Archive for the Sales Training Category

by George Purdy

The business driven by sales will only succeed in accordance with the quality of the sales team. A successful sales team takes work to create and maintain, there must be training and development to increase skills and confidence level of the team. Any good sales department must also have a good group of trainers as well, those who can coach the sales staff, and these trainers must also receive training.

Sales training for coach management is critical for a successful business. Upper and even lower managers may have enough experience and skills to do coaching training, if not, they’ll need to take courses or self study to acquire training coaching skills and methods to teach themselves.

Trainers and sales staff alike will share the need for some sales skills, while also sharing the need for motivation. Effective trainers will understand the mechanics of learning and of sales in order to better train. Trainees of any kind will also need to have a knowledge of the consequences of both good and bad performance.

Another important part of coaching management sales training is recruiting your future sales staff. It will be easier to train new employees who already have experience and a strong track record in sales, or have other characteristics that will lead to a better probability of sales success. That will make the coaches’ job much less problematic.

If your coaching system is very new or very specific, a lack of experience is not a serious problem. Sales staff who haven’t learned bad habits won’t have to break those habits. The knowledge that your sales staff already has is much less important than your staff’s ability to learn new material and apply it consistently.

Managers have different needs than those who are just on the sales staff, the coaching program needs to take into account the role of those being trained, and whether or not that includes supervisory responsibility. However, it may be wise to incorporate management training in with the regular sales training program as the more excellent learners will more than likely become future members of management. Advance preparation of employees for future management responsibility is beneficial to both the employee and the company.

Teaching coaching skills should be approached with the same care as teaching sales strategies. Before you start the lessons, research available programs, certifications, and coursework to make sure that the training goes smoothly. A coach is no better than his preparation makes him, and a class is no better than its coach. If your company handles management sales training well, it is much more likely to succeed.

Effective sales personnel must be thoroughly trained in the sales skills as well as in developing the self-confidence necessary to approach prospective buyers. To have a topnotch sales force, businesses must also employ excellent trainers to train the salesmen. Sales training for coach management is critical for a successful business. Upper and even lower managers may have enough experience and skills to do coaching training, if not, they’ll need to acquire training coaching skills and methods to teach themselves.It may not be what immediately comes to mind, but coaching management sales training may depend on recruiting for its success.

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by Mak

Why won’t car salespeople build rapport?

Too often, I see car salespeople trying to go from just meeting the customer to closing right away. And every chance they get, they are trying to close the sale on price. Sure, you might sell a few vehicles and make some money. But it’s not even close to what you should or can earn in the car business.

Since most customers buy the vehicle because they liked the car salesperson, why not get them to like you? Now don’t brag about yourself to try to get them to like you. Instead build rapport with them. If you start to build rapport with them, you’ll notice it will slow down the sales process and you can go through the basic steps much more smoothly.

The customer came into your dealership because they are interested in buying a vehicle. And this might come as a shock to you but trust me when I tell you; they know you’re there to sell them one. So start off by getting rid of that tension. You got to make them feel as if they are here to own a vehicle versus you are there to sell them one. Customers just don’t like to be sold.

If you’ve been selling cars for a bit now then you know people don’t like being sold to. So start by asking tons of open-ended questions to make them feel comfortable and at ease through the entire process. Break the ice as quickly as possible. Ask them questions such as:

Where do you work?

Do you have any kids?

The idea is to slow things down and get off topic and talk about something else other than selling them a car. This is called building rapport and it’s the easiest way to make the customer feel comfortable. Now don’t just build rapport, qualify at the same time. Building rapport and qualifying should be done side by side. If you do these 2 things then you ease the tension and at the same time figure out what vehicle to present to the customer when it comes down to showing them a car. It will also save you time and help you close the sale.

Is there a set amount of time the car salesperson should spend building rapport?

No one can tell you how long it should take. That will vary from customer to customer. Some are easy and some people are tough. But if you have control over the conversation then I would say it’s fairly easy to build rapport.

Selling cars will become very easy for you if you can make your customers have fun. And the way to make them have fun is to find common grounds with them. And that means to build rapport. Be humorous and entertaining and it’ll be a breeze. There are so many more skills I teach that you need to learn to earn professional wages in the car business. But building rapport is a must skill for you automotive sales career.

