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My “Biased” Thoughts On Most Sales Training…

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With the podcast that we do (www.advancedsellingpodcast), we get a lot of questions on what we think of sales training. Well, it’s kind of like asking the chef if the food’s good in the deli next door. You kind of know what his answer will be.

Most of the time, these questionners are wondering because they are in the midst of searching for sales training, sales management training, or other professional development.

There’s a ton of training out there–and rather than me comment on any by name–I would prefer to suggest a very short list of things I would look for if I were on the other side of the desk–buying it instead of selling it.

1. Complete Assessment. So much garbage is “off the shelf” training that can’t be customized for your business. It HAS TO BE CUSTOMIZED for not just your business (and the language you use), but for your people, too. If you have a senior group, you’d better be speaking to some higher philosophies like comfort zones, high self image, and large deal negotiation skills.

Make sure the trainer, upfront, asks you (or your manager) a lot of questions about where in the sales process things stall out, how you feel about that, what isn’t happening that needs to, what do you want to get your prospect to admit to, and are there any emotional roadblocks to high achievement (self image issues)?

A Terrible Sales Training Story…I had a client tell me yesterday that he just returned from a 2-day training where the facilitator (from a global training company) read her PowerPoint slides from the screen and when finished with each one, said, “What do you think about that?” EVERY SLIDE!!! Wow, now there’s some real growth happening there?!?!?!!? (And I’m sure the company paid $000,000 for that content).

2. Content Philosophy. Most sales training has, at it’s core, an intent of helping you “sell more stuff.” That is totally wrong (as far as I’m concerned). A better intent is to help the constituent (seller) “discern” between someone who can and will buy–and another who can’t.

You can call that “qualifying” if you want but I actually think that word has been overused. Most often it’s used to make ANY PROSPECT FIT. The philosophy of great sales training content should be to help you understand and articulate the value you bring–and do that ONLY to people who have pains/problems that need to be solved. (Many people are willing to live in their own garabge–they aren’t prospects. Great sales training helps you discern the economically serious from the merely curious.)

Make sure the training content speaks to the inner game/soul of the trainee. That’s where all of the action is anyway. It’s not in the words you use, or how high up you call in the prospect company, or how elaborate your 12-step sales process is. It starts with the 6″ of real estate between your ears. If the content you buy doesn’t deal with that, then it won’t catapult you much.

3. Ongoing Nature. Training for adults can’t be delivered effectively in a one-day seminar. That’s just not how we learn best. Meaningful sales training, advanced or basic, must have frequent reinforcement to it. Personally, I think it should be every 2-4 weeks. It doesn’t have to be face to face (it could be via phone/web), but there has to be a regular way to reconnect with people in the training (and the trainer.)

A Suggestion:
One thing we do is the monthy TeleTraining Call. There is no new topic discussed. It is only a) a reinforcement of some of the work we’ve done already and b) a chance for people to bring issues/problems to the trainer.

If you have hired a trainer and they can’t stop talking about new techniques or how great they are, fire him and find another. Part of the great value of effective sales training is to allow the constituents to open up and speak freely about their problems, without the fear of getting jumped on. 

I hope this helps if you’re in the mode of searching for someone who can help you grow your business by implementing a sound sales strategy in your company. Remember, a trainer today should have much more knowledge than just sales techniques to share. He must understand people, human nature, how organizations (prospect) work, and how decisions are made.

If all he can do is recite from the book (or read PowerPoints), he’s not worth much, regardless of how little you’re paying.

You say that You Want Your Sales Results to be Different – Are You Sure You’re Ready?

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By Brooke Green”Fear” Installment #1

I read an article recently in Fast Co. (www.fastcompany.com) magazine about the Fear of Learning.  Marcia Conner states that while some people say that they need fear to excel, too much fear about what there is to learn can actually shut you down.   It started me thinking about how fear manifests itself in training.

Of course, when we start working with a new client there is a lot of fear:

*Fear of the unknown – What if I find out something about myself that I don’t like?
*Fear of what you aren’t very good at being revealed – What if I appear stupid in front of my peers or my boss?
*Fear of not being able to “get it” – What if everyone else catches on and I can’t?  What will they think?
*Fear of losing the familiar – What if everything I thought I knew was wrong?  What if I learn something new and people expect more from me?

