Sales Mentor – Industrial Sales

I just wrote a post on one of my other sites in response to a query about selling industrial chemicals, (which is what I did for many years).

In that post I offer some advice about how I did that successfully. Which I guess means I was acting as a sales mentor rather than a sales coach.

Anyway the advice is targeted for people selling industrial chemicals but I now think the information is of value to anyone that wants to sell a product or service that has repeat business. You can read the article at sales of industrial chemicals

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Sales Mentor – Selling Basics

I just wrote a post in response to a read question that states my approach to selling. READ it at the link below and you’ll know how I think about sales. It may be good sales mentoring for some of you. 

Sales my Way

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Sales Mentoring – Get Organised, Plan for Success

Consider this a bit of sales mentoring.

I spent a lot more time planning then many of my sales counterparts and got better sales results than most of them.

I spent a lot of time making sure things ran smoothly, I used to say my job was ” to grease the wheels”. I did this because I learned that problems have a way of swallowing up time.  A delivery problem or a stock out for a small customer can become the major priority in your workday (or even workweek) when in terms of dollars it doesn’t deserve to be.

I tried a lot of systems to keep organized. The concept of kaizan, continuous small improvements in productivity.

All of these things take some thinking about, some research and the ability to monitor the results. Professional sales people are always looking to get better.

The article below talks about the value of systems and doing the headwork. Well worth a read.

Systems and Head Work.

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A Sales Coach doesn’t do it for you

As a sales coach I think coaching is an interesting thing.

There is no doubt that a basketball coach or a golf coach or a footballl coach does not go on the field and play in the game. That’s obviously the job of the player.

Yet when some sales managers and maybe consultants get involved they seem to end up doing the task for the sales person. In that instance they are not operating as a coach. Some would even say a coach deos not even show you how to do something (that is the job of a mentor). A coach asks questions and teases out of you what you should be doing and maybe even helps you remove the self imposed roadblocks that have been stoppping you from doing it.

The following article relates a story about coaching.

It’s about making them work for it.

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Sales Coach says Never Give Up

As a sales coach I’m sure you are familiar with the concept of resilience, you know never give up.

I’m sure you have all seen that classic cartoon of the frog in the mouth of the bird with the frog’s hands firmly clenched around the bird’s neck so it cannot swallow. The caption below being, “Never Give Up”

If ever there was a profession where never giving up was paramount it’s selling.

There will be days when nothing goes right, when the car breaks down, when you are stuck in horrendous traffic, when the order gets cancelled, when the delivery does not get made, when the prospect cancels the meeting at the last minute etc etc etc.

The important thing is to keep going…AND…keep going enthusiastically.

The article I link to below is well worth reading on this very topic.

Never Give Up

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Sales Coaching and Power Persuasion

There is little doubt that persuasion is one of the cornerstones of effective selling.

How much time has your company spent teaching you powerful persuasion language and techniques ?
Many think it’s an innate skill you are born with, “the gift of the gab”, well I know it can be learned.

My belief is that power persuasion is not only based on clever use of language but on aligning what you say with the person you are trying to persuade. Sure there are plenty of tactics and language patterns that work on the herd but they will only take you so far. Ultimately every sale is made to an individual or a group of individuals and you’ll persuasde them optimally if you know there wants and values and thought patterns and aim your persuasion at those.

I read an interesting article about persuasion, it gives some good information.

You can read it at power persuasion.

Happy reading.

Sales Coaching – Is Social Media for You

I have wondered for a while about the relevance of social media to some markets.

Some markets in their nature are just more conservative than others.
The people in that market may not be on FaceBook, so having a Facebook fanpage may have no impact on your sales prospecting at all.

The article below discuss that very concept and gives some guidleine to assess if your market is into social media.

Maybe great to do the research but sometimes it’s easier to just try it (social media) and track the results.

Is social media the answer ? 

Sales Coaching – Cold Calls

There is quite a debate between variuos sales trainers these days as to whether cold calling is necessary or desirable. Some say it’s a waste of time others say its a necessary evil.

Putting that debate aside I know I used to do some cold calling and I’m pretty confident that you will have to do some as well. So, it makes sense to do it well.

Below is a link to a post by Wendy Weiss (via another site) who is considered by many to be THe Queen of cold calling. It probably makes sense to take her advice.

I found her rule #8 quite interesting,

“Rule #8: Every cold call is a victory. A cold call that eliminates a prospect is just as good (better maybe!) that a cold call that puts a prospect into your pipeline. Therefore, every cold call is a victory and should be celebrated as such.”

Cold Calling.

How Quickly Can Sales Coaching Get Results

I happened to read this post today about a sales coach working with someone new to selling and getting significant results in a few days.

I was interested because the sales coach shared a lot of ideas that I have about how to approach the sales process.

Ideas like the importance of curiosity and the desire to be of service.

Take a look at the article and you’ll understand how I approach selling and you’ll also get an idea of how quickly things can change with the right coach and the right approach.

You can read the article here.

Sales Coaching – Mr Jones is in a Meeting

How may times have you heard a comment like “sorry he’s in a meeting” or on vacation.

The worst thing you can do when you get that comment is just go away or hang up the phone.
The idea is ask questions and find out when you can talk to them BECAUSE what you have to talk to them about is important.

This idea is conveyed well in the post I link to below
sales coaching