I was staring out the jewelry store window on a beautiful fall day in 1997 thinking about business and why I only have two cars in the parking lot. One customer was a forever browser and one was in for a—you guessed it—watch battery.

 Frustrated, I decided to take a drive down the road and found no less than a dozen cars in the parking lot of our newest competitor. Walking inside to introduce myself, I met the manager who happened to be a past rep for a line we carried. I convinced him I was taking him to lunch and there I learned that they were on track to surpass our volume; a 20-year journey for me and theirs was, so far, only a two-year journey. After I nearly fell off my chair, I learned that their secret was two things: marketing and training. 

 And thus began my venture to become proficient at both. This article will focus on training, as marketing is a whole other article!