Internet advertising isn't rocket science. There isn't a successful media sales person alive who can't "get it". It's just not that hard. There just aren't that many people very good at explaining it in a way that works for sales people.

I went to one of those Selling Internet Advertising seminars last year. I didn't like it. It wasn't interactive. The trainer went mach 10 with her hair on fire, questions weren't encouraged, and very few concepts seemed to build on one another - it all was just blurted out, one topic after another.

I found it all rather confusing, and I wasn't the only one. One poor woman was in tears at the lunch break, crying into her cell about this being her last chance to "get this stuff" and she wasn't. That's just wrong. No training should make you feel that way.

Being good at any kind of sales is as much about confidence as it is sales. I find that a lot of people who take my training know a heck of a lot more than they think they do. Even if they can't tell me the difference between a static ad and a fixed ad, a decent broadcast or print rep still knows 70% of what they need to sell internet advertising. And the ones who are a little more comfortable with it just need a process and some key things clarified to really rock & roll.

So if you're shopping around for training, ask the people you're talking to if they measure confidence before & after training. If they don't seem to get the point, think twice. If your sales people don't feel like they can kick ass and take names at the end of training, it was a waste of money.