The recent Carew International Dimensions of Professional Selling (DPS) sales training workshop in Cincinnati included almost 50 business professionals from 20 different companies, representing businesses as diverse as retail clothing and bio-science drug development. What these sales professionals all had in common was their desire to enhance their sales skills through discovery and application. One of the things they experienced together was the opportunity to learn and practice sales skills on an interpersonal level, as well as a functional plane. Their practice opportunities included both audio and video recorded situations, providing a rare chance to see and hear themselves as their customers perceive them.
Recent studies using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) have provided clear data that the practice of a skill actually causes changes in the human brain that are related to memory maintenance, resulting in improved task accomplishment when compared to mere information acquisition. It appears that the effects of these practice opportunities lasted, on average, over a six-month period, given that the tasks were continued during that time.
Sales professionals completing the Carew DPS workshop were equipped with tools that afforded the reinforcement of skills through sales call planning and execution. When combined with the effects of the practice opportunities within the workshop, these tools ensure a longer life-cycle of application and a greater propensity for producing tangible results. A September, 2010 study of over 835 end-users of sales training performed by the Aberdeen Research Group cited an individual sales professional performance margin of 40% for Carew International clients over competitive providers of similar products and services (sales training).It is reasonable to conclude that this “freshly-minted” class of Carew sales training graduates will continue the long tradition of sales performance improvement that has preceded them, and know there is scientific evidence available to explain why that is the case!
