Ideas to Grow Sales

Sales Skills - How to Get Better at Getting Better

2012-01-24T12:39:00.000Z

Do you push forward the frontiers of your learning, or merely absorb the lessons that come your way?

Many respond with, "It depends on whether I am interested in the subject of the learning".

250,000 Sales Skill Related Searches a Day

So given that there are about seven billion people on the planet, it's safe to assume that some proportion of this number are interested in sales skills, even if it is only as a means to an end. Google searches on this and related terms number around a quarter of a million a day.

Many abilities come together under the banner of sales skills. At SalesSense, we have listed 17 in a sales competence model. Universal ability isn't necessary. Competence arises from a subset of abilities, utilised to varying degrees.

Sales flair or talent might be considered to be a mixture of motivation, mindset, knowledge, and skills. The skills that combine to make up sales competence are the same soft skills required for performing well in any pursuit.

Generic Value of Sales Skills - Example

Interpersonal communication demands an important place in every sales competence model. About 170,000 Google searches a day concern this topic.

Improving interpersonal communication has countless benefits for people in all walks of life's adventure. For example, if any thought or idea is to gather momentum it must first be communicated in a way that causes resonance with others. Then as like thoughts and ideas coalesce, once an undefined threshold is passed, the intent is inevitably fulfilled. It doesn't matter how impossible something seems at the outset or what obstacles are encountered along the way. Providing the massed will of those supporting the idea remains above the threshold, nothing can derail its realisation.

Support for an idea depends more on the way it is communicated than any notional intrinsic worth. Ability to stir a response, to fan sparks of inspiration and transform them into the passion of conviction is what makes action inevitable.

Aspects of Interpersonal Communication Skills

Effective interpersonal communication skill is easily divided into a range of separate skills including listening, questioning, reading non-verbal nuances, noticing details, quick thinking, acting, and timing.

Improving soft skills is very similar to improving physical skills. To develop prowess in most sports, one must create the muscle and the memory of how to use it. It takes much application, repetition, and persistence to achieve mastery. Our soft skills rest on decades of habit. Merely noticing a better way of doing something does not change the habits. They are like strong elastic bands that force conformance with the comfortable established pattern whenever attention is elsewhere.

Focus on One Thing at a Time

Know person can learn everything and who would want to? Why try and learn how to do things that you don't like doing or don't have aptitude for doing well.

We can leave learning to chance or set out to improves skills that will be most useful in moving towards any identified purpose. There isn't much time. Making time for practise is as difficult as keeping New Year resolutions.

First, choose a target.

Improvement depends on having a distinct and clearly defined purpose so any tool or method that improves distinction, aids deliberate learning. First define the skill, habit, or action you want to develop.

To choose a distinct development aim, start by listing all of the skills and habits associated with the desired competence. Next, explore each aspect of the competence to assess your current level of skill or performance. Rank yourself using a balanced scorecard approach. Identify your strengths and weaknesses.

The necessary development actions should become obvious.

This is the principle we have used to develop the SalesSense assessment tools. Try an example free of charge to experience the value.

Progress depends on choosing one thing to focus on at a time and then holding the magnifying glass still enough for long enough.

Sales Preparation for a Falling Market

2011-10-07T14:17:00.001+01:00

Announcing 'Selling in a Downturn two day sales training course. Learn new strategies and methods for sustaining business in difficult trading conditions. Update skills and refresh best practice. Attend this course to prepare for a falling market or to increase sales effectiveness in an increasingly competitive market.

This is an update of the programme attended by many in the first half of 2009. It presents proven solutions for the most challenging aspects of a downturn or recession:

Use thoughts and thinking to affect sales results

Increase access and influence in existing customers

Find new customers less affected by the downturn

Recognise excellent prospects without having to call them

Get through and get a hearing when they won’t take your call

Get an introduction when you have no links

Skip deals that won't happen, can’t be won, or won’t be worthwhile

Have prospects tell you the things they would rather not

Find out what prospects will spend when they would rather not say

Speak with all decision influencers even when you are blocked

Have prospects develop their own irresistible value proposition

Set up a sales process agreement that turns the sale into collaboration

Set yourself apart through a proposal or presentation

Have prospects press themselves for a decision

Many businesses have been unable to reignite growth since the end of the last recession as the economy continues to deliver little encouragement. Invest the equivalent of £2.86 a day for each working day of 2012 and equip yourself or your team for a better year.

Call +44 118 933 1357 for early booking offers or book online to collect bonus items:

Selling in a Downturn

Sales Management in a nutshell

2011-06-18T09:48:00.000+01:00

In general, people do what their management pay attention to. This fades as the proportion of performance based compensation increases. At some point, people pay more attention to the dictates of their compensation plan rather than what their managers say or do.

Sales management is about doing the right thing at the right time. In some cases, coaching should take priority over pipeline review, in others it might be the other way around. In other circumstances, managing upwards takes the spotlight. The right response depends on situations and circumstances.

Priorities must be juggled from moment to moment and day to day, according to individual and organisational needs. Systematisation is an important part of the job and external input is valuable however, only the manager in the situation is in a position to know the best response to circumstances and events. That's what the extra pay is for.

It would be nice to have a set of unchanging mores or memes that could be learnt and adopted to guide all decisions. In the real world, even the rock of principle is subject to the shifting foundations of organisational culture and necessities.

The best learning a sales manager can undertake is to relentlessly expand understanding of human nature, constantly add new communication methods, techniques, and tools to the toolbox, and continually sense the winds of change.

There is no silver bullet, no short cut that negates the need for diligence. Forethought, planning, and preparation are the only reliable means of influencing any outcome. Outstanding sales management and leadership depends on the willingness of those in the role to ask more of themselves and the people they lead than anyone else would.

Should Sales Invest More in Digital and Social Media

2011-06-05T21:04:00.002+01:00

Skip forward if you have already read 'Thought for the Week', sent to Sales Drive Journal subscribers. Below are some ideas for improving online persona's.

