Sales Training Tips - Part 1 of 3

Below are some sales tips from our book "The Agile Manager's Guide to Customer-Focused Selling" :

Sales Professional's Tip #1 - Improve Your Listening. Customer are comfortable with and trusting of salespeople who are excellent listeners. To listen better:

1. Prepare questions in advance.
2. Tell customers that, to be of the most help to them and to gain understanding, you'll initially listen twice as much as you talk. And keep that commitment - you'll be a breath of fresh air.
3. Maintain comfortable eye contact.
4. Lean toward your customer. People judge if you're listening by your body language. Don't send the wrong signal by slouching down in a chair while a customer is describing, with emotion, a problem. Be engaged by leaning forward in your chair.
5. Use the customer's name.
6. Provide good feedback by paraphrasing what you hear and ask clarifying questions when needed. Customers will feel more confident if they're sure you understand their situation.
7. Take written notes. (Ask permission first.) Customers will appreciate it, and they will emphasize key points as they speak. Also, they may slow down their speech rate.
8. Concentrate on your customers or your mind may wander. You don't want to send a message that you're ignoring them.

Sales Professional's Tip #2 - Put the Blinders On. The Agile Sales Manager's mind wandered back to an incident in which his first sales manager passed along the best piece of advice he ever received.

It was a few days before the Kentucky Derby, and his manager drew an oval on a piece of paper.

"Imagine that this is the race track at Churchill Downs," he said. "What will be different for the three-year old horses running in this year's Derby?"

"Well," said the young Agile Manager. "They'll run a farther distance than they ever have before - and in front of over 100,000 people."

His mentor smiled and said, "That's right, that's right! I'm glad to see you know something about the racing game. Now, the other unique thing all the horses will experience is what those people in attendance will be doing and where they'll be doing it." He paused and drew people on the outside of the oval.

"You see," he continued, "Thoroughbred horses are accustomed to having people on their right side only as they run a race. That won't change. For this particular race, the throngs of 'rail birds' will be screaming their heads off. So will the more refined set, sitting in the grandstand wearing their suits and fashionable straw hats while sipping mint juleps."

"And how about the ten thousand people that are partying in the infield - many of whom don't even know there is a race taking place!"

The sales manager laughed. "Yep. And those people on the infield, inside the racing circle, will add to the horses' confusion and nervousness by being on their left side. That' s why many of the horses will run with a new piece of equipment, and something they may never wear again: blinders. This is to keep them focused and avoid distractions."

The sales chief paused again. "I have watched the Derby for over twenty years and I can tell you that there are always some horses wearing blinders for the first time to avoid being distracted. Their trainers feel it's the best way for them to get from the starting gate to the finish line as fast as they can. It keeps their minds on the business at hand" He looked off into the distance, then looked directly into the young Agile Manager's eyes.

"As your trainer," he said, "I consider you to be a thoroughbred in the sales profession. What's going on in the stands and the infield doesn't matter. What matters is that you get to the finish line first. Put the blinders on and don't ever take them off. That' show you'll win the race."

Sales Professional’s Tip #3 - Plan Your Day. Time is your greatest asset in business, and managing time well is one of the foundations for sales success. That's because selling is always a race against time - to get in an extra call or two a day or to beat competitors to the punch.

To use your time wisely:

1. Know exactly what you are going to do in the morning.
2. Work by appointment, and make appointments as early in the morning as possible. This tends to get you off to a fast start each day and makes your sales call more professional. It also assures in most cases, the customer will be in.
3. Review your daily to-do list the night before. Have your to-do list ready to go for the next day.
4. Review your work schedule for the upcoming week each Saturday or Sunday evening.
5. Use Friday afternoons to finalize the next week's schedule.

Sales Professional's Tip #4 - Questions Are the Answer - Probes and questions are critical in selling. The better you probe and ask customer-focused questions, the more successful you will become. Many of the sales greats believe their higher sales come from the quality of the questions they ask.

Probes are sentences that being with action verbs like give, describe, tell, talk and explain.

Probes can be used as conversation starters, to uncover a person's feelings and values, or to reveal general information. Probes ask your listener to provide you with background information and their feelings on a subject.

Questions are more direct than probes. They ask the listener for specific information on a subject. Questions can also identify customer wants, needs, dreams, goals, and a personal win.

Questions come in two forms: open ended and closed ended.

Open-ended questions are great for getting people to open up and converse with you freely. They ask your customers or prospects for specific information (the facts) and their opinions (their feelings). Open-ended questions begin with the words what, where, why, when, how and who.

Closed-ended questions start with words like do you, did they, would you, will she, can you, etc. They ask for specific yes/no, this one/that one, or either/or types of answers.

Don't use closed-ended questions if you want to get your prospect to open up to you. Use them, however, if you are asking for a commitment to action, confirmation, or decision.