 Track Selling Times - July, 2000
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Track Selling Times
The Voice of the Sales Profession
Issue No. 128
July 1, 2000
Published by Max Sacks International,
Home of 100% Guaranteed World Class Sales Training
Developers of the Track Selling System™.
Author/Editor: Roy Chitwood, President, MSI
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Feature:
"
Sales Training Sins"
by Roy E. Chitwood, CSP, CSE
Learn some of the most common pitfalls of corporate sales training and how to avoid them.
Sections:
Newsletter Archives
"Sales Training Sins"
by Roy E. Chitwood, CSP, CSE |
As I've written previously, selling skills can be learned, but, they first must be taught. Just as an engineer, accountant or physician isn't "born," neither is a salesperson. And one of the best marketing weapons a company can use against its competition is quality sales training. In bottom-line profits, it can mean the difference between breaking even and record revenues.
In our 40-plus years of experience, my company has identified seven shortcomings of sales training that are common to many companies. However, when a company remedies them, the resulting sales increase can be dramatic.
- No sales training.
What's wrong with sales training today? In most instances, there isn't any. Typically, most company's coverage of "sales training" consists of product knowledge and how to do the necessary paperwork.
It seems ridiculous for a company to require its salespeople to have four or five years of formal education, and then send them into the field armed with only their product knowledge and very little, if any, sales training.
- A one-shot course on how to sell.
CEOs and other top-level managers often lack sales background and therefore, don't fully understand what professional selling requires. Reluctantly, they may agree to implement training to pacify the company's sales managers and training department. However, a one-shot approach to sales training won't work. For sales training to be effective, it must meet three requirements: It must be ongoing. It must be repetitious. And it must have real-world application.
- Unqualified trainers.
It's hard to believe, yet companies often center the effectiveness of their sales
training program around an instructor who has no sales experience. Any company using training personnel without established, proven sales track records is only kidding itself.
You can't expect individuals who have never sold before to adequately train other people on how to do it. It's probably truer in sales training than nearly anything else: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."
- Outdated methods.
It's amazing to realize how much of corporate America still teaches outdated
selling techniques. These include the trick questions and manipulative, high-pressure selling tactics that were popular in the '70s and '80s.
Such techniques include: the assumptive close, assuming that the prospect wants to buy and filling out an order. Or the alternate choice techniques: "Do you want it in red or blue?" And don't forget the impending event, "You better get your order in now, because the price is going to go up on the first of the month."
The old-fashioned hard sell is no longer applicable because today's buyer is much more sophisticated, knowledgeable, aware - and reacts adversely to the old ways of selling. In most instances, the buyer can tell when these tactics are being used. And as a result, these methods usually backfire.
- Sales as psychology.
Why companies think that they can take salespeople and teach them how to be psychologists is beyond me. If you want your salespeople to become psychologists, send them to the appropriate college for five or six years. Otherwise, don't have them trying to analyze their customers and meddling in the science.
We know that in most instances, the salespeople do not make any attempt whatsoever to close the sale. Wouldn't it be more effective to teach them how to ask for an order rather than trying to turn them into psychologists?
- Nontransferable selling techniques.
Typically, when new salespeople are brought on board, the company puts them through an orientation program usually provides the product knowledge necessary for any salesperson to be successful. The actual sales training is left for the sales manager or other "qualified" personnel.
The typical scenario is as follows: The manager will take the recruit out on a sales call to show her how to do it. With the benefit of 15 years of experience, confidence and knowledge, the manager then makes the most difficult sale appear easy. He then says to the recruit, "See, that's all there is to it. Just do what I did."
But, the manager doesn't realize that he can't transfer 15 years of experience, 15 years of confidence and 15 years of knowledge to the new salesperson. Even more importantly, however, is that a new salesperson can't learn how to sell effectively by trying to sell like someone else. Why? Because each person should sell with their own personality and style. They won't get anywhere trying to emulate someone else.
- Lack of management commitment.
Unfortunately, corporate America often regards their sales organization as a liability instead of an asset. Companies need to understand that the sales force is an asset. The only asset on the corporate books that can appreciate with meaningful training programs and can have a major impact on bottom-line profits.
