According to recent media reports the world is full of zombies. In fact in my town—Columbus, Ohio—there are enough zombies to form a zombie run. I guess zombies care about their health as much as non-zombies.
It doesn’t stop there, I can’t get away from zombies on TV, at the movies—even at B2B sales training workshops! Simply put, some of the folks who conduct these workshops are zombies. Perhaps you are a B2B sales consultant zombie and you don’t even know it!
Five signs you might be a B2B sales consultant zombie:
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Your B2B sales training resources are old news—crusty and musty.
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Your presentation skills put people to sleep.
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Your workshops are 100% lecture and 100% boring.
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Death by PowerPoint is your favorite means of engaging your prey—I mean workshop participants.
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Your B2B sales training expertise is limited.
How to Transform Yourself from Zombie to World-Class
Here’s the zombie list again along with some ways to transform yourself from zombie to super human!
1. Your B2B sales training resources are old news—crusty and musty.
Transformation tips:
- Spend time developing a couple of new onsite workshops
- Get involved with a partner program that allows you to use other consultants’ sales training resources.
2. Your presentation skills put people to sleep.
Transformation tips:
- Shoot a video of your next workshop and critique yourself
- Send the video to someone you know who is a dynamic presenter and ask them for some tips
- Join Toastmasters.
3. Your workshops are 100% lecture and 100% boring.
Transformation Tips:
- Conduct an audit of a few of your onsite workshops to determine how much of the time you spend lecturing
- Contact a workshop development consultant—like the Thiagi Group—to get some help
- Consider modifying your workshops to include the following:
- Games
- Contests
- Role play or simulation
- Video
- PowerPoint (some)
- Energizers
4. Death by PowerPoint is your favorite means of engaging your prey—I mean workshop participants.
Transformation Tips:
- Keep your PowerPoint presentation brief—no more than 30 minute chunks (closer to 15 minutes is best)
- Make them interactive
- Use images, not words
- Avoid reading the slides
- Don’t start a workshop with a PPT of use a PPT immediately following a lunch break.
5. Your B2B sales training expertise is limited or out of touch.
Transformation Tips:
- Make the move from the conference room to the field and watch the sellers you consult in action
- Conduct a survey with the managers and sellers you consult and ask them about the areas of the sales process they need help with
- Find other consultants to team up with and allow them to deliver workshops to your customers in areas tied to their expertise in exchange for you doing the same with their customers.
It is never too late to make the transformation from zombie to world-class—is today the day you start?
