Sales Training Articles

Nothing succeeds like success! And in sales nothing succeeds quite like success stories. Are you sharing yours? Why not? The secret is in how you share your successes.nnLearn to tell thirty-second "success stories." During sales calls a quick-hitting story can make or reinforce a point in memorable fashion. Success stories may be told in response to a question, to serve as a testimonial, or even as an aside. Did you know you had a storied past?nnStories work for several reaso

Every sales call you make needs to include the “Learn, Teach, Sell” concept. Today’s customer has many options available to them. Rarely are we in a position to sell to a customer something that is so unique and compelling that they have no other choice but to buy from us. To help create a competitive edge in the marketplace, we must find ways to distinguish our selling process from our rival’s. nnnnOne of the most effective ways to do this is to use each call to “l

If you live in the U.S., at the end of October you'll be preparing for a stream of young children to come to your door on Halloween. One by one or in groups of friends, they'll ring the bell and shout, "Trick or Treat". To avoid having them actually play a trick on us, you bribe these youngsters with a selection of mini candy bars. You could offer them healthy treats like apples or small boxes of raisins or you could try something novel like telling them a favorite joke, but

Don’t Waste My Time!nnMany participants in my programs ask how to deal with people who appear to be seeking information and nothing more. In many environments these individual’s are called time wasters. Time wasters come in every shape and form but they usually possess a few consistent characteristics – they ask a continuing stream of questions, take up loads of our time, and seldom end up buying anything.nnWhat is particularly interesting about these situations is that

When working with sales people in my sales cinsulting business I am often amazed at the amount of time they spend focusing on the people that are actively interested in their product or service right now. Now don't get me wrong, these are by far the hottest prospects and deserve attention. The problem is it is likely they will be speaking to lots of other suppliers. What you need is a system that works on all of your potential prospects not just your A graders. An example below is how you could handle a telephone call to 4 different levels of prospect - A -C.

For more than a decade I have the opportunity to interact with thousands of salespeople and I have discovered a few myths that many of them have fallen prey to. Here are just a few.nn1. Buyers are liars. I’m constantly amazed how many salespeople use this expression. Do people mislead salespeople? Absolutely. But this usually occurs when the sales person has failed to earn that person’s trust. Gaining someone’s trust means not pushing them into making a buyi

Companies roll out the red carpet when they hire new employees. Yet, those that they elect not to hire are left out in the cold with a bad taste in their mouth about their experiences with the company. It doesn’t need to be this way. Phil walks into his favorite retailer to apply for a job. ...

Going for that all important sales interview can be really awe-inspiring. The way you sell yourself in an interview will obviously be a good gauge as to how you can sell yourself in the field. So how can you make sure those last minute nerves don’t stop you giving your optimum performance and what can you do to prepare beforehand. In this article we are going to go over the essentials. 1. Before you go to the interview refresh yourself with what you written in your CV or ap

I hate it when I experience poor salesmanship. Unfortunately it happened twice this week. First up was Home Depot. I purchased a Miracle Grow application sprayer. It didn't work. No problem. I went back and exchanged it for another one. The second one didn't work either. So I went online and looked at the product reviews and they all described exactly the same problem that I was having. So I go back and returned this sprayer for the second time. With my refund in hand I walked over to the Garden Center looking for a generic sprayer.

From the outside, selling seems like a fantastic career. Many sales people get to travel, attend trade shows, go to conferences, socialize, and earn a ton of money. However, those of us in the profession know that selling can be intimidating. Cold calls. Objections. Frustration. Rejection. There are many occasions when we encounter resistance from buyers, or have to defend our price, or venture into new markets, or deal with cranky decision makers. It’s no surprise that man

Oh my gosh; nobody has any money, you have a sales manager threatening to cut you loose, and you can’t sell anyone anything! What are you going to tell your family and friends? How are you going to pay your bills? What are you going to do now? n n First, stop the conversation that’s going on in your head. All that negative self-talk won’t allow you to turn things around. Take a reality check. You can sell. You’ve been selling since you were a little ki

Yesterday I was talking to a sales person, Griff Neighbors, who I've known for more than 10 years. He said Jim, "I took your advice and have a white board in my office. On the whiteboard I wrote, Screw The Recession." This got me thinking about what's going on in our country, especially ...

