Wholesale Finest!

If you’ve ever been to a public car auction then you’ll know that it’s very standard and simple. Upon arriving at a public auction you’ll be required to present some id and sign in. You’ll be given a number so you can start bidding on items during the day. Usually at public car auctions you’ll be allowed to inspect the cars before they go on auction.

When inspecting cars make sure you know a little bit about cars first. Each car will have an information tab that will tell you what’s wrong with it if there is a problem. These public car auctions have to tell you if the car is in good condition or not. But never fear if you buy a car from an auction and it won’t work even if it says it’s in good conditioning you’re covered under their terms and conditions.

We now understand public car auctions but what about online car auctions and what’s the difference? There’s not much difference between how they work however the biggest difference is that you won’t be inspecting the cars before you buy them so it’s like buying clothes on the internet not knowing if it fits right. However and this is a big however, you’re allowed to send any cars you buy online back if it has been misrepresented, now if you’re wondering that the benefits are of buying from cars from an online auction here it is: – Search for cars without having to go to the auction sites – Bid for them in your own time from anywhere around the world – Your protected by the online car auction for misrepresentation – There are 4 top websites that consistently have auctions going every week

So if you’re interested in buying cars from public auctions you now have two ways to do so. Join this site now and get access to thousands of good quality cars at unbelievable low prices.

Visit Best Car Dealers Blog for the best deals on Used Cars For Sale Online.

The thing about it is, when that same person Conceptually, writing a sales letter is one of the most difficult things the average person applies these seven tricks, writing a sales letter can become as simple as writing an email to a friend. Read other sales letters. Seems simple enough but countless people I’ve interviewed over the years have this one fault in common. They don’t read other sales letters. It’s like trying to ride a bike without ever putting your but on a bicycle and riding it. Is it possible? No and neither is learning to write a sales letter without reading and understanding how sales letters are written. Swipe other sales letters. I’ll probably get a tongue lashing for this but who cares! From junk mail that comes in the form of sales letters or those little booklets are really a sales letter in disguise in the mail you can start a swipe file of your own. You can check it out from www.sales-letter-secret.com then save all the pages of websites that are trying to sell similar products or even non-similar products. You’ll know a sales letter when you see one. Save them on a folder called “Swipes.” Read through these and look for language patterns and phrases you can use and edit to suit your product or service. sStart Writing headlines. Headlines are the most important elements of any sales message or sales letter. Write between 10 and 50 headlines per sales letter following the A.C.E.S. principle. Attention, Curiosity, Excitement, Specificity. TO learn more about A.C.E.S. search on Google for an article called, “How to Write a Headline That Converts More Visitors into Customers.” Write to a friend. In other words, write your sales letter as if you are writing an emotional letter to your best friend about your product or service. Keep writing and don’t stop to correct mistakes until you can’t write any longer. If you use informal language, so be it. Anything that makes your sales letter seem more personal will make it more compelling. Write short sentences and paragraphs. The easier it looks to read the more likely they are to read it and buy your product! People are lazy, make it easy. Please note…I didn’t say, make your sales letter short, I said, “keep your sentences short.” Subheads are like mini headlines. Heck, many of them ARE in fact headlines that you wrote earlier. Just make sure they work seamlessly with your copy. Subheads are used to break up long copy and drag people deeper into your words. Online, it is also a way to relax the eye and give your sales letter more ‘optical appeal’. Subheads can be compelling statements, confusing statements or positive reinforcing statements about your product or service. Use a P.S. or two at the end of your sales letter. Methods to Write a Throat Grabbing Sales Letter! By: RameshcmscomputerThe thing about it is, when that same person Conceptually, writing a sales letter is one of the most difficult things the average person applies these seven tricks, writing a sales letter can become as simple as writing an email to a friend. Read other sales letters. Seems simple enough but countless people I’ve interviewed over the years have this one fault in common. They don’t read other sales letters. It’s like trying to ride a bike without ever putting your but on a bicycle and riding it. Is it possible? No and neither is learning to write a sales letter without reading and understanding how sales letters are written. Swipe other sales letters. I’ll probably get a tongue lashing for this but who cares! From junk mail that comes in the form of sales letters or those little booklets are really a sales letter in disguise in the mail you can start a swipe file of your own. You can check it out from www.killer-sales-letters.com then save all the pages of websites that are trying to sell similar products or even non-similar products. You’ll know a sales letter when you see one. Save them on a folder called “Swipes.” Read through these and look for language patterns and phrases you can use and edit to suit your product or service. sStart Writing headlines. Headlines are the most important elements of any sales message or sales letter. Write between 10 and 50 headlines per sales letter following the A.C.E.S. principle. Attention, Curiosity, Excitement, Specificity. TO learn more about A.C.E.S. search on Google for an article called, “How to Write a Headline That Converts More Visitors into Customers.” Write to a friend. In other words, write your sales letter as if you are writing an emotional letter to your best friend about your product or service. Keep writing and don’t stop to correct mistakes until you can’t write any longer. If you use informal language, so be it. Anything that makes your sales letter seem more personal will make it more compelling. Write short sentences and paragraphs. The easier it looks to read the more likely they are to read it and buy your product! People are lazy, make it easy. Please note…I didn’t say, make your sales letter short, I said, “keep your sentences short.” Subheads are like mini headlines. Heck, many of them ARE in fact headlines that you wrote earlier. Just make sure they work seamlessly with your copy. Subheads are used to break up long copy and drag people deeper into your words. Online, it is also a way to relax the eye and give your sales letter more ‘optical appeal’. Subheads can be compelling statements, confusing statements or positive reinforcing statements about your product or service. Use a P.S. or two at the end of your sales letter. Many just don’t have the time or patience to read your sales letter so they read you’re Headline and if it’s interesting to them, they read your Poss.’s so make sure you restate your offer in your P.S. and you also, apply a scarcity tactic to get your reader to take action immediately you can visit www.sale-trigger-generator.com these seven tricks are by no means an exhaustive list of sales letter writing methods but they can and will help you improve your copy and improve your product sales at breakneck speed. Apply them today and profit fast! and the two that get read most often are the headline and the P.S. It seems strange, but the truth is, like I said earlier, “People are lazy!” Many just don’t have the time or patience to read your sales letter so they read you’re Headline and if it’s interesting to them, they read your Poss.’s so make sure you restate your offer in your P.S. and you also, apply a scarcity tactic to get your reader to take action immediately you can visit www.sale-trigger-generator.com these seven tricks are by no means an exhaustive list of sales letter writing methods but they can and will help you improve your copy and improve your product sales at breakneck speed. Apply them today and profit fast!

