Sales Training To Grow People. And Grow Businesses

Salespeople, what’s the number one attribute of the best manager you’ve had? Bryan recently conducted an informal poll, and the answers are surprisingly simple. In this episode, Bill and Bryan discuss the attributes of a good manager and continue a previous discussion on motivation.

 

 Attributes of a Good Sales Manager (15:00): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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A few days ago I read an article by Paul Bracken, Professor of Management at Yale in Futurist Magazine. In the article he addressed how learning is changing — and leaders need to be much more flexible and adaptive as we head into tumultuous times.

He maintains that the prime learning tool to be used by Leaders or Learners of any kind is Scenario Learning.

His philosophy is simple and elegant: Case studies don’t work because the outcome is already presented. It’s much more taxing, motivating and valuable to take scenarios that “could happen” and strategize around them rather than things that have happened (case studies).

Be Preemptive In Your Process

Now to some, that sounds absurd. “Why would you want to waste any time working on things that will likely never happen?”

To which I would say, hold on a minute. Who’s to say the value is in predicting the future. To me it’s in preventing the future—at least that future that’s full of stress and anxiety because something happened you weren’t ready for.

Rather than waiting until something happens, why can’t you take precaution so it NEVER happens. Can’t you be proactive? Or preemptive? That’s exactly what scenario learning will teach you.

A Sales Example

In our sales training practice, there are a handful of customer encounters that happen all the time that drive you crazy. For example, here’s a common one:

You’re all the way through the sales process and your buyer tells you it’s not going to happen because there’s no money in their budget.

Now that is a scenario you’ve heard before, but are you ready to deal with it? Better yet, did you do anything in the sales process to prevent it? Probably not.

In fact, most sales orgs spend most of their training time talking about how to handle it when it happens—rather than the right thing to do—work on how to prevent it.

By examining “why” that scenario happens, you can aptly take preemptive action so it never happens to you.

Tip: Take the top 20 scenarios that happen to you and have discussion around how to prevent them. If your time has high value (>$500/hour), then you should consider The Sales Playbook, a product I’ve created that has the top 100 scenarios that salespeople face—and how to handle/prevent them. Or you can do it yourself and save the $100.

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Daryl Mather, over at Consulting Pulse, asked me to answer a few questions via email that he posted last week.

This site is mainly for consultants/professional services providers, but my belief is that selling services like this is just the same as selling products. There are things to do…and things to avoid.

• How do I close without using closing techniques?
• If I’m a consulting practice, do I need a salesforce?
• How do I communicate value to constituents?

Daryl had some hard-hitting questions that caused me to think a little about applying our content to other worlds. Once again, go here to read the interview.

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(This is Part One of a five-part series)

Last week, I had the honor to speak at the National Medical Alliance sales conference in Dallas. My client, Jeff Worrell of Advantage Medical, is one of the founders of the alliance and asked me to talk to their network about some modern selling strategies.

I always start speeches by asking, “What’s the biggest problem facing you in sales today?” And as usual, the number one answer was—STALLED DEALS.

This post is for the world to see as well as for the NMA member, because we didn’t quite get to all the reasons deals stall and what to do about them.

There are five reasons your sales processes stall out.

1. You haven’t found the true compelling reason the buyer has for buying.
2. You haven’t made it easier to buy than not to buy.
3. You haven’t laid out a process that he/she can follow.
4. You’re not talking to the right people.
5. You’re too desperate for the sale.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll cover the remaining four parts, but let’s start with number one—you haven’t found a compelling reason for them to change.

In the last week, I’ve run across several of my clients who are struggling with deals they thought were moving along toward the close but all of a sudden hit a road block. In this economy, the problem is even more common. It probably happens as a result of you pitching your solution before the true diagnosis has happened.

At the NMA meeting, where this problem was discussed, they call on therapists who would not dream of doing a recommended therapy program until first the problem is diagnosed and assessed. Yet, we as salespeople go in and launch directly in to the product or service, before we do an adequate diagnostic. Stop that. Right Now!

Inventory of Questions

You need an inventory of pertinent questions to ask your prospect so you can diagnose the issues. Take a lesson from your Dr. He has that clipboard with all of the same questions on it. Why? Because he wants to do a thorough diagnosis of the issues before he prescribes. He doesn’t want to forget one.

You need your own version of the Clipboard.  If you’re calling on someone who is slightly different than the rest of your clients–or you’ve had a brief conversation with him/her, then write down the still-unanswered questions from that talk. But at the least, you should have an inventory of 5-10 questions that are thoughtful and meaningful so you can determine if you can help solve a problem.

Tip: Stop prescribing until the diagnosis is done. Stop pitching until you know what the pain is that the product you are pitching will solve—then you’ll find deals continue to move and not stall out. And you’ll stop wasting your time.

