I still do not know whether I am stupid, smart or just getting wiser as I get older.

Once in a while, you get great ideas that come to you - they seem so clear that it looks like a television commercial showing off the spring water that flows from the purest waters at some remote village in the Alps.

Some people call this an epiphany; I call it a "moment in the shower."

Either way, the idea was one of those moments where everything comes together that makes the puzzle look so complete that it is time to frame it. (Personally, I don't do puzzles, and if I did, they would go back in the box when completed and not on my wall.)

One of my clients is the largest health insurance provider in the area, and I have been consulting a number of years for the company now.

Our relationship is very comfortable, on both sides, so that we say what is on our minds, and we do not hold back our opinions.

One day, I called the office of one of the company's senior vice presidents, and his assistant said that he was at an all-day underwriting training seminar that just happened to be down the street from my office.

I thought, "Hey, I will stop in for a while, sit in the back of the room and watch a little of the training to see how it is being administered, etc."

I was admiring the role-playing and the specific training that they were conducting by learning to price a client through different underwriting techniques.

All the people in the room were engaged and enjoying the exercise.

Then it hit me like a tidal wave in a bathtub!

What have I been doing for 23-plus years when it comes to sales training?

I basically have been offering content in a fun environment interlaced with stories and concepts to make the day seem enjoyable and entertaining but still providing complete sales training.

But was I really? Oh sure, the audiences enjoyed it (or so I am told), but what was the "take away," or how much was really retained? That, to me, is the most important.

Bottom line, in my opinion, I feel that I was engaging my audience with a long keynote address rather than pure sales training.