How to improve selling skill

Salespeople become discouraged when they do not know how to do an important sales skill. Poor sales plans lower confidence in reaching sales goals. Inadequate marketing, networking, referrals, or cold calling causes leads to be unavailable for prospecting. Efforts to set first appointments, without training, creates disappointments in meeting necessary activity levels. Unattended needs for face-to-face skill enhancement results in lower sales numbers, income, and discouragement.

A natural encouragement occurs when sales managers teach the selling skills in a face-to-face sales process. Confidence increases when managers help reps develop a sales plan for goal achievement. Confidence increases when a person learns how to find leads and how to turn those into first appointments. Confidence increases when first appointments lead to presentations and presentations turn into the right number of sales (and these ratios are understood). Increased selling knowledge put into practice results in an encouraged sales force and higher production.

Buyers live in a very complex world now. With global stakeholders, economic downturns, enlarged decision teams, and an almost limitless number of options - all available at the drop of a hat - competition is far more complex than being addressed by us having a good solution and giving great service. And as a result, we're having greater difficulty closing sales. We'd like to think it's 'the economy, stupid.' But in reality, the problem is more complex.

The only way to shift the results is to do something different. [You know the deal: According to Einstein, you can't solve a problem using the same things that created it.] And sellers are kicking and screaming at the possibility of having to do something different. But I can tell you that doing what you are doing will keep giving you the results you're getting.

Sales is no longer a robust-enough model. The future of sales lie in actually helping buyers navigate through their internal decision issues that often have absolutely nothing to do with a problem or a solution. We have been taught to believe that by understanding the 'problem' and having the appropriate 'solution' that buyers will buy. We've never been taught that getting buy-in from the internal, behind-the-scenes cultural issues that buyers live with daily and are the cause of the 'need' are what determines purchasing habits. In fact, a buyer's decision issues are managed, daily, by a plethora of internal people, policies, history, relationships, vendors, etc. that are independent of their need or our solution, and are well outside the sphere or influence of 'sales.' But we know that, as that's what's stopping us from closing all of the sales we should be closing.


A prospect that a client of mine had been working with for a year finally, after 3 visits and 3 trials, decided to not purchase the product. I spoke with the prospect that was the head of Learning and Development: What stopped her from being able to buy a product that they loved? The new HR director was a very difficult person to deal with, and the prospect didn't want to get into a fight and decided to not purchase rather than deal with him.

So this had nothing to do with need or solution, and everything to do with a buyer's behind-the-scenes issues. What I did was to give the L&D person a list of Facilitative Questions to use with the HR guy to help them decide to work together efficiently on behalf of all of the employees. This worked, and they bought the product the next week.

But it had nothing to do with a problem, a need, a solution, or a relationship. It had to do with helping the buyer manage their off-line issues. And the sales model does not manage these issues: the buyer must manage these issues, on their own and without us, and it's a confusing journey for them. When buyers begin the journey to resolve a business problem, they have no idea what demons they need to address en route. And the time it takes them to figure it out is the length of the sales cycle. But we can help them by being neutral navigators and providing a navigation route through the maze.

Herein lie the problem with sales: it does not have the tools to help buyers manage their private, off-line, non-problem/solution related issues.

What would you need to believe differently to be willing to consider adding a new skill set to the one you are already using, and have been using successfully for years?

How would you know that adding a decision facilitation model, related to the buyer's change patterns not needs, would give you the ability to close more sales?

What would you need to see, understand, or agree with, to be willing to shift your initial approach to a buyer and instead focus on being the GPS system to lead your buyer through their internal decision issues before starting the sales process?

How to improve your sales professional

Whether your company is brand new or you find that you are in a place where you want to make sure that it can stay on track, you will find that your sales force is something that you need to invest in. No matter what industry you are competing in, competition is tougher than ever, and if you want to make sure that you are going to stay on top, your sales reps are going to be an important part of how you do it. A good sales professional is one that is going to keep on getting you business that you need and if you want to make sure that you are on top of things, you need to think about how you are going to hire and keep the best of the best!

The first thing that you need to do when you are looking at building the right sales force is to make sure that you are putting the right kind of energy into hiring. Be explicit when you send out the position description. What kind of knowledge do they need and what should their core competencies be? What kind of responsibilities do you want them to fill and what kind of expectations are you going to have for them? Knowing this can help you figure out how you are going to proceed in the future.

Remember that you should be picky. Do not assume that you can train a bad behavior out of a sales representative. If they look unprofessional on paper or at the interview, you will find that their application should be dismissed. You can avoid wasting your time by doing some telephone screening beforehand. A sales representative's phone manner should definitely something that you look into. Make sure that when you do meet them face to face that you judge them on how well you think they will suit you and whether they are already great salesmen. Remember that you should share your expectations with them; do not assume that they can read your mind!

