During an exemplary career in sales training, executive coaching and staff development for some of North America's most progressive companies, consultant Joan Paul developed a reputation as a tough person to fool. She's never been one to blindly embrace the flavour of the month.

But after she studied an educational package of innovative sales techniques that has garnered rave reviews in Europe, Paul had to admit: Here was something REALLY new and effective, something to enhance the performance of every Canadian sales force, large or small.

In short, she liked it so much she bought the distributorship.

"I was looking for something with more punch, something more advanced than the standard stuff. At the time, I wasn't convinced there was anything new out there," Paul says today. "But when I read the research relating to these training techniques, I got very excited. This is a unique new direction in sales development."

A more appropriate term might be "revolutionary.”

Known as The Sales Activator®, this results-oriented sales-management package introduces a profoundly enjoyable and educational component to your in-house training model.

Better yet, it delivers. Many companies report a demonstrable 10-per-cent increase in their bottom line after they added The Sales Activator® to their staff-development tool kit.

When sales managers run meetings based on The Sales Activator®, good things happen.

On the surface, you feel as though you're playing a colourful and enjoyable board game. But it's much more. When sales reps play "The Selling GameTM" or "The Trynamic Sales GameTM," they are encouraged to interactively sharpen their systematic thinking skills, their active listening skills and problem-solving instincts.

"Anybody interested in developing and investing in their people will be impressed by this approach," enthuses Paul.

"Use it in sales meetings, workshops, conferences. It's a remarkable way to coach your people in the most creative fashion imaginable," she adds.

When sales pros sit down to play "The Selling GameTM" or the "Trynamic Sales GameTM," they're not competing for bragging rights. They're exploring important sales issues, in unprecedented depth. Both games are designed to stimulate discussion and idea-sharing, directions that inevitably work for the benefit of the group.

"You can spend an entire meeting discussing one specific theme. This is a great way to get things rolling, to identify weaknesses within the team and to address those weaknesses," Paul says.

The Sales Activator® was designed to help sales team leaders improve their own coaching skills by means of these highly educational games. By playing them, teams gain insights into such sales issues as preparation, prospecting, lead generation, relationship-building, understanding and fulfilling customer requirements, negotiating, handling objections and closing.

"This is a reinforcement tool, something to build your entire training platform around," she adds. "It's a terrific team-building tool, a fun way to enhance the performance of your sales team."

But there are many more arrows in Joan Paul's quiver. As a seasoned consultant and executive coach, she is perpetually seeking new ways to give her clients a competitive edge.

And looking back on her own career, she had no difficulty identifying the sales tactic she felt was not only the most unpleasant but the least effective - the dreaded cold call.

Working in conjunction with California writer Joanne S. Black, Paul has become an advocate for a systematic approach to sales that eliminates the cold call.

"Let's face it, making a cold call is not a lot of fun and it's a low-percentage move. There are more effective ways to spend your time," she says with a knowing smile.

So naturally, she was intrigued when she picked up a copy of Black's helpful book entitled No More Cold Calling.

"It's just a practical, common- sense approach to building a business - a comprehensive system that enables organizations to forget about cold calling while concentrating on attracting referrals instead," she sums up.

Insurance companies, financial and professional service companies - anybody with a sales force can benefit from strengthening their referrals," Paul adds. "I found out for myself. I'd been selling for years, but I decided to give Joanne's system a try - and it works like a charm."

While bringing such innovative techniques to her customers on a consultative basis, Joan Paul still finds time to assist corporate Canada in another area of particular interest and expertise - executive coaching.

In the midst of becoming an internationally accredited coach, Paul sums up her personal mission this way: To help sales teams, sales managers and senior decision-makers to get everything they want. "I want to help you get better," she says simply. "To achieve extraordinary results.

To move forward."

Joan Paul offers an unsurpassed suite of developmental strategies and products. For a sample, visit her website: jpaultraining.com. Reach her by telephone (403.607.1979) or email: jpaul@jpaultraining.com.