Given the choice between buying activity management systems and implementing a true performance coaching system to bring out the best in salespeople, my unfortunate experience is that many senior sales management teams will inevitably choose activity management. The reason? It’s easy. Granted it works in the short term, and there’s even a place for it during field induction and as a mechanism for performers to appraise themselves, but as a sales coaching tool it is a non-starter.

You teach salespeople about activity, not force it on them. The danger with the latter is that you will have your salespeople deliver the activity without a corresponding increase in business. I have seen numerous examples of salespeople forging activity levels simply to keep the manager happy. In the meantime, the manager sinks into a quicksand of statistics trying to work out where it is going wrong.

I recently visited an area sales manager who was having problems with a non-performing salesperson. The manager showed me the charts he had put together showing the pattern of calls and results. It must have taken him quite some time. The problem was that the salesperson had falsified 80% of their activity. It wasn’t his fault. He was responsible, but it wasn’t entirely his fault.

You may produce a ratio which show that from a particular level of activity that a particular financial outcome is being achieved within the sales force. You may choose to ignore the fact that top salespeople see fewer customers than their lower performing colleagues. But you need to ask yourself the question – what is it you want from the salesperson? Activity or results? Forget the relationship between activity and performance – what is you want – activity or results? If it’s results then forget activity. If it’s activity, then perhaps you have lost the plot.

You teach people about working hard by going out on calls with them. It is the only way to find out what’s going on – with them and with customers. There isn’t a professional coach alive that doesn’t sit on the touchline; stand in the wings; sit in the auditorium; watch the actual performance as part of their coaching responsibilities.

You should accompany new salespeople for five days after foundation training. You will come up with all sorts of excuses why this can’t happen but these excuses will compromise the successful outcome of both training and coaching. Unless you meet people on day one in the field; unless you test that they have acquired the levels of knowledge, skills, and attitudes required; unless you accompany them immediately on live sales calls; unless you stay with them for their first five days in the field; you’ll have to rely on luck as to whether new salespeople make it or not. It’s during these first five days in the field that you teach new starters the activity game. Ideally you will have already arranged a number of sales appointments to go on in the first week.

In the first five days you will learn more about the new starter and they will learn more about you and your company then any other mechanism I know. You must know within those first five days whether the new starter will make it or not. If after five days you still don’t know, then chances are they won’t make it – and you need to think long and hard about your recruitment and selection processes. Or perhaps set them an activity target – that will sort it!

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Frank_Salisbury/4756

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Obstacle #1: Fear of the “No”. Much has been written about the fear of rejection but it still remains an issue for many sales people. I find that it is helpful to give my prospects a “no-option” right up front! My product/service is not for everyone. I don’t want anyone to feel manipulated or disrespectfully coerced. Neither do I want any “buyers-remorse.” When people say “yes” to me I want them to truly want what I am offering. I want it to be a “win-win” situation. Otherwise there is no hope for a long-term relationship.

As a sales professional you need to truly believe in your product or service. You need to be passionate and enthusiastic about what you are offering. You need to communicate the unique benefits of buying from you. But in the end, if the prospect says “no” it does not diminish the value of your product/service, and it is not a personal rejection of you. You must differentiate that within yourself in order to succeed.

Obstacle #2: Not Being Prepared. It’s very important that you prepare before making the sales contact. I know that there are times when selling opportunities present themselves serendipitously, but most of the time you will have an opportunity to prepare before the contact.

For me, preparation involves going to the prospect’s website, blog, or social media sites before the contact. There I want to learn everything I can about the company and the individual that I will be meeting with. Prospects are typically very impressed if they see that you have done your homework. They feel valued and respected.

I also want to prepare my attitude. I want to go in with the right mindset, being customer-centered and customer-focused. I want to be optimistic and visualize this prospect becoming my customer. I want to anticipate as much as possible what will happen in this conversation. However, I always want to remain flexible and open to the unexpected.

It is very important to be prepared. I would encourage you to develop a system for personal preparation and use that system every time you make a contact.

Obstacle #3: Focusing on Yourself Rather Than Your Prospective Customer. I alluded to this in Obstacle #2. It is very important that you focus on the other person. Your attention and your energy must be directed to understanding them and serving them. This contact is not about me. It is about the prospective customer, about their wants and needs. We must be tuned in to them before and during the contact.

There is a Hebrew Proverb that says “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.” I want to understand my prospect (if possible) better than he understands himself. I do not want to be preoccupied with my fear, my discomfort, or my ideas. I want to be totally present for my prospect in that moment of contact.

Obstacle #4: Failure to Listen During the Selling Conversation. The most important tools you have in the selling conversation are questions. The quality of your selling is directly related to the quality of your questions. You must go prepared with good questions and then be ready to ask more questions as they surface in the conversation.

Questions are essential to help you get to know your prospect and to understand what their needs are. I always encourage my clients to prepare good questions ahead of time so that they will be asking better questions than their competition.