Managing the Sales TeamSet the Sales Targets & KPI’s. Set the periodic sales targets for individuals, teams and the company. These could be daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, half year and annual. They should be stretch targets but achievable. Not too easy not too hard.Autonomy. Having interviewed many sales people, the most common frustration they have is being micro-managed. Below I outline how to approach internal sales meetings which are pivotal to getting the most out of the sales function. Beyond that, let them have ownership and accountability of their sales area. Be there to support and guide but don’t get in their way.Understand the Motivation behind Sales People. Sales people are typically very driven and singularly focused individuals. They get a massive kick out of the “thrill of the chase” and “closing the deal”. They are generally motivated by sales turnover and theirearning capacity including commission. Understand this in motivating and driving them.Pay Structure. This would be the number 2 frustration of sales people. Agree on their base pay, superannuation, benefits, bonus scheme or commission structure at the start. Then measure, monitor and make good on all of these to the letter. Make sure payments are on time within predetermined lead times. If you can’t explain the bonus or commission structure in a few minutes on 1 page, revisit the basis of calculation. This is absolutely critical.Let Them Sell. Sales people are there to sell. Don’t burden them with financial or administrative tasks unless they are Sales Managers leading a team. Outside of the internal sales meetings which are critical, let them do what you employed them to do.Weekly Sales Meetings. Weekly Sales Meetings should be laser focused, short, sharp and direct. Use an agenda. No waffle. Discuss current leads, open order status, business development opportunities and other current prospect/customer status. If weekly sales data is available, report it quickly against pro-rata budget. Keep product, training and HR/admin issues for the Monthly Sales Meeting. A good productive meeting may only run for 20 minutes or less.

Monthly Sales Meetings. Monthly Sales Meetings include a review of prior month’s individual, team and group sales performance against budget targets. Use an agenda. A monthly spreadsheet detailing sales turnover and key performance indicators against budget should be tabled and analysed. Report the news. Relevant product/service updates, training and general business administration issues should also be tabled. Commissions and other performance criteria should be reviewed and resultant follow up actions noted.

Quarterly Sales Meetings. Quarterly Sales Meetings are to review the prior quarter’s performance at an individual, team and group level. Break your year into four quarters and report Q1, Q2, Q3 & Q4 results. They should be quantitative and qualitative. Customer data and feedback should be included as well as sales team needs and gap analysis. This may also include marketing and business development initiatives. What went well and what went badly in the prior quarter? What can we do in the next quarter to be even better?

Annual Sales Meeting. This is the big macro review to conduct each year. This includes a full detailed review of prior year. It includes setting or tabling of the following financial year’s sales targets and marketing plans. This meeting is often done off site with a structured agenda.

CommunicationIn-Person Communication. Define your expectations in regard to personal grooming and dress code for client meetings. Have a consistency and professionalism in the way you present your sales force in person.Email Communication. Review your email etiquette. I recommend a standard greeting and close. Ensure a consistent e-signature is used on all email correspondence. Advise the team what “should and shouldn’t be said” in emails. The casualness and ignorance surrounding email communication can pose a genuine business risk. Work on minimising this risk.Written Communication. Develop a solid knowledge bank of standard letters and proposal/sales precedents. This not only creates consistency and best practice but delivers massive sales productivity gains.Phone Communication. Appraise your telephone communication. Who answers the phone and in how many rings? How often do you need to transfer calls? What does the customer hear on hold? What’s your standard greeting? How friendly and helpful are staff in taking calls? If your answers to these questions aren’t solid, hold an internal session on telephone communication.CustomersMarketing Materials. Have hard-copy and soft-copy versions easily available tothe sales team so that they can quickly prepare correspondence and get back to prospects and customers. Examples include product/service brochures, product specifications, samples, FAQ sheets and quote/proposal templates.Customer Feedback. Develop systems and processes for capturing customer feedback and report this in your internal sales meetings.Customer & Prospect Response Times. Have clear expected response times to customers. How quickly do you respond to prospect enquiry or customer contact? Educate staff on these maximum response times and advise your customers. Measure and manage expectations.Sales Process. Is your business’ sales process clearly documented, understood and followed by the sales team? Do you effectively educate your customers on that process and manage their expectations?

Back Office SupportPayment of Variable Sales Remuneration. Have strong systems in place to ensure that sales people are paid their bonuses, commissions and benefits accurately and on time. This is key for maintaining morale and motivation within the sales team. Sales Administration. Ensure the back office delivers on what the sales team have promised. Implement systems to process purchase orders and invoicing on time. A shabby back office can quickly damage your reputation and sales channel.Debt Collection. Make sure the appropriate person makes contact with customers regarding collection. Draft a collection process so that everyone knows the steps involved. Keep the sales team in the loop and always “ask questions first” when in doubt before making customer contact.

Darren Bourke, Business Influence, 2008. You are welcome to “reprint” this article online as long as it remains complete (including the “about the author” information at the end).

Unpacking The Formula

For many sales managers, communicating one on one with their salespeople takes place either ad hoc, on the run, in the car, at sales meetings or at performance appraisal time. When you think about it, truthfully, how often do you really actually sit down, one on one, with each of your salespeople?

The twenty three words solution demands that you get together with your salespeople, no less than once every fortnight. Ideally you will get together with them WEEKLY. Then, “In detail unpack the week just gone by and in detail plan the week coming up with each one of your sales people”

The “Weekly Debrief”

This regular session becomes your “Weekly Debrief.” When distance is a hindrance, then complete the “Weekly Debrief” with your people via the telephone.

The “Weekly Debrief” is a discipline that both you and your salespeople MUST invest the time in. As the sales leader you need to make sure they happen and continue to happen indefinitely.

These one on one “Weekly Debrief” sessions will become the cornerstone of your sales leadership effort. Applied regularly, the results of this powerful weekly practice will absolutely stagger you. Apply the practice weekly for just one month and you will be sold on the benefits of doing it forever!

“But what about the weekly sales meeting?” I hear you ask.