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by Brian Sylvan

In his Podcast series “21 Great Ways To Double Your Productivity”, Brian Tracy teaches how to set priorities with the “ABCDE Method”.

You will find the principles discussed in this article simple to implement in your life. The ABCDE Method by Brian Tracy is hands-down one of the most effective time management methods anywhere.

Learning to pick your most important task and working on that task until it is complete is the most important time management principle you can learn. The ABCDE Method will help you to identify your highest value tasks before you start working. Identifying these high value tasks before you start working is imperative to your success.

In order for you to determine which task you should be working on, or not working on, Brian Tracy says that you need to think about the consequences of doing or not doing the task. An important task is a task that can have major consequences whether it is done or not.

All highly productive people constantly think about potential consequences of the tasks they need to perform as they plan. Then they choose to work on the tasks that will have the greatest consequences.

The three steps of Brian Tracy’s Successful ABCDE Method:

1. Make a list of all of your To Do’s.

2. Label each item with an A, B, C, D, or E.

An “A” item represents something that you must do. These items have serious consequences. These are your key tasks. Work on these first.

A “B” item is “Should Do” but is not as important as an “A” item. There are only mild consequences to not completing these tasks. The consequences are only short-lived.

C’s are nice to do, but not essential to do. Your long-term success will not be affected at all by these tasks.

Remember that you should never work on a “B” when an “A” still exists on your list. The same goes for “C” items. Don’t work on these until all of the “B” tasks are complete.

A “D” task is a task you delegate. You need to delegate as much as possible to partners or coworkers who can do that particular task as well or better than you.

“E” stands for eliminate. You can eliminate these tasks and there will be no consequences.

If you want to free yourself to work on your A and B tasks you really need to discipline yourself to get rid of all tasks that can be done by others and to eliminate all non-essential tasks.

Lastly…

3. Organize your “A” tasks by priority.

Place the number 1 by the most important task, the number 2 by the next important task, and so on: A1, A2, etc. Then immediately start working on A1 and work on it until it is complete.

If you truly want to double your productivity, you would be wise to adapt the ABCDE Method into your daily planning. Brian Tracy is a master at what he teaches, as demonstrated by his own success.

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by Rob Metras

There are many promotion tactics for authors to sell more books. The old strategy of visiting book stores across the country for book signings can be revisited by harnessing the internet and your telephone to maximize results and minimize time and cost. The new process, called Virtual Book Tours allows an author to conduct a teleseminar from their home base. It allows more people and more buyers to be exposed to the author compared to a one on one book tour and signing.

The power of the Virtual Book Tour allows the author to capture much more exposure and increase their market reach through the re-purposing of these teleseminars over and over again in contrast to the time-limiting and high costs of travel and print promotion. Indeed authors who self publish or do not have a contract with a large publisher can see the most return on their time and their investment.

Authors can tell their story more often, and in more places while achieving cost reduction. New authors or those that are self published can achieve much more success by targeting their audiences and telling their story to readers that are most interested in their book. A new venue of promotion for the reader who can listen along and hear the author tell their own story from the comfort of where they wish to her it. The recorded teleseminar or virtul book store can be repurposed in various ways, on live calls ,recorded calls, (CD or DVD), podcasts or even on self generated video.

This strategy has been used by leading New York Times bestselling authors like Jack Canfield -The Success Principles, Donald Trump-Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life and the well known information marketing author ,Tim Ferriss, of 4-Hour Workweek fame and has produced spectacular results.

Most of these authors were interviewed by a fascinating interviewer, named Alex Mandossian, a California based marketer who honed this technique through his teachings on Teleseminars. He has built on that success to teach a course call Virtual Book Tour Secrets which provides all of the information you need to conduct one of these tours and sell more books.

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by Brian Sylvan

This article is based on another fantastic Brian Tracy Podcast: “21 Great Ways To Double Your Productivity - Number 5.”

The first thing to understand is that ALL of your tasks fall into one of four categories:

1. Urgent AND Important Tasks

You have to complete these tasks immediately. These are in your face. These are things like phone calls and meetings. You can’t put them off without causing serious problems.

These are the tasks on which people spend most of their time.

