Being a sales professional has changed drastically over the years. From product focused selling and limited buyer touch points to solution-based selling and personalized buying journeys, the sales landscape has evolved. What does that mean for salespeople in 2020 and beyond? It means that sales professionals must become agile and adaptable. It’s not enough to have effective selling skills. Sales pros need the ability to assess a sales situation and then apply the right skill, at the right time, with the right decision-maker. On top of that, sales professionals must have the ability to seamlessly transition from one skill to another.
Sales Training | sales questions | Sales Meetings | Value Proposition
As a professional salesperson, a common challenge is creating a sense of urgency with your prospects and customers. Creating a sense of urgency without appearing aggressive or pushy is a learned skill based on conducting good discovery, understanding the needs of the prospect, and asking the right questions of the right people throughout your sales process. Urgency gives your prospects a reason to move forward and overcome inaction. You need to help them understand why every day, week, or month without your product hurts their business so they’re compelled to act as soon as possible.
The right sales training for your employees is integral to the success of your business. Before you invest, make sure you have all of the information you need to make a smart decision.
Sales Tips | Sales Training | competitive selling
Competitive selling is a combination of three things: mindset, competition, and positioning Let’s explore each: Mindset Competitive selling starts with your mindset. Your mindset is motivated and empowered. You are not driven by income, but rather from the satisfaction, challenge, and personal achievement that a career in sales affords. It also means you see sales as a game to play, to have fun with and to win. Competition You’re ruthless about understanding the industry (or industries) your solution serves as well as getting to know the competitors you’re likely to face on a daily basis. This doesn’t mean you’re constantly comparing yourself to the competition, it simply means you’re knowledgeable about what they offer and how your solution is unique and different. Positioning (Point-of-View) Your positioning or point-of-view is a particular attitude or way of considering a matter. It’s your position and passion towards the solution you’re selling and the people, companies and industries you help. When combined, these three elements give you the ability to leverage competitive selling as an approach and strategy.
As the new year gets into full swing, you may already be thinking that your schedule is far too busy to put time aside to read a good book. However, making time to read will make your life better, not more hectic. "No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance." ~ Confucius The more you read the more you learn, and in order to stay ahead and thinking clearly in both your personal and professional life, you need to be a ceaseless learner. However, it's startling that about a quarter of American adults (24%) say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in print, electronic or audio form, according to PEW Research. As sales and marketing professionals, there’s constant pressure to be creative. For most of us, the problem isn’t that we aren’t reading. The problem is we spend our time reading blogs, tweets, infographics, and other short forms of content. Sure, that’s great for staying up-to-date with trends and current events, but it doesn’t work our brains the same way. When you read a book, it forces you to focus and eliminate the distractions around you. It's this focus that acts as a catalyst for the many perks that come from reading books, not the least of which is an increase in creativity. With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best sales and marketing books to encourage you to step away from the short form, digital content and take hold of the possibilities and perspectives of a new book.
Sales Training | Sales Management
Let’s start by admitting the enormity of the challenge - onboarding and getting sellers up to speed is a huge task. On average, new sales hires spend 10 weeks in training and development and only become productive after nine months or longer. And guess what? Even after you find and develop these new sales hires into great professionals, they are hard to keep. The annual sales force turnover rate is 20% according to CSO Insights. If that wasn’t enough, turnover is exceedingly expensive. According to a study from DePaul University, it costs organizations $97,960 to replace the average sales rep. That’s a lot of wasted time, money, and resources, which means developing an effective sales onboarding program is critical to the success and retention of your sales force. Your new hire training and sales onboarding process shouldn’t be thought of as a one-time event. It should be thought of as an ongoing process and journey that will continually evolve and develop over time. In each wave of new hires, you’ll deal with different personalities, experiences, preferences, and perspectives. Your onboarding and development process must be flexible and adapt to these factors. Here are 7 ideas for every sales manager to get the training and development process started:
What makes someone successful? Why are they the best? If you look at some of the most successful people in the world, there’s one common belief they all share: They believe in continuous learning and ongoing development. Bill Gates. Warren Buffett. Oprah Winfrey. These are just a few examples of the many prosperous people who are committed to lifelong learning and education. But for most people, your professional day is measured by how much you get done, not by how much you’ve learned. Focusing on getting things done so you can check it off your to-do list without truly thinking about the outcomes and understanding the value of your activities is a sure-fire way to remain the same and never grow. This is why the best of the best continue learning. They don’t just take a ‘get it done’ mentality, they focus on understanding the how and why of things. They focus on learning what’s working and what’s not working and then adapt their approach based on these findings. They are constantly seeking new information and new perspectives to make them better at what they do.
