What Is Masters Driven Selling?
Masters Driven Selling is a developmental program for individuals with sales and/or customer management responsibility that rapidly and dramatically expands the population of Masters and High Performers in the sales force.
 Masters are the top 5 - 10% of the sales force, whose sales rate is 5 or more times that of Average Performers. Masters Driven Selling can double the population of Masters.
High Performers are the next 15 - 20% of the sales force, whose sales rate is 2 or more times that of Average Performers. Masters Driven Selling can increase the population of High Performers by up to 50%.
Because Masters and High Performers generate sales at multiples of the level achieved by Average Performers, increasing their numbers will dramatically increase sales. In some industries, workshop groups have averaged a 40% increase in annualized sales after one year. These results have been corroborated by independent measurement.
Program Structure
The Masters Driven Selling program consists of a 2 ½ day workshop for 20 - 24 participants, which can be supplemented by a year of reinforcing activities (coaching and structured working sessions).
The Workshop
The workshop is built around a series of highly relevant sales simulations conducted with live senior executives ("CXOs"). SGA sources CXOs who have senior-level experience with companies typical of the client's target market.
The simulations are intermixed with plenary sessions in which "Thinking Models" are presented and discussed; these give the participants perspectives and frameworks to interpret what they are learning, and to carry with them and reference after the workshop. Approximately 40% of participants' time is spent in plenary sessions; the remainder is spent preparing for and conducting the selling simulations.
Why It Works
Conventional wisdom suggests that Sales Masters can not be developed - they are "born, not made". Real-world observation would support this belief: Masters represent only 5-10% of almost all sales forces, even though companies devote considerable resources to sales development.
Conventional sales development programs provide a needed foundation of activity-based skills for sellers. But more is required for performance to move to the top tier. What distinguishes Masters from other salespeople is not what they do, but how they think.
We call this context: the backdrop of beliefs and feelings that drives the actions Masters choose to take, and the way they conduct them. Masters context consists of the following:
A different sense of self: "I belong here"
A focus on impact and contribution to the customer, more than excelling at a set of "do" tasks
An instinct to add value beyond the immediate bounds of the selling situation
An ability to acutely tune in to the customer's mindset
The confidence to lead where it will make a difference
SGA's research indicates that these are the elements required by senior executives for an effective selling interaction to take place.
All experience with sales forces indicates that most salespeople are unable to access this context naturally. SGA's approach enables salespeople to "see and touch" Masters context, which in turn allows them to move forward on a new, accelerated and highly energized development track. This results in a jump in effectiveness, with an attendant dramatic increase in sales output.
Key elements of SGA's approach that generate this ability to access a new context include:
 Multiple selling simulations using actual executives ("CXOs") who have held senior positions in companies that match the client's targets
Immediate, unfiltered feedback from CXOs regarding participants' selling behavior and effectiveness
A "disruption" that enables participants to "see and touch" Masters context
The overall result is extraordinarily rapid learning of effective Masters behaviors.
For more information, please contact: David G. Robinson at DavidRobinson@SGAInteractive.com.
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