However, it is not enough to just ask questions. You must also listen carefully to what they are saying. When appropriate, say back to them what you hear them saying. Listen beneath the words. What are they feeling in the moment of the conversation? How is my question impacting them? Listen and observe. Let them do most of the talking as you guide the conversation with powerful questions.

Obstacle #5: Not Keeping Your Promises. It amazes me how many people do not follow through and do what they say they will do. Successful sales professionals keep their word! They stand behind their promises no matter how difficult or inconvenient.

Prospects are asking themselves one primary question, “Can I trust you?” If you fail to keep your word in the initial meetings or the sales process, it is likely that the prospect will assess you as unreliable and/or dishonest. Bottomline: Keep your word!

Obstacle #6: Inability to Close the Sale. In my early days of selling this was a huge problem and I’ve discovered that it is for many other people as well. I could have a great conversation, ask some good questions, and uncover some clear needs that we could meet. But when the time came to close the sale something happened and I walked away empty-handed.

Always remember that people buy based on emotion, and they justify with logic. In other words, every buying decision is an emotional decision. A good selling conversation will guide you into the prospect’s points of pain and passion. If you never uncover pain or passion you will probably never close the sale.

The 3 keys to a successful close are emotions, buying signals, and questions. Through your conversation look for the moments of emotion. Don’t be afraid to linger there. Also be watching for both verbal and visual buying signals. And then, when the time seems right, ask the closing question.

There is an art to this but with practice and evaluation you will be able to improve your ability to close the sale. You might consider engaging a coach to help you with your questions and scripts, as well as to help you increase in your self-awareness and other-awareness.

Obstacle #7: Failure to Continuously Improve. Leaders are learners, and successful sales professionals are always learning and improving their skills and their mindset. Both require attention and intentional development. No doubt you are reading this article because you want to improve. Let me encourage you to continuously read, observe, engage mentors, attend seminars, talk to colleagues, and evaluate your selling experiences. Be an aggressive learner and you will become a top notch sales professional!

As you increasingly overcome these obstacles you will gain more confidence and improve your sales performance. I believe that you will fall in love with selling and begin to see it as “serving” rather than taking! You will gain greater financial success and enjoy the fruit of a growing network of people who appreciate you. And you will realize the enormous potential you have to succeed in sales.

To learn more about how we help sales professionals go to www.TheGrowthCoachHouston.com/increase-your-sales/.

D. Glenn Smith is CEO and Lead Coach at The Growth Coach Houston, a business coaching firm whose mission is to empower business owners and sales professionals to achieve exceptional performance in their businesses and to live extraordinary lives. Glenn has over 30 years of experience and has coached business and organizational leaders on 5 continents. He is a sought after motivational speaker who has spoken to groups of 20 to 2,000, including several national franchises. For more FREE resources go to http://www.TheGrowthCoachHouston.com.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/D_Glenn_Smith/877909

You can really make more money through sales coaching. How? These coaching programs can help your sales people improve their selling skills. When this happen, they’ll be empowered to easily convince your prospects to make a purchase. As you know, this can lead to more sales and more revenue.

To make your sales coaching more effective, I recommend that you focus your sessions on these aspects:

1. Active listening. You will need to teach your sales force to listen actively to your prospects not only to make these people feel valued but also for your sales personnel to get a deeper understanding about their needs and demands. Teach your team not to do all the talking during the sales process as this can easily frustrate potential buyers.

2. Probing questions. Teach your sales force to be more inquisitive when talking to your prospects especially if these people are not giving them clear picture of their problems. Tell them that the probing questions they use must be open-ended, succinct, simple, and easy to understand.

3. Sell value. It’s important that you make your sales personnel realize the importance of selling value as this can affect the buying decisions of your prospects. Teach them how to properly communicate the benefits, selling points, and competitive advantage of the products and services they offer to make them extremely valuable and useful to the eyes of your potential buyers.

4. Close the sale. Your sales people must know the best ways to close the sale. Coach them how to create a sense of urgency to easily get their prospects to swipe their credit cards.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2458294

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of sales coaching on sales results and ROI.

Methods

We evaluated one region of the BDL Company. (9 sales representatives) and tracked sales results before and after coaching interventions.

The coaching interventions consisted of one to two days of field coaching. This coaching focused on observing a sales representative’s performance to a selling skills process in a doctor’s office. This coaching was conducted by Jim Price of TAP Consulting Company. Jim has over twenty years experience in medical and pharmaceutical sales and has logged over 500 hours of sales coaching. Sales representatives were sent out a sample presentation in order to set expectations for the visit.

The measurement of success was the number of referral cards sent in before and after coaching interventions. The referral card is a card the doctor faxes into a surgery center to refer a patient for surgery. We measured number of cards sent in by the group three months prior to training vs the number sent in three months after training. The referral card is an objective measurement of a successful sales call because it is what the representative closes for on each call.

