Having said that, what are your thoughts around the sales professional who does pursue the 300 and 400 level knowledge and routinely executes the higher level concepts, NLP, body language, persuasion techniques and such, into their game.

Knowledge isn’t power . . . it’s potential power until we do something with it!

@ Florinda Colacio: It aint easy when you invest your time and money only to get some repackaged sermon you heard before. I’ve been in that scenario myself. That’s where the question comes in (am I doing it) Now if the answer is a resounding “YES” then my next question needs to be . . . how can I do it better? Easier said than done at times, but something all of us (certainly Uncle Paul) needs to do.

@ Don “The Dawg” Perkins: That would make an awesome topic and part of the answer to that is in our own fear and our own laziness. It’s just easier and safer to label things as “101″ than doing them and God forbid we should fall on our face and fail. I read an interesting study from Dr Piers Steele on procrastination where they found (as if this is a shock) that at the root of procrastination is a fear that we can’t do the task, so we avoid it.

There might be an interesting tie in with the “101ness” in there somewhere.

@ Diane Sheldon – Ku : I first learned this lesson many years ago as a guitar student. I thought I knew it all (certainly the basics) After putting me in my place (by showing me that I in fact Did NOT know the basics properly ) my teacher taught me something that has served me well in business. He said “You need to really understand the rules (basics) to the point of mastery. Once you master them, you get to break them and rewrite them” How true when we really think about it!

Thank you all for your contributions, kind words and simply . . . for reading!

With respect and appreciation,
Paul Castain

I like your style yo. I think about this concept a lot. I get bombarded with messages every day from people who want to share with me the “secret to success in social media,” or “how to make a gazillion dollars overnight without ever leaving the comfort of my easy chair.” Evidently the market for snake oil is running strong despite a limping economy. Does PT Barnum have a blog?

For most of us however, as you have pointed out, the key to success will be to work hard, work smart and prioritize our time around common sense principles proven to provide substantial returns.

I’m very grateful for the priceless nuggets you share with us on Sales Play Book every week. Nonetheless, having the right information does not always solve the problem – which seems to be your second point: Many know what they should be doing, but somehow don’t end up doing these things most of the time!

Why is it that we so often know right well what to do, and yet we don’t do it? Hmmm.. perhaps this would make a good topic for another Sales Play Book think piece. Feel free to mention that it was my idea..

Love ya, mean it ;0

Don F Perkins

Too often I felt cheated while attending paid seminars on how to improve my sales techniques, overcome objections etc… just to find out I already knew what to do. Those terrific tips are nothing else than “Common Sense”. The point lies in the question: “Am I really doing it?” It is always good to have someone reminding us not to give up on “common sense” especially during this challenging economy. So I should not give up on “common sense”, perseverance is essential.
Thanks again,

Florinda

Thanks for a great message -

Donna

You guys have no idea how difficult it was to get that damn dog to stay still long enough for us to snap that picture

TGIF!

Paul