A salesperson says: “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

Here’s the thing, Broker Dealers and Agencies have seen a precipitous drop in either the volume of their business or a marketed reduction in their first year commission and/or renewal. To compensate for this evolving drain on their way of life they are both recruiting and engaging in more personal production. So what isn’t considered by carriers is the time and effort it takes for a BD or agency to either pull someone from production to train or tie yourself down with a new salesperson, reducing written business or creating a further reduction in commission to train someone who, in many cases, will not be around in six to twelve months.

Moreover most managers train the way they sell rather that the way the salesperson “will” sell. That doesn’t make them a bad manager or less of a good salesperson rather sales training is an art, a particular skill that someone hones and crafts over a number of years successfully selling, training and retaining a sales distribution. The old adage is still true today, you train what you know but you reproduce “who” you are.

So I don’t think we are seeing the death of the salesperson but we are seeing a shift in the value of their services. This may mean a higher “churn” rate of those who come in the business and don’t make it to those who are successful, through determination and initiative yet may not see the value in taking the time to transfer those important skills. And what are those important skills that new sales people who succeed must master?

A successful sales training course follows some time proven formulas, a proven one is that you train the salesperson on the things you want them to do the most, in the order you want them to do those things. Think of a typical sales call, how long does it take, an hour? And if you were going to tell the prospect about the benefits of your product how long would that take, 10 – 15 minutes or 10 – 15% of the sales time? Now when a new sales person is hired most organizations spend 80% of their time training them on the product, in other words 10 – 15% of the sales call, I’m not saying the product isn’t important, it is and effective product knowledge is critical. However, before you even know if the new salesperson is willing to do the things necessary to succeed many organizations is spending 80% of the training time to train on 15% of the sale. Yet their very success and that of the carrier, the Broker Dealer/Agency may very well depend on the new salespersons skill at the other 80% of the sales process!

So let’s look at the skills necessary to master the sales process, here’s what my experience is, recognizing your experience might be labeled something different or in a different order;

1. Business plan
2. Marketing plan
3. Prospecting
4. Approach
5. Qualification
6. Presentation
7. Cost/Price
8. Close
9. Referrals

The point is if a new sales person isn’t willing to do the activity necessary to develop new prospects, doesn’t know how to approach, ask questions to qualify, etc. what value is the 80% of time spent on 10 – 15% of the sales time – product training?

Today social media, social marketing, web based seminars, and group presentations are tools that have become a big part of the sales persons business model, carriers might consider providing assistance to their Broker Dealers/Agencies in the sales training arena to ensure the salesperson relationship is strong that skill sets stay high and to give an edge to those who pound the pavement, do the belly-to-belly relationship building that will help to keep the market viable for years to come. To quote an American icon, Mark Twain “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”