We hear companies say things like, "We are a company of our people, our greatest asset is our people." That's nonsense. Any company's greatest asset is not its' people.
A company's greatest asset is the undeveloped potential of its people. If a company understands this, and makes a commitment to the development of this asset, providing its people with continuous, effective sales training, they can expect to move ahead of their competitors.
Integrity Pays:
"How do you position yourself with
clients when your company's bought out by a giant?"
by Bob Karp
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Bob Karp is a sales representative with HA-LO, the largest promotional product's distributor in North America.
When they work for smaller companies, several of the major benefits salespeople often promote to clients are: personal attention, local service and quick turnaround time. The underlying implication is that the client won't receive these benefits, or at least not to the same degree, if they choose to purchase from a national or international company.
I urge all salespeople to reconsider this notion because selling really does depend on one-to-one service. And my experience bares this out.
I formerly worked for Idea Man, a $35 million privately held company. It was a terrific firm as were the support staff and products. But timing is everything, and the timing was right for the owner to sell, which he did. The buyer? HA-LO, a $750 NYSE company, and the largest North American distributor of promotional products.
To say that I was apprehensive about the takeover is an understatement. I know many of my clients had concerns about the transition too. We were going from the known to the unknown, without crystal balls in hand. What would the service be like? How would sensitive orders be handled? Would we simply be a single grain in the corporate sand box?
Fortunately, the transition has been awesome for both my clients and myself. I retained 100% of my accounts during the transition and my sales have increased 140% over the same time period. The strengths I promoted at Idea Man: personalized service, quality products, fair price and quick turnaround time, have become even stronger at HA-LO. Remarkably, the benefits don't stop there.
HA-LO has the financial resources to invest in its' people and clients. Where I formerly had 2 managers to brainstorm with to meet client challenges, I currently have 12, in addition to a wealth of other experts and case studies. Action is immediate. HA-LO offered a dramatic increase in technology, which now provides reps with software for: order entry, tracking, and accounts receivable. The point here isn't the software. It's that the rep now has even more time to spend on the single most important activity of a company: building personal relationships. Moreover, the satisfaction level of my clients has increased.
The biggest thing I've learned during this transition is the reaffirmation that selling truly equals service. While employed with a regional/local company, I incorrectly assumed a client would receive impersonal service with a national vendor. That they would be lost in the corporate shuffle. Yes, this can happen. But the backing and resources of a national company can, if done correctly, enable you to provide even more personal service than a smaller company. And, ironically, I have gained much more business positioning as a national provider rather than a local one.
World Class Sales Management:
"Effectively coaching your salespeople "
by Faye Pegg
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Faye Pegg is a Commercial Sales Manager for Canada Post. Her team covers western Canada and continues to grow under Faye's direction.
For quality sales managers, coaching and developing the skills of their sales people should be their highest priorities. The reason is much further reaching than increasing sales. It relates to the human element of sharing their experience in order to promote the development and success of another person. By giving of themselves, the manager and her sales people both grow.
One of the most successful strategies I've used for simultaneously increasing sales and coaching my sales people is to have each person identify 2-3 prospective clients who solely use our competitor's services. The first step is for my people to start a relationship with the buyer. Initially, take small steps and a long sales cycle approach to begin building credibility. It could take several months before we get a few small orders, our objective. It's difficult to balance this relationship building stage with making sales, because each rep has a quota to meet. But, it's essential to grow their account base and our business.
After the relationship has started and we've delivered smaller services as promised, the rep then targets big sales. My reps have been very successful using this strategy. In fact, often times the competition comes back and tries to rethink what they're doing because they've unknowingly lost the account much faster than they acquired it.
It's important to point out that besides the significant increase in new business, the reps learning curve is so much higher. My territory reps who previously didn't bother to identify these accounts or take the time to sell our company and establish credibility, have learned to manage their base while growing their business. The biggest benefit, however, hasn't been the increased revenues. It's the confidence levels of many of the reps coupled with their professional and personal growth. These combined are worth more than any figure on a commission check.
Focus on the Professional -
"Chip Phelps"
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Chip Phelps is President of Connected Leadership Institute, Inc. based in West Linn, Oregon. He has more than 25 years of sales experience and currently works with executives to create and effectively implement strategic plans for their companies.