Results

Before the coaching interventions the test group sent in a total of 8 cards. That same group sent in 367 cards after coaching. The average number of cards sent in per representatives was 1 per representative before coaching and 41 per representative after coaching.

The 367 referral cards sent in after coaching yielded 18 surgeries at $4,000 per surgery for a total increase in revenues of $72,000. The cost of the coaching interventions was $12,000 which resulted in a profit of $60,000 and a Return on Investment of 500%.

Conclusion

Coaching interventions conducted by a well trained sales coach impacts sales results and yields a Return on Investment (ROI) of up to 500%. Sales coaching is one of the best investments you can make in your sales team.

“When properly implemented, high ROI values can be achieved with programs on Leadership, Team Building, Management Development, Supervisor Training and Sales Training.” “An ROI of 100% to 700% is not uncommon with this type of training.”

Jack J. Phillips, Ph.D (Training Measurement Key Opinion Leader)

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1962434

I am often asked the question:

“How do I know If and How I should follow up with a prospect that showed some moderate interest, but I have not heard back from them recently?”

It depends on each individual situation. In some cases it will be best to let it go immediately and in others it will be best to have a clear follow up process. Each situation needs to be evaluated. I have witnessed sales professionals/business owners chase after opportunities way too long, and I have also helped them implement a highly professional follow up method to eventually do business with very large clients. It is essential that your follow up process does not put the prospect on the defensive or cause any pressure at all.

In general, when someone is not responding to a voice mail or phone call after they showed mild to moderate interest, it means something may have changed. Or it means they realized they showed some interest, but have a hard time saying,”No” and they don’t want to have to tell you that they don’t want what you have to offer. Hence, they just choose to ignore the sales person, knowing eventually they will go away. This sometimes is easier than saying,”No thanks, we have no interest in your product or service.”

So, what can you do? First, in your meeting or conference call where they showed mild to moderate interest, it is essential that the next meeting and next step is clearly covered.(Before you leave!) Ensure it makes sense for your business and for *their business goals* most importantly. Don’t leave the meeting without next action steps in place. That will help prevent all of this. Yet, if it is too late, and that step was missed or steps were canceled or there was a major delay,

Here are some other ideas:

Make it easy for them to say “No.” Let them know, it is ok, if you don’t want and need this, it is not for everyone. You can even tell them,”It is OK to say ‘no’ and that you don’t want this.” Guess what happens when you do this? They respect you, and feel no pressure to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ You are not trying to push anything on them either way, you are just trying to find out if there is a mutual fit or not to do business. You clearly explain that it may not be for them, and that is ok. Make it easy for them to say,”No thanks,” and you will quickly filter out those prospects who are a good mutual fit, and those who are not. You will then find yourself spending more time with those who may be a good fit, versus chasing those who are not a good fit.

So, to tie this back into the question, think about how you can implement this philosophy into your selling, your voice mails and emails when you get to this stage(If you failed to set next steps or the actions plans changed)

Example:”Mr. X, I know we spoke 3 weeks ago about your specific ‘marketing goals’ and how our ‘ABC Service’ can help you achieve them this quarter. I have not heard back yet on the information we needed to finalize the program. I just want to let you know, it is ok, if you are no longer interested or if you don’t need this service any more, but if you could kindly let me know, either way, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.”(The script should take 25 seconds which is a short enough voice mail and very appropriate) You could also tie this messaging into an email.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1404187

Direct Sales Training:

Jared is an exceptionally good closing manager. He is the manager that closes the difficult deals. One day I asked Jared to tell me his negotiation skills success secret.

Jared said his secret is like the TV show CSI (Crime Scene Investigation). Only Jared’s CSI stands for “Customer Selling Investigation.”

Jared explained that when he was a new closer and didn’t close a sale he would do a CSI on the deal. He would interview the salesperson that worked the deal. In most cases he was able to quickly determine the missing ingredients in the deal. Maybe the salesperson did a poor job fact finding with the customer and didn’t know their hot buttons. Maybe they didn’t identify the customer’s main motivation for considering the purchase. Maybe there was a poor product selection in matching the customer’s needs.

Jared’s Realization

Jared said he soon started to realize that as a closer he was more like a report card on how well the salesperson set up the deal.

Jared concluded if he could do effective direct sales training with his salespeople his closing ratio would increase. Jared soon became a sales coach to his people. He helped them improve their fact finding skills, their listening skills and their product selection skills.

Jared’s Almost Magical Closing Improvement

As Jared started doing more sales training coaching his negotiation skills and closing ratio seemed to almost magically improve. And the more he did sales training with his sales team the more his closing ratio skyrocketed.

Your Direct Sales Training Action Item:

Proactively take charge of your own sales training. Take some time to sharpen your fact finding skills and product knowledge skills. Do your own CSI after each deal and analyze what happened and why. Soon you will be working a lot smarted and closing a lot more sales like Jared.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/David_Nassief/114887

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