Recent 2011 Hubspot survey data shows a significant swing towards business to business use of digital and social media with 62% of respondents now acknowledging that a company blog is critically important. 44% of respondents now rate You Tube and Face Book as being critically important, an increase of 76% on the 2010 survey. Business interest in twitter has almost doubled from 21% in 2010 to 38% in 2011.

It’s clear that marketing budgets are now mostly absorbed by digital media initiatives. Are sales people able to leverage this investment? Should some marketing investment be directed towards digitally enabling sales people?

In 2010, 43% of SalesSense new business contacts came from digital media. For us, 2010 sources included natural search, web site presence, email marketing, two blogs, twitter, and LinkedIn. We have added You Tube and Face Book in 2011. Over 3% of our web site traffic now comes from LinkedIn.

If you think these numbers are significant, they may prompt a strategy review. It seems to me that these changes will force closer alignment between sales and marketing.

How could sales invest in digital media?

First meeting preparation has moved beyond a quick look at the company's web site.

Just as sales people have taken up the habit of Googling individuals before they meet them, prospective customers are doing the same for the sales people.

Most sales people have yet to take control of their online person.

If you have an unusual name, anyone searching for information about you is likely to find all sorts of obscure information. If you have a common name, a search might not turn up any information about you at all.

When you type your own name into Google, what appears? Does it give a good impression, no impression, or a bad impression?

If nothing comes up, is this neutral or negative?

Supposing that you don't like the result of a search using your name, what might you do about it? Can you call on any support from your employer?

Businesses go to great lengths to develop a positive online persona. As buying practices evolve, this needs to be extended to encompass the online persona's of the people who represent the company. Profiling customer facing staff on the company web site demonstrates openness and increases perceived trustworthiness. This increases the value of search engine optimisation investments.

There is a lot that individuals can do to improve their online persona. Updating and completing all online profiles helps. LinkedIn profiles normally appear on the first page for a Google search. Having a personal blog or web site provides an opportunity to influence ones online persona. Updating privacy settings on purely social places such as Face Book and My Space will prevent unwanted references appearing in search results.

There are many other areas where today's digital sales people can leverage digital and social media marketing investment to increase their online effectiveness and re engage with customers and prospects, early in their buying process.

Is Telesales Still Effective - Are there New Tricks to Learn?

2011-04-20T08:42:00.002+01:00

Those who measure the telesales ratio between dials and decision maker conversations, are increasingly reporting a disturbing trend. Averaging our customer data and that which we have from third parties suggests that it now takes almost twice as many dials per decision maker conversation than it did three years ago.

This trend is the result of a change in the way buyers engage with suppliers. Increasingly, buyers are using subscriptions, blogs, and forums to maintain awareness of new ideas in their area of interest and when something catches their attention, they investigate through online research.

The shift towards this approach is gathering pace. The result is that buyers have less need to speak with sales people early in their buying process. If this trend continues, sales people may find themselves becoming little more than quote and proposal generators.

The counter argument is that potential customers still respond to the right message at the right time. Perhaps more than ever, sales people need more efficient ways to identify the right prospective customers and the right time to deliver their message.

Those buyers who are already maximising their use of online tools to improve decision making should be easier to identify using those same online tools.

There is a whole new sales language to learn. Looking forward, sales people need to make use of online tools at least as effectively as buyers. Dialogue will take place in a multi party anonymous environment, first. Then later, the conversation will migrate to a more traditional one to one exchange.

There is a risk this is seen as a cop out by the talented top 10%, who will continue to get results. Peeling the onion, those top performers are often the ones who have developed an extensive network of contacts to whom they have become known.

A close associate likes to accuse me of misrepresentation when I say I make cold calls. He is right. Many of the people I call are predisposed to speak. I may never have spoken with them before however, over the course of fifteen years, they have become aware of the services we offer, through our Sales Drive Journal, email marketing, using free resources on our web site, and reading my blog. Then there are the people who follow the online discussions I post in, the questions I answer, the people who follow my tweets, and the connections I make through networking.

Those who have been diligent in building their network, never have to make truly cold calls, either real or virtual. The telesales approach to finding new business works best when integrated with professional networking.

Clobber the Sale Price Objection

2011-03-17T22:32:00.000Z

When they say your price is too high . . .

Agree . . .It's important that you are satisfied that anything you buy will be worth the investment. Build agreement . . .Could I just confirm the things about this widget that interested you to begin with . . . Clarify . . . What was it that made you concerned about the price at this point? Then Delay . . . Let the customer have the air to turn around his own objection. If he doesn't, Establish . . . What would you need to be able to go ahead at this point? or How far apart are we? Then Fix . . .

If you were paying attention you will have spotted the ABCDEF of turning an objection around!

Lots more gold here:

http://www.salessense.co.uk/negotiation_skills

Debunking Eight Debunked Sales Training Myths

2011-02-08T17:13:00.001Z

Reverse engineering some sales myths, already debunked by my favourite myth debunking author, Geoffrey James on Bnet, I found some residual value in many of the old sayings:

1. The customer is always right

This idea is easy to deride and our own survey of senior executives suggests that they value sales people who are prepared to suggest alternative solutions. Pretending a customer is always right is likely to come across as patronising.

On the other hand, the saying should prompt caution. Customers are quick to anger when a sales person's ears seem closed to the information and insight on offer. It is always a good idea to exhaust the listening first and avoid jumping to premature conclusions.

Contradicting anyone is bound to increase resistance and friction. It is perfectly possible to feed customers a better idea have them claim the new idea as their own. After all, our own ideas are always better than anyone else's.

2. Great products sell themselves

Not a sales training myth but an anti myth. Well if the scientists can invent dark matter to balance their equations, I can invent anti myths! This one reminds me of a book titled 'Selling the Wheel' by Jeff Cox - reviewed here. Yes, even the wheel had to be sold.

