
What would a Sales 101 course look like? - blewis
http://www.onesock.net/2010/01/18/what-would-a-sales-101-course-look-like/
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glen
There is a actually a fair amount to learn. We went through an incubator
program at William and Mary and learned a ton about identifying FABs
(Features, Advantages, Benefits), crafting language to appeal to decision
makers (i.e., showing them how your product solves their specific problems),
segmenting markets, using your resources narrowly -- rather than trying to do
too much, b2b sales etc.

We are going to roll out www.nixty.com in beta mode in couple of weeks. I'll
try to populate the system w/a course on sales from MITs Sloan School of
Business. You can go there directly too. Our version will just be a bit more
accessible.

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ericb
I'd be more interested if this blog was offering to teach sales 101 rather
than just asking what should be in it. Anyone know where to find something
like that online?

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mixmax
Learning to sell is just like learning to program. You learn by getting your
hands dirty, not by reading a book.

The absolutely best way to learn sales is to get a job cold-calling people
trying to sell them newspapers or something. You'll learn more from the people
you work with than you'll ever learn in university or anywhere else. After a
few weeks you'll pick up peoples intonation, mood and other subtle cues and
you'll be able to tell within 30 seconds whether the guy at the other end of
the phone will end up buying. When you've learnt to cold-call people and sell
to them everything else is easy.

~~~
daniel-cussen
I did exactly this for a while in college, for this exact reason. At one point
I was getting hung up on seven, eight times a shift.

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flybrand
There are lots of one day training classes that are pretty effective taught by
Miller Heiman, Huthwaite, etc.

I took one in grad school, the professor's background is a huge contributing
factor. Fortunately ours was pretty good and certainly experienced in selling
and sales instruction;

[http://www.kenan-
flagler.unc.edu/Faculty/search/detail.cfm?p...](http://www.kenan-
flagler.unc.edu/Faculty/search/detail.cfm?person_id=721)

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blewis
Certainly working as a sales person is the best way of learning the skills of
selling. However, the points I was trying to make was that: a. Business
Students completing degrees at Australian Universities will never be exposed
to Sales - despite the fact its the most important thing they can learn in a
commercial career. c. There is a lot about sales that is theory based and that
you won't learn on the job (customer psychology, legal frameworks for transfer
of title, designing a products revenue model etc.)

I think the argument for including Sales 101 into commerce degrees is strong.

Brendan www.onesock.net

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mattmcknight
I'd spend more time on week 3- including practice. That would make a lot more
sense than the focus on ephemera. Much of the other stuff is going to vary by
industry.

There are many different sales methods out there. You can get trained in the
carnegie method, for example.
[http://www.dalecarnegie.com/search_courses/course_desc.jsp?c...](http://www.dalecarnegie.com/search_courses/course_desc.jsp?cCode=SLS&state=VA&moduleFlag=Y#modules)

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coffeemug
I've never done it (it's on my list of things to do), but I'm guessing that a
summer job at a used car dealership will teach you everything there is to know
about sales.

~~~
Psyonic
so tricks taught at used car dealerships are the height of sales? I don't
doubt you'd learn a lot, but if that's the best you can do, sales might
deserve its reputation.

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etherael
Sales is the engine that pulls a business along not production.

This sentence really sticks in my craw. You can produce and not sell, the
results may not be as good as doing both in concert, but without production,
you can't sell. What's with this constant reverence for sales?

Don't get me wrong, I'd actually like to learn more about sales, and I think
approaching it scientifically / rationally is a good idea, I just don't grok
this whole concept of sales uber alles.

