Product Knowledge

Some years ago, I decided that the secret of a successful sales career is based on a foundation of three fundamentals, activity, sales skills and product knowledge. As a sales trainer, coach and mentor, I firmly believe that all three elements are essential. Ignore any one of these three parts of your career puzzle and you won’t reach your potential.

I teach sales skills. I refer to my material as Sales Mechanics. You can learn how to sell. I can help. There are ways to approach selling. In very simple terms, there is a right way and a wrong way to behave as a sales professional. There are things that you should do and things you should not do to build a successful sales career (or business).

In the current edition of CRM Magazine, Marshall Lager points out that most professionals are referred to as practitioners. Why? They are practitioners because they are always practicing their professions. Like doctors, attorneys and accountants, sales professionals are on a journey that never ends. The business world is constantly moving. You have change with the times or get left behind.

I help people sharpen their sales skills. However, I do not have any control over their product knowledge or their level of sales activities. Product knowledge and sales activity are out of my control. These essentials are out of my control. I can only encourage everyone to become an expert at what they represent and to work hard and smart.

This brings me to Percy Whiting. Percy Whiting wrote a classic sales book, The 5 Great Rules of Selling. I got my copy in 1970. It was a textbook for the Dale Carnegie sales training class. I launched my sales career in 1970 after attending the Dale Carnegie program.

I picked the book up last week and decided to read it again. It has been over 40 years since I last opened it up. After reading the table of contents, I really looked forward to getting back into it. The material is timeless. I was amused when Percy noted that he got his first sales job in 1918. What really got my attention was that he led off the book talking about the importance of product knowledge. His take on the value of product knowledge consumed the better part of the first nineteen pages.

I strongly believe that people prefer to buy from subject matter experts.

My marquee client is enjoying the best consecutive sales years in the forty year history of the company with no end in sight. Why? Their sales are soaring because they employ, arguably, the leading product expert in the industry. They have a sales team of nine, but when there is something big on the line, the expert is on the sales call and in the room.

I can’t teach product knowledge, but I am a big fan of my clients becoming subject matter experts. There are a lot of ways to gain product and industry knowledge. Continuous education in your field provides you with a huge differential advantage over your competition. Become that “go to” product person. Become the expert with the answers and insight.

Oh yeah, don’t forget sales skills and sales activities along the way. And, you can still buy a copy of The 5 Great Rules of Selling. I highly recommend it.