The most competent salesperson in the market

And the 4 levels of competence

In any training workshop, there always comes a time when a bit of comedy breaks out.  The chart above seems to always draw out one of those moments.  When the subject turns to competence and consciousness, we tend to make a lot of jokes at our peer’s or manager’s expense.  The chart looks lofty and more like abstract theory.  Yet closer scrutiny reveals an interesting concept in how we learn.  And how we stop learning as we progress through our sales career.

Across the board in the pre-workshop surveys and assessments, the number one motivating factor for Ag salespeople is to be most competent salesperson in their market.  Mostly, this refers to technical competence and the ability to grow the most-best crops/livestock, to be the most competent ag lender, the most knowledgeable on tractors, crop insurance, etc.  This is great and definitely part of our jobs; to be competent with our products.

To achieve this level of competence, we need to have a steady diet of learning.  However, learning is a challenge at different stages of our career.  Let’s examine what happens from the beginning of our sales career, through the middle years and into the later years.  I found the Competence-Consciousness quadrants to be helpful to understand the stages of learning we go through as adults.

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