Have you heard the story of Billy Ray Harris? Back in February, he was panhandling on a Kansas City street when a lady, accidentally dropped a diamond engagement ring in his cup. When he noticed it, he thought about selling it, but decided to hang onto it in case she came back. Three days later, she did come back and was very grateful when he gave her her ring.

One of the things that I enjoy is watching people that I've coached become recognized as 'sales thought leaders. Greg Brown has been a sales leader most of the years that he's been selling. Today, he offers his thoughts.

Everyone has heard of the acronym AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action). It’s been around since the the turn of the 20th century when E. St. Elmo Lewis first described it. Over the years, many ‘experts’ have felt the need to modify, rename, or add to the basic steps, but seriously, do we really need a submarine version, a basebal version or an inbound marketing version? If a salesperson understands and follows the basics, they can do quite well.

So, taking a lesson from Star Wars, why start at the beginning when you can start in the middle? Let’s start with Interest. I know that the acronym means that we need to create interest within our client, but my question is, “Can you teach a salesperson how to be create interest?” Several years ago, I attended a conference in Rhode Island. One of the speakers reflected on advice that his father had given him as he set out to make his fortune. His father said,

I watched part of “Meet the Press” this weekend, and learned that Supreme Court Justice Scalia had said something like “…racial entitlement was difficult to undo”. It got me thinking about entitlement(s) in general.

Remember this scene and quote from "A Few Good Men"?

Back in the day when $20K/year was 'livable', I worked with a company that was making a fuss about reps that sold $1,000 in a single day. As I think back on those times, I realize a few things.

I signed up, paid for and attended Sandler Sales training almost 30 years ago. Back then, Sandler training was sold to individual salespeople rather than companies. As a matter of fact, at the beginning of the first class, the trainers often asked, "How many people paid to be here and how many were 'sent'?" Eventually, the Sandler guys switched from selling to individuals to selling to companies. Easy decision...bigger money.