Sales-training

I saw something in town the other day that just really struck me as funny. Not only that, however, it really nailed home a strong lesson for me about how to make more money. I was driving down main street past this old building. I don't know exactly what the building had been used for, possibly a warehouse or something along that line. The thing that was funny about it, however, was the sign it had mounted on the front. It was a sign that had been there for some time, but I'd never really noticed what it said before....

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Solving people's and organization's problems is ultimately whatbusiness is all about. Effective selling involves defining yourexisting or potential customer's problems. If properly "sold",a sales prospect will have his problems solved with yourcompany's products or services. To be successful at selling, you must systematically approach customers with a provenrepertoire of qualifying questions that allows you to clearlyunderstand your customer's current business challenges. In order to most effectively solve your customer's problems youhave to ask questions, the "...

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Are you tired of excuses? Looking for a persuasion technique to get people to take immediate action? Are prospects saying things to you like: "I'll think it over and get back to you?" "I need to talk it over with my wife." "Call me next week and we'll set up an appointment." Then create a sense of urgency and get your clients to want what you have now! The first step in getting people to take immediate action is for them to perceive your product or service as being in demand or in limited supply....

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So -- you've just gotten off of the phone with a potential client. You've explained what you do and how you can help them -- and they still didn't end up hiring you. Where did you go wrong? You are EXPERIENCED, you are professional -- and yet you seem to have a hard time turning those leads into paying clients. Perhaps you are approaching the situation from the wrong perspective. Maybe you are focusing too much on the sale and not enough on the potential for a RELATIONSHIP with this person. Your goal during the "...

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The goal of all sales training is not just to teach solid selling principles and techniques, but to actually help participants increase the number of new accounts (products and/or services) they sell and improve their multiple sales ratios. Unfortunately, many sales and service industry professionals gain an intellectual awareness of the methods of selling from the sales training they receive, yet fail to improve their bottom line sales results by systematically using the concepts in their daily transactions....

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We all want to belong. As humans we feel the need to fit in somewhere, anywhere. I call it the "herd mentality"... we tend to follow what everyone else is doing. Well, Bob and Bill across the street each have satellite dishes... that means I have to get one too. Everyone is driving around in a SUV... that means I have to drive one too. Everyone is wearing baggy pants... that means I have to wear them too. Everyone is carrying around a cell phone... that means I have to carry one around too. My friends are drinking Smirnoff Ice....

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It is always important that you use the right terms when marketing your product to potential buyers. The right terminology may mean increased enquiries for your product and possibly more sales. Failure to use these terms may leave potential customers undecided or going to the competition to satisfy their needs. Your competitors may be making more sales by using these terms intelligently while you are still stuck with dry unattractive terms in your promotional materials. In using these attractive terms care must be taken not to overuse them or to display mere rhetoric with no matching action to back them....

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When I first moved to Seattle, I worked for 9 years as a paint contractor. It is amazing the lessons I learned from this field, that I now carry into the field of sales. For example, before anyone can paint, you must plan what colors and textures you would want. You must have a vision of the finished product before you start. Next will come the preparation work. Before you apply a long-lasting, beautiful finish, you must "prep" the surface by washing, spackling, caulking, or priming. The actual painting comes only after you have spent countless hours preparing for it....

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If you're a business person you want to sell your product or service. If it's been a struggle, then you probably aren't giving your potential customers a good "Reason Why" they should buy from you. Take off your "business person" hat for a minute, and put on your "consumer" hat. You ARE a consumer when you need products other than your own. And why do you buy what you buy? Not just because it's there. Not because someone else needs your business. You buy because you think the product will meet your wants and needs....

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When your company invests in sales training, what is the expected outcome? Is it a change in how your salespeople perform their daily activities - in other words, a change in behavior? Here is a real-life example of a sales training program failure: Executive management at a company I worked for invested more than $600,000 to teach the entire sales team (100+ salespeople) a new sales approach. However, at every turn they looked for ways to reduce training costs and time out of the field. As a result, the sales manager training session was cut from a full day to half a day, and the sales team training was cut from three days to a day and a half....

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Many business owners and professionals are appalled at the thought of having to sell their products or services. If you are going to be successful though, regardless of your profession, you are also going to be in the business of selling. But you don't have to don a plaid jacket and adopt the sales techniques that have made the used car salesman infamous. Imagine that you were in the market to purchase a big screen TV. You had visited a couple of stores to see what was available, done some research on the internet, talked with friends, and narrowed the choice down to 3 models....

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Salesmanship is the force that moves business. Without it all business would be at a stand-still. Just being able to sell does not complete the definition of salesmanship. A fraudulent person may be able to sell you a piece of swamp land, but because they were able to sell the worthless piece of property to you, does that say they demonstrated salesmanship? The answer, of course, is no. The central fact of salesmanship is rending a service to your customer. It has to do with convincing others to buy your goods as a benefit to them at a fair price....

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