That’s right.  The time has finally come.  It was a tough decision, one that could have life changing effect.  IF all goes well,  then, I might slip by the system and never hear about it again.  If there are complications, I might lose everything that is dear to me.  The operation is a splenectomy(removal of the spleen).

I have never performed one but I thought I would show up, wash my hands properly, walk in the surgery block, don one of those green suit, the mask, have another doctor put the gloves on, read some screens in the operating room and do it.  Just do it.

It almost sounds as if I know what I am doing.  Clearly now, joke over, I am not operating on someone tomorrow.  And there are many reasons why.  The first one – I have no training, no experience, no knowledge, no accreditation …and this is to start.  I haven’t written any tests or gone to any schools to learn the science.  So I can’t walk in a hospital and be a surgeon tomorrow.  Darn.  Wait.

I can be a salesman tomorrow.  No experience needed, no training needed, no barrier to entry!!! Unlike many professions, sales is one that you can just decide on Wednesday night to start selling Thursday morning and the only question you will get is “Great – and what made you decide to come into sales?”.

If the profession was able to adhere to a deontological moral system and to set a universal sales career continuum where you would progress in your profession according to specific training and achievments, there is a remote chance that the profession would have a better reputation than it has today.

A telling moment for me was when I was selling to a school board in the province of Quebec.  The account had not upgraded in 10 years and albeit a nice gentleman, the person that was recommending was very uptight everytime we sat down in his office.  I made him a promise on the 3rd visit.  I didn’t know him, he didn’t know me.  I would stop by every 2 weeks, for an hour, without a briefcase, only so that we would get to know each other.  I vowed on not trying to sell anything for one year.  He agreed.  Then, he opened the left bottom drawer and pulled of a Xerox Sales Training binder.  He said to me – “You are trained to sell  – I am not trained to buy from you”.  There we had it, he recognized that I was armed better than he was.  I stood up to my word.  A year later, we renewed the whole fleet that hadn’t moved in 10 years and as he was signing the paperwork, it was a Friday afternoons,  he opened the same drawer, gave me the training manual to take away, and while in the same drawer, pulled out a bottle and 2 glasses.  We took a shot together.

When Claude figured out he knew me well enough...

To date, this remains one of my best sale from a win win perspective.  Claude felt great, I felt great and the transaction was built on trust because the organization gave me the time to execute, the training to execute and the lattitude to drive the account on my own.  These are all things that are difficult to find in today’s sales management approach.

I am not saying that I am the best salesman there is.  I might think it, but I am not saying it.  I am saying however, that all along the career of a sales person, there needs to be a set of checks and balances that would make clients feel more comfortable with whom they’re dealing with.  Sales training is not just to help the company generate more revenue, good sales training is also to make sure that the revenue happens while being conscious of the client’s need and client environment.  These are things you might not have acquired after having been 12 hours in a sales career.