I agree with the error in this myth. The scepticism of the unenlightened can overwhelm the latest and greatest mouse trap. Many of the man kinds best ideas have had to be reinvented, sometimes several times over, for the want of a salesman.

3. Selling equals schmoozing

Not a term you like to be associated with? I guess it depends what you interpret the term 'schmoozing' to mean. Geoffrey labels it defunct. Bnet peer Steve Tobak says it's essential. Read his perspective here.

I think its important to make people feel comfortable. The best means of achieving rapport varies according to the people involved and the circumstances.

4. Sales people are paid too much

This is a very tender point in the UK right now, and I imagine it is the same across in the USA. Some of the bankers who are still being paid huge bonuses are essentially sales people. In some settings sales people are able to have themselves credited with sales made by others. Some complicated compensation schemes make it possible to be well paid without having made a genuine contribution.

Nevertheless, their is research that claims the sales made by a sales person who makes target, support the jobs of 27 other people! It's a bit hard to duplicate the maths in smaller companies yet the number is credible if you including all of the spending that benefits suppliers and average the results across large and small companies.

A sales person can't exist without all the other people who design, build, deliver, and service yet if the sales target isn't achieved, those jobs can't exist.

5. Everyone's a potential customer

Even if you sell bread, this myth is utter nonsense. Everyone has the same number of seconds in a day. The only difference is in the choices we make in deciding what to do with them. Doing things right is a waste of time if you don't first choose the right things to do.

6. Never Take ‘NO’ for an Answer

Contrary to the battering given it by Geoffrey James in his Bnet article, I think this saying has value. If you first carefully selected the right sales prospects, those who you know for certain would benefit from buying your products or services, you would be doing them a disservice if you give up. Providing you have correctly identified the need and the customers opportunity, it is just a matter of getting the timing right. Nothing impresses like persistence.

7. A Good Salesperson Can Sell Anything

This saying holds firm in my mind, subject to a few qualifying criteria. First, the sales person has to be interested. All the skills in the world will never make up for lack of passion yet with passions, most people will learn what they need to know. Second, the 'anything' must have value at least to an identifiable set of potential customers.

8. Never Leave Money on the Table

In Geoffrey's debunking of this saying, he construes it to mean selling customers things they don't need. In this respect, we are in agreement however, the phrase means something else to me. 'Never leave money on the table' in relation to negotiating the final terms is of vital importance to a supplier. Selling products or services for less than they are worth pushes suppliers a step closer to poverty and diminished their ability to innovate, develop, and renew their offering. Leaving money on the table is sales crime.

In addition, If a customer has money available and issues that could be addressed are left to fester and become worse, sales people would be letting their customers down through inaction.

See Geoffrey's repaired myths here.

New Buying Habits Demand New Sales and Training Tactics

2011-02-01T09:11:00.001Z

Uttering derogatory comments about marketing has long been a sport for sales people. Geoffrey James of Bnet has compiled a penetrating analysis of the things that can scupper marketing efforts in his article titled, 'The 9 Dangerous Myths of B2B Marketing'.

Yet in today's digital world, marketing is coming to the fore. As B2B buyers change their buying practices by conducting more of their due diligence online, sales people find it increasingly difficult to build relationships before having to generate a quote or proposal.

Developing trust is an important part of the sales process that traditionally was done face to face. Hence the old quip, 'sales people do it eyeball to eyeball'. Now that buyers can get all the information they need from a little online research, sales people have lost this opportunity to develop pre sale bond.

These days, trust must be developed online, at a distance, long before their is a direct exchange or meeting. Hence the need for marketing. 'Marketing people do it from a distance'.

More than ever, sales and marketing people need to develop common objectives and complimentary tactics. Individual sales people need to take control of their online presence. Expertise and problem solving ability needs to be subtly paraded in the right places, those online corners frequented by the right sales prospects.

There are new rules in the jungle.

Selling in a Digital World

Sales Rejection Fans the Flames of Reluctance

2011-01-11T21:07:00.002Z

The demon that fans sales reluctance flames manifests itself as a feeling of aversion or fear. It's the subconscious mind that does the prodding.

Scientists have shown that we make decisions at an unconscious level, before we begin to think about them. We can use thinking to construct a programme of change and if we stick to it, over a period of time, we can rewrite the programme.

Naming a demon once has no discernible effect. Naming it a thousand times begins to rewrite the subconscious programme that all our actions spring from. Facing the demon every day for for a month, established the process of lasting change.

See the list of twenty seven sales demons here.

References:

It was in the 1980s that the late neuroscientist Benjamin Libet saw a spark of brain activity 300 milliseconds before subjects consciously chose to twitch a finger. In 2008, John-Dylan Haynes at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin, Germany, found brain activity up to 10 seconds before a conscious decision. - New Scientist

More references in Nature

Sales Target Achievement Plans

2010-12-22T09:41:00.003Z

A brilliant list gathered by Geoffrey James and posted on the BNET blog, provided inspiration for this guide for developing a 2011 target achievement plan. It will work for sales people as well as sales managers. Should sales people have a 'Target Achievement Plan'? Absolutely. It is one of the main pillars of Sales Foundation training.

N0. 1: Do you know your company's sales strategy?

It's very difficult to be sure that you are pulling in the same direction as everyone else if you don't. Results form the Sales Exam suggest that this is a significant weakness in many teams. On the surface it might not seem important because the sales compensation plan should keep sales people focussed on the right things. This might be enough if the compensation plan is aligned with the strategy.

No. 2: Do you have the resources you need to execute the company sales strategy or at least enough to implement your own target achievement plan?

Do you have you enough pre sales and post sales support capacity? Bearing in mind the current lead to sales conversion rates, do you have enough time, leads, sales people, etcetera?

No. 3: Do you have appropriate methods and the sales skills necessary to succeed with the company strategy?

