Invest in yourself.
U.S. universities offering psychology degrees outnumber those offering sales degrees by a factor of 6 to 1. Meanwhile, sales-related jobs outnumber psychology-related jobs 93 to 1. Most MBA programs offer no sales-related courses at all, and those that do offer a single course in sales management (which certainly doesn’t teach someone how to sell). Each year, American universities churn out 350,000 bachelor’s degrees in business and 170,000 MBAs, and only a tiny fraction of those graduates have been taught anything about sales. In fact, the average salesperson has received 3 days of sales training in his/her career, and most of that was product-knowledge training. Meanwhile, a recent study found that 39 percent of B2B buyers select a vendor according to the skills of the salesperson rather than price, quality or service. Moreover, sales is now the second-hardest role to fill in the US economy, right after skilled trades like plumbers and welders.
Perhaps you are one of the fortunate few in this industry who was privileged to have a sales rock star as a mentor. Perhaps you’ve gleaned countless insights from reading hundreds of sales-related books, magazines, and newsletters you’ve digested over the years. However, if neither of those descriptions fits you, now is your chance. The energy field is full of “accidental salespeople.” Some are actually quite good despite their lack of formal sales training. Most are not. And the industry would be in a much better place if everyone in a sales role embraced the efficiency-focused professional sales training that is available for the taking. Invest in yourself. You deserve it.
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