On Tuesday I attended my first C9 sponsored seminar entitled "Leave Your Prospecting Woes at the Door".  It was a great title, if not a bit misleading. Our speaker set us straight early on in the program by stating that behavior takes a long time to change, but perhaps we could get a nugget or two from the session.

He also made it clear, by mentioning on at least two occasions, that all he requested from us was our business card with a 'yes' or 'no' (with the 'no' circled) written on the back, based on our willingness to have him follow up after the seminar regarding his sales training program.

I know that he was trying to make the point that sales professionals need to know where they stand with a prospect.  We cannot afford to waste time with disingenuous people who will never do business with us, but don't have the guts to just tell us that straight out.  I understand that.  I was just uncomfortable by the aggressive manner in which he made his point to the audience.

Having been in sales for 20 years, I have my own ideas about selling and attended just to see if there was anything new out there.  I was also curious to see how one fills three hours with prospecting tips without giving away the store.

I took away some good information.  Just not the kind of information that I had expected.  We can learn from others mistakes as well as our own.