I was a terrible student. The phrase “Smart, but doesn’t apply himself” was something I heard often from teachers and principals.
The problem was not ability, but attention. For example, in college, instead of working on engineering coursework, I got involved in student government. This led to project involving community outreach and managing the course evaluation program and annual publication for the university.
I definitely have issues with attention, you might call it ADHD. I never did bother to examine it further though because I never saw it as a liability. In fact, in some periods of my career, it was actually helpful. As a floor trader or guitarist in a local NYC metal band, instinct and spontaneity were more important than deliberate planning and caution.
In some ways, this ability to context switch and go with the flow was a superpower. Things that looked like detours or mistakes early in my career turned into fortuitous steps toward building a foundation of valuable skills. My music for example gave me a more attuned ear towards audio quality and built up my confidence in engaging audiences. My Unix hacking gave me a greater awareness of application security when I started building my own apps many years later.
Mostly however what I have learned about myself is I like to do lots of different things. Life for me seems more enriching that way. While I might be a generalist with only a bit of knowledge across many domains, I prefer this than to being too narrowly focused in one specific area. Mind you this is not a judgment call, some people go deep whereas others go wide.
Take my newsletters for example. It is Women’s History Month, so I am working on a women in sales post at the moment to elevate an important social issue, much like I have done in the past when I have addressed racial injustice. The ranges of topics that I have talked about however have been quite wide ranging from handling burnout or the value of community to how much I loathe LinkedIn. This is on top of the other weekly newsletter I do called DEVBIZOPS for developers and engineering leaders.
I tweeted earlier in the week on this idea of depth vs breadth:
If you want to optimize for growing size of audience, focus on writing about a single topic.
If you want to optimize for building greater value, write about multiple topics.
There are topics I have dived deep on and built strong competency in, like B2B sales. The result was that I developed a large following for communities like the Enterprise Sales Forum with people seeking unique insights. The best and most original ideas however have come in jumping domains, thinking laterally, and remixing concepts in other fields to apply to problems in a different area.
I think about that quite a bit in the consumption of content I read and listen to these days. This is why I do not read sales books or follow other sales thought leaders closely. That is not to say that content is not valuable or that I do not respect their opinions, but I am seeking insights from other fields like psychology, neurology, economics, history, performing arts, etc. These are the bodies of knowledge and the people in these fields that I reach out to learn and elevate my own performance.
It is unfortunate that the movie most people think of when they talking about sales if Glengarry Glen Ross. Not to say it is not a great movie, but it shows the very opposite of what defines the professional salesperson today. The training session, if you could call it that, is brutal. Everyone is unmotivated. You get the sense that no one had ever bothered to read a book or take a class ever since school. Instead the only lesson is “Always be closing”.
I reject this lesson thoroughly. I have seen the types of coin-operated sales reps that live by that mantra and after a brief periods of success, quickly become no better than the crew participating during Blake’s “sit”. There is no inspiration, no passion, just a mechanical approach to smiling and dialing day in and day out to eke out a living.
Even though I was never a good student, a motto I learned to live by is “Always Be Learning”. What is different from my school days is that I have the freedom to explore what interests me. I can go at my own pace. I can consume learning in one all-day session or in discrete chunks over time. I am in control of the experience and the content and the medium.
What is also critical about how I learn these days is that I can apply what I learn immediately to something I am working on. For example, I was setting up a website from scratch using AWS, which helps a project I am working on and also bolsters my knowledge so I can help out startup founders with similar questions. Knowledge plus application makes the learning stick and makes it way more fun.
A lot of my learning starts with reading. I love books and have quite a library. But I know many others prefer to consume content via videos or podcasts or slide decks. Many of my colleagues in sales are heavily into sales role plays. Whatever works for you, make it easy for yourself to incorporate regular learning into your schedule.
This gets to learning goals. What are you trying to learn and why? Do you want to upskill yourself because you want to sound more informed and knowledgeable in technical conversation? Or maybe you want to improve your public speaking and presentation? Perhaps you just want to learn something for the pure enjoyment of it?
Often times my motivation is to solve a problem. I often think backwards from the problem and plan my learning goals around how I develop the solution. Continuing with the website example, I wanted to put together a quick site for the 100 Days of Sales, but did not want a lot of cost or maintenance. Looking at the options and the upside of each, I went the AWS route and gave myself a set amount to time to dive heads down into learning mode. I blocked off time, turned off distractions, and focused in.
Sometimes though the learning is more like a constant drip. This is where podcasts and Clubhouse have fit in. I can do other things while listening into conversations and not worry too much if I miss something as long as I can catch the key points of the episode. This is especially useful as I go for runs or hikes.
Whatever your approach to learning, the more important thing you can do is to make it a habit. Learning is one of the first things to drop when things get busy like end of quarter and end of year deals you are closing. Do not feel guilty about dropping off, but make sure you reschedule and recommit to your learning tracks after the busy period slows down.
When you learn, you are keeping your mind fresh. You have ideas and creative thoughts that make you more interesting and lead to more interesting customer conversations. You more easily connect the dots on ideas and conversations. In short, you become a better salesperson.
If you want more simulating conversation and are interesting in being a life-long learner, come join us on the Enterprise Sales Forum Clubhouse show every Monday and Friday at 5 PM ET / 2 PM PT. This Friday we are talking about the CEO perspective of enterprise sales. If you need an invite to Clubhouse (and have access to an iPhone or iPad), then I would be glad to extend an invitation.
Cheers and happy learning this week and every week ahead!
Mark Birch, Founder of Enterprise Sales Forum
The Enterprise Sales Forum is a professional community championing the practice of sales through monthly sales talks at chapters globally. Our chapters provide an open, collaborative and diverse environment to share new ideas, network and learn actionable insights for professional sales development.
Always Be Learning
Love this post and your beautiful mind, Mark. It's so important to commit to continuous knowledge development. Our minds become brittle over time without it. Why else would we still believe in ancient concepts without sufficient evidence?