© 2004nhttp://www.copywritingcourse.com nnI was in shock. Honestly, I shook my head when I read his email. I meant no disrespect; I just couldn’t believe he really felt that way.nn“Karon, I want you to write the sales letter for my site. How much will it cost me?” read his note. After looking at his home page and evaluating his target audience, I didn’t feel a sales letter would be the best type of copy for his site. When I sent him my suggestion he replied with some

Sales and Closing...Closing and Sales in home based franchises (or any business or company for that matter) seems to still have a negative undertone. Even though I have been in sales for years, have consistently been in the top 5% of earners, I still hate the word close. I know for me, it goes back to my beginning days of sales. I studied Tom Hopkins and the motto was close and close often. I think the word back then was trial close. Regardless, at least in the companies that I worked with in the 80’s, they wanted me to close often and close hard.

Presenting to a group can be a daunting prospect can it is easy to be intimated when having to do it. These nerves can cause us to make basic mistakes when presenting. I’m sure that you had had the misfortune to sit in on some quite terrible presentations over the years and hopefully also had an ...

Sales…quite honestly it is the biggest mind game that I know for the success of your home based franchise. Once you have mastered the art of selling you have mastered your key to success in everything that you do; not just success in your home based franchise. One of the best sources of getting your mind in the game of selling and making your home based franchise a huge success is Og Mandino’s The Greatest Salesman In The World. It’s the story of passing down a chest of scrolls from one great salesperson to another.

My wife and I recently needed to renew our mortgage for another term. The last time our mortgage was due, our bank called several months in advance and offered a good interest rate so we automatically renewed with them. This year, however, was a bit different. We decided to do a bit of homework before speaking to our bank so that we would be in a better position to negotiate a better interest rate. We did some research and found a lender who offered an extremely attractive in

Want to build credibility and find your ideal clients? Speaking, either offline or online, will help you accomplish these goals. Speaking in public or on teleseminars helps you: 1) get in front of potential clients; 2) showcases your knowledge and expertise and 3) let the listeners know how you can solve their problems and 4) you can answer questions potential clients have. Get in front of potential clients

We tend to think of sales as all about gaining new clients and new accounts. However, existing accounts and clients represent new sales as well. Meeting and exceeding customer expectations and becoming a valuable business resource for your current accounts is one of the best sales tools you ...

Using Behavioural economics To Increase Sales In the course of my reading around the subject of sales, I always look to find new and innovative ideas to make a difference to my clients. One of the most fascinating areas that has emerged in the last few years is that of behavioural economics. One of the leading lights of this new science is Dan Ariely and his fascinating book, predictably irrational.

I’m leading a teleseries to an amazing group of entrepreneurs and coaches who are learning how to powerfully speak to groups. One of the topics that have made the biggest impact is teaching them how to share their personal story with the audience. And, as I thought about this topic, I realized that sharing your personal story is not only for when you speak to groups, it has the same powerful impact when you’re meeting with a prospect or a client.

No sales manager wants to make the torturous mistake of hiring a complete sales dud. Although a few are bound to slip in, in order to prevent this from happening to you, there are a number of ways that you can screen out a great sales rep resume, prior to actually meeting with them face to face. Your sales recruiter will help you with this enormously…as long as you’ve carefully followed the steps in our previous post on how to find a top notch sales recruiter. In combinat

Last summer I was sitting on the deck at a gorgeous remote Canadian lake, watching my little dog Macey go NUTS chasing all the squirrels. She'd chase them at 100 MPH through the bush and UP the tree they would go - fluffy tails flying and they would chatter indignantly from 30 feet above. Then ...

