Pre-2008 Sales Training – Is It Applicable?

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Recently I came across a discussion elsewhere titled, "Pre-2008 Sales Training – Is It Applicable?" where the discussion starter warned...

Quote:

"Think carefully before consuming and digesting any sales training materials produced before 2008."

... and provided a link to his blog where in response to a list of recommended reading he had found on another sales blog wrote:

Quote:

"The author of that sales tips post included a list of recommended reading for sales professionals. The suggested materials are written by well-respected authors. The problem is that these resources were written in the 70’s and 80’s. Extremely relevant 20 to 30 years ago. But not today."

What do you think? Are there resources produced before 2008 that are still relevant? -Community Mailbox

Re: Pre-2008 Sales Training – Is It Applicable? #2

I have seen those posts and others like it. Typically the target of those types of posts is "Traditional Sales Training". The difference in this case is the author marked a line in the sand at the year 2008.

See... Traditional Sales Training and Professional Selling

Quote:

In conclusion… the fundamentals of selling have not changed in recent times and traditional sales training offers those engaged in professional selling long standing sales practices that have withstood the test of time. If your own sales practice is not providing you with the outcome you desire then it might be time to look further into traditional sales training and the fundamentals of selling.

-Jeff Blackwell

Re: Pre-2008 Sales Training – Is It Applicable? #3

Quote:

Recently I came across a discussion elsewhere titled, "Pre-2008 Sales Training – Is It Applicable?" where the discussion starter warned...
... and provided a link to his blog where in response to a list of recommended reading he had found on another sales blog wrote:What do you think? Are there resources produced before 2008 that are still relevant?

ABSOLUTELY!!"

With regard to this statement: 'Think carefully before consuming and digesting any sales training materials produced before 2008."

That applies to everything you read. -Gary A Boye

Re: Pre-2008 Sales Training – Is It Applicable? #4

Sales cannot continue to resolve twenty-first century situations in the business world using last-century tips and tricks. Tomorrow’s sales challenges cannot be met using last-century’s understandings and strategies. Those skills and information are not wrong; they are simply incomplete for today’s market.

Learn how to use traditional stuff and then once you are confident that you know what you are doing, move into new stuff, including Sales 2.0. -AlenMajer

Re: Pre-2008 Sales Training – Is It Applicable? #5

Hello Alen. What does "Sales 2.0" mean to you? -Jeff Blackwell

Re: Pre-2008 Sales Training – Is It Applicable? #6

I am glad that you asked - Sales 2.0 is about aligning and combining the Web 2.0 technologies with the sales processes to have more effective customer communications and to increase productivity and effectiveness.

Sales 2.0 will help you sell more at a lower cost. And that is all that counts in sales. Sales 2.0 combines the science of selling with the art of selling.

We can start a new topic about that where I could talk about it in more details, I don't want to monopolize this topic. -AlenMajer

Re: Pre-2008 Sales Training – Is It Applicable? #7

Hello Alen. A new thread titled, "Sales 2.0 Defined" has been started.

In my opinion "Selling" and "Sales 2.0" are often misunderstood by the public, sales trainers and/or sales authors.

It is quite possible that the individual who was quoted as writing, "Think carefully before consuming and digesting any sales training materials produced before 2008" misunderstands "Selling" and "Sales 2.0" leading him to post what he posted. -Jeff Blackwell

Re: Pre-2008 Sales Training – Is It Applicable? #8

Great Jeff, thank you! -AlenMajer

Re: Pre-2008 Sales Training – Is It Applicable? #9

Alen

Great answer - it is not so much about everything before 2008 being totally wrong. Somethings are probably not so wise (e.g. an overemphasis on tricky closing tchniques); some are a little out of focus (e.g. the over emphasis in questioning models on situaion type questions since alot of that information can and must be found on the web) and most importantly as you noted, it is "incomplete."

Another angle on this question is to examine it not from a shift in content perspecive but a pricing model one. Due to today's challenging economics the notion of training partners using the traditional per head pricing model is increasingly out of touch with the pressures and priorities of clients. -richard ruff