Doing so will take time that can't be spent selling or managing! Which ever is your primary function.

Your career and your Company's continued growth depend on these functions. Therefore, we do not take either lightly. Neither do we take lightly the content of this module.

It is as important as any selling or managing activity, for it is the foundation of all profession at selling and the cornerstone on which effective sales management communication is built.

Since you must give up some valuable time to read this module, you're entitled to know beforehand what you can get out of it.

Every successful sales representative has asked himself at one time or another two basic questions:

These are the two most important questions sales-oriented individuals can ask themselves during their careers. If you're an experienced life insurance sales representative, you may feel performance makes these questions superfluous nevertheless, we encourage you to read on. There may be merit in your position. There is just as much in ours.

These questions provide the basis for self-discovery, learning and the full utilization of one's career potential. Few people are honest with themselves about their selling performances. Some measure themselves against other people, and, finding their production is greaten quit right there. These people think they're doing a good job or, at least a good enough one.

But are they? How much better could their performances be? What is their potential? The ones who quit never find out. On the other hand, there are those who measure themselves in the same manner, and, finding themselves wanting, rationalize their performances. They, too, rarely tackle the question, What can I do to improve?

As human beings we are inherently self-protective, i.e., we like to think well of ourselves. We seek reinforcement and shun the unpleasantness that goes with any admission that we are wanting. Consequently, few of us ever come close to achieving what we're capable of. Occasionally. though, some representatives embarking on a career in selling, and others, aware that self-development is a continuing process, face up to question two "What can I do to improve?" Experience, they assume, is the best teacher. So they turn to experience their own or others to find the answers. But it isn't long before they, too, settle into the same selling malaise that afflicts their counterparts, Where do they go wrong? Where do even the most highly motivated falter, those with a burning desire to improve themselves and their lot in life?
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Think about it for a moment. Experience is, indeed, a valuable asset. But, in and of itself, it offers very poor guidelines for development. Experience in a situation is valuable only when the situation presents itself again and under the same circumstances. Then, too, experience can establish a pattern of thinking that is both destructive and constructive. A bitter or unpleasant experience can cause mental blocks that inhibit clear thinking and the self-improvement that's being sought. "On several occasions I tried planning my presentation in advance," a sales representative once said. "It didn't work. So I'll never do it again." Experience for this representative was a teacher, all right. But unfortunately it was a poor one, as it so often is.

Take a half hour now to critically and objectively evaluate yourself, and you may have the answers to two of the most important questions you can ask in your selling career.