The weekly sales meeting has become an institution with so many sales managers that many of them are reluctant to let them go. There is a place for the sales meeting…only it shouldn’t be weekly. If you are holding “Weekly Debrief” one on ones with each member of your sales team, then getting your whole sales team together for a meeting once a month is more than sufficient.

Yes, there is still a place for the sales meeting. Your sales meeting should be used to recognize

individual performance and to celebrate team performance. The sales meeting also provides a great platform for corporate communication, guest speakers, group problem solving and brainstorming. Your sales meeting can be a terrific forum for sharing “stories from the trenches”, competitor updates and industry news.

Experience has proven that the more you utilize the “Weekly Debrief” one-on-one coaching sessions, the less you will need and want to use the sales meeting.

To prove my point as to the true lack of value your current weekly sales meetings are providing, I suggest you take a really hard look at the following:

Deconstructing the “Week Gone By!”

Meeting with each salesperson one-on-one weekly will allow you to cover off any pressing “corporate” issues first off and then get down to the business unpacking the details of the week just gone by and create detailed plans for the week coming up. Unpacking the salesperson’s week that has just gone by requires that you go through each sales activity, in depth, to understand:

Having listened to what transpired you will be able to determine the following:

By unpacking the week just gone by in detail, you are now in the greatest position to offer relevant feedback and training using real live examples as required.

Here is a dialogue example of unpacking a sales activity taken from my book Bulletproof your Sales Team – The 5 Strategies Guaranteed to Turbo-Boost your Sales Team’s Results!

Example: un-packing the week gone by!

Sales manager: So your first meeting on Tuesday was with Bob Smith at ABC Co, how did it go?

Salesperson: Alright I guess, not as good as I was hoping for!

Sales manager: Okay, let’s review, what was the goal of the call?

Salesperson: To get the Credit Application agreement signed.

Sales manager: So what happened?

Salesperson: Well as you know I’m still waiting to get it signed. I met with Bill, but he told me that his boss had been out of town last week and for most of this week and as a result he hasn’t been able to get it signed off.

Sales manager: Just refresh my memory, why does Bill need his boss to sign the Credit App?

Salesperson: Well when I met with him last time he told me he wasn’t authorized to sign it off.

Sales manager: Other than his boss, is there anyone else in the group who could authorize the App?

Salesperson: Not that I know of!

Sales manager: Meaning?

Salesperson: I never asked him?

Sales manager: (Silent)

Salesperson: I guess I should have asked him if there was anyone else shouldn’t I?

Sales manager: Let’s just review your last discussion with Bob. Looking at my notes from last week, when I asked you what needs to be done to get the application form signed. Last week you said that Bob had been given authorization to get the job done and all we had to do was to get the paperwork completed. What, if anything, has changed?

Salesperson: Nothing. Bob still wants us to do the job. Unfortunately, according to him, his boss is the only one who can sign the paperwork.

Sales manager: What are we talking about here? Are we talking about signing the order to go ahead or just filling out the Credit Application form?

Salesperson: Both

Sales manager: I understand how come the boss needs to sign the order, but why does he need to sign the Credit Application form?

Salesperson: Cause that’s what Bob told me!

Sales manager: Well let’s just look at this a bit closer for a moment. What is a Credit Application form?

Salesperson: The Credit App. allows us to capture all the details of the customer as well as trade references. Oh, and it also spells out our trading terms.

Sales manager: Correct! Why do we need it?

Salesperson: Because if they are going to open up an account with us they need to be aware of our trading terms, but mainly we need to check that they are a good credit risk.

Sales manager: OK. Do we need an order before we will open up an account for a customer?

Salesperson: (Blank look)

Sales manager: What I mean is, can a customer apply for credit with us without necessarily ordering anything?

Salesperson: I suppose so!

Sales manager: Ok, so let me ask you another question then. On a scale of one to five how sure are you that Bob wants us to do the job?

Salesperson: I would say a four but until I have the order signed by his boss I will have to say maybe three and a half.

Sales manager: So, if the Credit App. is only an Accounts Department thing and a customer can apply for credit with us without even necessarily ordering anything, why do you need Bob’s boss to sign the Credit Application form?

Salesperson: Cause that’s what Bob told me!

Sales manager: Of course that’s what he told you. He doesn’t know how we operate. My question to you is, does Bob know he can go ahead and apply for credit in the mean time whilst we wait for his boss

to come back?

Sales manager: (Without waiting for an answer) In actual fact his Accounts Department could fill in the Credit App. As a company we only need his boss to authorize the purchase. We don’t need his signaturefor the Credit Application form. Do you get what I am saying?

Salesperson: In other words either Bob could have signed the Credit App. or he could have had me take it over to his Accounts Department to get it signed?

Sales manager: Correct! So let’s assume you had gotten Bob to authorize the Credit App, or you had gone to the Accounts Department to get it filled out, how would you rate your chances of them going ahead with the job, on a scale of one to five?

Salesperson: I would feel much more confident, probably a four and half. Maybe even a five!

Sales manager: So having said that then, what’s the where to from here with Bob?

Salesperson: Well, I will give Bob a call today and tell him that you and I have spoken and that he doesn’t need to have his boss sign the Credit App. And that in fact if we can get the App. filled out before his boss gets back, we will be able to expedite his order a whole lot quicker. This will save him in both time and money, because it’s costing them around $750 a day in excess packaging costs the way they are currently running their system.

Sales manager: Do you foresee any issues he may have with that?

Salesperson: No I am pretty sure he will go for it!

Sales manager: What if he doesn’t?

Salesperson: Then I guess maybe I have read the whole thing wrong. Maybe he is not as sold on us doing the work as he has made out.

Sales manager: Which means what?

Salesperson: Which basically means I have more selling to do

Sales manager: What are the chances of us meeting with his boss?

Salesperson: If he turns me down on the credit app, I will make a plan to get in and speak to his boss.

Sales manager: Is there anything I can do at this point to help you further with this?

Salesperson: No thanks. If I can’t get into meet with Geoff, his boss, I will ask you for some help. I really think Bob signing off on the Credit App. will bring this one home.

Sales manager: Before we move on, what exactly is the action step from here?

Salesperson: As I said, I will call Bob today and see if I can get over there on Wednesday when I am in the area to get the Credit App signed off.

Sales manager: Alright then, (Making a note on the coaching log) lets move on to S.A.F. Company, what’s happening with them?

Note: Go back and review the dialogue above and make a note of the following:

• How much “telling what to do” was there from the sales manager?

• How many questions did the sales manager?

• What was the end result of the discussion?

• How did the sales manager finish up the discussion?

Sales training is an entrepreneurial necessity. If your business is struggling to succeed, sales training can provide you with the skills you need to sell. And sales are what makes your business an economic success.

Entrepreneurs need sales training to carry them during tough economic times. The stronger the sales skills, the higher the chances of your business surviving during business uncertainty. Every entrepreneur takes a risk when starting their business, and investing in sales training can be one of the safest and most profitable investment risks. Sales training is an investment that lasts the lifetime of the business. It also provides the entrepreneur with a perspective on sales that can provide insight into developing a solid sales strategy.

A sales strategy must be able to survive during every business climate condition. Developing metrics to establish sales productivity levels is an important part of a long-term sales strategy. Without a productivity measurement system in place, an accurate measurement of sales techniques to sales performance can not be made. Sales productivity standards will be a benchmark to determine which particular sales process is worthy of the highest investment. Spending twenty-four hours cold-calling a thousand dead-ends will not have the same productivity value as spending twenty-four hours developing a solid customer relationship that generates one sale.

Sales training can help identify which sales processes are being handled most efficiently, and which are being handled the least productively. By participating in sales training, the entrepreneur can fully examine several sales methods and techniques for each facet of the sales process and determine which techniques and methods are the most productive for the company. Once productivity measures are set, and revenue-producing sales skills are mastered and applied, the business is positioned to be strong enough to weather challenging economic conditions. Productive sales skills applied faithfully in a well-planned sales strategy will replace valueless activity with strategic profitable activity.

A training assessment held in a Fortune 100 company for nine months clearly demonstrated the importance of developing sales skills through sales training. This study tracked changes of a trained sales team and an untrained sales team during a recession and found that untrained sales professionals had a 13% sales drop, whereas the trained personnel had a 17% increase in sales. There was little doubt that sales training was a safe investment when the research showed that trained sales professionals were 79% more successful at developing new leads than untrained sales professionals during a recession.

Sales training can give entrepreneurs the skills they need to survive in any business climate. Skills can sell when activity can’t. Developing productivity sales metrics early on in your business sales strategy is the first step to determining what skills should be considered when investing in sales training. Entrepreneurs know that every investment must go through a risk assessment. A risk assessment of sales training will show you that sales training is an entrepreneurial necessity to reach long-term economic success.

For more information on sales training or to contact us, visit our website – http://www.sales-training.net.au

How do you get your sales team to generate the greatest amount of revenue, consistently, year after year? Most sales managers think the answer lies in being aggressive, doing more sales activity, proactive business development, keeping the pipeline full and increasing the abilities of your salespeople so that they are more effective on the ground.

What about the value of better planning? World-class sales organisations establish aggressive sales objectives to achieve the best possible results. To accomplish these aggressive targets, they develop clear and effective sales strategy and Performance Plans. The Sales Performance Plan guides the sales leader’s Sales Performance Coaching efforts, providing both them and the salesperson with a clear track to follow.

An effective Sales-Performance Plan can work to reduce your sales revenue peaks and valleys.

Generally the Sales-Performance Plan is an offshoot of the marketing plan, which is a critical component of the overall company business plan. Simply stated, the marketing plan defines your target market and outlines specific strategies which will attract, promote and sell your product or service. The Sales-Performance Plan details the essential steps that are required in order to retain the existing customer base, along with the specifics of how to reach potential customers and convert them from prospects into paying customers.

These plans should include execution details. Specifically featuring: who is doing what, by when, how and with what resources. The plan may also include details on how to deal with roadblocks and other obstacles. An effective Sales Performance Plan anticipates and create contingency plans against competitive threats, delays, etc

Leading sales managers have a healthy obsession with planning to ensure they reach their targets and better planning is the key to producing consistent and predictable sales numbers. An effective Sales-Performance Plan is made up of a variety of issues depending on your own individual sales environment.

Elements of a Sales-Performance Plan

A well constructed Sales-Performance Plan will not deliver sales results on its own. As with any plan, it must be actioned in order to produce a result. However, a well developed Sales-Performance Plan will direct every sales activity, greatly increasing the likelihood of the salesperson achieving their sales goals. The Sales-Performance Plan details the key objectives and the actions required to achieve the salesperson’s goals.

• More effective Sales-Performance Plans will create, build and nurture a healthy sales pipeline.

• A well thought out and well-managed Sales-Performance Plan ensures your salespeople meet revenue goals and attain their sales quotas.

• A good Sales-Performance Plan will also include development and up-skilling objectives that you and your individual salespeople have determined to be lacking in order for them to achieve their sales goals.

The Sales-Performance Plan contains a brief description of the actions required in order to achieve the goals. The Sales-Performance Plan must briefly specify the following:

None of your salespeople should ever begin their year, month or sales week without a clearly specified sales plan. The plan must lay out and detail their key objectives and action plans to achieve their desired results. Once the plan is submitted and agreed upon, it needs to be reviewed on a regular basis.

Target elements to plan for may include:

• Increase $ volume

• Increase the % in sales volume year over year

• Increase sales of specific products/services

• Increase average deal size

• Decrease average length of sale

• Increase $ volume by customer

• Opening new accounts targets

• Margin

• Ratio improvement

• Key account increases in existing product purchases

• Key account new product purchases

• Customer retention goals

• New product objectives

The Sales-Performance Plan needs to be split up into 4 X 90 DAY ACTION PLANS with set dates and strategies for their execution. The plan must be simply broken down and laid out for easy reference and follow up by you as the sales leader. Territory Sales-Performance Plans may also include some of the above measures as well as other goals for growing the territory.

Territory Sales-Performance Plans Territory Planning (a mix of customers or key accounts and prospects in a specified geographic location) is the process a sales team uses to analyze and plan around key accounts and opportunities within their assigned sales territory. For a Territory plan to effectively drive revenue, it must include both strategy and tactics and detailed actions for delivery of each objective.

A typical Territory Plan may include:

• Analysis and objective setting around the company’s products and services, market segments, competition, trends, and profiles of key accounts.

• Specific key objectives

• Opportunity/threat analysis

• Account identification and estimates of account potential

• Account situational analysis and account strategy

• Detail on territory/account tactics – What to sell, for what price and by when?

• Key account increases in existing product purchases

• Key account new product purchases

• Customer retention goals

• Channel development

• Deeper key account penetration

• Re-establishing abandoned customers

Developing, reviewing and regularly updating your Sales Plan is critical to consistent sales success.

What if I told you that there are just 4 key codes that must be in place if you want to unlock the power of your sales team and navigate your way through this current economic turmoil and beyond?

After all these years of searching for the elixir, the cure all, the silver bullet… I have come to discover that for you to grow revenues you need to focus your energies on understanding and implementing the key code combination that I am about to share with you.

These 4 codes are the recipe that will unlock the power of your sales team to deliver their sales results …consistently!

However, because there is far too much information to dump on you in just one sitting, I have decided to send you this newsletter over a number of installments which will

a) give you time to digest the material and
b) more importantly, execute the ideas contained herein.

Before I share them with you, let me establish a context for the information I intend to divulge. Come into my common sense corner for just a quick moment and let’s understand a principle truth that you as a sales leader must first to come to grips with. Whilst this core principle may sound pretty basic and “un-sexy” it is the fundamental ingredient of any highly functional team.

You can teach a pig to climb a tree but you’re better off to use a monkey.

In a recent podcast with Paul Macklin, the principal and founder of Amazing People a highly sought after Organizational Development Company, Paul and I discussed the impact of leadership, coaching and other methods of improving people performance.

In our discussion Paul used the metaphor which I would like to reiterate for the purposes of understanding the key principle when it comes to developing a sales team that is capable of generating consistent sales results, no matter what the prevailing market conditions. So let’s listen in on the dialogue ….

PAUL MACKLIN: Let’s say I’m a luthier – a person that makes violins. And let’s also say this was way back in the old days before you went to the hardware store to buy your lumber. You would go to the forest to find a tree to make the violin from. You would look for a certain quality of timber. You would want something that was straight and fine grained, free of knots. And you would cut the tree and then you would season the lumber for a period of time. Only then would you have the right piece of wood. This, in an organizational metaphor context is recruitment. The first question I ask a team leader when I’m working with them on improving team performance is, “Who have you got on the team?”

IAN SEGAIL: Do you have the right people on the team?

PAUL MACKLIN: “Do we have the right people on the bus”, right. So recruitment and selection gets you the right people and if you had asked me, “What is the most significant factor in developing a high performance team?” I’ve got to always say, it’s selection. There’s a friend of mine Fred Hull who says, “You can teach a pig to climb a tree but you’re better off to use a monkey.” This principle of, “the right team first”, is powerfully expressed in the business classic book Good to Great. Here, author Jim Collins says, “…to build a successful organization and team you must get the right people on the bus.” Jim’s research shows that great companies and great organizations make sure that, whatever it takes, they get the right people on the bus and then make sure that they put them in the right seats.

Right now, do you have the right people in your sales team to carry your company through the rapids of economic turmoil the world is currently experiencing? Currently your team would be made up of combination of four types of salespeople.

Typically salespeople will tend to fall into one of the four categories below:

Firstly, the Rainmaker.

The naturally talented rainmaker has an innate gift for selling. These gifted salespeople will make sales whatever, wherever, and for whomever they sell. These make up between only two to five percent of the sales population.

The rainmaker is recognized as that rare bird that is exceptionally successful in bringing in profitable business to his or her organization.

Oh, how we wish we had three or four of them! How we struggle to find and keep them! How much pressure is relieved when we have a rainmaker on the team! These people are the naturals. They are the gifted and talented salespeople. These rainmakers can sell in any economic climate!

These are the Roger Federers, the Mohamed Alis, and the Tiger Woods of selling. When you watch Roger Federer on the tennis court, you know that you are in the presence of a “natural.” The media describes Roger’s tennis using words such as clinical, mastery, finesse, artistry, graceful, and so on. Similar things are said about Tiger Woods and other individual sporting greats. What makes these players so great are not simply their well honed and practiced skills, but their awesome natural talents. These abilities when combined are harnessed to deliver greatness.

“Natural born” salespeople are like this too. That’s why we call them rainmakers.

Yes they have skills, yes they have knowledge, but most importantly, underpinning all of that is pure, natural talent. If you’ve ever had the good fortune to work with a rainmaker, then you have, most likely, at some time, had the desire to clone them. Rainmakers have an innate talent, a natural ability and insight that enables them to “sell intuitively.”

Unfortunately however, the universal problem that all business owners, entrepreneurs and sales managers face is that whilst there are many pretenders and try-hards about, there are simply just too few real rainmakers to go around. So whilst it’s wonderful for you if you should be so lucky as to have a rain maker on your team, the question that probably haunts you constantly though is, what if they leave? What if they are poached by your competition?

Also if you are fortunate to have a rainmaker on your team you know how precious and demanding they can be. There are no doubt also times where you feel held to ransom by these talented individuals and wonder if they are worth it!

Secondly, experienced salespeople

The second group are those experienced salespeople with many years of knowledge, education and street smarts behind them. Typically they would have been around a particular industry sector for a number of years. Through years of dogged persistence they have advanced their sales careers. These savvy sales people are often regarded as experts in a particular field. Years of experience have honed their knowledge of how to apply their solutions to their customer’s problems. Their knowledge and skills, which have evolved and developed over time, help them to establish credibility quickly and easily with the customer. They have sharpened their instincts over time and have learned through trial and error how and when to create sales. Unfortunately, it takes years to grow and develop these sales producers. If only you could “put an old head on young shoulders!” These experienced salespeople only make up between twelve and twenty percent of salespeople.

Thirdly, well-trained process driven salespeople

There is a small group of salespeople who have been fortunate enough to either currently work for, or they have had the opportunity to work for, a sales organization that invested in them with effective sales training. They have also learned to follow a pre-tested specifically engineered sales process that consistently delivers results. These well-trained, motivated and process directed sales people utilise their proven knowledge and processes to significantly outperform their competitors. Their training includes product knowledge application training which allows them to clearly understand the problems that their product/service solves. People persuasion skills and how to follow a pre-tested specifically engineered sales process are also part of their ongoing training and coaching regime.

However, unfortunately because of the investment required to train and up-skill these salespeople, they are very few and far between. In fact this small, well-trained, motivated and process directed group of salespeople make up only around ten to fifteen percent of the sales populace.

The forth group, the ordinaries

Finally there is the group that the large bulk of the sales population fall into, this is the category of pedestrian or mediocre salespeople. This class of the sales population have managed to maintain a career in selling by scraping by, often simply by stumbling across “ready-made sales.” In the majority of cases, these salespeople have been fortunate enough to come across situations where the customer is already in the market ready to buy or change suppliers. Often they are just the right person at the right time. It is more often than not that the customer chooses to buy, rather than the salesperson actually making the sale. With limited training and no clear sales process to follow, this group of salespeople often move from job to job, industry to industry, falling dismally short of their selling potential and sales results. During good economic times this group of mediocre sellers somehow fly below the radar and get by. However when things toughen up and sales have to be made, this is when this group come unglued. Depending on the industry, this majority group of salespeople make up anywhere between fifty to sixty percent of all salespeople.

Actions

Review the players that make up your sales team. How many of them are:

Looking at the your numbers above, on average, if you are like most sales teams out there in the market place, then the majority of the salespeople that make up your sales team are not likely to be rainmakers, highly experienced or process directed salespeople. The bulk of your sales team will be made up of ordinaries.

Now, I can almost hear you wailing, not me! Not my team! Well let me challenge you to re-read the definitions of the four types of sales people. Seriously, if your life depended on it would you really back the players on your team? Look again at the salespeople on your team that you may have credited with being process driven. Do they consistently deliver their required sales results month in, month out?

What about those salespeople who you have ascribed to fall into the category of “highly experienced”?Are they really a match with the definition above, or have they just been around forever? Do they build credibility quickly and easily with customers and prospects? Are their sales instincts really sharp or have they been blunted by years of neglect and lack of renewal? Do they truly know how and when to create sales?

If you were the manager of a world class sports team, would you be happy to take your team onto the field as they stand right now? Well it may not be life or death and you may not be the manager of a world class sports team, but why would you settle for a second rate sales team who deliver sub standard results? Forget about the fact that you are working in a tough economic market place. Someone, somewhere is currently still achieving their sales quota in your space! Therefore for you to manage and drive a sales team that delivers consistent sales results, as a sales leader you only have two options, either…

In other words if you currently don’t have a champion team, you will need to either go on a recruitment drive or implement the strategies and processes required to unlock the potential of your sales team. The fact is that finding and hiring rainmakers, highly experienced or process directed salespeople may be too expensive or take too long. Also, due to a number of variables, replacing your current team may just not be an option right now. The great news is that you can develop your own team of highly process directed and motivated sellers.

Because whilst finding rain makers and experienced sellers may require an element of good fortune, training and developing process directed salespeople is well within your locus of control. There are some specific things that you can implement that I will show you the over the next few weeks to help make this happen.

Over the next few articles it is my intention to unpack the 4 key codes that make up the combination which will free your sales people from their current limitations and ensure that you develop a team of champions!

Sales training for B2B is inherently different than B2C sales training. Selling to a business requires a stronger investigatory approach and an understanding of business operations as well as product performance. B2B sales training can accelerate B2B sales growth by training your sales team in the intricacies of sales organization, business sales relationships, and complex business sales presentations.

Business to business sales are generally more complex than business to consumer sales. Lead management involves individuals, clients, departments, teams and businesses. Business sales cycles generally take longer than B2C sales cycles. Businesses have a higher resistance to sales and are knowledgeable on sales and marketing strategies. Chances are high they have their own sales and marketing strategies developing within their company.

Sales training can help a B2B sales professional upgrade his skills to generate more leads, nurture and manage leads more thoroughly, use sales technology proficiently, understand the nuances of the business sale as opposed to a consumer sale, and develop new and inspiring business presentations and sales techniques. A B2B sales professional must be alert to the changing nature of sales and marketing and the changing nature of the business economy.

B2B sales professionals that aren’t trained in the latest sales and marketing techniques are likely to portray the company as not being capable of moving ahead with the business climate. Your business must show credibility through your B2B sales team. B2B sales typically require a consultive approach to relationships, rather than a product focused approach. Sales training can develop consulting skills and strengthen the consulting credibility of the B2B sales professional. A credible and trustworthy sales professional that is aware of current business trends will develop long-term relationships with clients that can contribute to cross-referrals and contribute to long-term revenue growth.

The most fundamental increase in complexity between a B2B company and a B2C company is the mere size of lead relationships. Because B2B companies must sell to many individuals to make one sale, it is necessary for B2B sales professionals to be familiar with multiple selling techniques that can be applied to individual and departmental presentations. Sales training for B2B sales professionals can provide sales professionals with unending ideas for sales presentations. The B2B sales professional will then have the presentation skills necessary to effectively present and sell to a large and diverse business audience.

Sales training for a B2B sales team or B2B sales professional is available at basic, intermediate and advanced skill levels. B2B sales require unique, complex sales and organizational skills that can be continuously improved upon with B2B sales training. B2B sales training will provide your sales staff with skills that will increase their credibility and consultation skills with sales targets.

Training for B2B sales professionals can also train sales professionals to formulate presentations that are hard for the target to resist. Strong sales relationships that are given winning sales presentations will keep your business winning a healthy sales revenue.

For more information on sales training or to contact us, visit our website – http://www.sales-training.net.au

Is your training program a waste of time and money?

Quick Quiz

Which of the following statements best describes your feelings about the training programs you have taken or have put your Sales Team through?

1 = Completely satisfied – training always yields visible and measurable results
2 = Fairly satisfied – training seems to be beneficial, but does not always yield the required results
3 = Unsure – The Sales Team is generally happy and business is moving in the right direction, but I’m unsure whether training is a contributing factor
4 = Fairly dissatisfied – training is something “nice to have” that my Sales Team could probably do without
5 = Completely dissatisfied – training is an expensive waste of time and resources

Common comments from Sales Managers

If you’re like most managers who arrange sales training for your Sales Team, you’re unlikely to report being “completely satisfied” with its worth.

We regularly survey senior Sales Managers in medium-to-large sized organisations and the following comments are, unfortunately, very common.

“They seemed to enjoy themselves, but two weeks later we saw very little change.” (Regional Sales Manager, Automotive Manufacturer)

“Overall the training was good, but the problem is in getting the guys to implement the new skills. Nothing really seems to have changed much.”(National Sales Manager, Building Industry)

“My people go on these courses and get pumped up for a day or two and then their performance slips back to what it was before the training – and in some cases even worse because they’re confused” (State Sales Manager, Retail)

If you’ve ever attended a training course yourself, it’s not hard to see the reasons why.

You enjoy the course and leave energised, with great intentions and a list of things you want to do differently once you’re back at work. But, by the time you get back to two days’ worth of unanswered emails, calls to return and proposal deadlines to meet, it’s another ten days before you even stop and think about the training. The moment for change has passed you by.

Training impact studies confirm that the knowledge gained at a seminar or workshop falls off significantly within just a few days of finishing the course.

And given the way people actually learn, this isn’t at all surprising. Even so, we continue to expect that the sales training event itself will make a measurable difference in light of strong evidence that this is unlikely to happen.

Let’s think about this logically. Would you send your child to a two-day course to learn to play the piano, and expect them to good enough to compete or pass exams with their new skill? Of course you wouldn’t.

Yet isn’t that the expectation we have when we send our salespeople on a two-day training program, our Sales Manager on a course to “Improve People, Productivity and Motivation”, or our Call Centre Manager on a two-day “Financial Management for Non-Financial Managers” course?

Why most sales training just doesn’t work

Whilst the right sales training course is a key ingredient in changing behaviour, the sales training event on its own is and can never ever be the “magic bullet.”

Change is a process; it’s not an event

Achieving a sustainable and real change in sales behavior requires much more than sending your salespeople off to be trained. To get salespeople to measurably improve and begin to do things differently requires a different approach. If we want to see “real” behavioral change and get a return on our investment, we need to use proven adult learning strategies and behavioural change tactics to boost their knowledge and enhance their capabilities. This means making a departure from the traditional way we approach sales training.

Historically, very little thought or effort was made in terms of preparing the participant to get ready to learn prior to the training event taking place. In most cases, when the participant returned to work, only “lip service” was given to the follow up process to make sure they integrated the things they learned during the training.

Generally, most of the learning is expected to occur during the sales training event itself. This is where the participant is exposed to new information, tools and tactics. Most Sales Managers live in the hopes that the sales training event will be engaging; the participant will emerge with a new vision of what is possible and pick up a few key tools that they will make a part of their sales routine.

Through its many studies and reports, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has shown that after a typical training event, the participant’s performance actually tends to drop as they attempt to apply and integrate their new knowledge and behaviours back in their work environment.

The problem is that most sales environments are not set up to support the participant and it isn’t long before workplace pressure, and the individual’s natural resistance to change, pulls them back into familiar territory and habitual ways of working and selling. The new knowledge is quickly forgotten and it is not long before performance returns to former levels.

Is it possible to actually guarantee a return on investment from training?

For sales training to deliver on its promises, the “sales training event” must be seen as only one element of the learning process.

Here are the elements of a proven and results-oriented sales training system that guarantees ROI from sales training by blending five key pieces of the learning puzzle.

1. Relevance – Prior to any training being delivered, the content, case studies and exercises need to be vetted to ensure its relevance to workplace outcomes.
2. Pre-workshop preparation – Prepare the participant prior to their attendance at the sales training event to accelerate the traction of the new tools and learning.
3. Event Engagement – The sales training event must engage the participant, delivering both insight and inspiration to transform behaviour.
4. Post-sales training execution – The individual learning outcomes must be followed up on and coached to ensure integration of desired behaviors into the workplace.
5. Accountability and measurement – Fine-tune the learning effort, tweaking until complete behavioral change has been achieved.

1. Relevance

Relevance checking is the first step.

Adult learning theory tells us that adults want reality and that adults are motivated to learn and apply only that which is relevant to them.

Malcolm Knowles, one of the most respected names in adult learning and author of The Modern Practice of Adult Education, reports “adults are most interested in subjects that have immediate relevance to their job or personal life”.

Research by the Huthwaite Research Group reports that, “Learners remembered more than four times as much from sales training sessions that were perceived as highly relevant to their jobs than they did from sessions that were seen as low in relevance.”

Relevance significantly accelerates learning, increases retention and makes learning more fun and interesting.

Questions to ask when investigating relevance include:

• Can the sales training be customised?
• Does it validate learners’ current knowledge?
• Will it reflect learners’ on-the-job experience?
• Does it include relevant case studies?
• Does it allow learners to benefit from the knowledge of other group members?
• Will it reflect and reinforce your preferred business processes?

2. Pre-Workshop Preparation

Pre-workshop preparation begins the change process by helping participants to “buy in” to the learning experience up front, before the learning event.

It sets the stage for the sales training event by creating a context for the sales training and matching it with the participant’s performance objectives and selling skills gaps.

During pre-workshop preparation, the learner should be asked to gather data about their current challenges and successes, and any examples that can be used during the sales training session. When a salesperson is cognisant of their skill gaps and how those gaps impact their ability to write revenue, it helps to speed up the learning process.

Our experience shows that by completing pre-workshop preparation the learner is more likely to become an active participant in the training.

Pre-workshop activities may include:

• Research
• Reading background material
• Completing practical or written exercises
• Completing assessments, profiling or diagnostic tests
• Connecting the salesperson’s learning objectives with those of the course content and their job performance
• Identifying internal support and resources
• Formal activities designed for recognition of prior learning (RPL)
• Creating a “learning agreement”

3. Event Engagement

The sales training event itself is where most sales training organisations expend most their time and energy.

A training event will have most impact when:

• The topic is relevant to the learner’s needs and builds on their previous experience
• The training offers a new perspective that expands the learner’s concept of what is possible
• Participants can easily see how mastering the content will improve their workplace performance
• Participants are able to experiment and practice new behaviours in a safe environment
• Participants expand their network and develop learning relationships with other attendees
• Participants are inspired and motivated to change their behaviour
• Participants develop an action plan moving forward to begin to change their below par behaviours

On its own, the sales training event will not increase performance, but a powerful “learning event” can be the catalyst for organisational learning where individuals are inspired to share their knowledge and teach others.

