If you have taken part in Tortal Training’s Breakthrough Ideas in Training Webinars over the last two summers, it is a sure thing that you remember a presentation given by Jeffrey Gitomer. Jeffrey is one of the most assertive and direct sales trainers on the landscape today – a fellow who says exactly what he means and means exactly what he says.

We recently read “This Place Couldn’t Survive without Me . . . Not!”  a post on Jeffrey’s Sales Blog that we think is absolutely terrific. In it, he spells out attitudes that no effective salesperson should allow him or herself to develop.

9.5 Attitudes that Kill Sales  

In today’s post, we are taking Jeffrey’s assumptions in a slightly different direction by reframing them as killing attitudes that good sales training can address directly and combat.

You have a problem when your salesperson believes that . . .

1. “Filling out sales reports is a waste of time.”
2. “Everyone else does wrong things except me.”
3. “I get blamed for things I’m certain are someone else’s fault.”
4. “My sales production could be better – if I just got a few breaks.”
5. “I don’t listen to sales information in the car or do anything to further my sales education.”
6. “I’m cocky, cynical, and critical.”
7. “At night I socialize or watch TV instead of reading and planning my next day.”
8. “I go to sales calls unprepared, with no personalized ideas for the prospect or information about the prospect.”
9. “I think most prospects and customers are dumb (or at least not as smart as I am).”

   9.5 “My boss is stupid.”

“Many salespeople are failing or doing poorly and claim they don’t know why, or blame everyone and their dog,” Jeffrey writes in his post. “Many more salespeople get fired and claim or blame the same way. Truth is they can’t or won’t face themselves. They blame others and things instead of taking personal responsibility.”

When that kind of negative thinking takes hold in a salesforce, it is no wonder that sales suffer. And in our view, training is the best place to combat it.