Targets almost always go up. From an individual perspective, territory or account assignments may be changed. Accounts change their buying habits. Is your historical average sales yield (productivity measure) enough to be sure of reaching the new target? If not, what are you doing to improve it?

No. 4: Do you have the customer knowledge you need to succeed?

It is easy to be blasé because so much information is available via a few key strokes and a browser. Do you know your target customers strengths and weaknesses? Do you know what they must do to succeed?

No. 5: Do you know what how macro and micro market conditions will affect ability to execute the Company's strategy?

Plans should take account of positive and negative market changes. Has the impact of market trends been calculated or estimated and compensated for or accounted for in the plan?

No. 6: Are your activities measured appropriately to fulfil that strategy?

People do what is measured. Are the right parameters being measured? Does measurement support the strategy?

No. 7: Are there any threats or weaknesses that might undermine our ability to execute the strategy?

Example weaknesses might include morale, uncertainty, lack of skills or knowledge, and lack of resources. Threats might include the plans of competitors, new competitive products, and changing buyer needs.

No. 8: Are day-to-day activities focussed on supporting that strategy?

For example, if the strategy involves accelerating the rate of new customer acquisition, do team and individual plans include the means to change priorities?

See our Sales Success Formula and Sales Competence Model fro more planning help. The closer you get to the event, the faster free will diminishes.

How to Develop your Own Competence Assessments

2010-11-24T09:01:00.000Z

Psychometric testing isn't the only way to select the right sales candidate or evaluate learning needs. In fact some claim that psychometric tests can be fooled and are therefore unreliable, in the same way that the polygraph test has been shown to be unreliable.

All it takes to fool a psychometric test is to adopt a different persona, much like an actor does when playing a personality that is distinctly different from their own. If you can imagine the mind of the person you want to portray, you can respond accordingly.

If the results of a psychometric test are taken at face value and not validated by someone with an expert understanding of the test as well as the characteristics of an ideal person, the value of the test is negated.

Instead of using psychometric based evaluation, consider developing direct questionnaires of your own and then validating responses via an interview.

This needn't take any more time than using a properly validated psychometric test.

Steps for creating your own competence assessments:

1. Define the competencies necessary for the role. This is probably a good idea regardless of whether you go on to build your own assessment. Having a competence model helps with staff development, training, and management as well as selection.

It is easier than you might think. There are many examples online.

We have developed our own sales competence model to guide development of sales competence assessments. The model is described here:

http://www.salessense.co.uk/sales_competence_model

2. Develop a set of direct questions that will reveal competence if the person responding is being honest. The thoroughness of the assessment will depend on the number of questions and the level of detail assessed. Devise a scoring system so that respondents can indicate their level of ability with regard to each question.

3. Develop a set of counter questions to be used in an interview that require the respondent to demonstrate or reveal their competence. The interviewer can then use the same scoring system to rate the respondents responses.

Interviews are best conducted remotely, using a telephone. This diminishes the potential for distortion and makes it easier for the interviewer to ask the questions as they have been prepared. In addition, interviewers can record their validation scores without being observed by the respondent.

4. Record self assessment scores and validation scores in a spreadsheet and use the tools to create graphical comparisons.

It's appropriate to explain the process to respondents in advance. This ensures it is in their interests to evaluate their own competence as honestly and accurately as they can.

We have developed a set of assessments for sales and customer facing staff that use these principles. The Sales Exam is a collection of four such assessments:

Sales Knowledge

Answering knowledge based question in a succinct manner and then rating the effectiveness of the response, allows users to assess credibility, articulation of company messages, ability to differentiate from competitors, market understanding, customer understanding, company understanding, and writing skills.

Sales Skills

Skill groupings assessed include non verbal communication, questioning and listening, time management, problem solving, prospecting, persuasion, presentation, closing, and negotiation.

Sales Mindset

Altitude is a function of attitude rather than aptitude. This assessment examines attitudes and thinking regarding responsibility, planning, morale, principles, determination, adversity, and development.

Sales Motivators

Intrinsic motivation is a stronger driver than external incentives and direction. This assessment requires respondents to rate eleven motivating factors against each of the other ten.

The addition of relevant downloadable documents and resources expands the applications of these assessments to include learning. Our assessments are focussed on helping businesses select the right sales people, equip their sales people with the right skills, and maintain development momentum. The same principles can be used to evaluate any knowledge, skill set, mind set, and motivations.

We can save you the time it would take to develop your own if your focus is on building a best in class, business to business sales team.

Best Sales Practice in an Online World

2010-11-17T17:30:00.000Z

The sales game has changed. See the 'The New Sales Hill and the New Sales Skill Set' Here are ten things to do if you need to compete in an online world:

1. Complete your profile on the main professional networking sites. Complete profiles tend to convey that a person is trustworthy because the information could be independently verified.

2. Keep personal stuff personal if you want to. It is easy to have two persona's, your professional one and your private one. All you need is two email addresses and who hasn't got at least two these days.

3. Develop a personal blog or web site. Own the hosting so that you can control it's use. Shared hosting is as cheap as chips these days. Consider having both a web site - more static, and a blog - that you post to daily. Get your name as a domain name - www.bloggs.name. Then you can have a cool email address such as Sid@bloggs.name. Domains are generally less than £10 a year. Shard hosting is available for less than £10 a month. Open source web site software such as Wordpress, Joomla, and Drupal is available for nothing.

4. Develop your online network. Use all the tools to find the people you know and invite them to link networks - aka LinkedIn, Plaxo, eCademy, etcetera.

5. Develop a permission based list of people who are happy to receive professionally orientated email messages from you. Automate the process as much as possible using affordable or free tools widely promoted on the internet. If you don't know what to use, ask the people who market to you effectively.

6. Email your list with something interesting or useful, once or twice a month.

7. Join appropriate online interest groups and make regular contributions. Groups exist within all the professional and social networking tools.

