THE SECOND TO THE LAST BOYSCOUT

It has been a long time since I wore short pants and my Boy Scout Shirt, but I can remember the Boy Scout Motto, “BE PREPARED”. Definitely words to live by.

In scouts they taught us how to tie knots, administer first aid, camp, live off the land (as long as the land was filled with canned goods), start fires, put fires out and assorted other lessons that at the time seemed to be the answer to the question, “What is life all about?”

Adults were there every step of the way to watch us and keep us from making mistakes. They taught us the correct way to accomplish all these duties and instilled within us the skills that would help us through childhood to becoming a responsible adult.

I still have my Boy Scout manual, hatchet, pocket knife and sheath knife. I have many of the badges I earned and all the badges from the campouts, summer camps, jamborees, and events that I attended as a scout.

Wouldn’t it be great if we had the same kind of materials to teach us to be responsible sales reps? How cool would it be to have a manual, to get merit badges, to have supervision, and to wear a uniform that told everyone, “I am a professional!”

Wouldn’t it be great if the uniform gave the sales rep wearing it immediate credibility and created trust and confidence with a customer?

To the best of my knowledge there is no such manual, badges or uniform. I don’t know of any program that takes you through sales training over 5, 10 or more years to complete.

However, I do know that every rep has multiple avenues they can travel to get to this same level of proficiency. Every rep has tools available to them that will allow them to accomplish the same type training the scouts give millions of young men and women every year.

There are more and more colleges and universities that are offering degrees in sales. There are an untold number of companies that conduct training classes in professional sales. There are thousands of online, self paced courses a rep can take to become better at their skills.

All of these degree programs, classes, training sessions and courses will help a rep “BE PREPARED” for selling. These will make a rep better at their profession and one more thing that scouting also helps with, they will help make a rep more successful.

I loved my years as a Boy Scout almost as much as I have loved my years as a SALES REP!

Now repeat after me; The Scout Oath

On my honor, I will do my best

To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;

To help other people at all times

To keep myself physically fit, mentally awake, and morally straight

Lorin