling” (I was thrilled to have him on The Sales Podcast),
Tony Robbins (Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!),
Brian Tracey (The Psychology of Selling: Increase Your Sales Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible),
Jim Rohn (7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness: Power Ideas from America’s Foremost Business Philosopher).

Another 21% of ADULTS read below a 5th-grade level.

50% of adults can’t read a book written at an 8th-grade level. (That’s why you need to keep your writing simple.)

And more are coming because 19% of high school graduates can’t read!

28% of adults didn’t read a book in the last year.

I began listening to tapes and CDs in the early 90s, long before podcasts and blog posts existed.

I attended conferences where I could hear these people speak and meet them and meet other like-minded doers like myself, so I knew I wasn’t alone.

I treated—and treat—selling as a profession.

I treat EFFECTIVE inbound marketing as a profession.

As a professional sales trainer, I seek continuous professional sales training and marketing training.

I commiserate with other professional salespeople, entrepreneurs, business owners, and doers.

I read daily.

I implement daily.

I mastermind daily.

I attend conferences and workshops monthly.

All of that is done to stay sharp.

To find an edge, a nugget, a pearl, a tip that will help me get 1% better this week and every week.

Some weeks it doesn’t happen.

On other weeks I get 5% or even 10% better, and it’s life-changing.

I’ve been doing this since 1994, while I was still on active duty in the Air Force, and I haven’t stopped.

This brings me to the key question of this post:

If you were arrested for being in the profession of sales and marketing, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Market like you mean it. Now go sell something.