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“Jeff, I’d really love to teach people. I’d like to make a difference. But, I need to support my family. I don’t think I can do that as a teacher.” Sad, right? But, that's changing fast! Teaching as undervalued WAS the way things were in the world. Now teaching abilities are sought in all kinds of industries... including business and sales! Those who can teach are becoming “millionaire teachers” and companies who follow trends in sales and leadership will look to find people who’s number one skill is, of all things, teaching! Entrepreneurs with teaching gifts will grow significant companies. Sales firms will look to hire teachers to become their sales MVP’s. In their ground-breaking book on sales called, “The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation” authors, researchers and teachers, Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson found that in today’s information overloaded world, the top sales people turn out to be what they called “challengers.” They help prospects gain insight into what they didn’t know. The most important skill these great sales people possess is the ability to teach! They are skilled in explaining so that others learn. ! The top attributes Dixon and Adams’s sales research uncovered was that the best sales people
Offer unique and valuable perspectives on the market (They teach)
Help me navigate alternatives (They teach)
Provide ongoing advice and consultation (They teach)
Help me avoid land mines (They teach)
Educate me on new issues and outcomes (They teach)
Dixon and Adamson write,
“When you get down to it, challengers aren’t world class investigators, they are world class teachers.” “They win not by understanding their customer’s world as the customer’s view themselves, but by actively knowing the customer’s world better than they know it themselves, teaching them what they don’t know but should.”
To net it out, what researchers are finding is that those who can teach actually make the best sales people! In the financial industry, clients were surveyed to find what they sought in a great financial advisor. In an article by Money called "The Top 4 Skills Sought in a Financial Advisor," those top for skills mostly relate to the skill of teaching.
Expertise.
Skill as a guide
Deep Understanding
Vulnerability.
Clients won't tolerate those that push product or certainly speak “financialeze.” They want those who can take the complex and make it understandable and accessible. Even actionable. They look for those who take SO much information out there and help them make sense of it.
Teaching is also key to what is sought in healthcare.
Think about it. What do you want from a doctor?
Of course you want them to understand you and know their stuff … but you want them to teach you SO you understand…. not so you think they’re smart.
In his article called “The Best Doctors Teach Their Patients,” James C. Salwitz, MD says,
“The best doctors remember that their calling is not only to teach practitioners of the health sciences; it is their duty to teach their patients. Every patient can identify physicians whom have the patience and skill to explain the complex in clear language, allowing the patient to make better decisions and have better control of life. Knowledge is to fear, as water is to fire or as oil spread on a turbulent sea, brings calm.”
Yes, it’s been one of our society’s most undervalued and underpaid skill-sets and professions.. often relegated to physical classrooms and schools. No more.
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