Sales Tips and Marketing Strategies

We all instinctively know that learning and development within the corporate space is ’supposed to’ make a difference. Yet, far too often the programs (not necessary the people) fail due to the following reasons. Some of these reasons are structural, but too many times it is just poor project management.

A primary reason many programs and courses fail is because there is no “Accountability”. Learning and Development departments think that they provide accountability by counting the number of seats in the program, or talking about how and why this program is valuable. But they fail in the correlation of the program to the participant job or position.

If accountability exists, then the second most prevalent reason programs fail would be evident. Most programs lack any type of “Monitoring”. I see many programs that do not have any requirements on monitoring the participants. Monitoring is not just watching the student sit in the program, and do some exercise. Monitoring is an actively engaging effort that is time-consuming, yet highly valuable. Monitoring is done by everyone involved: it involves the student, the direct supervisor and the HR department. The work is hard in this arena and yet the payoff is highest. It is a shame that far too many Learning & Development groups miss this. Monitoring is more than just happy sheets. It needs to include pre, mid or post program testing and a 30-60-90 day post program implementation of the concepts taught in a course and/or program.

Continue reading ‘6 Reasons Why Corporate Training Programs Fail’ »

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When you choose your career in life, you may find what you’re looking for with college, but what if you want more? Sales and marketing, of course, is a good career that most business people would want, but what if you are looking for someone to train you?

Well, there are college classes that could cost a lot of money and when people don’t have a lot of cash, there isn’t a way to get the career they want or dreamed of.

If you want that hope at the end of the tunnel, then you should know that sales and marketing training can be done through the Internet and for a cheap price.

Many people get bad vibes of Online classes or even the Internet in particular, but you should know that technology has advanced to giving you exactly what you want and it’s safe.

Learning about sales and marketing takes dedication and straight forward thinking.

Continue reading ‘Sales Marketing Training – How to Get Motivated For Success’ »

I get really frustrated when I hear people stereo typing sales people as merely gifted talkers. Confident speaking is required however it just one element of the role. In fact I would suggest that a more important skill for any sales executive is the ability to listen and ask the right type of questions. Read on to discover the questions that work.

The main point we need to consider is that there are two types of questions. These are called open and closed questions. A closed question is one that can only be answered by the word yes or no. These types of questions are to be avoided as they will kill your sales presentation and do not provide the type of information you can use to win the order. An open question on the other hand keeps the conversation moving and enables you to understand exactly what your potential client is looking for.

Continue reading ‘You Are Failing at Sales Because You Do Not Ask the Right Type of Questions’ »

Finding the best sales agents is among the most important duties a sales team manager undertakes. The catch is that the majority sales managers don’t have a proved process to hire top salespeople. Yet to develop a group of solid high performing sales agents, a sales manager needs a repeatable, established method to hire leading sales agents.

A word of warning nevertheless, no matter what company or business you’re in, don’t ever hire soon after one interview. It’s way too little time to really find out what someone’s about.

Regardless of how awful the tension gets to hire rapidly, always keep to the same six-step system we outline on this sales management training. This kind of sales management hiring technique ensures uniformity so you can consider each applicant in as consistent way as is feasible. Continue reading ‘Sales Management Training: 6 Actions to Hiring a Top Sales Person’ »

Last week I asked for the order from John, one of my prospective customers. I had sent him a working module from a sales simulation training program to evaluate. He listened to the audio, looked at the workbook and loved it. And, didn’t buy. Why? Because of timing. Because his boss, rightfully, had found a part of his business that could be fixed and drop money right to the bottom-line. Not top line as in revenue increase, but bottom-line, as in expense reduction. So he chose to use his only limited resource, time, to fix the hemorrhage of cash.

John asked me to visit with him in 90 days by which time he thought his boss would see increase in top-line revenue as a high priority and one he could fix with my wonderful sales simulation training program.

Now for the good news. He gave me a great referral. What’s that you say, how could you get a referral from someone who didn’t do business with you? I constantly ask for and get referrals from prospective customers who can’t or won’t do business with me. How do I do that? I start by taking notes during the rapport building process. Continue reading ‘Rapport Building Leads to Referrals – Even If You Don’t Make the Sale’ »

When you ask sales people about questioning techniques most people don’t know how to ask a question that will get their prospect talking.

Many courses, books, and DVD’s on sales training tell you to start the sales questioning stage with an open question, one that will get the customer talking, and one that makes it difficult for them to answer with one word or a short phrase. But then they go on present that an open question is one that begins with: what, who, where, when, or how. This is absolute rubbish!

You can ask a question that begins with any of these words and the customer can still answer with a short, closed phrase, and in some cases just one word. Here are some examples I have heard while coaching sellers who have been on these sales training courses: Continue reading ‘Questioning Techniques For Sales – Do You Really Know What an Open Question Is?’ »

We all have sales slumps: Those times when you just can’t find your selling rhythm. When you can’t seem to close the sale despite your best effort. When each sale that you do get seems much harder than than it ever was before. When you are working harder than ever but your volume is down and the pressure is on.

This phenomenon is not unique to sales. In economics it is called a correction, a recession, or even a depression. In sports it is a slump or a cold streak. In life it is a “rough patch” or a rut. It poker it is a bad run.

If you are a sales person in the midst of a sales slump, you know you have to get out of it, and fast. After all, selling is how you make your living and without sales you are without income. While we will all go through sales slumps from time to time the key is to minimize them when they do occur, and get out of them fast. Continue reading ‘3 Ways To Get Out of a Sales Slump Fast’ »

Imagine this scenario: Company ABC introduces a very popular consultative sales methodology to its sales organization. The sales training event is customized to ABC’s products, customers and target contacts. The response is very positive. The sales training consultant and the sales methodology framework have provided insight into addressing some of the common sales challenges facing ABC; calling higher, selling across the product line, managing the closing process and better forecasting for examples. The majority of the team is anxious to implement the lessons learned. Now fast forward 30 or 60 days later and it’s as if the training event never happened. Everyone is back to their previous behaviors, and the results have not improved.

If this sounds familiar, then you can appreciate the term “training de jour”.

Dave Stein, CEO of ES Research, a firm specializing in providing research on sales training vendors, says that 85% of sales training events fail to produce lasting impact beyond 90 days.

So the question is, why does this happen so frequently and what can you do to avoid the predictable outcome? Or more specifically, how do you actually succeed with your sales methodology initiative and join the 15% who are enjoying lasting impact? Continue reading ‘How to Get a Sales Methodology to Produce Results’ »

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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. Continue reading ‘Sales Courses and Sales Training Investment and Cost’ »