Rick - My first laugh of the day. Motivational Training was a big part of my required education as a new sales rep for Domino Sugar. During one particularly obnoxious presentation by a man whose only credentials were that he had been a VP at four different companies in three years (????) I got a little playful. He hadn't even researched the group he would be addressing. We were industrial sales people selling truckloads and tankloads of sugar to manufacturers. He was babbling about POP sales and grocery situations. He finally realized his mistake and fell back on that old cliche "Features and Benefits" selling. Let's list the features of Domino Sugar over its competitor's and see how we can use them to increase sales!!!! Well sugar is sugar. Even beet sugar is pretty much like cane sugar unless you are boiling it in a closed kettle. SO, I piped up that Domino Sugar was twice as sweet as our competitor's and our customers only needed to use half as much. So even if our price was 20% higher, we actually saved them money. He sighed with relief - his seminar was saved. He could go on for the rest of the day on this tidbit - and he did while we all sat there taking notes and enjoying the joke. A mean trick but he wasted 7 hours of my life and deserved it.

The best (worst??) of these seminars was the ones for pyramid marketing schemes. Anyone ever get invited into one of those. I was at one where the guy burned 4100 bills to impress us with how much money he made. Shined shoes, Rolex, Rolls Royce, etc. LAter learned it was repossessed for non-payment and a warrant was out for his arrest on fraud charges.

Allan has it right. Professional sales people know their products and where to sell them. Success comes from providing a service where it is needed. I have been in salkes my whole life and am proud of the work I do and the services I render. No Rolex; no car; and I wear sneakers to work - God bless the internet.