Ms. Conner goes onto ask the question, “Are you afraid of revealing the terrible secret that you aren’t as brilliant as you’ve led people to believe?” 

Are you afraid of looking dumb to get smarter?  We are in a constant state of learning.  Sometimes that means being open to not knowing everything.   I had a mentor once tell me “If it doesn’t hurt, you aren’t learning.”  It’s so true.

Think about one part of your sales process that isn’t working.  Maybe it’s your income overall.  Do you find yourself looking to the outside – bad prospects, bad territory, bad product?  Try looking inside – is it really something that you’re afraid of fixing that’s holding you back?

Stay tuned for “Fear” Installment #2…

Lost Your Sales Mojo? Here’s How To Get It Back.

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By Brooke Green

There have been plenty of conversations in our sales training programs lately about something that hits all of us, the loss of “mojo.”  We’ve all been there – one day you’ve got a bunch of deals on the brink of landing, you’re counting your money, and within 24 hours those deals collapse and it becomes obvious to you that you don’t know what you’re doing!!  Now, that’s not the truth, it just feels like that.

Things fall apart because you don’t pay attention to your gut.  What happens when you don’t listen to the voice within?  You……

  1. Don’t ask the right / tough questions
  2. You know you don’t have all of the decision makers in the room, but don’t do  anything about it
  3. Skip steps of your sales process

I could go on and on, but basically you wimp out – you go to your prospect’s process because, at the time, it feels less painful.  How much pain are you feeling now????  So, how do you get your “mojo” back?

Being from Indianapolis, our minister couldn’t help but integrate the recent Colts comeback win into his message on Sunday.  As he said during our sermon, “hope saves.” Hoping isn’t enough, but it has to be alive to get you back up and out there.  Hope is a synonym for faith and trust in my book.  Go back to what you trust – YOUR PROCESS!

Remind yourself what your process is, how it has worked for you in the past, and how temporary pain saves you serious pain later.  Our minister also reminded us of the hope that the Colts hung onto when they were down 21-3 at halftime.  Coach Dungy didn’t remind them of their mistakes during halftime.

Instead, he reminded them of what got them to this point – their PROCESS, their game plan – sticking to what they know works, even when it’s painful.

So, don’t continue to beat yourself up.  Take the lesson and move on.  Trust what you know, stick with it.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t, but you always know you did your best on your terms.

Closing Skills. Necessary? Or Just Annoying to the Prospect?

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I was reading Jill Konrath’s blog on closing skills. Thought I’d add my 5c to it. There’s actually nothing I don’t agree with in it.

Here’s my spin: In professional sales, you are a catalyst for change. Your role is to create an atmosphere with the prospect where truth can occur. If you’re reading this, it’s likely you’re in a relationship sale (vs. a one time sale). The absolute worst thing you can do is ‘get needy’ near the end of the sales process by focusing on closing the deal.

If your prospect–for one nanosecond–feels that neediness (or desperation) then their sixth sense kicks in and they begin to wonder, ‘what is this person’s intent?’

That isn’t a good sign. In most sales training, there is a fair amount of learning around closing skills. We are opposed to that. If you’re doing everything in the sales process well, upfront, then the close should be a natural part of the decision cycle. Not something that requires a move of some kind.

Here are three closing tips:
1. Get better at finding the problem. Sales is focused on problem  solving. When you are poorly trained at finding the problem, then closing skills won’t help you.

2. Have a sales process. The close should be nothing more than the next likely thing to happen as you’re guiding your prospect through the process. No magic moves needed. Most sales people have no process.

3. Ask the prospect when they want to begin solving this problem. You should be asking the prospect what he wants to do next in order to get his problem solved. Your wishes should not enter the picture. (Now, remember, I suggested in #1 and #2 that you should get better at finding the pain the prospect has–then the close is when the prospect asks you, “how quickly can you fix this for me?” Isn’t that better?

In Same Game New Rules, I talk about the process of selling and how vital it is if you’re going to acheive any sustainable sales success. I also say that the prospect needs to be selling you–and therefore, closing you.  That comes along with having a Problem Orientation to your sales philosophy.

Do it the right way and closing skills cease to be an issue. If your sales training program stresses ‘closing skills’ as an important part of the process, then they’re stressing the wrong thing.

Lost Journal (Part I)

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When my mom died this year, I was amazed as I cleaned out her home, as to how many journals she had, most with only a page or two filled out. Well, it must be in the Caskey DNA because, come to think of it, I have a lot of journals started as well.

