Sales Training – Can your Business Afford not to?
It has been an interesting time lately, world trying to come out of a global recession, Europe looks like it may be plunged back into it again, as a result our dollar is taking a pounding along with the other currencies and all through this kiwi business is battling on. So what can we do to make sure our own businesses do not fall victim to any recession, why not speculate to accumulate, take advantage of the slower pace of our economy and have all your sales teams (including the business owner) do a refresher course on sales, process and technique.
... of course you can sell ice to Eskimos ...
I know what you’re thinking this is just a simple plug for my Sales Training courses, and yes I admit whole heartedly there is a potential connection (feel free to make that connection 
) but on a serious note I hear all to often of companies big and small not doing the basics when it comes to sales and customer retention and because of that I feel the need to part with some general advice and things for your to think about.
Sales Techniques
There is enough information out there to sink the titanic regarding how to sell something and what you are about to read is not going to re-write the book, but I want to remind all you business out there that whether you have a full sales team or whether you are a one man band peddling your wears these techniques still apply!!
- Opening the Sales Process – First impressions count, our brains are such powerful mechanisms that they can asses a person, situation, object in as little as 3 seconds and by 20 seconds the brain will have decided what type of person it is looking at, are they a threat or not, is the situation itself hostile or safe and is the object being observed look as if it will harm me or benefit me. That is why you have such a limited window of opportunity to make that right impression, if successful you will be off to a great start, if not you’d be as well going home!!
- Identifying needs not wants – One of the hardest part of the sales process (next to closing the sale) is to properly identify exactly what it is your customer needs. What is the real reason for them to come and see you, how do you stop yourself making assumptions about your customer, can you distinguish the difference between what your customer wants as opposed to what they need or are they one of the same thing, you get this right and the sale will be all but secured.
- Add on Sales – It is more cost effective for any business to sell more than one product at any one time as the business only has to pay for the one sales process. If done correctly you may be helping your customer too!
- Closing the Sale – For many professionals who are not in the sales industry this part of the selling process tends to be the most difficult, asking someone for the business. This can be made less daunting especially if you know what type of buying signals to look out for, for example if the customer continually agrees with what you are saying, they may start inquiring about other products that go with the main item, they may ask about warranties and they may even take their wallet out!! Read the signs and take appropriate action immediately.
There are other process that go on during a sale but get the basics above right and you’ll find you and your team will convert more and more sales, once you have the customer you then need to look after them but more about that on my next blog. Happy selling
I have a staff member whom is very efficent but struggles to make the customer a friend from the start. Also to break the ice and create a warm friendly enviroment.
Russell Reardon on August 29th, 2011
Hi Russell, thanks for your comment. It can be quite intimidating for certain sales people, trying to build that rapport with someone they have never met before. There are many things they can do to lessen the stress, the first is to go into any meeting prepared, what would a successful outcome look like – it may only be to get the business card of the key contact for the business. Once they know the objective of the meeting, they prepare their conversation and questions around that objective.
One of the other things I would do on a regular basis is “sweep the room”, take in everything in the room, what pictures are on the wall, are their trophies sitting around, are there any family pictures, is there a golf bag sitting in the corner? Every office has something personal in it, identify what that is and open up the conversation around that, get the customer talking about things that they have a genuine passion for!!
Dave on August 30th, 2011