2. Important BUT NOT Urgent Tasks

According to Brian Tracy, completing these tasks will have the greatest possible long-term benefits in your life.

The tasks in this category include personal renewal, physical fitness and exercise, updating your skills, and spending time with your family.

These can be put off until later, but resist the temptation. According to Brian Tracy, these tasks can have the most long term impact on your life.

Mark my words, if you don’t work on the Important BUT NOT Urgent Tasks now, the come back to bite you in the butt. Some tasks in this category are term papers for school and reports for your boss.

3. Urgent BUT NOT Important Tasks

The tasks in this category include telephone calls, coworkers dropping in, and conversations about TV programs and what you did last night.

Brian Tracy says that these tasks will have negative effects on your success. Don’t delude yourself into thinking this type of work is important work.

The opposite is in reality the truth. These tasks are great time-wasters. In fact, they’re often great killers of careers. Don’t work on tasks in this arena.

The greatest time wasters of all are those that are:

4. Neither Urgent Nor Important

Run from these tasks. They’re utterly ineffectual; they have no consequences. When you’re at work don’t read the newspaper, or call home to shoot the breeze. You’ll contribute nothing to the company’s bottom-line and you won’t further your own ambitions.

To summarize…

Make sure that you’re first working on the “Most Urgent and Important”. Then move into the “Important but Not Urgent” Tasks. You increase your productivity by refusing to do things that are not important at all.

You should always be asking yourself: What are the potential long-term potential consequences of doing this task?

When you answer this question, you’ll know what to work on.

About the Author:
by Brian Sylvan

In Brian Tracy’s Podcast entitled “21 Great Ways To Double Your Productivity - Number 11″, Brian speaks about “Practicing Single-Handling Key Tasks.”

Dale Carnegie, one of the richest men in the world, attributed much of his success, and the success of those working with him, to this one success technique. That’s a pretty lofty claim.

How about boosting your own productivity by 50% in just the first day? That’s what Brian Tracy promises.

So, what is Single-Handling Tasks?

The essence of this success secret is to work on your most important task until it is 100% complete. According to Brian Tracy, there are three easy steps:

1. Make a list of everything you have to do.

2. Pick the item on the list that represents the highest use of your time.

3. Begin to work on that task, and that task alone, until it is 100% complete.

Two Keys of Success

Brian Tracy says that the two keys to success are:

1. Focus

2. Concentration

Here’s how you’ll benefit from Single-Handling Your Key Tasks

Brian Tracy says that single-mindedly working on your task, without diversion or distraction, will contribute more to your success than any other habit you will ever develop. Wow!

Don’t fall into the trap of laying your work aside unfinished. Brian Tracy says that you will increase the time spend on laid aside work by 500% (or 5 times) 500%! Who has that kind of time? But we all do it.

The potential upside is well worth it. If you work on the task until completion you will increase your own output by 80%. This is why Brian Tracy says it is “one of the great secrets of time management and high productivity.”

And you can acquire this habit easily with a little bit of practice and persistence.

Soon you’ll reap the following benefits:

1. You’ll find yourself at the top of your field and pay-scale.

2. You’ll get an endorphin rush by completing your major tasks. This rush will give you a feeling of well-being, happiness, and your self-esteem will increase.

Try this method today and see how much your productivity increases. You’ll soon have the attention of your boss (in a good way!).

About the Author:
by George Purdy

If you find your sales are disappointing and it feels like you are no longer progressing in your sales career, don’t worry. There is a simple solution that won’t cost you thousands of dollars and hours of your time. This solution is sales coaching and it can increase your sales up to 150%.

Using the sales coaching approach provides a unique way for a seasoned and successful salesperson to pass along the best tips, tricks and secrets to those who do not yet know how it’s done. This is a great overall approach where the expert teaches the novice by doing together for a more holistic experience.

Recent performance coaching program clients highlight great gains brought on by this training in the following areas: confidence, communication skills, as well as leadership abilities. Those that reports these gains are now much happier and healthier, on top of getting increased sales and production from their work and more time with their family.

Sales professionals go through a well-developed step-by-step program that helps them to utilize creative visualization. This is a well-kept secret of successful sales coaching. Video instruction and coaching in person can help you to channel your ideas and thoughts and enhance them through creative visualization.

