Feb 18, 2015 By John Cousineau

Eliminate Two Learning Bottlenecks in B2B Sales Productivity

in Sales

In his book How We Learn, New York Times science reporter Benedict Carey argues that more studying isn’t the key to learning more — smarter learning practices are.

In my view, for B2B sales, his findings have implications for two common learning bottlenecks, namely the opportunities for:

learning (in sales conversations); and
earning more conversations (by proving the learning value, to both buyers and sellers, of the last one).

Learning in Conversations

Carey notes that "one way to signal to the brain that information is important is to talk about it." So you’re in a discovery conversation. Something the buyer says seems particularly revealing or intriguing, with potential links back to your capabilities.

Talk about it. You’ll learn more. So will your buyers.

Carey also notes the value of ‘role reversals’ in amplifying learning. He suggests asking “a young student to play “teacher” based on the info they have studied”.

The sales equivalent? As seller, echo back to the buyer what you think you’ve heard them say about their situation. Do so, with reflection and empathy.

Earning More Conversations

Carey also notes that learning’s reinforced with self-testing and writing things down. The sales equivalent? Write down what you learned in conversation with a buyer and ask for their feedback.

Doing so will do more than just reinforce learnings. It builds trust with buyers and engages them. In a mutual process of learning whether further conversations might be worth everyone’s time.

We’ve seen situations where the seller was way off in what they thought they’d learned. But the buyer was so impressed by the seller’s efforts to ‘get it right’ that the buyer sent back a fully annotated version of the meeting notes. Then engaged in a next conversation.

In my opinion, learning fast is one of the keys to improving the productivity of well-intentioned B2B sales efforts. There’s mounting proof that faster learning’s enabled by smarter learning practices. Carey’s findings offer further clues to making it happen. Especially where the opportunities for such smarter learning already exist, every day.

About the Author:

John Cousineau is the founder and CEO of innovative information inc., makers of Amacus. His firm provokes improved B2B sales productivity by helping sales teams see + improve the buyer value of their sales practices. Follow John at @jcousineau.