ing sales over the last three months. Arlene worked at a branch in an upper middle class suburb. She had earned over half the incentive pool for her sales success, doubling her income. Jenny told the group, that she was sure she could do the same thing, if she could work in the suburbs like Arlene.

On meeting Arlene for the fir

As a group of sales trainees took a break from our workshop on selling, the distress they were feeling, was clearly manifest in their intense discussions. It was obvious from their unrestrained conversations that the software being installed to track their sales performance was the reason for their anxiety. It was also evident from their negative comments, that many of these trainees had already given up on selling their company’s services and that no amount of sales training could help them sell their firm’s services. Our client, a large midwestern service firm, was willing to pay generous incentives for their customer service staff to up sell additional services. Yet, most participants in this training session felt, for a variety of reasons, that obtaining additional sales was impossible.

Jenny, a customer service representative from one of the inner-city offices of the firm was typical in her feelings about being asked to sell. She talked about how difficult it was to achieve sales success because of her location and the unique customer base she worked with daily. She said it would be impossible to achieve the sales success of coworkers in the more wealthy suburban locations—“so why even try?”

Jenny specifically talked about a coworker by the name of Arlene who had been exceptionally productive in producing sales over the last three months. Arlene worked at a branch in an upper middle class suburb. She had earned over half the incentive pool for her sales success, doubling her income. Jenny told the group, that she was sure she could do the same thing, if she could work in the suburbs like Arlene.

On meeting Arlene for the firs

heir negative comments, that many of these trainees had already given up on selling their company’s services and that no amount of sales training could help them sell their firm’s services. Our client, a large midwestern service firm, was willing to pay generous incentives for their customer service staff to up sell additional services. Yet, most participants in this training session felt, for a variety of reasons, that obtaining additional sales was impossible.

Jenny, a customer service representative from one of the inner-city offices of the firm was typical in her feelings about being asked to sell. She talked about how difficult it was to achieve sales success because of her location and the unique customer base she worked with daily. She said it would be impossible to achieve the sales success of coworkers in the more wealthy suburban locations—“so why even try?”

Jenny specifically talked about a coworker by the name of Arlene who had been exceptionally productive in producing sales over the last three months. Arlene worked at a branch in an upper middle class suburb. She had earned over half the incentive pool for her sales success, doubling her income. Jenny told the group, that she was sure she could do the same thing, if she could work in the suburbs like Arlene.

On meeting Arlene for the fir

es. Yet, most participants in this training session felt, for a variety of reasons, that obtaining additional sales was impossible.

Jenny, a customer service representative from one of the inner-city offices of the firm was typical in her feelings about being asked to sell. She talked about how difficult it was to achieve sales success because of her location and the unique customer base she worked with daily. She said it would be impossible to achieve the sales success of coworkers in the more wealthy suburban locations—“so why even try?”

Jenny specifically talked about a coworker by the name of Arlene who had been exceptionally productive in producing sales over the last three months. Arlene worked at a branch in an upper middle class suburb. She had earned over half the incentive pool for her sales success, doubling her income. Jenny told the group, that she was sure she could do the same thing, if she could work in the suburbs like Arlene.

On meeting Arlene for the fir

success because of her location and the unique customer base she worked with daily. She said it would be impossible to achieve the sales success of coworkers in the more wealthy suburban locations—“so why even try?”

Jenny specifically talked about a coworker by the name of Arlene who had been exceptionally productive in producing sales over the last three months. Arlene worked at a branch in an upper middle class suburb. She had earned over half the incentive pool for her sales success, doubling her income. Jenny told the group, that she was sure she could do the same thing, if she could work in the suburbs like Arlene.

On meeting Arlene for the fir

ing sales over the last three months. Arlene worked at a branch in an upper middle class suburb. She had earned over half the incentive pool for her sales success, doubling her income. Jenny told the group, that she was sure she could do the same thing, if she could work in the suburbs like Arlene.

On meeting Arlene for the first time, you might surmise that her warm and friendly disposition produced her ongoing sales success. She has a great personality. As Jenny inferred, you might also feel, after visiting her office, that her location assisted in her phenomenal sales success. Her customers certainly have the money to invest in her products and services. However, to learn exactly what was behind Arlene’s success, the firm’s regional sales manager had her “shopped,” (had someone act like a customer to check her performance). They also had her local manager observe her work for a few days to see if they could learn more about her success. On closer scrutiny, the sales manager learned that Arlene consistently used the selling process The $elling Edge®, Inc. had taught her in our workshops and our Self-Directed Learning reinforcement series. Along with Arlene's warmth, friendly personality and favorable location, it appeared that using our “selling process” was the major factor in her consistent sales success.

Because there were so many complaints about the unfair incentive and tracking system being implemented by the firm, the regional sales manager decided to run a test on his staff. He wanted to see if Jenny was correct in her assessment. Did the location of a branch dramatically impact an employee’s ability to sell and earn additiona