An imperative of creative visualization is the thought: ’if you want it, you can get it’. This visualization is basically a means of encouraging you to think about your goal and be able to get to it by ’mind over matter’ thinking. Many clients have documented how great a difference this strategy has made in the accomplishment of their goals, both personal and sales or business oriented.

Creative visualization is a technique that has been used for centuries, but for the first time, this technique is available to sales professionals like you. Eastern mystics are no longer the only ones to reap the benefits of creative visualization. Now you can share in them, too, enjoying lower blood pressure, an improvement in the brain functions controlling higher reasoning, and increased levels of serotonin, a naturally-occurring brain chemical that affects mood.

Sales coaching is a great way to help you find balance in your life if you are juggling family and career. Sales coaching can also help you find peace while you focus on your professional goals and improve your bottom line.

Let down by last year’s sales figures? The unique process of sales coaching will give you a competitive edge. Recent clients of performance coaching have highlighted the vast gains they have made in confidence, communication skills, and leadership abilities. This coaching is effective because of the cutting-edge guided meditation program. The sales professionals are taught how to engage in creative visualization practices proven effective by the pros. Part of a powerful strategy for meeting sales goals, “if you want it, come and get it,” is the mantra that matters for creative visualization. Make “mind over matter” an actionable business strategy.

About the Author:
by Christine Sutherland

After decades of studying elite sales professionals, and teaching and measuring sales skills to a broad cross-section of sales people, I’d like to pass on to you the 7 ways in which the elite performers assure their success. Use this article to identify and master the skills that you’ll require as part of your repertoire if you’re to truly gain total control of your earning capacity.

INCREDIBLE RAPPORT

Sales people used to be taught matching and mirroring, but in fact that’s just a tiny shred of true rapport. The best sales people build amazing rapport very rapidly, even with people who don’t particularly like them initially.

Let’s hope the online dating gurus don’t ever find out that this highest level of rapport even exists!

Just remember that manipulation is dumb, and use these skills to enhance relationships of all types, and you’ll be on the road to higher sales simply because people start connecting with you so much better.

What’s the secret? Well partly of course it takes practice, but it’s important that this is correct practice. Some of the things you can do to increase your rapport skills are to take a leaf out of, believe it or not, the synchonised swimming teams!

Notice how they not only match their breathing, but they use eye contact to match their internal states? Sounds a bit “woo-woo”, I know, but it does work!

“SPOOKY” MIND READING

An amazing level of rapport is one thing, but mind reading, where you actually know what your client is thinking, is a skill that borders on “spooky” but is certainly achievable.

These days you can use cutting edge accelerated learning techniques to move you toward a state of deep competence as quickly as possible, so that you learn to appreciate what your clients are thinking even before they realise it themselves.

How would you like to know the difference between “yes/no”, “like/dislike”, and “ready/not ready”? Useful?

You can certainly gain this skill, and again it takes practice! If you’re willing to spend time with buddies or business friends who’ll silently think of things that for example they “like”, and then of things that they “don’t like”, you’ll very quickly notice the set of cues that are the giveaway for each person. The more you practice, the more you can pick this up quickly even with people you’ve never met before.

THE ONLY CLIENT TRAITS THAT MATTER TO THE SALES PROFESSIONAL

Although therapists work with several personality traits, most of them don’t know THESE! These are the traits that predict how a client will go through the decision making process - the traits that give away the very factors the client needs in order to say yes. Can you see why I say they’re essential for you to know? (And they should be essential for therapists too!)

It might surprise you, but once you’ve studied that collection of traits, you’ll find you’ve got a natural affinity with them. In fact if you bring to mind even casual acquaintances, you’ll find that you can now identify those traits IMMEDIATELY.

Here’s an example of one that is not so unusual, and it’s called “Match/Mismatch”.

I’m sure you know at least one person who habitually disagrees with anyone and anything. It’s not that they’re being negative, because if you say something is lousy they’ll assert that it’s perfectly OK! This is a mismatcher, or “polarity responder” and it’s just the way they are. They are always sorting information for “difference”.

