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One Year Anniversary! We Desire Your Feedback! This month marks the one year anniversary of this newsletter! We thank all of our subscribers for making it a success! To mark this anniversary and in an effort to make this publication even better, we are asking for your opinions about how to improve it. Please take a few minutes and fill out our eleven question survey here. In appreciation, when you submit the survey you will be directed to a thank you page where you will be able to download a free MP3 audio of "Nine Skill Sets That, When Maximized, Will Have The Greatest Impact On Your Selling Success!." We also want to announce the opening of our new product store, TrainingSalesPros.com
This new site offers a easier, safer, faster checkout that does not require registration, unless you want to. To help celebrate the opening we are offering for this month only, a 15% discount on your order. Just enter the word "newsletter" (without quotes) in the coupon/discount box during your checkout. This offer expires Dec. 1st.
“You Can Always Sell More, By Observing
Another Sales Rep Sell”
How are you, as an experienced sales professional, increasing your selling skills? A great way to increase your understanding of selling is to ride along observing another sales rep as they work to sell to their customers. Most experienced sales reps find it difficult to evaluate or critique their own sales calls. During a call they’re so focused and involved in what their customer is saying and how they plan to respond that most really don’t remember a lot of the details that actually transpired on their call. The reality of selling is you’ll always observe and retain the most new ideas when you’re able to remove yourself from the “thick of the battle” of a sales call and just observe how both sides are interacting and communicating. When was the last time you rode along to observe someone else selling? Observing Others To Improve Your Own Skills A great way to learn more about your own selling skills is to observe and evaluate how someone else sells. You’ll receive the most value if you’re able to observe a sales person selling the same products or services that you do. Consider asking one of the most senior and successful sales reps from your company if you can ride along with them for a day to observe and learn how they sell. If this is not possible then ask a peer with at least as much experience and success as you now have if they want to partner with you. The idea is to take turns with them riding with you for a day to watch you sell and then you allowing them to observe you on a day of calls. When you ride with a rep be careful to respect their customer and selling challenges. Most customers appreciate being asked ahead of a call if it is okay with them for you to bring a guest on their sales call. The best way to explain this to a customer is to just say you have another sales rep from your company riding with you for the day and would it be okay if they joined you on your call.
When you join them for a day of calls be sure and use the time
in between calls to discuss both the last call just completed
and the call about to take place.
“You Can Always Sell More, By Balancing
Your Operational,
In past articles I have identified the job of a sales manager is to help each and every one of your people achieve more than they would have achieved if just left alone. An important contributor to helping your people achieve more with your help is your ability to help each member of your sales team to increase their operational, tactical and strategic areas of selling. And just to make sure we are all using the same terms: Operational selling skills include strong product knowledge, the ability to utilize the steps of a sales call and the ability to be flexible enough to talk with a customer in their language and personality instead of your own. Tactical skills include all of the multiple-stepped structures and processes of selling that become the “game plans” or “road maps” to your selling process for both prospects and existing customers. Strategic selling skills include the ability to communicate your philosophies, values and uniqueness to a customer. How Balanced Are Your Operational, Tactical, And Strategic Selling Skills? Though all three of these skill areas are critical to your success in selling, most salespeople and their leadership are out of balance. Observing salespeople, I consistently see the majority of salespeople (and their managers) spend over 90% of their time on operational issues or tasks, 10% on tactical processes and little or no time on strategic issues. Consider your last few sales meetings. What did you spend the most time on? Did you discuss with your team how they can best be positioning your company and products/services vs. your competition (Strategic)? Did you spend any time discussing how best your team can move a prospect more efficiently through your “Identify to close” selling process (Tactical)? And how much time did you spend talking about your sales rep’s current contacts within their important accounts and how they need to be calling on additional positions so they can get “higher, wider and deeper” within these accounts (Tactical)? Or, like most sales teams, did you spend all of your time in your last sales meetings discussing reports, deadlines, order entry concerns, order shipping problems and who is forgetting to clean out the refrigerator every Friday afternoon (Operational)? Most salespeople spend all day reactively responding to the operational demands of their territory, do little longer range planning for either their prospects or existing customers and all have a different answer when asked why their company is unique.
In selling it is almost impossible to gain a competitive
advantage based only on operational selling excellence.
Competitive advantages are gained and maintained based on
awareness and skills at the tactical and strategic
levels--levels most salespeople are weakest in both
understanding and applying. |
In This Issue:
As an experienced sales manager, how do you improve your team's performance? Which Selling skills developed to their fullest potential, have the greatest impact on revenues and profitability? This book will guide you through a proven step-by-step system for evaluating, training, and coaching your sales force. BUY YOUR COPY NOW!
"You Can Always Sell
More...by Strengthening Your Strategic Selling Skills" - Audio
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