The belief that companies should engage in strategic planning is everywhere. What is strategic planning and what does it entail?
Before I describe what strategic planning is, I think it's beneficial to briefly share my background. I first became involved with management/strategic planning teams in the insurance industry. I realized that with Fortune 500 companies, employees often had no idea of where management was taking the company. And, while this may have been unintentional, it created mistrust in the employee's mind and prevented the employee from developing the necessary skill set for the company to grow.
As my career evolved, and I worked more and more for small to medium sized company's, I found similar dilemmas. "Management" may have shrunk in numbers, but not knowing where to take the company and critical misdirection still existed.
My service grew out of what many president's call "team building." They're hoping and believing cohesiveness would build the business. But, team building isn't always the answer. It's an important factor, yet strategy is more critical. Once a strategy is built, implemented, and monitored regularly, people can assess and clarify that they're building the business in the desired format.
I estimate that 75% of all companies don't have a strategic plan, don't know what it is, and consequently, don't want one. However, it's imperative to have one in place so employees can know what to do, how to do it, and to drive the growth with the senior management team.
The advantages of having a strategic plan are many. It begins to pull integrity into the organization and sets the stage for trust to develop as for why decisions are being made. Additionally, critical projects that begin are now maintained to sustain growth, rather than started and stopped. Those projects in advanced strategic planning impact finances, business systems, employee skill sets and customer service/marketing, all of which must be tightly interrelated.
So, back to the question, "What is strategic planning?" At a very basic level, it's selecting the key issues to focus on that effect the above 4 1/2 areas (finances, business systems, employee skill sets, and customer service/marketing). And it is management's core responsibility to do three things: 1 - to have a strategy in place; 2 - to define the company's position; 3 - to forge a fit among those projects in order to move the company forward.
An effective strategic plan is vital to an organization's success and takes much work to develop. Once the strategic business plan is built and implemented, the real work, and the real fun, begin.
Book Review -
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding:
How to Build a Product or Service into a World-Class Brand
by Al Ries, Laura Ries
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In their follow-up to the informative and hugely successful, The 22 Laws of Marketing, father-daughter combo Al and Laura Ries team up again to offer The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding. In it, the duo contends that the core of marketing MUST BE a clear, definitive brand. If it's not, then it's suggested that all of a company's promotional efforts (PR, advertising, marketing campaigns) won't help reach their objectives.
It's apparent the author's position has validity. Most of today's marketing campaigns center on a specific brand and message. Whereas, in days gone by, this consistency was often lacking. The book offers marketing and branding managers simple, yet effective, steps to increase marketing effectiveness. For example, the necessity of separating marketing from sales and how to effectively expand the business.
I caution readers, not to view the book as a panacea for the branding problems of all businesses. In my opinion, the book becomes more relevant the older and/or bigger a business is. That being written, anyone involved in the branding and marketing of his/her company will benefit by reading The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding.
| Ask Roy
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Michael Kay of Dallas, Texas, asks:
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My manager believes successful salespeople are born. If you don't have an outgoing personality, you weren't born to be a salesperson. Is it wise to try to be an outgoing, comedic salesperson if that's not your nature?
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Roy's Answer:
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Michael, the most common statement in all of selling is "you're a born salesperson." This is absolutely false! As I wrote above, no one is born a doctor, lawyer, or accountant. So why would someone say you're a 'born' salesperson?
Yes, among other traits it can help to have an outgoing personality. However, this doesn't guarantee success. Studies suggest that regardless of age, race, education, or experience, if a person is honest, hard working, and willing to be trained with quality sales training, they have as much chance at sales success as anyone else. Rather than trying to be someone you're not, focus on the concrete, proven steps that will help you sell more effectively. The goal is to be a great salesperson, not a great personality.
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| Reader Survey
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1. What do you think of Track Selling Times?
2. What else would you like to see included?
3. If you have sales questions for Roy, or know of a salesperson, sales manager or integrity story that should be featured in Track Selling Times, mail it
to:
The Editor, Track Selling Times
c/o Max Sacks International
2442 NW Market Street #409
Seattle
WA 98107
Tel: (206) 706-4119 Fax: (206) 706-5359
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