In fact, I came across one last week that was more than half full. And it had recaps of some of my personal therapy/coaching/counseling sessions. I give this to you because some of this informs the training that we do at Caskey. It’s “the inner game” work we do. I hope some of these notions can make a slight difference in your life–as they have in mine. I’ll be exploring a few each week until the end of the year.

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It’s never about me. It’s about the problem I’m put on this earth to solve.
This was a good one to start with. It came as a result of my resistance to moving out of my comfort zone. In my training work with people, I see comfort zones as a big roadblock to people (me included) making serious, sustainable changes in their lives. We forever talk about how we “aren’t where we want to be,” but if it takes change, then we resist.

This quote helps me reframe the game–if I see everything as being about me (the money I make, the customers I sell, what I can get out of something), then I will forever be a hostage to my comfort zone.

But if I’m on a journey larger than just satisfying my own needs–and think about my life as having a purpose beyond me, then comfort zones won’t be a problem. If I feel like I have an obligation to live a bigger life, ask a bigger question, serve a bigger purpose, then all the right results will happen.

If you’re a manager, and you have people that you believe are operating inside their comfort zone, have a conversation with them about their bigger story. If they don’t have one, then don’t expect them to move outside their zone much. You, as a manager should use 2007 to help them reframe their bigger journey.

Comments welcome and wanted.

Insurance Sales People–Uggh.

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Let me preface this by saying that I realize the importance of life insurance in our lives.

But, have you been called on lately by a life insurance agent? What do you notice? And can we B2B sales people learn a lesson from them (how not to do things)? The answer is YES!

Last month, a young man called me from a reputable, brand name life insurance company. He was a great guy, trying to make it in a very tough business. I asked him how he got his new clients and, of course, his answer was: Referrals.

Being in the sales training business, I was interested in how he accomplished this since I know that referrals can be difficult to get in that business. Everyone has been ‘hit up’ repeatedly for ‘names of friends.’

What he told me was remarkable.
Remarkable in the sense that it’s the same routine agents have been using for eons. You know the drill: after the discussion (whether a person buys or not) he asks for names of 5 of my friends that he could talk to. No wonder there is such a high turnover among young agents in that business.

Ever wanting to help my friends, here are some suggestions for him and any of us that depend upon referrals for new business.

1. Make it easy. He made it tough. I am sensitive to my brand (and you should be too). If I give one of my clients’ names to him and he treats them shoddily, then I pay the price. We know how valuable good relationships are — don’t make me risk those relationships. He didn’t make it easy for me.

He should have had a product (a CD or a White Paper) stressing the pains that the average insurance consumer has in their life–and what to do about it. He should have given me a few to send my friends so they could become educated prior to ‘the call.’ Had he done that, I might have sent it out to a few people and who knows what would have happened.

2. Invite me to an event. I know everyone says ‘its hard to get people to seminars these days.’ Well, it is if it isn’t compelling. He should have a series of events lined up so that he could invite me to them–then I could get to know him and his team better. This seminar could have been a ‘pain-finding’ exercise where he could have educated me to the problems I have (that I may not know I have.) Don’t make this event a one hour sales pitch.

3.  Focus on solving my problems first. He didn’t ask me any questions about my issues, my future, my concerns. I feel like I have things under control, but maybe I don’t. But he didn’t do that. I felt like he was interested in one thing only and that was ‘getting to my database.’ How can I make an engaged referral to a friend if I didn’t see value in his offer?

My friend, John Jantsch, (Duct Tape Marketing) has written extensively on referrals. One of his great suggestions is to make getting referrals a part of doing business with someone. In other words, when someone buys, tell them upfront that you will be asking them for referrals (how many when and how). But that’s onlyY AFTER YOU DO BUSINESS WITH THEM.

What about you? Are you making it easy for people to refer you to their associates? Or, are you depending upon your charm and good looks to do that? People refer their associates when they think it’s in their best interest to do so–and that probably means that you bring enormous value and solve big problems.

But if your whole sales approach is “me centered” or “product centered” then don’t expect me to open my database. It’s too risky.

(I’m sure I’ll get numerous comments (some ugly) from the insurance market. But this is in the spirit of helping, not shaming.)

“She Left The Store–He Got Nothing!”

