Sales Training

How can you help them succeed when the economy takes a nose dive?

… and your traditional market’s sinking without trace?

Anybody seen to be “selling” today is probably going to get short shrift, so how about making it easier for your market to buy from you instead?

Think about what your company does for your customers.

Not what you THINK you do (keep their telecoms, IT, delivery, fleet running smoothly) but what they value about what you do enables THEM to do (communicate, run their business optimally, deliver last minute items, keep their employees safe on the roads).

How do you help them do this on time, on budget and protect and advance their company brand and reputation)?

It’s a bit of a different approach different to: “I’m gonna sell you something because I need the business/ need to reach my targets”

The key here is your sales force being able to demonstrate that they understand the worries, cares and hassles of your customers and that you’re here to help them.

They can’t fake this: If they try your customers and prospects see through them in seconds

It’s worth working on, though, and, if your company has genuinely looked after your customers so far, you’ll be in at least as good, if not a better position than your competitors.

Remember: This has to be more than just a slick elevator pitch!

Linda

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An under performing sales person is going to be an unhappy individual who descends into a downward spiral from which it is well nigh impossible to get out of alone.

Here’s the hard bit to swallow:

You are at least partly responsible for the situation if the decision to employ that person was yours - you got some part of the process wrong.

It can be expensive to remove that under performing sales person from your payroll.

Yet it’s expensive to keep such a sales person in terms of not only salary and overheads but also possible damage to your company’s reputation and certain lost business opportunities.

You cannot afford to do nothing: That’s really not an option.

You could

1. Let the person go and replace them
2. Move them to another role in the company and recruit to fill this vacant one
3. Let them go and, if things are really tight, go back to doing the job yourself
4. Or you see if help in the form of training and coaching can turn the person around into a success

It’s worthwhile to bear in mind here that there’s probably already been an investment of time and money whilst this individual went through a product/ service/ solution learning curve before it became evident that certain sales skills were missing. That learning curve will have to be gone through to a greater or lesser degree by anyone else you take on.

In the final option the four key considerations are:

• Does this individual want to learn skills that will enable them to do the job successfully?
• Is he or she capable of learning?

• Have you or can you provide the underpinning proven processes that will help successfully carry out the role?

• Are you prepared to invest in providing training for the individual to get the skills he or she needs?

What would be the best way forward for your company and all involved?

Linda

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I’ve just taken a sales call. It could have been funny if it wasn’t so out of order.

The guy introduces himself with his full name (Joe Smith - hmm) and that of his company and asks if I can help him (doesn’t ask who I am, though).

He then goes into what they do but nothing about where or how they need help. As I’m up to my eyes, I ask him if he’s trying to sell me something.

Er, yes, but, get this:

He proudly shares the fact that they’re fellow members of the London Chamber of Commerce - we’re in the same network - as if this fact makes everything okay!

And he then tries to continue tselling me what they do.

Now despite the fact (or perhaps because of it) that telemarketing and telesales happens to be one of the areas I train in, I’m normally quite forgiving when I’m on the receiving end of a sales call. Yet I’m not amused by this approach and am rapidly losing what little patience I started with. So I tell him I’m not really interested.

Why not?

Not wishing to be rude, I tell him it’s a bad time, I’m really busy.

When would be better, later this week, next week?

I’ve said I’m not interested. I’ve said I’m busy. What else do I have to do?

Give me strength!

If this sounds like any of your sales people’s telephone calls, may I respectfully suggest:

You either give them training or fire them.

Linda

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Before you rush to write that job description and even start the recruitment process take some time out, go back to basics and think hard. Ideally you should:

1. Know from your own experience what needs to be done and how to do it to take your company forward in terms of your sales and marketing activities
2. Ensure that you understand what strategy works best for your company in your market and why
3. Be able to articulate your company’s positive differentiation from its competitors
4. Have a good and fair idea of what you could reasonably expect from someone who would be in a full time sales role
5. Have processes in place that anyone with the right attitude, product knowledge and ethical sales skills can follow and achieve your expectations

Obvious? Yes. Simple? Possibly. Easy? It may take some time but it’s worth getting right! You want this sales person to fit in and succeed.

Happy hunting

Linda

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Know your product or service inside out and believe in it

This is crucial. It is the only way you will successfully be able to show any prospect how they could benefit from owning and using it. Anything else is a con.

This doesn’t mean being able to ‘blind the the prospect’ with science on how your product or service works. Most, believe it or not, really will not care! It does, however, mean being able to demonstrate that you understand your prospect’s business and the problems/ pains that you can help him/ her solve.

Be prepared and reap the benefits!

Linda

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