8. Use your network of contacts to raise the visibility of your web site and blog, via inbound links. Get as many people as possible to link their online presence - web sites, blogs, forums, and micro blogs to your interesting and valuable content. All natural online search is largely based on the popularity of content and this is measured by inbound links.

9. Pay attention to the tags or key words that you use in your online activities. Use common key words and phrases that represent your expertise and specialisation as much as you can without destroying the flow of your messages.

10. Learn for your self before spending hard earned money on digital marketing services. There are many worthwhile services however, you won't be able to select the best for your needs until you have become knowledgeable on the topic.

SalesSense is launching a new course in a few weeks time that will address all of these areas of knowledge from a sales perspective. Participants will have the opportunity to use some of the time to act on the ideas above, including setting up a website or blog. Follow this blog or subscribe for the Sales Drive Journal if you would like more details.

Mind Reading for Sales People

2010-11-17T10:39:00.000Z

Recent interest in the term 'suspend your agenda' in the context of improving listening, prompted a review of our public material on this approach to enhancing listening acuity. It turned out that we haven't published much on the subject.

We use the term in training and coaching to help sales people improve listening skills.

Thoughts are expressed on the outside, and mainly read through visual and auditory non verbal communication. Reading the signals is an innate ability. Once we have context, understanding the gist of another's thoughts isn't too difficult. You may be very aware of this ability with regard to people you are very close to.

When interacting with people who are less familiar, it becomes more necessary to switch of the internal dialogue to notice and appreciate what another person is thinking.

While in conversation, most people are either thinking about what they will say next, or waiting for an opportunity to speak. Another aspect of apparent listening is judging the other persons words or interpreting them using our own map of reality. All of these though processes obscure the other persons thought process.

When people truly listen, they suspend their own agenda, judgement, and interpretation. They use all of their senses to observe, to hear, to listen, to see. Only then is it possible to appreciate the richness or another's communication.

It's not easy to do on purpose however, there are some practices and techniques that help:

How to Read People

Sales Boneyard

2010-11-12T16:01:00.002Z

Samson killed a thousand men with the jaw bone of an ass. That many sales are killed every day with the same weapon. Thanks Brian T. LOL

Sales Coaching is Expensive

2010-11-04T08:02:00.001Z

Don't get the wrong idea from the title. I practice coaching in my business and used coaching methods when I managed a team of over 20 sales people. Coaching is expensive in terms of time, if you do it yourself, and money if you use outside resources. As a sales manager, I used coaching where there were no practical alternatives.

Sales people are an independent lot. If you have the right people in the right roles, they don't need much help.

There are many ways to encourage learning, other than coaching.

People do what you measure.
People will support each other and propagate learning.
People desire to be part of a winning team.
People aspire to meet high standards.

Recently, we have been promoting assessment as a means of teaching. If you have a comprehensive sales competence model and a way of objectively assessing performance against it, people become motivated to take care of their own development.

There is an overview of our sales specific competence model here:
http://www.salessense.co.uk/sales_competence_model

Sales Drive Journal - November 2010

2010-11-03T22:25:00.000Z

The November issues of the Sales Drive Journal is out. New articles and audio recordings:

This month:
Better than an elevator pitch
How to develop best-in-class sales performance

From last month:
Leads while you sleep
New ways to make referral prospecting work

Popular past articles:
I am the captain of my fate
Nine ways to find more time

Guest article:
20 Reasons to Invest in Sales Training - Guest Article

Worth reading:
Become a key person of influence by Daniel Priestly

Selling is about . . .
Choosing what to do

See the Sales Drive Journal front page here

See the Sales Drive Journal archive here

Subscribe and receive the Sales Drive Journal be email on the day it is published. Next issue - December 2010.

Learning Sales Experience from Frameworks

2010-11-01T07:55:00.000Z

Any one can learn to sell their ideas more effectively. Frameworks grant students the wisdom of 20 year professional sales people. Practice and persistence are still important however, frameworks save a lot of time. For more:

http://www.salessense.co.uk/learning_frameworks

For a comprehensive sales framework see the videos and articles here:

http://www.salessense.co.uk/sales_success_formula

Measure Sales Skills

2010-10-26T08:21:00.000+01:00

Top sales training and coaching is based on a thorough understanding of individual sales competence and this depends on having a comprehensive sales competency model such as the one described here: http://www.salessense.co.uk/sales_competency_model

Sales assessment tests are available that examine elements of sales competency through a direct method that does not rely on psychometrics. A range of assessments are described here: http://www.salessense.co.uk/sales_skills_assessments

Four out of Five believe in Sales Training

2010-09-30T21:33:00.000+01:00

The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) estimates that US organisations spent over $130 billion on training and development in 2008. About one third of this was spent on external training and learning programmes. Earlier research concluded that high tech companies spend more than 75% of training budgets on sales training. The ASTD state of the industry report also confirms that sales training has a measurable impact on company profits and market valuation.

Find further sales training ROI references here.

Businesses to Business Sales - Different from Selling to Individuals

2010-09-24T19:00:00.000+01:00

Responding to a question and the differences between Selling to private individuals as opposed to businesses and organisations:

One significant aspect makes B2B sales more complicated than it might seem:

There are usually several people participating in a decision making process. Granted if you are selling a laptop PC to the owner, all of the buying roles are wrapped up in one and the sale should be easier than dealing with a fickle consumer however, for more significant purchases there will be Veto - anyone with the power to overturn the decision; the official decision maker - someone who is wise to ensure everyone with an interest and influence in the business agrees with the decision; the assessors - people appointed to carry out due diligence; the users - people who have to get their jobs done using whatever is bought; approvers - people who are tasked with making sure that all the company's rules and procedures are followed; and decision influencers - people who are interacting with the the people involved in the decision.

Hmm, at least with B2C you are communicating with someone who could actually buy something there and then.