Just as irritating as a mismatcher is a “similarity responder” who will find a way to agree with everything you say (it doesn’t mean they’ll follow through on that by the way). They perceive everything as familiar and “same”, and find it very difficult to disagree, or cope with things they don’t understand. They will fill in the blanks in their imagination, so that it looks just like something they already know.

How This Trait Works in Real Life

Let’s say Fred the sales professional is visiting Macy the general manager and Macy seems “disagreeable”. First she explains a problem on the manufacturing line, but when Fred repeats her statement later, she denies there is a problem! Macey is such an extreme mismatcher that she even mismatches her own statements. (Christine’s note: as hard as it might be to believe, such extreme mismatchers do exist. They’re rare, but they do exist!)

A seemingly difficult situation becomes extremely easy to influence when you realise that the mismatcher is fatally predictable. Fred can simply say “Macey, you might not agree with me that there could be an easier way, but I wonder if you wouldn’t find it less costly to …..”

And he can continue: “Macey, this option isn’t for everyone and it might not suit you in this case ….”. In fact Macey is probably the easiest client anyone could possibly sell to providing you understand her and respond to her the way that she requires. When you understand all the personality traits, you won’t make those relating mistakes again because you’ll be working in line with your client’s “style”.

MILLION DOLLAR QUESTIONS EVERY SALES PERSON SHOULD KNOW

Clients love these 3 little questions and elite sales performers are experts at asking them, and working with the answers.

These 3 questions can rightly be called “million dollar questions” because they absolutely highlight the client’s core values in relation to the product or service being offered, and even tell you the precise words the client needs to hear in order to make a decision to buy.

There are 2 reasons why these questions can be regarded as “gold”. They increase your chances of selling by at least double, and they simultaneously build an incredibly deep level of understanding between you and your client, meaning that it’s also more likely that you’ll receive terrific referrals from this client far into the future.

HOW TO HAVE ABSOLUTE CONTROL OVER YOUR SALES INCOME

Are you confident at the moment of hitting any sales goal you choose?

Top performers can pull in their desired income year after year because they know and use their own mathematical equation that leads inevitably to a certain sales result.

So far as I’m aware, Frank Bettger was the first professional sales person to formulate and use this mathematical equation to literally choose his income. Even though selling activities have changed, and the skills I’ve discussed certainly increase effectiveness over older methods, the mathematical equation still holds.

What sales activities do you get involved in? What result can you attribute to each (even if it’s just a guess at this stage)? If you wanted to double your income, what would you have to do? What activities would you dump and what would you keep?

But to actually come through on this equation, you have to plan, document, track and analyse each activity. Otherwise you’re still flying blind, and you’re not being accountable - not even to yourself. If you are prepared to do these things then I’m excited for you, because you’re nearly there!

ABRACADABRA! FEAR OR DOUBT GONE!

Have you ever known what you had to do, and certainly been capable of doing it very well, and yet you procrastinated or self-sabotaged so it still didn’t get done? This is what fear or niggling doubt can do, so obviously it needs to go!

What if you know you should feel confident about making those calls or speaking in front of that group, but you still feel sick in the stomach every time you think about it?

For several years we’ve had available an incredible technique to eliminate these types of fears and doubts literally overnight (including stuttering, by the way) but very few people have known about it.

One of the most powerful of all these techniques is “NeuroStim”. It’s capable of eliminating depression, chronic pain, fear and anxiety in just days, and sometimes even overnight.

YOUR PAYOFF FOR NETWORKING STRATEGICALLY!

In the old days we always recommended that our clients and students join a business networking organisation in order to build relationships that would benefit them personally and professionally. We toiled conscientiously and for years to teach a philosophy and methodology that we knew worked.

Sadly, we don’t see any evidence at all that the organisations understand the principles of effective business networking.

Nowadays we advise our clients and students to avoid these organisations whenever possible. They are half-baked examples of what networking should be about and our people are far better off forming their own business networks among trusted business friends. If they do this the right way, they’ll enjoy unprecedented success, including superior peer-mentoring, joint venture agreements, referrals, advocacy, and sharing of expertise and resources. And they can do it all in business hours.

