It has begun. The relentless beating of the negativity drum that our media insists on pounding. Predictable I suppose, but none the less disappointing.

On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister, a 25-year-old British medical student, became the first man to break the four-minute mile barrier. His final time was 3mins 59.4 seconds. Up until that time not only had it never been done, but no one believed that it could be done. Until Roger that is.

Bannister had a serious running setback at the 1952 Olympics, and as a result he spent two months contemplating whether he should continue to run at all. Ultimately he decided on a new goal instead – to be the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Doing what no one believed could be done, Bannister believed in himself and visualized the possibilities, thus turning his belief into a tangible reality. And once Bannister broke the record and proved it was possible…runner after runner started following in his footsteps.

Moral of the Story

Roger Bannister reflected on his wins and his losses. Once he firmly commited himself to breaking the four minute mile, he got honest with himself about his strengths and weaknesses. With that knowledge, he put a solid plan in place to achieve his goal.

Whether you own the business or work for someone who does, Roger’s story applies to YOU. Your sales skills must be top notch because the clutter in the marketplace is deafening. If sales aren’t quite where they need to be, maybe it’s time to take an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. Until you know what is getting in your way, it’s going to be hard to turn it around.

I have the pleasure of being a guest blogger over at the Consultative Sales and Sales Management Professionals of Canada site. What a classically great example of the power of social networking through communities like LinkedIn. Marshall Northcott (editor) and I connected over LinkedIn. He liked my comments in groups and my blog posts and he invited me to join his team of guest bloggers. It may have taken me all of 5-seconds to say yes:). As a long time sales professional, Marshall has great insights about selling, but today he posted something just a little bit different. This one is all about what you are probably doing wrong if that job is still eluding you! The principles apply to closing deals by the way, so READ THE POST and leave a comment if you are so inclined. If you like…please pass on the love by ReTweeting!

Me too. Haven’t you noticed how many so-called social media experts have come on the scene? People figured out quickly that social media is the buzz, so they figured they could jump on the gravy train and make a quick fortune. It’s easy to spot the wannabes though. Here are few clues:

1. They don’t blog or if they have a blog there isn’t much on it.

2. They have like 25 connections on LinkedIn and think that’s a big network.

3. They started using social media about 6 months ago, if that.

4. They think that email marketing is the same as social networking.

5. They are not getting business using social networking approaches now matter how much they trash talk about their expertise.

6. They can’t tell you the core differences between Twitter, Plaxo, Facebook, LinkedIn or StumbleUpon.

7. Their website has no social media presence at all.

What does this all have to do with sales?

I’ve noticed during the last two years how many coaches and consultants are now claiming to be sales experts with this or that program to help you achieve success. Talk is cheap so the saying goes. I’m about results. You can’t fake experience and a demonstrable history of success. People often get into sales training or sales coaching, because they smell easy money when they have little or no experience as a professional sales person themselves.

Case in point…

A few years ago, I met a woman at a networking event who said she was a sales coach. I said, wow – that’s interesting. Tell me about your sales background. You know the punch line, right? She had no experience. Zip, none, nada! But she thought that she could coach sales people anyway. There is no hard and fast rule that says you MUST have business experience in the area where you intend to offer your coaching service, but it certainly does help. And if you are going to coach or train sales people then you darn well better know what it’s like to walk in their shoes.

Sales (I believe) is a little different from other organizational functions. If you’ve never sold professionally, you will have a hard time truly understanding the challenges that sales people face. You won’t be able to fully know the motivation that is required to sell day in and day out. There is no way that you can feel the stress of being pressured by leaders on high to get the deal…now.

Oh boy, here it comes. I can hear all those wonderfully trained coaches out there just itching to challenge me on this point…please don’t bother! I’ve sold close to a billion dollars in products and services through the years, so I have a little bit of background in this area. And, no, I’m not an expert. I just have actual experience selling. If your paycheck has never depended on achieving a sales quota every month – you don’t know what it is like, and I don’t care how many powerful questions you ask…you don’t know! Moreover, sales professionals will not take you seriously anyway.

What’s my point? If you plan to call yourself an expert or offer sales coaching as a service, you darn sure better have the goods to back it up!