No one has the time to read everything they need to in either their professional or personal lives. This general shortcoming creates a magnificent opportunity for us as salespeople to become an expert in our industry. A universal lack of reading time means that all it takes for a person to be viewed as an expert in his field in less than a year is a commitment to read for 30 minutes a day about their trade (not counting medicine, engineering, etc.). For the vast number of sales industries, this simple one-year reading commitment can quickly make you an authority.
Because of its importance, why not schedule it into your day? Decide what time of day works best for you and then commit to making it a habit. Subscribe to the top magazines or newsletters for your trade and use the time to scour the information they contain. Get online and search for the latest surveys or research. The information you glean can be used with multiple clients and pretty soon, you will be the one they search out when they have a question about what “the latest” is. That puts you in a pretty good position, wouldn’t you say?
