Before I address how we can get better in sales, or any other career or area of life, let me share that I was honored this week to be included in a list of Sales Influencers: https://www.integritysolutions.com/insights/blog/sales-influencers-2020
I’m sharing the list for several reasons but one reason is that it’s a clue to how we can improve our performance at work or anywhere else:
One secret to improvement and mastery is to learn from others.
Surgeon, Dr. Christopher S. Ahmad (who is Head Team Physician for the New York Yankees) wrote a book on how to relentlessly improve performance.
In his book, Dr. Ahmad quotes Sam Walton (founder of Walmart):
“I probably have traveled and walked into more variety stores than anyone in America. I am just trying to get ideas, any kind of ideas, that will help our company. Most of us don’t invent ideas. We take the best ideas from others.”
(Dr. Ahmad’s book is “SKILL: 40 Principles That Surgeons, Athletes, and Other Elite Performers Use to Achieve Mastery” and you can get it on amazon.com.)
If you want to improve, read books on how to improve your mindset, improve your performance, and master key skills at work and in life.
Watch videos, go to workshops and webinars, and listen to podcasts.
Shadow someone really good at her craft and learn from her.
Dr. Ahmad shares in his book how he watched another surgeon do a surgical technique that was better than how he (Dr. Ahmad) was doing it.
He used what he learned from that surgeon a few days later and it improved his surgical skills.
If one of the top surgeons in the world sees value in learning from someone else, that’s something we can all take note of.
There’s not a day that goes by we can’t use this secret to performance improvement.
Reading just a paragraph a day in a book or watching ten minutes a video or webinar and reflecting later in the day how we can put it into action will keep us on the growth trajectory.
Warren Buffet reads five hours a day and fifty books a year.
Most can’t invest that much time, I realize that.
But every one of us can learn from others even if it’s five or ten minutes a day.
And as for the list of sales influencers at the top of this post, even if you’re not in professional sales, we’re all in sales.
As Dr. Cindy McGovern says in her book title, “Every Job Is a Sales Job”.
Find one or two people on the list of sales influencers above and subscribe to their blog.
Learn how to use “sales” skills in your work, at home and in life at large.
Remember, one secret to improvement and mastery is to learn from others.
P.S. If you want my help via coaching or want to bring me to your company for a workshop, call or text me at 678-778-9012 or email me at alan@alanallard.com today. If you want your managers to master the art of coaching their team, I created “Leader As Coach” for the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention here in Atlanta and I’d be happy to discuss working with your company.
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