Long gone are the days when sales meant just selling a product. In today’s competitive and consultative world, sales, professionals are required to maximize their profits. This can be achieved by providing the sales professional with relevant and sufficient sales coaching.
A salesman or a sales team should possess some critical skills to improve sales performance and increase winning outcomes. Sales coaching with new and improved strategies are required in this field so that the salespeople sell their products with more confidence, overcoming selling obstacles. End -to-end integrated solutions allow a sales firm to improve the skills of its professionals, change behaviors and drive results across all aspects of its work force. The training ensures the readiness of the sales organization and the talent lying within it to perform. It provides the platform for skill development and process improvement through a comprehensive learning and development syllabus, and makes available the reinforcement and required tools to achieve sustained profit.
Sales coaching is a key aspect in increasing the confidence level of a sales team and improving its competence. These trainings are always focused on increasing client acquisition and customer retention. When salespeople are put through a well planned and well strategized training schedule, they are intended to produce more consistent sales results. The profit margins on sales can always be increased by such training schedules.To sell a product effectively and efficiently, salespeople should have selling skills, knowledge about their customer’s business and have appropriate techniques. Sales training help sellers to develop and integrate their knowledge and skills. Such training helps a seller stay aligned with the customer throughout the buying process. It trains a sales professional to anticipate the customer’s behavior by understanding his shifting concerns and prompts him to respond accordingly.
Successful selling of a product to a targeted market requires that the product is of suitable quality and also requires good seller-buyer relations. An effective training makes sales people good interpreters and translators, who are capable of enabling the complex systems of the buying firm and the selling firm to work together for the benefit of both.
American writer and businessman Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) is credited with the earliest developments of selling skills and sales training theories. In 1937 his book, ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ became an international best-seller, and was the major source of ideas and theories that formulated the selling scenario.
What is Consultative selling and how different it is from content selling?
Consultative selling came into existence two decades back and is still popular compared with other selling techniques. Consultative selling focuses on the needs and requirements of the customers. In this type of selling the salesperson acts as a consultant and identifies the needs of the customer by asking several questions. He then proposes the product that fits the customer requirements. In content selling, products are pushed to the customers without considering the customer needs. Content selling focuses on product selling irrespective of the whether the customer needs it or not. Consultative selling considers the customer needs before proceeding to sell the product to them.
The three core principles of Consultative selling are:
1) Focus on needs of customers,
2) Probe further into their needs and
3) Convince them that your product will help them make their job easier.
In this type of selling, since the salesperson identifies with the customers and their needs and is not pushing the product, the success rate is high. Here the salesperson dons the role of problem solver or a consultant making him more highly regarded and relied upon than the normal salesperson.
When and where do we use Consultative Selling?
Consultative selling is best used when the product or service offered is complex. The consultative salesperson helps the customer to choose the right product or services that suits the customer requirements from the range of services or products offered. Consultative selling is most effective with high cost infrequent purchases such as a home or a car. Purchasing of homes and cars is not done very often and this is where consultative selling can be used since the buyer is not experienced as a buyer in such cases and he may welcome and need guidance in making the right choice. Also in scenarios where the cost of failure is high, consultative selling is the best approach.
How can I know more about Consultative Selling?
Best seller books like “Consultative Selling” by Mack Hanan or “Unleashing the Power of Consultative Selling” by Richard Grehalva will give you in-depth knowledge of consultative selling. Many sales courses are available online and offline from websites such as www.consultativeselling.com, or www.topra.org who will train you in different types of selling techniques. You can enroll in any of several sales courses to find out more about Consultative selling.
Improving sales is a competitive field where many sales professionals find difficulties and fail to cope with ever increasing sales goals and standards. Developing a sound sales training program translates into increased sales and loyal customers. Training and steps taken in this direction are effective in improving sales and performance.
The basic requirement for improving sales is product knowledge.
You can improve your sales if you know everything about your own products as well as the products of your competitors. Studying the material and making distinctions between the features and the benefits of the products and services offered by your company and the competition always helps.
Speaking to customers with integrity and honesty is very important. All customers should be served with a view to their best interest. If the product that you are selling truly does what it says, the customer will pick up on your honesty and this will raise your status as a trusted salesman. A trusted salesman has a hold among the buyers and always flourishes when improving sales.
Sound sales training also teaches the way you are deal with a customer. A customer should always be listened to when he/she is speaking. Jumping in to add to their words is great mistake, as they will be reluctant to speak afterwards. Letting the customer talk lets you find out their needs, which you can match with your products and services. Letting a buyer talk always gives a positive result as he/she becomes more comfortable with you, making it easier to close the sale. After the customer is done talking, show empathy and understand what turns them on, then work on those areas where you can deliver. Therein lays the essence of working to improve sales.