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I’m a bit crazy these days. I think this business is doing it to me. Why, you ask?

I have this philosophy–call it spiritual or call it practical–but the foundation of the philosophy is that the Universe guarantees the potential for our profound success—just for showing up.

Here’s the story.
I was at my pool retailer this weekend (having problems getting chemicals right–in the 100 degree weather). This retailer also built my pool so I know he has a high ticket sale on the front end ($50-100,000) with low ticket sales on the back end (chemicals).

I’m standing there waiting for my results to be analyzed and a lady walks in asking about pools. The owner (actually the owner’s son) is talking with her. Do you know what buying signals are? Those casual references to problems the prospect wants solved–the deep desire the prospect has to solve her problem? Well, this lady was pitching buying signals right and left at the owner.

He walked her through some of the features (seldom asking any questions about why she was interested or what she was hoping to accomplish with a pool). And the lady says, “This is VERY interesting. We’re going to do something this year. Let me think about it and come back in. OK?”

Being a sales trainer, I’m interested in the interaction–listening to this conversation. I can’t keep quiet. I say, “You know if you want a great pool contractor, this is the guy. He just put our pool in and it’s wonderful.”

She says, “Oh, great. That’s good to know.” And walked out.

I was aghast! A $70,000 sale that walked in the door and walked out and HE HAS NOTHING! Not a name. Not an address. Not a hint at where she is in the cycle. HE HAS NOTHING!

I came to my senses and kept my mouth shut…
As I walked out I thought how often that happens to each of us. Maybe not where a person wants to buy and we won’t let them. But think how often you come across someone–maybe you meet at a friend’s house–or at a civic lunch–and we get nothing from them. No business card. No phone number. Nothing.

And that person is quickly forgotten. Yet that person could be a suspect for what we do–or at the very least, they know others who are. Yet, we let opportunity slip away.

The Lesson
Be “list conscious.” Think like a direct mail company thinks. The list is the thing. That’s all the direct mailer has–a list. If it’s a good list, they get wealthy. If it’s not, they work on building the best list.

You have a list–and your list has the potential to grow everyday–with everyone you meet. So get a “list process” to make sure that everyone you meet gets on your email list, or your Friends & Associates list.

Capture data. It’s the thing that will make you an elite acheiver. While everyone else is sending blind direct mail and making cold calls, you’re harvesting those relationships that began with a brief introduction and ended with a happy client.

“How Do I Start The Sales Process?”

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Question From Blog Reader:

I’m assuming that you mean: “how do I start the process so that I can control it all the way through?” That’s a better question. In this post, I give you several components of how to handle the very first call.

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THE DEATH OF THE DECISION MAKER

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I had a revelation this week that has led me to think about an old “sales 101” rule in a completely different light. If you’ve been a salesperson for longer than 10 minutes, you certainly know rule #1 is to always talk to the decision maker. “Get past the gatekeeper….find the decision maker….”

You’ve heard this in sales training class for decades. But I’ve decided to re-write the rule. Here’s the deal: There is NO SUCH THING AS “A” DECISION MAKER anymore.

Gone are the days of “my way” or “the highway” management and people making decisions at their desk or over a two martini lunch. Without question, virtually every decision made by a purchaser includes input from more than one person. Granted one person may have veto power over the decision, but rest assured that that person is collecting input, opinion and data from others.

Here’s how I’d suggest you change your process given this new vane of thought:

1 -Talk to EVERYONE who will be impacted by the purchase. If you sell dump trucks, don’t just talk to the owner of the construction company, talk to the driver’s who will be using your equipment, talk to the dispatchers, talk to the maintenance people, and talk to the CFO. All of these people will be both involved in the decision to buy your dump trucks AND in the longevity of your relationship.

2 -Stop worrying about hurting people’s feelings. I hear this in our sales training classes a lot. “I don’t want to offend my buyer by going over their head.” That’s like saying, “I don’t want to tell that guy with cancer that I have a cure, because I only deal with his spouse.” INSANE. You’re there to HELP-not to keep everyone’s feelings from being hurt.

3 -Make it part of your process from Day 1: Be sure to tell new prospects the first time you meet them, that you’ll be talking to several people in their organization as you attempt to offer them a viable solution. You won’t get nearly as much resistance if you tell them upfront you’re going to talk to their boss than if you wait until it’s too late.

The death of “the decision maker” is upon us.