Unconscious Selling Competence

Written by Jim Meisenheimer

Unconscious Selling Competence has roots that date back to the mid twentieth century.

Back in the 1940's psychologist Abraham Maslow created a conscious competence theory and more commonly known as the "Four Stages Of Learning."

If you're in sales you need to be learning if you want to be earning. There's no way around it.

These four stages of learning describe how a person learns.

The first stage is Unconscious Incompetence. In essence, in this stage you don't know that you don't know something.

This stage can be perilous for professional salespeople. When you don't know, what you don't know it's easy to become over confident in your abilities.

I guess there's only one way out of this stage and that's with information and education. The worst thing anyone can do is to turn off the learning faucet.

Selling competence Ignorance is never bliss.

The best way out of the hole of ignorance is continuous improvement. Keep reading books and listening to CDs and you'll soon realize how much you don't know about the selling profession.

The second stage is Conscious Incompetence. Interestingly, in this stage you are aware that you are incompetent at some things.

In this stage you recognize where your strengths and weaknesses are in the work you do.

You have to be careful however because a weakness you have today, if not strengthened, can be a weakness you carry around for a lifetime.

For example, "I've always been lousy at handling the price objection."

Another example, "I don't like asking for the business - it makes me feel too pushy!"

Imagine your weaknesses are shortcomings all contained inside a block of granite. As a sales representative, your job is to keep chipping away at all the things that don't add to your personal professionalism.

Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is a professional sales person.

The third stage is Conscious Competence. In this stage you're developing skills but you have to think about them.

This stage is for salespeople who want to keep growing. They aspire to bigger and better things. They are hungry for the skills they need but do not yet possess.

They are committed to self-development. The word quitting is not in their personal dictionaries - the word perseverance is highlighted.

The fourth stage is Unconscious Competence. In this stage you are good at a particular skill and it comes naturally to you.

The fourth stage is where you want to be if you're an entrepreneur or a professional sales person.

Everything about selling comes naturally to you because you have prepared and practiced a gazillion times. You make everything look easy, after years of hard work.

You can pick up the phone and call someone, you've never spoken to before, and ask for an appointment. You know exactly what to say.

Your elevator speech is as smooth as ice because you know exactly what to say - word for word.

Your priority is to identify and solve customer problems. You can ask a dozen questions without thinking or blinking because you have crafted each one. You're able to weave your questions in a conversational way.

Your sales presentations are personalized and tailored to fit sales prospects and customers and their specific needs. And you know exactly what to say.

In fact, you're so good, you can go an entire day without doing seal talk. You know, the "Ahs" and "Ums."

Dealing with the price objection is easy for you because you have prepared and rehearsed how you'll do it, over and over again. You could do it in your sleep.

Asking for the business is a piece of cake for you, because once again you've created a short script that you memorized and rehearsed over and over again.

When it's all said and done you can choose between Unconscious Incompetence or Unconscious Competence.

The only thing separating the two of them are dedication, discipline, focus and your sheer desire and determination to become the best you are capable of becoming.

Three cheers for Unconscious Selling Competence!

Jim Meisenheimer -
	Jim Meisenheimer is a former US Army Officer, was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Baxter International, the creator of the Sales Trailblazer V.I.P. Selling Club and the publisher of The Sales Trailblazer Newsletter. He's been nominated to the Speaker Hall Of Fame four times. Use this link to sign-up for Jim's FREE Start Selling More Newsletter. http://www.startsellingmore.com Read More >>
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Websiteblog