A buyer should always be encouraged to give a feedback. A salesman should provide channels for their customer to tell them how they feel about the products or services: – through your website, over the phone or face to face. Interpreting and responding to the feedback is important, keeping in mind that happy customers generally don’t give feedback; it is most usually the unsatisfied ones. Responding in a correct way will usually satisfy the dissatisfied.
Lastly, input from the management side. Management should hold regular meetings to work through the problems faced by its workforce. A detailed study in the event of failure or success is a great idea to help with improving sales. Sharing and asking for advice should be an integral part of such sessions.
Sales skills are not inborn and can be acquired over the years. By sharpening their sales skills the sales person can succeed tremendously and can be in the list of elite sellers. Here is the list of important sales skills that every salesperson should have in order to be successful.
Good Communication skill is the most basic sales skill that a sales person should have. Talking and listening are the two aspects that form the crux of the communication. Selling is done by talking effectively. If you can convince the buyer through your talks, you job gets easier. At the same time too much pointless talking will take you nowhere. The buyer will complain of too much of talking and hence the sales person should know when to stop and listen to the buyer. By listening to the customer the sales person can understand the needs and requirements of the buyer. This understanding of the needs of the buyer is the essence of the selling process.
Another basic sales skill is Good Manners. Sales people who are courteous and well mannered are appreciated by the buyers and hence such sales people become very successful. A healthy relationship between the buyer and seller ensures greater success rate. A good sales person plans well and is well organized. He must plan his work in advance. His plan should include: How to initiate the contact? How and where he would meet the contact? What are the points to be discussed in the meeting? What questions he should ask to know about the buyer requirements? Planning well in advance definitely helps. Asking good questions is very important in sales. Buyers needs and requirements can be understood by asking great questions which can make the sales process easier and successful. As a salesperson if you know the customer’s requirements you can act as a consultant who solves the customer’s problems and sell the products as per the customer’s requirements and budget. It’s a win win situation for both considering that the customer is happy because his problem is solved with your product and you have completed a sale.
Many times it is seen that a sales person spends too much time on a prospect who may not be interested in buying the product. Sales coaches believe that instead of wasting time on such prospects the sales person should look out for more customers who are interested in buying the products. This way the sales person can utilize the time and make more sales. Finally, a key to success is to enjoy the work that you do.
Considering the hard times that we are going through, Selling services and products has become extremely complicated. Old tips and tricks no long work today and new sales techniques and methods are implemented to persuade the customers. Sales training equips the sales people in all levels with the latest sales methods and techniques to improve the sales and the profits. Training organizations are mushrooming by the day and they offer Sales training in Basic skills, advanced skills and various other skills that caters to the requirements of sales people in all levels. Entry level programs include telephone etiquette, presentations, problem solving, cross selling and how to over come objections. Advanced level programs teaches how to overcome competitions, increase sales and other sales techniques.
MTD Sales training specialists from UK provide both In-house sales training and public courses. When you need sales training for the entire staff of your company, In-house sales training is best suited since the training requirement is exact and the training can be done as per your convenience. While public or open course is open to all and one can participate in the training by going to the scheduled location. Their training helps sales people to increase sales, over come objections, create consultative selling process, get referrals from customers and improve self confidence. MTD not only provides sales training but also provides post training support. Another UK based sales training company is Sales DNA. Their pre designed courses include courses in How To Sell New Business Meetings, Telesales and Telephone Sales Training Courses, Professional Sales Skills, Consultative Selling Skills – Questioning and Listening Skills, How To Run Successful Sales Meetings. The training helps build confidence in sales person; it helps create new business opportunities and provides new sales skills and techniques.
Sandler training which is based in Maryland, US, offers training in Leadership, sales, negotiations, consulting and many more. With overall training in techniques, attitude and behavior, Sandler’s sales training program ensures exemplary success to those who have undergone this training. Based in US, Dale Carnegie Training provides training to individuals and groups in over 75 countries. They offer many courses that include course in Communication and Human Relations, Leadership training for managers, making sales and sales advantage. Few courses like ‘How to sell like a pro’ and ‘The leadership advantage’ can be covered in 3 days seminar. Two day seminars deal with Courses on leadership and presentations.
Worlds’ leading sales Training organization is Huthwaite. Creators of SPIN selling, Huthwaite is based in Virginia, US. Their training and methodologies guarantee success in sales. Whether you are a sales person, sales manager, Trainer or a sales leader, they have training programs for everyone. These programs deal with issues relating to cross selling, mergers and acquisitions, discounting and others. Huthwaite works with many industries like Banking, IT, Media, Pharmaceuticals and Transportation to provide sales training.
Audio CDs and DVDs of sales training are widely available in the market. One also can download the sales training audio and videos from the net. Getting virtually trained with the help of CDs and DVDs is a good option but face to face training is always better.
Often a sales person puts in years of hard work on the field selling products and interacting with the customers, and then being a most successful sales person with years of experience, he, or she is often promoted to the post of sales manager in the organization. Contrary to what the sales person did in all their previous years, he/she now no longer directly sells products or interacts with the customers but makes reports, provides training and leads a team of other professional salespeople.
