National survey by Sandler Training finds two-thirds of U.S. workers spend an hour or less per day selling themselves, even though they think it’s important to their careers.
ALMOST HALF OF WORKERS SAY WORK IS THE HARDEST PLACE TO SELL AN IDEA
When it comes to getting ahead in life or business, four in five working Americans say the key factor is the ability to “sell yourself,” and yet, according to a just-released national survey, almost two-thirds (62%) of the U.S. workforce confess that they actually spend an hour or less per day doing so.
The survey of 1,000 working Americans, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs and commissioned by Sandler Training, the world’s premier sales training organization, found that 80 percent of U.S. workers agreed with the statement: “the key to getting ahead, in life or business, is the ability to effectively sell yourself.” Almost as many (78%) also agreed that “in today’s world, people need to be better at selling themselves.”
“An overwhelming number of American workers understand the value in today’s competitive environment of selling yourself – after all, who will if you don’t?,” said Dave Mattson, CEO of Sandler Training, a leading global provider of training for sales professionals. “While most people in the workplace have the confidence in their ideas and capabilities, they are not committing the time they know is required to sell themselves in order to get ahead. One of the most important qualities in selling – whether it is your capabilities or ideas or a product or service – is reinforcement, which can only happen over time.”
Almost half of the workers (45%) surveyed said the workplace was the most difficult place to sell a good idea – vs. 21 percent who said “at home.” One in four (25%) cited their boss as the person hardest to sell, while 20 percent said it was their clients/customers.
For the most part, workers do have confidence in their selling abilities: two in three employees (66%) say they are effective at selling themselves and their ideas – with almost as many (55%) believing they are more effective at selling themselves than their competition.
The online survey was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, a third-party research firm, on behalf of Sandler Training between Oct. 21 and Oct. 24, 2013. Respondents included 1,053 randomly-selected employed adults aged 18 and over residing in the U.S. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is considered accurate to within +/- 3.4 percentage points had all employed U.S. adults, aged 18 and over, been surveyed. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. This is the first year that the survey was conducted.
About Sandler Training
Founded in 1967, Sandler Training is the largest provider of sales, leadership and customer service training in the world, serving businesses of all sizes with short- and long-term programs that offer continuous coaching, reinforcement and support for sales professionals. The philosophy of “reinforcement training” was developed by David Sandler, considered one of the most innovative sales trainers in America.
You might also be interested in:
