Archive for the ‘sales coach’ Category
Published by
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October 11, 2010
Ever thought about getting yourself some sales coaching?
How are your sales efforts going in the current economy? Finding it hard ?
For many sales professionals, sales is not easy or fun. It’s hard work that doesn’t yield very good results. So it’s easy to avoid selling completely and just end up an order taker.
I was in B2B sales for 23 years, made a lot of sales and coached a number of sales people. I’m sure I could have learned my craft faster and made more sales sooner, if I knew how.
It doesn’t matter what industry you sell into, one thing is certain – you need to be consistently making sales to survive and thrive.
How are you improving your sales performance ?
Let me ask you something —
If I asked you to hit a fastball going over the plate at 90mph, could you do it ?
If you red a book about how to do it, could you do it?
If you got a couple of days training, could you do it?
What about if you had the services of a hitting coach who worked with you one on one, examining what you were doing wrong, suggesting adjustments and monitoring your practice and progress, could you do it then ?
Now what if the pitcher started throwing you curve balls, could you hit them ? If you had more coaching you could, couldn’t you ?
The training you get as sales people is the information, but a sales coach will help you execute your game plan and use sales skills in the real world.
The faster and more completely you master the skill of selling the faster you’ll see the results in your sales figures, earn more money and earn the respect of your peers and sales manager.
I’ve been there and walked that path and believe me the final results are worth the journey. And it’s preferable to reach your sales potential sooner rather than later.
You may be thinking that you get all the sales information you can possibly use right now from sales books and sales articles.
In fact, information and knowledge is helpful only if you can translate it into action. Coaching translates your knowledge, ideas, goals, and intentions into reality.
You might even be thinking, “I can coach myself for free or talk to my peers or sales manager.”
Yes, you can and should talk to these people, and you will not get the same results you get from working with a professional sales coach because your managers, peers, and friends will all have their own agenda, not be professionally trained in coaching skills, will be biased, and will not provide the same accountability or partnership that you receive from an external coach. Not only that but modern day sales managers rarely have the time to coach their sales people.
Your company may say, “We do not need on-going sales coaching, we have a sales training program”
Well it’s a fact that most sales training has a very short-term effect on performance and less than 15% of the information is retained and implemented. Sales Coaching provides clearly defined goals, on-going support and accountability, changes in behavior and attitude, implementation of new skills, improved productivity, and a customized approach. Huthwaite, the company that studied selling big ticket items and developed the “SPIN Selling Model” discovered in their extensive research that 87% of all sales training is lost within 90 days.
What’s your experience? Have you ever returned from a sales course all fired up and ready for action only to have it disappear quite quickly after your return to work ? Did your company provide you with the reinforcement and support to use the new skills you had acquired ?
The fact is professionals have coaches and amateurs do not. Coaching helps the best get better, the good to become great, and the struggling to breakthrough because coaching provides the essential link between training and sales performance.
Sales Coaching will give you the results you want to see.
And here is an interesting article about how to select a sales coach.
Published by
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August 23, 2011
One of the most valuable assets for any sales person is their self confidence.
As a sales coach I often have to deal with a client who is down on confidence.
That is one of the reasons why when I used to sell imported goods that as soon as I landed a good size contract I’d immediately go out and try and reel in some others that I knew were close to completion. I figured “nothing succeeds like success”
Some sales people allow their confidence to be sapped by the resuts they have generated or rather by the lack of results they have generated.
The following article is a salient reminder that, as Anthony Robbins says, “the past does not equal the future”
Take a read, especially if you are a bit down about not seeing the sales results you had budgeted for.
The Ghosts of Quarters Past
Technorati Tags: sales coach
Published by
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August 10, 2011
As a sales coach I often give advice to sales people but I can spot good advice when I see it too.
The follow article I link to is from Paul McCord and it’s a beauty, do yourself a favour and click on the link to read it.
Before you do let me relate a story.
I was in a startup company many years ago and like most startups we were short of business so I arranged to visit a good customer I had called on when working for my previous company. It was a “fishing expedition”. At the end of the meeting we realised there was little we could do together. I asked, “how is my replacement going?”
The answer has stuck with me ever since.
Ian said, “he came to see a while back and there was some info I needed”, the rep said to Ian , “leave it with me” and as Ian said, “that’s exactly where it stayed”.
I had built up the business with Ian’s company from nothing to $600,000 a year. Within two years it was back to almost nothing.
Following up with your clients and prospects builds trust and that builds business.
Keeping Your Prospect Moving Towards a Purchase Decision
Technorati Tags: sales coach
Published by
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July 27, 2011
As a sales coach I often here a client say
“I am great when I am in front of a client, but…”
Then they go on to tell me about the difficulties they have in getting appointments.
It isn’t easy to get appointments, everyone one is busy these days
People are not in their office.
Their “gatekeepers” (I hate that term) will not let you through etc
The following post lists 4 ideas to help you make appointments, read the latter part of the post especially.
Read the full post by clicking the link below
I am great in front of a prospective customer
Technorati Tags: sales coach
Published by
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July 22, 2011
Many people call themselves sales people but are really only order takers.
As a sales coach I watch them fly the flag, put in the odd bit of work and get the odd order just because they are there.
But do they go the extra mile, long for a better skillset, put in extra hours, plan rigouously, strategise on how to get new orders ?
Here’s a first step on making the move fromorder taker to salesperson as laid out by Geoffrey James
How to Turn Order-Takers into Upsellers
Technorati Tags: sales coach, sales coaching
Published by
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July 21, 2011
There are a lot of formulas for Sales Success.
As a sales coach I have my own formula too.
Is mine better than someone else’s ?
Does it matter, if it works it’s good enough ?
There are many ways “to skin a cat” as they say.
There are many ways to approach selling too.
Tony Cole has his own ideas too, below are his
6 Lessons for Sales Success
Technorati Tags: sales coach, sales coaching
Published by
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July 14, 2011
Do you know where in their head your prospect formulates their decisions ?
“It is well known that people perceive their world through a set of filters: these filters include their history, their sense of identity, their beliefs and values and their perceptions of the world around them.”
As a sales coach I know there are questions you can ask that will uncover how your prospect formulates decisions in their head. And knowing that you can put together responses that will appeal to your prospect.
An example of this is how prospects react to testimonials. Some look for them and are influenced by them. Others couldn’t care less. What’s the difference ?
To learn more you can read this article below.
Where does your prospect make Decisions
Technorati Tags: sales coach
Published by
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July 13, 2011
As a sales coach I’d like to believe that anyone can be taught to sell and sell well.
Yes people can be taught to sell but maybe it takes more to be a top performer ?
“Not all salespeople are successful. Given the same sales tools, level of education, and propensity to work, why do some salespeople succeed where others fail? Is one better suited to sell the product because of his or her background? Is one more charming or just luckier? The evidence suggests that the personalities of these Heavy Hitters (truly great salespeople) play a critical role in determining their success.”
There is some evidence to suggest, as the quote above does, that certain personality traits are necessary to be a high performing sales person. My question is whether these traits are innate or whether some of then can be acquired by sales coaching ?
And it may not even be easy to track down these traits by yourself either, “If you ask an extremely successful salesperson, “What makes you different from the average sales rep?” you will most likely get a less-than-accurate answer, if any answer at all. Frankly, the person may not even know the real answer because most successful salespeople are simply doing what comes naturally.”
So what are the main key personality attributes of top salespeople
Technorati Tags: sales coach, sales coaching
Published by
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July 11, 2011
As a sales coach I have been know to read the material produced by other coaches.
A guy that is credited by many as being the founder of the coach industry in the USA is Thomas Leonard.
One of the programs that Thomas created was called “A Perfect Life”
Now, lets not get into the debate about whether perfect is possible.
That wasn’t what Thomas meant anyway.
The idea is you need to sit down and think about your ideal life and then work towards creating it.
During the process you may also notice some of the things that are already perfect and be grateful for them.
Now creating a perfect ife is quite a daunting task.
But, what about a perfect week ?
What would your perfect week in sales be like ?
What would be there ? What would be absent ? How would you feel ?
If you need help creating your perfect sales week I would love to assist with some sales coaching.
Menawhile, the following post gives 8 steps to building an ideal sales week.
8 Steps to Building a Model Sales Week
Technorati Tags: sales coach, sales coaching
Published by
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June 22, 2011
As a sales coach I spend a bit of time asking my coachees about their customers.
What do they know about them ?
How do they like to buy?
How are they changing.
People in this day are wanting things to happen in an instant.
Fast order processing, faster deliveries and immediate complaint response.
But are they placing there orders faster or sitting on the fence ?
There is a new booked called “Wired and Dangerous” worth a read.
A well know sales educator has written about it in the post below.
Deciding for the Customer by Sharon Drew Morgen
Technorati Tags: sales coach