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To some of you who are extremely product focused, that question may sound odd, but it’s really not.

I spoke last week at the National Medical Alliance conference, which is an amalgamation of medical supplies/equipment distributors who call on physical therapists. We did several role plays where we stressed the importance of finding out “a doctor’s pain” prior to introducing a product in the mix. At the end, we had a contest to see who could do that. Of the ten tables (over 100 people), only one was able to set the product aside long enough to find out if I was either open to or had pain around this product.

I don’t blame them. I just know that we use the product as a crutch, as a safety blanket, when we’re talking to prospects.

So, here’s my tip: set the product aside long enough to find out your prospect’s openness and find out the problem that he might have that your product/service will solve. Then you can bring out the product—but not before.

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In this week’s episode of Caskey Q&A Bill Caskey discusses something that not too many sales people think about, but it is something that can help create more business, REFERRALS! Referrals are every sales person’s best friend, they allow clients to vouch for the product or service you have to offer. Referrals are going to be very helpful in this economic slowdown that we’re in. Make sure you check back every week for the latest episode of Sales Training Q&A.

Sales Training Q&A #11: How to Obtain Referrals from Joe Kelner on Vimeo.

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I’ve said before that our sales training clients are the best. Mainly because of their attitude of abundance. When I watch the news, I get depressed. But when I talk to my clients, I get pumped up. 

The grand conclusion came today–a client who owns a medical supply company–said, “I’ve never had so many opportunities–I’m overwhelmed.”

Overwhelmed — In This Economy?

He’s not the only one. I work with an office products supplier (an HP partner). The owner said the same thing. “We had our strongest quarter in two years!”

And how about a local business college that is overwhelmed with opportunities. 

So what’s goin’ on here?  These three–and others I know–have decided that their fate is in their own hands–not the market’s–not the government’s–not their competitor’s–not the media’s.

Yes, we’re getting shot at from all angles–but it’s our choice of how hard we want to work and how much we want to succeed. It has to do with our sales mind set and sales strategy–not the marketplace. 

Economic Slowdowns Create Great Opportunity.

Slowdowns cause fear - but only for the masses. But the elite achiever isn’t afraid at all. In fact, they see opportunities–abundance everywhere they look. Sometimes they have to turn over a few more stones–but it’s there. One thing there is an abundance of in slowdowns is “pain.”

So if you’ve rewired your mind to see yourself as a problem finder (and solver) you’ll do just fine. 

But if you’re still out there hawking products–trying to convince and persuade people to buy something from you, then you’re in for a long haul.

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Was talking to a client’s sales force today on a training conference call and the idea of “changing the game” came up. I’ve always been a proponent of changing the sales game–so the prospect doesn’t treat you like they do all other reps that call on them.

What came out of that call was that there are three boxes we sales people find ourselves in. And the quicker we can extract ourselves from them–or avoid them in the first place (my choice) the better.

1. The Vendor Box

This is the box that all prospects want to put you in–as a vendor. Not as a “partner” or as a “trusted advisor” as many of you would like. But Vendor. (Even the word seems cold and harsh). Vendors sell things. But if you’ve read the 400+- posts on this site, we are ALWAYS talking about showing up as a problem-finder and solver–not as a seller.

So if you’re being treated like a ‘vendor’ don’t blame the prospect. Look in the mirror.

2. The Sales Box

This is what is on your card when you give it to the person. You can put “business development” or “account manager” on your card but to the prospect, it means sales. And to them that means, you’ll do/say what it takes to get an order/the business. So stop the non-sense. Don’t put yourself in the box, for God’s sake. Be different. Act differently. Stop selling and start solving problems.

And the minute you find yourself back in ’sales mode’ catch yourself and stop.

3. Box Box

What the hell is ‘box-box?’ That’s what happens when you actually do have a physical product you ship. Could be an appliance, or a capital good, or a supply. The worst thing you can do is cart out the “pots and pans” (boxes) and start pitching them.

Boxes should only be solutions to problems. So if you must bring it out to show, bring it out ONLY after you’ve gotten some sense of whether they have problems with their current box.

Great sales strategy should always pay attention to the landscape that exists when you show up. By knowing the three boxes you’re liable to get sucked into, you’ll be better able to handle it.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is Kelli Schmith. Kelli is a brilliant marketing exec who recently found herself unemployed. The lesson of this podcast is creating a process for putting yourself in control, whether it’s looking for a new job, wanting to do something else with your career, or wanting to position yourself in your current reality. This is a podcast for any stage you might be in.

http://digdeepthinker.com/

www.visualcv.com

 

 Putting Yourself in Control (20:02): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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