The advantages of turning your back on the networking organisations and building your own private network are gigantic. You’ll save time, money and effort, and you no longer have to tolerate boring or rude networking practices. You’ll no longer rob yourself, family or friends of time that should be spent with them. You’ll have REAL friends in business who enrich your life personally and professionally.

CAN YOU DO IT?

If you can only do these things, even though there’s so much more you can do in terms of skill building, you will certainly join the top echelon of professional sales people in the world today! And you’ll deserve it!

About the Author:
by Kenrick Cleveland

A recent study out of the J. F. Kennedy School for Government at Harvard has found that even momentary sadness causes consumers to increase spending.

We know, as persuaders, that consumers buy based on their emotions and gut instincts. Part of how we access these emotions is through criteria elicitation and appealing to their core values. The Harvard study, entitled, “Misery is Not Miserly: Sad and Self-Focused Individuals Spend More” will be published in ‘Psychological Science’ in June 2008. The study shows that people spend more when they are in sad or inwardly focused states of mind as opposed to people in neutral states of mind.

When we as persuaders use anchoring and peak emotional states to sell, we are utilizing a feeling of self focus (and on occasion, sadness, especially in the case of people with an ‘away from’ orientation.)

The researchers incited a heightened self focus with the participants and combined that with the participant being shown either a sad video clip or a neutral video clip advertising the product in question. The people who watched the sad clip offered 300% more than the neutral participants.

It’s my suspicion that if the researchers had also show a happy, upbeat clip of the product that it too would have increased spending. Why? Because it is an increased emotional state. And further, if the researchers had known about the towards and away continuum, they would have developed an even deeper understanding of peak emotional states in advertising and sales.

Towards and away is a powerful tool in determining how your prospect responds in specific contexts. We don’t all view the world through rose colored glasses. What this means is that there are some people who will respond positively to a negative attitude.

If you’re a financial adviser and you determine your prospect’s deepest criteria is ’security’, you can then determine the orientation by asking the question, ‘What will having financial security do for you?’ Depending on the answer, you can fashion the language you use to that orientation, whether towards or away.

If they say, ‘Well, I’m tired of worrying about my finances. . .’ That’s an away from. If they say, ‘Well, I just want to stay in control of my finances. . .’ That’s more of a toward orientation.

With the away from person, you don’t want to be optimistic, just as with the toward person, you don’t want to be pessimistic. Tailoring your language in such a way that you bring more “pain” to the away person and more “ease” to the toward is really the key to selling.

I don’t think the Harvard study got it wrong, but I do believe they only uncovered part of the story.

About the Author:
by Kenrick Cleveland

“It is necessary, then, to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” -Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich or Financial Success Through Creative Thought

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” -Melodie Beattie

Why is gratitude important? When we are grateful for what we have, we draw more things to us to be grateful for.

At the end of each of my coaching club calls, I suggest my students all pause daily to go over all of the things in their lives that they are grateful for. This isn’t something that should be expressed only on Thanksgiving or as a weekly Sunday prayer, but needs to be integrated into your daily lives, permeating all of our interactions.

Experiencing gratitude does not have to be limited to when someone gives you a gift or does you a favor. True gratitude is about looking deeply at our lives and understanding how truly lucky we are to be alive at this moment in time.

Every night and every morning I think of gratitude. I have a huge list, as do all of us, of things I am so truly thankful for: family, colleagues, students, friends, health, financial success, employees. I am thankful when it rains because I know that the Pacific Northwest is lush and green as a result of this rain. I am grateful when it’s sunny, because it really rains a lot here.

Throughout my day, I pause occasionally to extend my gratitude to the simple and complex things I experience. I consider other people’s situations, whether they be more challenging or less, and I am aware that the struggles or lessons I’ve endured have made me who I am and brought me to this point in life and I am absolutely grateful for that.

There are going to be times when being grateful isn’t easy — times that are trying or difficult. Maybe your health is bad. Your body isn’t working the way it should. Instead of cursing it for what it can’t do, be grateful for what it can.

There’s an old Irish proverb that says, ‘Count your joys instead of your woes; count your friends instead of your foes.’ I love this. It’s all in where we place our focus. It’s all in what we choose to highlight and what we choose to minimize.

As you begin to take notice of all that is good in your life, this gratitude will turn your life around.

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