They say wherever you go, there you are. Yet how present are you at any given time and place you find yourself? Many professionals appear in body but little else. Don't get marked as missing in action. n nIn the last week I encountered the following professionals missing in action:n n Out of Tune: My local mail carrier arrived each day, wearing her iPod and delivering my neighbors' mail to me. She's in her own world. She dumps the apartment's mail in a pile each day. In addit

As business owners, leaders and managers we wake up every morning asking ourselves, “Is this the day we begin to see the signs of an economic recovery?” When really we should be asking ourselves two questions: 1. How do we sell more today?rn2. Are we positioned for the recovery should it happen tomorrow? Waiting to see if the recovery from our recession is just around the corner is not a healthy place to be. If you are waiting, you may be waiting a long time while missing

Years of economic muddle! That was the title on the seminar brochure I received recently. As I survey some of the forces flowing through our economy, and witness the way in which they impact my clients, I have to agree. Unfortunately, these forces have brought a cloud of confusion to CEOs and sales executives trying to grow their businesses. One common response to this cloud of confusion is what I call "Popcorn." Imagine kernels of popcorn simmering in hot oil in the bottom o

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." I'm a map guy. I love maps. To be sure, GPS is a wonderful (if not somewhat annoying) invention that probably does a better job of getting you from point A to point B. Nevertheless, I have a hard time giving up my trusty Rand McNally which I can hold in my two hands.

People ask me all the time what I think makes up a qualified lead. It's simple, I tell them. There are five things that every Top 20% producer knows when he or she hangs up the phone with a prospect. Know these five things and chances are real good you're going to close this prospect. Leave ...

The Sales Training Series: Who Is This Customer Really?n nA lot of salespeople are good at organizing. Some are even good at sales strategy. But very few know how to use those sales skills to devise an effective, repeatable plan for gaining commitment from customers—a plan that begins to take shape before you make your first sales call.nnIf you can’t answer these questions before the call, uncover the answers during the call.nnThe more you know about your client’s busin

Make everyday a masterpiece because you don't know how many days you have left. Two things happened during the past week that rattled my cage and got me thinking about things. The first was the sudden death of an acquaintance here in Florida. His name was Bob. He was 64 and retired and had a massive heart attack late Sunday night. I just saw him the night before at a party. He was a prince of a man. He was very soft-spoken and always smiling. In an instant he was gone forever.

Whether it is a decisive decision on their part or is just something that happens without conscious participation, top performers focus on developing their innate strengths rather than on correcting their perceived weaknesses. nnIt is a simple distinction, but one that separates the common and the ordinary from the people performing at the top of their field. Successful people move with the tide and perform the activities that come naturally to them. These top performers not

When you're smiling. Oh, when you're smiling. The whole world smiles with you. When you're laughing. Oh, when you're laughing. The sun comes shining through. I heard this song the other day on the radio and it got me thinking. It got me thinking about some volunteer work I did a month ago on a Saturday morning with a dozen high school students. The title of my one-hour presentation was "The 7 Best Interviewing Tips and Techniques to Help You Get The Job You Want." My goal was to share seven potential life-changing tips with the students.

First of all, did you know that you are talking to yourself all day long? (You’re thinking, “Do I talk to myself? What does he mean, talk to myself? I don’t talk to myself!”) Psychologists estimate that you are talking to yourself at a rate of 1,200 to 1,500 words a minute (in contrast, when we ...

It seems the 800lb. Gorilla has escaped his cage and is joining many of my coaching clients in critical sales meetings. Other clients mention some interesting elephants making their way into the conference room. They’re both sitting in the corner waiting for acknowledgement and hoping you’ll ...

Here are 15 sales tips you can use to sell smarter during 2008. With the right sales motivation, you can become as successful as you want to be! However, you must come to grips with this fact. If you aren't outrageously successful at this moment, thinking about it won't make it happen. The end ...

