Sales Training Ireland

What happens the first time you try a new selling technique? It's usually uncomfortable and doesn't go as smoothly as it did in the seminar or how you imagined it would go. Often it results in a less than satisfying outcome. There are physiological reasons for this discomfort and awkwardness.

Reinforcing behavior that we actually want people to end is called enabling. The salesperson has several strategies s/he can employ to stop enabling prospects to abuse the selling relationship. Try these methods to get the respect you deserve as a selling professional:

Let me tell you a story about eight-year-old Nancy, a student in the public school system. One day during art class, Nancy painted a picture. Considering her age and development as a young artist, the picture of a house and the setting sun was really quite good. However, it was obvious that the picture was unbalanced. Nancy had painted the house and the sun to the left side of the canvas.

A good sales plan establishes goals, priorities, timetables, and necessary resources. A sales plan that will achieve your ends has these characteristics:

The selling profession is not generally considered a high-risk profession, yet salespeople face big risks every time they speak to customers and prospects. What do they risk? They risk uncovering the truth. They risk finding out their best customer has just changed the rules of doing business. They risk...

Professional selling can be cruel. Prospects are frequently better conditioned than the salespeople who call on them, and consequently they can destroy a salesperson in a phone call or during a chance meeting. On a day-to-day basis, even a good salesperson hears "no" more often than any word.

"Go for the NO"? Is "No" a good or bad word in Sales? I used to hate the idea of anyone saying "No" to me. How could that happen? I would spend too much time trying to analyze why it happened and why they did not buy from me. Then I learned to change my mindset.

Many of us have fished at one time or another, or at least seen a fisherman in action. The most common scenario is a line with a baited hook in the water, the fisherman waiting for a strike. When a fish hits, the fisherman yanks the rod up, often resulting in a return to the fisherman of a hook with no bait, and no fish.

I once asked a group of sales training participants to define "Selling." By the blank expressions on their faces, you would have thought I asked them to explain Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

A young ambitious sales professional wished to be top dog, not just in his company, but in his industry, so he sought council from a wise man. "Tell me, oh wise man, what do I need, in order to be the best sales professional in my business?"

Company brochures and pamphlets make reference to it. Testimonial letters are evidence of it. Yet, quality, reliability, and competitive prices don't guarantee a sale.

How do you determine if the time you devote to developing a selling opportunity is a worthwhile investment or a waste? One might think the answer is obvious: if you closed the sale, it was a good investment of time, and if you didn't close the sale, it was a waste of time. On the surface, there is some truth to that line of thinking. But, the length of time to close the sale or close the file on the opportunity is the real yardstick.

Is there anything you can do about your sales cycle? We will discover there are many patterns in the sales world. If we understand the patterns and what causes them, we have a chance to shorten the sales cycle.

There is no room for the shotgun approach to selling in today's customer-driven, competitive environment. Responding to a request for proposal (RFP) that falls within your company's general area of expertise is costly and likely to be inefficient, at best; developing a proposal for every RFP that comes in can be foolhardy.

In almost every buying decision, you'll work with a cast of characters who are involved in the process. Often, one member of the cast usually someone at or near the top of the organisation chart has the responsibility for making the decision. Sometimes, however, a committee of decision makers is involved.

As a professional, your reluctance to be perceived as a "salesperson" may cause you to have trouble being up-front about money issues. This can cost you money. Here are two common money pitfalls, and ways to avoid them:

When the economy was robust, prospects were eager to invest in many things for fear of being left behind in the hi-tech/high-speed/technology-will-solve-everything revolution of the late '90's. Quietly and with little notice, sales professionals stopped cold calling and spent more time on proposals and presentations, because their pipeline was always full. After all, prospects had already decided they were going to buy something. As a result of selling in this climate of growth, expansion and record sales, many sales professionals have lost their edge, or never had to learn how, to generate interest with tough buyers.

How many presentations do you make each week, each month? Presentations are a killer for most small businesses. Often, we even measure the number of attempts to the number of presentations we make. We end up putting a lot of pressure on ourselves to make a good, or even great, presentation.

You've followed the Sandler Selling System. You haven't disqualified the prospect. The prospect hasn't disqualified you. What's next-the close. If you did a good job of identifying pain, uncovering budget and identifying the decision making process, and if you have a firm up-front contract, it's time to close.