Eckert without anything to say....

Yes, I can't think of anything to say. I have class in Germany tomorrow at 9am (German time - EST +6hrs). It is 10pm German time. And I can't think of a good way to start my selling course. I am used to teaching advanced selling or training salespeople, and in both of those cases people have a foundation and it is easy to pick it up from there. but where do I start with these students? The possibilities...

The Concept / Theory: I could start by addressing my picture view of selling. Introduce both the concept of "modern selling" and Adaptive Selling. This would give them a big picture foundation and a framework by which to organize what else they learn. The cons to this approach include it isn't very interactive and sometimes people need to be familiar with a few trees before the forest really means anything to them.

Basic Selling Process Overview: In this case I could use a "middle picture" approach and not do the big picture of selling as a concept, but do an overview of the basic selling process. Basically I could teach the basics of all of the things we will be discussing the rest of the semester. I usually like this approach, but in this case I may not want to do much repeating with such a compressed time frame. And I have a hard time not going too in depth once I get going on a topic.

"Sell Me that Pen" Approach: I walk in and tell someone to be a volunteer and sell me a pen and we pick up the converstaion from there. It is cheesy, but it brings the selling task to front and center immediately. It is a "do it first" then break it down and talk about what we should really be doing.

So why do I bother my loyal blog readers (both of them: Maiki and Juli), with this information? Partly because it helps me think it through, but also becasue I think people have truly mastered a craft when they are small, middle and big picture masters of that craft. So as you develop your craft take the time to ask yourself if you have a good mastery of the ground level selling skills you need (e.g. do you really have a good questioning toolbox), do you have a good grasp of how the basics all work together (e.g. how questioning and presenting should be closely tied together as tasks), and do you have a big picture selling philosophy that guides your work? As you develop yourself take the time to isolate each of these and devout time to each.

I think I have just sold myself on doing all three tomorrow. I am going to start with the Pen, then bounce to the big picture and finish with the selling process overview. Now I can go have that weizen beir that has been chilling in my fridge!