What We Know… and What We Don’t

If you’ve been in sales for any length of time, you know that things ebb and flow. When the towers fell on 9/11, we all felt punched in the stomach. When the market crashed in the late 2000s, we all tightened our belts and moved forward. What we know for sure, is that this too, shall pass. What we don’t know at this moment is when it will end. Will it be an event where we say “okay, it’s over,” or will it be a slow roll forward to our new normal? We also don’t know what the other side looks like at this moment.

We do know some businesses will not survive, some jobs will be lost, and new careers will be launched as a result.

Evolutionist Charles Darwin coined the phrase, Survival of the Fittest. Paraphrasing, but the strong always survive. So, the question to ask is, are we strong?

What does it mean to be strong in sales? It means you have strong relationships with your clients built on trust and mutual benefit. It means you have strong empathy, expertise and problem-solving skills. It means you have a strong foundation of selling skills and experience. It means you have a strong curiosity and always want to learn new information as the world around us is reshaping, reforming and rebounding. It also means you have a strong commitment to your own professional development.

There are lots of options for training/educational content these days. Books, webinars, online classes and research are all opportunities for you to sharpen your skills, maintain your competitive edge to come out of this stronger, more prepared and better equipped than when you came into this crisis.

Our passion and purpose in professional development at the RAB is to empower people with new learning, new knowledge and new information to keep them strong, help them become more successful, and insulate themselves from danger.

Stay strong and learn something new today.

Jeff Schmidt is SVP-Professional Development at the Radio Advertising Bureau. You can reach Jeff at Jeff.Schmidt@RAB.com. or follow him on social media: Twitter and LinkedIn.