4. Post-sales training execution

Organisations that are serious about achieving a return on their sales training investment make sure that the training content is integrated into the workplace. To help do that they make sure they provide individual follow-up and support.

This phase ensures that measurable results can be achieved. By providing follow up coaching and support to assist individual salespeople to implement and apply their new knowledge and skills, Sales Managers ensure that the time, effort and resources invested in the development and running of the sales training bears measurable” fruit”.

Post-sales training execution and follow-up tools may include:

• High-Performance Coaching
• Post-Sales training Execution Plan & Learning agreements follow up
• Post-Sales training accreditation, assessment and/or diagnostics
• Follow up, self-paced learning modules
• Follow up workshops
• Mentoring program
• “Teach others” program
• “Buddy-coaching” Program

High-Performance Coaching

Studies by Neil Rackham, the renowned sales effectiveness researcher and author of SPIN Selling, show that 87% of the learning from a workshop will be lost within thirty days if there isn’t a coaching intervention by the participants’ Sales Manager or workplace coach.

High Performance Coaching is one of the most significant post-sales training interventions supporting the learner to integrate their learning into the workplace.

A High Performance Coach works with the learner to provide them with instruction, guidance, positive reinforcement, and accountability in the achievement of their sales goals. Typically the coach is the learner’s supervisor or Sales Manager.

High Performance Coaching is an important business skill for those in sales leadership roles, with responsibility for writing top line revenue.

High Performance Coaching helps the newly trained salespeople to “buy into” the change effort and to develop the skills to effect meaningful workplace change.

What are learning agreements?

Learning Agreements are essential to achieve a return on sales training investment and to ensure that learning is integrated into the workplace

A Learning Agreement clarifies work performance expectations and spells out how learning will be integrated on the job. A Learning Agreement will list the following:

Prior to attending the sales training event, the participant meets with their Sales Manager or trainer to document the desired results from the learning experience. They will also discuss consequences for successful or unsuccessful implementation of the learning.

The actual sales training event becomes more meaningful because the participant is being directed by the Learning Agreement and is focused on attaining the knowledge and skills required to fulfil it

Having attended the sales training, the learner meets again with their Sales Manager or coach to review the Learning Agreement in light of the information, skills and knowledge gained from the training.

The coach then reviews and redefines the post-sales training action plan with the learner in order to make sure the Sales Person will accomplish the desired performance objective/s

For an example of a Learning Agreement, please download this article from our website

5. Accountability and Measurement

There is a saying in management that “what gets measured gets done; what gets recognised gets done even better.”

The primary purpose of sales training is to improve an individual’s sales performance and ultimately the performance of the organisation. Therefore, sales training and development efforts must be tracked, measured and rewarded to ensure a positive impact.

To achieve ROI on sales training, we must first measure an individual’s competencies2 for their sales role and determine the gaps. Following the sales training we conduct a further “on the job” sales performance assessment following the sales training event.

Specific individual performance measures (KPIs) should be written into the Learning Agreement. For example, increased sales production, a reduction in time waste, improved customer retention, increased sales margin, improved teamwork or motivation etc.

The Learning Agreement then maps the competency improvement required to achieve a specific KPI, for example:

KPI = Improved sales conversion rate from 1 in 7 to 1 in 4
Competency required = Customer needs diagnosis (listening and questioning)
Training requirement = Focus on customer needs diagnosis

Conclusion

It is an unfortunate fact that the majority of sales training conducted fails to deliver the expected increase in productivity or performance. Very few sales training programs actually change behaviour. Many sales programs are run as an exercise in “ticking the box” – Yes, I have officially trained my salespeople!

The simple truth is that if you are going to end your salespeople to a sales training event you are only likely to see a measurable return on your investment if you ensure that the material is:

• relevant and customised to suit your sales operation and market; and
• each individual has been well primed and prepared prior to their attendance;
• the sales training event engages and inspires;
• you are prepared to follow up and coach the salesperson to ensure integration;
• keep holding them accountable, measuring and tracking their behavioural changes as a result of the sales training.

Sales courses and sales training is necessary in today’s informative and competitive environment. With every investment, there is a cost and a return. An investment in sales courses and sales training for your staff is no different. Sales training without a return on your investment may benefit your staff when they need credentials for a new job, but it won’t benefit your company. Sales courses must be chosen with an eye for return.

Investment in sales courses and sales training for your staff demonstrates that you are committed to the betterment of your company and your staff. However, if you choose sales courses and sales training programs that give little credence to your sales staff’s current knowledge and abilities, your sales training motivations will falter into resentment from your staff. Sales course content that is merely a reiteration of the staff’s current knowledge is wasted investment and will be received with deaf ears. Involving the sales team in the efforts places of sense of ownership of the sales training results, which further motivates the sales team to apply the training they have received to effectuate change. Benchmark your sales before training, and track sales for a year or two after the sales training. Training applied is ROI earned.

If you want to see a return on your investment into sales courses and sales training for your staff, involve your staff in course evaluation and selection, evaluate sales courses on their own merits and compare them to your objectives, consider long-term results of training, follow-up on the training, and consider the company’s financial expense involved with the training investment.

Determine whether individual sales training or group training offers a higher return. If the needs of your sales force members starkly contrast with one another, individual training would be more effective. If consistency is imperative, group training will be more profitable. In each scenario, be sure to evaluate salaries and any decrease in sales for the day. In many cases, an office can run more efficiently when individual training sessions are granted rather than group training sessions. Whether you are investing in sales courses and sales training for individual training sessions or group training sessions, consider the costs of location, travel, gas and lunch reimbursement.

When you choose sales courses and sales training for your team, look for value-added benefits. Sales courses may offer sales training follow-up as a value-added benefit. Many sales courses offer train-the-trainer sessions, saving your company from the expense of repeating the sales courses and sales training for new employees. If you have a fast promotional system or a high turnover, a train-the-trainer program can offer substantial savings and benefit and increase your ROI. Ensure that the sales training courses will train your sales staff with material that can be applied continuously throughout their career with your company.

Sales courses and sales training can offer a high return on your training investment if careful consideration is given to need, objective, input, selection, follow-up and expense Sales training is an avenue for continuous company improvement. Continuous company improvement is imperative in today’s fast moving business climate. Smart investing in sales force training will give your company a competitive advantage and keep your sales in the fast lane.