“I’m a lifelong learner” is one of those if-I-had-a-nickel-for-every-time-I’ve-heard-that statements that would make me rich. If I had to return the nickel to everyone who really was always learning, I’m not convinced the bottom line would change much.
Something happens to us as we get older. The natural curiosity of the young is long gone. We’ve had decades of experience and somewhere along the line, redundancy causes us to believe we’ve done and seen all there is to do and see. But, in doing so, we stop learning because we skip over steps necessary to the sales process.
I was painting the hallway in my house last week and re-listening to Chris Voss’ book on negotiation, Never Split the Difference. The author said most older negotiators are ineffective since they stop listening for the basics and in those details lies the truth.
To truly be a lifelong learner, you must do more listening than talking. You must fight the urge to one-up someone with a story of your own. You must find what other people say to be fascinating to the point where your follow-up question keeps them talking.
The upside of being a veteran/legacy sales rep is that your experience can help you see where a conversation is going. You know the questions to ask because you’ve asked them before. You probably already know the answers.
That’s great.
Imagine if you combined that value with a lifelong curiosity. You’d be unstoppable!
