3 ms·

Never try to teach a salesman how to sell. This will not end well. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDHRLN66Q2E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDHRLN66Q2E

jacquesm 16y ago
Right, because no salesman ever managed to improve his sales skills. I've seen guys go from barely able to say hello without getting their tongue tied up to being able to pull in 6 figure deals without breaking a sweat (contract work, web development), I really don't know this guy at all but he's already selling, all he needs to do is to improve what he's already doing. Going from 'not being a salesguy' to 'being a sales guy' is a lot harder than going from 'being a not so good sales guy' to 'being a salesguy that is a bit better'. Even an experienced salesperson would have a hard time selling a product he has no experience with, and that has only just been 'baked', they should have overlapped much better with the development but this product seems to be 'all or nothing' so that may have been harder than what we know from the info given. Building up a sales pipeline takes time, and as you sell a couple of times you usually get better at it.
- nearestneighbor 16y ago
  > Right, because no salesman ever managed to improve his sales skills. That's not what I said.
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    So, elaborate then because I'm not following you. You say "Never teach a salesman how to sell, this will not end well". But the guy is already a salesman. So we're not teaching someone to sell that doesn't know how to. He needs to improve his skills, and that's teaching someone how to sell as well, but not from scratch. Or isn't it ?
    - nearestneighbor 16y ago
      > He needs to improve his skills, and that's teaching someone how to sell as well, but not from scratch. Or isn't it ? OK, I didn't realize you were from Netherlands until I read that sentence and clicked on your profile. In English, learning does not imply teaching.
      - jacquesm 16y ago
        Ok. I never even used the word teach in the original piece though...
        nearestneighbor 16y ago
        > Ok. I never even used the word teach in the original piece though... But you misinterpreted my use of it, so what's your point? I see that I'm getting downmodded on top of having to waste my time on this, so that'll teach me how to help people with their English next time.
        erikpukinskis 16y ago
        I think you're getting downmodded for implying jacquesm simply doesn't understand english enough to know the difference between learning and teaching. Pretty patronizing. If you bothered to learn you would know that most Dutch people speak English, and that it's a required course in schools. But that's OK I'm happy to teach you.
        c00ki3s 16y ago
        But in Dutch, "leren" means 'to teach' and 'to learn' (IIRC), so his presumption was at least a very logical one.
        deleted 16y ago
        [deleted]

jacquesm 16y ago

Right, because no salesman ever managed to improve his sales skills. I've seen guys go from barely able to say hello without getting their tongue tied up to being able to pull in 6 figure deals without breaking a sweat (contract work, web development), I really don't know this guy at all but he's already selling, all he needs to do is to improve what he's already doing. Going from 'not being a salesguy' to 'being a sales guy' is a lot harder than going from 'being a not so good sales guy' to 'being a salesguy that is a bit better'. Even an experienced salesperson would have a hard time selling a product he has no experience with, and that has only just been 'baked', they should have overlapped much better with the development but this product seems to be 'all or nothing' so that may have been harder than what we know from the info given. Building up a sales pipeline takes time, and as you sell a couple of times you usually get better at it.

nearestneighbor 16y ago
> Right, because no salesman ever managed to improve his sales skills. That's not what I said.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  So, elaborate then because I'm not following you. You say "Never teach a salesman how to sell, this will not end well". But the guy is already a salesman. So we're not teaching someone to sell that doesn't know how to. He needs to improve his skills, and that's teaching someone how to sell as well, but not from scratch. Or isn't it ?
  - nearestneighbor 16y ago
    > He needs to improve his skills, and that's teaching someone how to sell as well, but not from scratch. Or isn't it ? OK, I didn't realize you were from Netherlands until I read that sentence and clicked on your profile. In English, learning does not imply teaching.
    - jacquesm 16y ago
      Ok. I never even used the word teach in the original piece though...
      - nearestneighbor 16y ago
        > Ok. I never even used the word teach in the original piece though... But you misinterpreted my use of it, so what's your point? I see that I'm getting downmodded on top of having to waste my time on this, so that'll teach me how to help people with their English next time.
        erikpukinskis 16y ago
        I think you're getting downmodded for implying jacquesm simply doesn't understand english enough to know the difference between learning and teaching. Pretty patronizing. If you bothered to learn you would know that most Dutch people speak English, and that it's a required course in schools. But that's OK I'm happy to teach you.
        c00ki3s 16y ago
        But in Dutch, "leren" means 'to teach' and 'to learn' (IIRC), so his presumption was at least a very logical one.
        deleted 16y ago
        [deleted]