Automated Sales Training

2010-09-17T14:54:00.001+01:00

Sales training without a trainer. Learning through assessment. http://ping.fm/XhtJx

Sales Price Objection

2010-09-16T16:46:00.001+01:00

Deflating the price objection. Sales chat. New 5 minute video. http://ping.fm/nzzq3

Sales Skills - Knowledge - Mindset - Motivation Assessment

2010-09-07T14:51:00.001+01:00

Sales skills and habits self assessment updated. Single glance radar chart. http://ping.fm/hjJdu

DIY Sales Training

2010-08-28T10:02:00.001+01:00

Sales Training DIY (do it yourself). Lot's of support and free resources. http://salessense.co.uk and http://ping.fm/oY9t6

More Time - More Sales

2010-08-26T09:39:00.001+01:00

New audio articles. Three certain ways to find new business - 5m. Nine actions that give you more time - 7m. http://ping.fm/DM83y

Sales Drive Journal August 2010

2010-08-25T12:01:00.002+01:00

Sales drive journal August - sales opportunity and lead generation focus. http://ping.fm/SMZPW

Upgrade Sales Forecasting

2010-08-23T12:33:00.001+01:00

Try the sales win predictor for free. Increase your score to increase your chances. Just subscribe at http://salessense.co.uk for access.

Sales Process Rules

2010-08-02T14:37:00.001+01:00

Clear rules govern sales success.

1. Make no assumptions. 2. Declare your intent.
3. Don't talk about the solution:

http://ping.fm/iPB5j

Sales Drive Journal July 2010

2010-07-28T15:05:00.001+01:00

More ways to increase your sales. New event calendar. Latest sales performance newsletter at http://ping.fm/SCwzJ

Three Rules for Sales Mastery

2010-07-21T10:42:00.001+01:00

Three simple simple rules govern sales success: http://ping.fm/MfNs7

Lead Generation

2010-07-20T14:24:00.001+01:00

Now is the time to review and renew new business sales generation, while you have the initiative: http://ping.fm/dBqQX

Business Assessment

2010-07-20T11:17:00.001+01:00

Twelve ways to evaluate business and sales team health.

http://ping.fm/HeokQ

There is Always Time Enough

2010-07-19T09:02:00.001+01:00

Nine things to do that will save you time. Sweeping strategies rather than old tactics. http://ping.fm/UXYpZ

Increase Sales Performance

2010-07-06T07:21:00.001+01:00

No matter how brilliant sales people are at finding new customers and convincing them to buy, they can do better.

http://salessense.co.uk

Channel Partner Sales Training

2010-06-28T09:57:00.001+01:00

What you don't know you don't know about selling through partners. Sales training for channel account managers.

http://ping.fm/Sdztz

Hindsight for Sales Performance

2010-06-28T09:36:00.001+01:00

What more could have been done? It's easy to spot deficiencies with 20:20 hindsight. Use hindsight as foresight: http://ping.fm/5mB6S

Choice

2010-06-22T07:05:00.002+01:00

Choice is a temporary luxury. Choose while you can. Sales people change the world by choosing what to do. http://ping.fm/mOHMx

Unfair Advantage

2010-06-11T12:07:00.001+01:00

"The secret of business is to focus relentlessly on your unfair advantage - the thing you do that others don't." John Rollwagen

Free Sales Qualification Training

2010-06-11T11:59:00.003+01:00

Now you can use a fast online sales qualification tool and obtain a single glance representation of your chances.

Answering the 18 questions takes less than three minutes once you have used the tool a couple of times. Then a radar chart provides instant feedback for ten aspects of the sales qualification status. Here is an example:

Using the tool to qualify sales provides free sales training. Those who aren't familiar with best practice sales qualification, learn the questions to ask from answering the questions. Those who know the right questions benefit from an effective reminder.

To gain access, become a SalesSense subscriber. Sign up here in less than 30 seconds.

For the time being, subject to our Terms of Supply and Terms of Site Use, use of the tool is free of charge. Try it now and send us your feedback.

Have your colleagues or team members use the tool and include the chart in their reports.

It is easy for us to create customised versions of the qualification tool so you could have us build a version that is specific to your sales environment and only accessible to your people.

Call or send an email for more information. 44 (0)118 933 1357. info@salessense.co.uk.

Sales Qualification and Forecasting

2010-06-09T07:57:00.001+01:00

Qualify your sale. Free online tool. Eliminate time wasters, win more sales, increase performance. http://ping.fm/ELqB3

Dig Deeper

2010-06-01T09:31:00.001+01:00

24 peaks over 2400 ft in 22:58:00. May 29th and 30th. Had to crow a little. Donate to Cancer Research here: http://ping.fm/7u6kD

Reading for Sales Leaders

2010-05-21T06:50:00.001+01:00

"Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers." wrote Harry Truman. Worthwhile reading for sales leaders at

http://salessense.co.uk

Acres of Diamonds

2010-05-19T08:25:00.001+01:00

I'm reminded again of the Acres of Diamonds story. It's like finding a winning lottery ticket down the back of your sofa after it expired.

Silent Selling

2010-05-18T07:57:00.001+01:00

To speak only when the words would be better than silence would have been. This is the greatest sales challenge.

Change

2010-05-12T08:47:00.001+01:00

"We must take change by the hand or rest assuredly, change will take us by the throat."

Winston Churchill

Sales Success Formula

2010-05-10T08:47:00.001+01:00

Are you using the sales success formula? It works for teams as well as individual sales people. Details here:

http://ping.fm/4VqkA

Discovery

2010-05-08T21:34:00.001+01:00

Help people do what they want to do. It's easy to sell people what they want. Discovery is the hard part.

http://ping.fm/MK3a0

Find More Prospects

2010-05-06T07:09:00.002+01:00

If you want more success, risk more failure. "Fail forward faster", as Tom Peters put it. In sales this might mean do more prospecting.