Once you have a promising sales staff, you need to think about keeping them. There are companies that get very annoyed when they have gotten sales representatives trained up and then they have lost them to better offers. Do not be surprised that if you cannot offer your sales representatives a good environment and they end up jumping shift. Make sure that your sales representatives feel welcome and like a valuable part of your company. Having room for advancement is important as is a recognition program for excellent performance. If you do lose people, set up exit interviews. You never know when you will learn something new about the way things are going, or when you can change a good representative's mind!

Take some time and consider what your options are going to be when you are thinking about retaining a great sales force; your representatives are the face of your company!

Friendship factor is very necessary for your Business Growth

Research proves that the 'friendship factor' is the key to all success in business and in selling today. Does your customer see you and your company as their friend and ally? Does your customer genuinely feel you are sincerely interested in their welfare?

A customized hand written note, email, birthday, anniversary, congratulations or get well card demonstrate unusually high regard you hold for the person. Being concerned for the life of your customers is vital especially during troubling times such as the current economy. Is unconditional personal regarding your company's mantra?

The foundation of long lasting business [and personal] relationships is built on trust and credibility. And focusing on our customers and their lives demonstrates our care and concern for them while strengthening the relationship we have with them.

The skill of listening is the most essential quality of a sales representative. Customers have an uncanny ability to know whose needs are being met during a conversation; whether it is the salesperson's need to sell a product or their need to understand the customer's situation and challenges. The salesperson may not be able to provide the solution; however being listened to and understood means more to the customer than being 'pitched to' all the time. Let's not forget in selling 'it's all about the customer'.

The sales rep is responsible for delivering vital information that will either help the customer improve sales and revenue or help them cut costs. So assist your reps with suggestions that will do either depending on your business, industry or service.

One such creative mechanism is to email your customers & prospects that you'll be holding a webinar on the unique uses of your products and services by current customers. Of course, get this information and customer approval beforehand, then create a PPT slide show and use webcast software such as GotoMeeting.com or dimdim.com [which we use] to pictorially present the customer applications and solutions your products and services have provided them.

Customers especially remember these efforts; they like the attention and publicity. Prospects, on the other hand, see firsthand the abilities of your company to solve unique problems. Anything which serves to differentiate your company from the competition tends to elevate your company in the mind of the customers & prospects. The notion is to have your company be on the top of their awareness level - they call you when a need arises and investigate if your products and services could meet an impending or upcoming need. These opportunities provide you an understanding of the situation, and then creatively suggest ideas that will assist their business.

Sales Management is Very Important for Your Sales Team

From you role in sales management, do you manage from a perspective focusing on existing talents (strengths) or from non-talents (weaknesses)? If you truthfully answered from a more negative than positive perspective, then can you answer this question: Why do winning teams win because of their strengths or their weaknesses? Possibly, now is the time to change your management style especially if you wish to increase sales and have a high performance sales team.

To be an effective sales manager means you must know the talents of your team and each team member must know his or her talent as well. Unfortunately, because most human beings are negatively conditioned from the No's to the Don'ts to the Cant's. This previous negative conditioning reaches far into future behaviors. Until awareness is achieved regarding these negative almost self-fulfilling prophetic behaviors, any attempts to improve results will probably not be as successful as they could be.

One way to know the talents of your people is to engage in performance appraisals using proven assessment instruments. With technology being what it is, many of this performance appraisals can be delivered online. Sales Coaching Tip: The assessment instrument to be 100% effective must be accompanied by a detailed debriefing allowing the participant to take the information and begin to immediately apply it. There should be some additional sales coaching beyond the initial debriefing.

Another proactive management strategy is to have all team members create both their own personal sales and life action plans. Sales is very much a contact sport in that your force is out there every day talking to meeting with potential customers (a.k.a. prospects). To stay fully engaged, everyone needs to be healthy. Unfortunately, given all the research, many people fail to focus on their health causing additional cost to their employers as well as to their own personal finances. Poor health also leads to additional stress and this in turn affects the entire team from reduced productivity to toxic cultural environment.

Good salespeople have always talked about creating value. Now we need to put ourselves in our clients' shoes and be creative. We must get in and get started. Think smart, not big. It's always smarter to have a smaller piece of something, than a big piece of nothing. Begin with a smaller project, a reduced order, or a regional, rather than global, implementation. Get in, and get to know the client. Let them get to know you. Get to know their business.

Sit on the same side of the table as your client. Work together to determine the best way to get started. Always, always, create metrics with your client. How do you, together, define success? Get agreement that once this project is successful--according to the metrics you've agreed upon--that the client will work with you to identify other sales opportunities within their organization. A successful project breeds a successful relationship, which leads to successful referrals. This means more sales leads and more money for you.