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A lack of consensus exists as to when the foundation for present day Sales Training was established. One date around which several practitioners have rallied is October 1936 when Dale Carnegie initially publicized How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Since then Dale Carnegie sold 15 million copies and a lot of people have spent lots of time building the content and methodology of present day Sales Training. The good news is the Sales Training circa 2011 carries little similarity to the versions of twenty five years ago when product pitches ruled the land and closing tricks such as the trial close and the puppy dog close were the sophisticated skills of the period.

Yet time also provides a chance for the development of perceptions. Today, in the case of sales training most of the perceptions are harmless. However, three often heard troublesome misconceptions are:

1. "We just did it a couple of years ago hence it's not time to do that again." The need for sales training is actually driven by changes in the market not the elapsed time since the previous program. As companies proceed into new markets, launch new products, deal with global rivals, and cope with ever changing demands within customer organizations, sales people need help to change and adapt their skills to the new reality.

Sales training needs to help and it has to give that help now instead of later. Possible negative consequences of postponement range from decreased revenue to lost accounts to the departure of top performers.

2. "Which program we do doesn't matter that much. All fundamentally are the same. What really counts is what we do after the program." This perception continues because it is a half-truth. What you do after the program when it comes to reinforcement, such as sales coaching, is really essential. For that matter, the leadership and communication that occurs before the program also significantly impacts success.

But which program you choose does matter. The good news is considerable innovation has took place over the past 10 years so the number of sales training options have increased greatly. Today's sales training is not the "same old - same old." Programs differ widely as to sales best practices, level of customization, and learning methodology. You can make a difference but you have to know there is a difference.

3. "Given all our funds priorities we believed it best to postpone it until next year." Given the economic uncertainties of the last couple of years, sales training has frequently been postponed. In some cases real budget issues existed; therefore, postponement was a necessity. On the other hand, in many cases the "we will do it later" notion is based on certain variation of - "it costs too much". The "it cost too much" idea qualifies as a perception because it is one of those compared-to-what propositions.

If you believe that sales training works, and it shouldn't be considered unless you think it does, then most sales training is a bargain when compared to the improved probability of - closing more business, closing better business, or closer business sooner. This perception continues since it's easy to compute the money saved if you don't do the training - it's difficult to calculate the money gained if you do.

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