The Sales Manager is responsible for increasing the sales and the profit of the company. An experienced sales representative, newly appointed to the role of Sales Manager may find this time of transition to the new role of Sales Manager hard to handle, as being completely different from and an entirely new role compared with his previous job as a regular sales person. Even the most successful sales person can find it hard to fit into this new job. He/she may have the best of selling ideas and techniques but when it comes to implementing and sharing this with the team, he/she may not have the general background or awareness of what it is that makes their and other sales techniques work, to both inform and train the group, and to deliver the training properly. Good salespeople may be used to working alone, rather than connecting with and training other sales people. In such scenarios sales manager training ensures a smooth transition.
Sales manager training programs help the participants to identify and demonstrate the qualities of the best sales managers. Training about effective interpersonal skills including how to plan effectively and accurately and how to train and manage the sales force are two of the aspects of sales manager training that are covered in sales manager training courses. Other training workshops for sales managers teach skills in areas such as how to identify and select the right candidates through interview, sharing goals with the team, setting targets and how to keep the team motivated, teaching what training is to be imparted to the team and how it is to be done. Sales managers are also taught how to make performance appraisals to get results and to help to keep the team motivated so that they will bring in the best results. Sales managers who have been in this position for years might ignore the need for ongoing sales manager training. However sales manager training deals with many aspects of sales making it essential for new sales managers and often providing new insights to more senior sales managers as well.
One sales improvement system that has found a growing following over recent years is the Sandler Selling System.
Named after its founder, David H. Sandler, and developed in the 1970s, the Sandler technique is now franchised in 220 cities throughout the United States and in 12 different languages around the globe. It boasts having a repeatable and proven sales process and offers ongoing reinforcement sessions for its participants. The Sandler technique is not only for sales reps – it is to be used for businesses large or small – and it also offers an education for sales managers.
One of the unique staple ideas behind the Sandler system is the Up-Front Contract.(UFC). A UFC gives the sales rep control of the direction of the sales cycle. The UFC has three main points to be communicated prior to the rep presenting the product or service to the prospect.
First, a sales rep states what the agenda for the sales call or presentation will be. Second, the rep states that should the prospect have interest in the services or products what the next steps would be. Third, the rep asks the prospect to agree to the terms presented.
The whole exchange might go something like this: “Mr. Smith, on today’s call I am going to tell you about our amazing products and services. At the end of our ten minutes should you feel that they may hold some value for you and your company, I’d like to schedule a follow up meeting at your location to explain how implementation works. Does that make sense and would what I’ve said work for you?” “Yes and yes” the prospect answers. “Great, so let me begin,” says the rep. In this way, not only does the UFC give the rep control of the cycle, but also – and different than some traditional sales methods- it gives the prospect the opportunity and freedom to say that he is not interested – ultimately saving valuable time for everyone involved.
Sales improvement wouldn’t happen if a sales rep didn’t go over his activities and reflect on what was working and what was not. With the Sandler Sales System, the ongoing reinforcement sessions allow for sales reps to do just that – to go over their in-the-trenches activities with trainers so they can be constantly improving their game
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Last to mention, an often overlooked time-waster for reps and prospects alike is not discussing cost prior to pitching. Used by Sandler and other sales improvement systems, prior to pitching, it is policy to vet out a prospect and their ability to afford one’s product.
Career in sales is quite exciting and equally challenging. Each customer and his requirements vary. In order to make a sale with such varied customers, you must be equipped with certain basic sales skills. Tough economic times have made the situation harder for the sales person. With the use of Basic skills and new sales techniques the sales person can overcome these hurdles and achieve success. These skills can be learned by experience that is by trail and error or by joining the sales classes. First timers especially find the course very helpful. Whether you sell a car, automobile, insurance, home or any other product, the sales training companies conduct sales classes that cover all the above mentioned areas.
How to initiate the contact with the customer? How to behave? How to be pleasant and confident? What questions to ask? How to proceed with the sales? How to close the sale? Such few important things can be learned by attending the sales classes. Many of these training suggest that to be an exemplary sales person one has opt for consultant selling. Here the sales person understands the requirements of the customer and makes a sale accordingly. Selling can be tough until the sales person convinces the customer that the product can actually save customers money and that the product would improve the productivity. Training can also be gained in cold calling process, referrals and Telemarketing. While referrals give good results in Insurance sales, Telemarketing and cold calling can be used in the sales of consumer goods. Senior level managers may like to enroll in the courses like Motivational course, How to make a better presentation? How to increase sales? How to overcome competition? How to keep the team motivated?
Attending these sales classes has another advantage. Many cases studies are discussed in the sales class which help one to evaluate the situation and understand the action plan that was taken to solve the problem. These cases studies are more often inspiring and informational.