One of the least understood, most underutilized marketing techniques in the business world is public relations. That fact represents an opportunity for small business owners and managers who are willing to devote a little time to cultivating relationships with reporters and editors in their community. nnAdvertising is the obvious approach to self-promotion, so a lot of the competition is doing it. Generating free or inexpensive publicity through press releases and media relat

So increasing conversions is absolutely the primary goal of any small business owner or any marketer. You have to focus on getting these conversions in order to get your sales in order to increase your revenues and stay in business, especially if you’re an ecommerce business, focusing on aliexpress dropshipping . So how do you do that? How can you increase conversions and use your marketing to its best effectiveness? Flint McGlaughlin, the CEO of MECLABS Institute, created

It’s time to finish building our “Top 10 List” for 2010. This time we look at items 6 though 10. If you missed the first 5 ways to increase sales in 2010 be sure to visit the article archive (http://www.engageselling.com/articles/article-top-ways-to-increase-sales-in-the-new-year.shtml).  Enjoy the list and be sure to implement all 10 ideas. I know that you will have a perfect 10 year if you do! 6. Get referrals Referrals are the most profitable source of leads because

When September rolls around, parents all across the country gleefully take to the stores, loading up their carts with all the supplies their little darlings will need to make it through the coming academic year. After all, school is a really busy time, and to do well, you need to be prepared.nnThe same holds true for tradeshows. Autumn is the busiest time of year for exhibitors -- and just like those students we were talking about, to do well, your booth staffers need to be p

Goal setting - it's so easy and yet it's so hard. It has to be hard because so few people do it. Some people did it and don't do it now. Even people who have set goals in the past and have achieved them no longer set goals for themselves. I find it mind-boggling. There is an old Gaelic ...

© 2004nhttp://www.marketingwords.comnnIt’s not always an easy task. Sometimes discovering what your customers really want is like pulling teeth. It is imperative for any business owner who hopes to develop new products/services or to write effective advertising copy to know what is important to his customers. But when direct questions don’t deliver the results you need, what’s the next step?nnActually, your competition can often lend a hand in this area… and without

How is your business going? I mean, how is it really going? Do you have all of the clients and revenue you desire, or are you struggling to generate what you know you want, desire and deserve to have? Have you ever wondered how the super-successful people in your industry seemingly golf, lunch, wine and dine their way to success? Have you ever wondered, “What are their secrets?” nnThe answer, of course, is YES! Of course you have! In order to create a business that’s re

Getting others to accept you point of view has never been easy. Almost all of us are never taught how to argue your point of view in a right manner. I said right manner because a lot of people when talking about their opinions, they are arguing it in a destructive manner and then conflicts starts. In personal and business, it is very important that you will learn how to argue your point of view that the relationship you build will not be damage but will become stronger. I wil

Efficiency of sales training can be weighed easily in terms of turnover of the company after training. Marketing people of any company is driven by numbers. It is no doubt that these sales people are important part of any business. Moreover if the company do not get proper support from other teams, then it is hard to achieve the target. Here you can find few of the effectiveness or benefits of undergoing sales training. Makes sales cycle brief More time has to be spent on lon

The value of an appointment Activity is one of the key secrets to sales success .In my sales I use a one stop approach to making a sale and this article is based on this however you could you the same idea if you are using a two appointment process. For the purpose of this article I am defining an appointment as the delivering of a properly written proposal that solves a prospects need and the fact that you asked for the order. I am also assuming that you are following a rep

We are faced with uncertain times and many people are fearing the worse about their ability to sell their products and services in his recession. It may not be easy but there are some proven ways that, if you work smart, will guide you in the right direction.

There is no one-thing that makes a sales leader great. But, there is definitely one thing that can make them poor - an inability to coach and develop their employees. Tell a salesperson to go sell and he will struggle for a day, teach him how to sell and he will sell for life. Ok, so that is ...

Many small business owners struggle with making their staff accountable. They know what they expect their people to do. And, as long as everyone’s performing effectively, all is well. The trouble occurs when someone falls short of the owner’s expectations. The struggle is rooted in fear – fear ...