Free Lunch

2010-05-05T08:14:00.001+01:00

Could there be a formula for sales success? Try this free sales training:

http://ping.fm/zTlXH

Sales Training for Less

2010-03-21T21:36:00.000Z

Less is more. Good sales training presents hundreds of ideas and reminders during a course. Few manage to use much more than 10% of what they learn.

Instead, arrange short sessions for small groups. A one hour interactive session can focus on a single topic and provide practical ideas, new methods, and the opportunity to practice.

Try our new service. The first session is free.

Remote sales training in bite sized sessions. No travelling. Convenient scheduling. Details here.

Sales Drive Journal Complimentary Gifts

2010-03-14T21:32:00.000Z

Register for the Sales Drive Journal at www.salessense.co.uk and collect a range of free benefits including the Sales Win Predictor, special reports, sales tips, and sales guides and e-book of the month.

Sales Coaching Advantage

2010-02-26T15:48:00.001Z

While this post might seem self-serving, or at least serving the purpose of sales coaches everywhere, the action I am advocating will mostly benefit those who go ahead and get themselves a coach.

I’d like to start by passing on a story recently repeated to me about five frogs who were sitting on a log. Four of them decided to jump off. How many frogs were left on the log?
Suspicious?

After trying to fathom the trick, I said “one” as well.
The answer is that there are still five frogs left on the log because they only ‘decided’ to jump off.
It's more than just semantics.

Recent research suggests that out of every 100 people who buy learning materials, only two of them will actually follow through with their apparent decision to study what they paid for. So if they were frogs, 98 of them would still be sat on the log.

Let’s consider the research from another perspective. We could construe it to mean that out of every 100 decisions, the average number that will be acted upon is 2! This sounds about right when one thinks of the commitments and decisions taken by governments.

What is your experience? Perhaps you are one of the few people who are ahead of the average when it comes to doing what you decide to do. There must be many people below the average!

It’s perfectly easy to jump off a log on an impulse. There is hardly any effort involved. In fact, it is probably just as easy as falling off a log. Changing habits is a different matter. Despite knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that something is good or bad for our well being, most of us are nearly helpless at trying to change our own behaviour without support.

Yet when our peers are all changing, it seems much easier to follow along. Well, perhaps not easy but it becomes possible.

f you had some sales habits or practices that cost you money, would you want to change them? If you are a manager or director then the impact of the things you do or don't do is multiplied through the performance of others.

If you pay someone to make you do it, to change your behaviour or practices in a positive fashion, you are much more likely to achieve the change you desire.

Perhaps you don’t need to change anything. It’s all the others . . .

If others in similar roles have achieved more, earned more, gained the accolades, been able to take more care of their loved ones, or simply been able to spend more time doing what they wanted to do, then you must have similar potential. It is simply a matter of making better choices, following through more often, and adopting better habits.

Success has to be a combination of circumstances, nature, and nurture. Self-determination, breaking and re writing ones programming is doable, yet few can do it without good support.

A coach makes me do it! Do what I have set out to do. Ask anyone who has the benefit of a coach.

He or she makes you face up to the planning and preparation part of turning aspirations into reality,
Coaches instil discipline, even if the source of new found resolve is having to pay the bill. They put your interest first. That is what they are being paid for. The right coach is also a specialist who constantly researches the best methods and practices and presents them to you when you need them. A coach provides candid feedback.

The right coach is someone you get on with who you respect; someone who has relevant experience and expertise. He or she invests in continuous research and learning; and has the confidence, courage, and communication skills to give undiluted feedback without causing friction.

Could you fit these criteria for someone else? If so, you might be able to establish a trade by offering free coaching in exchange for the same in return. You could arrange to exchange an hour, once a month. The sessions should take place separately so that there is no confusion as to who is in the coach role. Sessions could take place face to face or via the telephone. Alternatively, use Skype.

On average, sales people with a coach perform 13% better than they do without a coach. Based on our coaching fees, this easily amounts to a 20-fold return on investment for a sales person’s employer, and at least a 5-fold return on investment for sales people paying the fees out of income. The better a sales person is, the higher the return.

Sceptical?

Halve the return estimate and halve it again. Just a 3.5% improvement will still generate a return of at least 500% for the employer and break even for sales people investing in themselves. If you can set up a mutual coaching arrangement, it costs only the discipline to take action and keep taking action plus a little time.

If there is a way to summarise the inestimable value of having a coach, I find it in the words of Aldus Huxley, “There's only one corner of the universe that you can be certain of changing, and that's your own.”

Evidence that training pays

2009-04-10T16:46:00.003+01:00

This link will take you to a study of the evidence that training offers businesses a superior return on investment - often better than investing in equipment or software.

This 2007 study was commissioned by the Canadian Council and was completed by the Work and Learning Knowledge Centre, It examines company case studies and macro research projects from around the world, including the UK.

Seven Downturn Sales Performance Factors

2009-02-20T10:46:00.006Z

Get proof that your stuff does what you promise. Verifiable evidence convinces ahead of sales skills.

Find prospects less affected by the downturn. Some are shrinking less or still growing.

Use evidence and proof to develop better messaging and multiple messages.

Cast better seeds on more fertile ground. Present better messages to more qualified prospects. Thrive on a small improvements.

Vary your approach – phone, voicemail, email, letter, post card, introduction, or fax. Like advertising, effective sales prospecting depends on repetition and persistence.

Have the customer quantify the cost of inaction. It is a brave manager who spends money in a downturn without a concrete business case.

Training works. Attend ‘Selling in a Downturn’ for the methods and tools.

Full article here

Three Rules for Sales Success

2007-07-12T07:31:00.000+01:00

First, make no assumptions. This is easy to say and very hard to do. Everyone makes assumptions, all the time. Short cuts aid decision-making. Without assumptions, nothing would get done. In sales, assumptions lead to mistakes.

Second, declare your intent to make no assumptions. It is easy to do and everyone agrees if you make a polite request at the beginning of a sales exchange. It is also an easy step to overlook.

Third, don't talk about your product, service, or solution. This is very difficult to do. You know a lot about what you are selling and it is the default topic for any prospective customer.

More about the three rules here.

Regular Sales Training Increases Revenue by 10%

2007-07-05T08:37:00.000+01:00

Little and often is better for results than multiple day courses. From a practical standpoint, this is hard to achieve unless in-house staff make it happen.

Having a local trainer who commands respect and who is willing to deliver short, punchy sessions more regularly, with out making the cost prohibitive, is an ideal solution.

Instead, for practical reasons, sales training is most often delivered over consecutive days. While the course may be fantastic, people cannot act on all of the ideas and much of it’s value is soon forgotten, drowned by ever pressing day to day issues.

Another solution is to have a trainer prepare and coach in-house managers to facilitate the completion and debriefing of exercises in short training sessions.

By measuring sales productivity, customers have found that regular sales training improves results by an average of 9.4%.

Get in touch if you would like to know more. We will be pleased to share the principles and help you get similar results.

Sales Training for Partner, VAR, and Alliance Managers

2007-07-04T07:33:00.000+01:00

Having others sell for you is the ultimate sales purpose. This becomes literally true for partner, reseller, and distributor account managers. It is an easy job if all you do is go along once an month and ask if they have any orders. If an account manager is to affect results, he or she must do far more than an ordinary sales job. Learn what you may be missing on Selling through Partners.

Learning points:
Deal with common partner issues
Engage with a partner principle or board level director
Have partners think of your Company as a strategic supplier
Have partner managers think of you as a trusted advisor
Have partner staff eager to attend your presentations
Get more than your fair share of mind
Coach and develop partner sales skills
Have partners help develop a realistic sales plan
Develop Partner loyalty

Foundation Sales Training Creates New Horizons

2007-06-29T08:19:00.000+01:00

Sales training rarely includes help with career management. If I'd understood more about the phases of career development in my early sales career, I have no doubt that I would have made more of my opportunities and sold more than I did.

Everyone wants to do well. Many suffer unneccessary set backs and delays in their progress. Let me be clear, while promotions may be the way for some, most sales people have a more pressing need, to increase their sales performance, every year.

Career management is the last place one might think to look for help in this regard yet, once properly understood, it points the way to delivering a consistent growth in contribution, year in, year out. That is why our Sales Foundation course includes a module that helps new sales people understand how to manage their sales career.

Sales Foundation is a four day course, spread over four weeks, for people new sales people who are selling business to business:

How to get through and get in front of decision makers
How to handle the top six customer questions
Know if a sale will happen, is winnable, and will be worthwhile
How to ensure your pipeline of sales opportunities is always full
How to build rapport and trust, fast
How to recognise and adapt for different personalities
How to persuade with questions
How to persuade by listening
How to have the customer sell themselves
How to plan a sales campaign
How to prepare a target achievement plan
How to handle any objection
How to help customers decide
How to increase profit and customer satisfaction through negotiation
How to manage a sales career

Get the materials and unlimited one to one coaching for distance learning.

Sales Managers Make a Difference

2007-06-26T08:06:00.000+01:00

“The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun”, said John D Rockefeller. Those who can get things done through others are just as valuable today. An effective sales manager contributes more to a business than another sales head.

Join Advanced Sales Management to learn how. Spend four days spread over four weeks, learning the art and science of achieving sales results through others.

Help people excel
Hire top performers
Leverage intrinsic motivators
Adapt management style
Allow for personality
Measure more than sales results
Improve forecast accuracy
Run a productive sales meeting
Develop leadership skills

Get the materials and unlimited one to one coaching for distance learning.

Get that Sales Job

2007-06-22T08:16:00.000+01:00

Becoming a sales professional is one career path that almost anyone can embark on. Good interpersonal communication skills are the only real pre requisite for many employers and these can be learnt.

If you are intent on a sales career, first decide who you want to work for. Draw up a short list of companies and then find out who you know who could introduce you. If you can't find a link amongst your circle, apply directly. The requirement for qualifications or experience is rarely a barrier to persistent and determined individuals.

Study the subject before applying. The internet, books, and our web site are low cost sources of information and know-how. Use them to develop a sales understanding before pitching up at an interview.

Sales Foundation is a four day course, spread over four weeks, for people new sales people who are selling business to business:

How to get through and get in front of decision makers
How to handle the top six customer questions
Know if a sale will happen, is winnable, and will be worthwhile
How to ensure your pipeline of sales opportunities is always full
How to build rapport and trust, fast
How to recognise and adapt for different personalities
How to persuade with questions
How to persuade by listening
How to have the customer sell themselves
How to plan a sales campaign
How to prepare a target achievement plan
How to handle any objection
How to help customers decide
How to increase profit and customer satisfaction through negotiation
How to manage a sales career

Get the materials and unlimited one to one coaching for distance learning.

Sales Motivators

2007-06-08T22:24:00.000+01:00

You might be surprised that many sales people are most motivated by things other than money. Now you can explore your own motivators and discover the kind of sales role you are most suited to.

He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened. - Lao Tzu

Take the SalesSense Sales Motivators assessment to learn more about yourself. Have your team take the assessment so that they better understand themselves. People do things for their own reasons. The secret of motivation lies in understanding.

More information here.

Lost Contact

2005-10-31T07:48:00.000Z

Over the years we have lost touch with many participants who have attended our sales and sales management training courses. We continually develop our course resources and material. Since May 2005, all participants have ongoing access to the latest material via a private area of our web site. We also offer career long support to back up our training and business development services. If you have participated in a SalesSense programme, you too can have access to the latest version of the materials for the course you attended. Get in touch and we will organise an account for you.