Sales Training Program

High-Income Seller Behaviors: 5 Attitudes A Sales Executive Must Have To Close The Deal
Read almost any book about sales and you’ll see some reference to, “you need to have a good attitude.� So what does that mean? Sometimes my most effective selling is when I have a “bad attitude� -- when I’m more discerning and skeptical about whether a prospect has money or is willing to make the change. I get tougher then and force the prospect to fit into my procedure. So for the purpose of this article, I’d like to redefine attitude and not talk about it in terms of good or bad, but instead “what attitudes to have.�

1. My value can be found nowhere else.

Most high-income sellers are in the business-to-business environment. And in that atmosphere, you must bring value with your knowledge, experience, and observations in a market. So even though you may sell the same type of solution that another company sells, your solution is enriched by you being in the process. High achievers understand that their products or services are better because of their expertise and wisdom. The elite high-income seller has the attitude of “my total solution brings value because the prospect won’t be able to find my value from anyone else.�

2. If I want more, I contribute more.

The highest achievers realize something that the average performers don’t. If you want to earn more money, you have to contribute more value and solve more problems for your customer. We say in our training, “if you want to make more money, solve bigger problems.� So when you work on your quarterly goals, stop working on what you can get out of the market and start working on what you can contribute to the market in terms of value and solutions to problems. Then, when you make a sales call or attend a sales prospect meeting, you won’t be a needy, begging sales person. You’ll be a contributor at a higher value.

3. There is a never-ending supply of client pain.

The elite sellers--the top one percent--know that even when a market is soft (no budgets) it doesn’t mean there’s no pain in the customer base. So the high achiever is always focused on the problems that he or she can solve and not focused on the budgets that aren’t there. Budgets follow beliefs. If the prospect believes he has a problem and believes it’s worth solving, budgets have a way of making an appearance.

4. My baggage doesn’t matter.

Let’s face the fact that we all have unwanted baggage. That little tinge of fear when we get ready to ask a question that we know we should ask, but some how it just doesn’t roll off our tongue. The average performer decides he will wait to ask the question later. The high sales performer doesn’t let his baggage get in the way of the right question to ask (or the right comment to make). In a sick sort of way, your baggage gets in the way of your customer getting his problem solved. You don’t want to have that on your mind when you go to bed tonight, do you?

5. I am hyper-discerning about my time.

It’s easy to say, “be discerning,� but with all the distractions and demands on our time, it’s hard to execute that attitude. So what do high sales achievers do with their time? In the sales environment they create standards of conduct that they demand from the prospect. If on the first phone call, the prospect doesn’t want to share any of the problems they’re trying to fix then they have broken the first code of conduct and the high achieving sales executive should move on. If, on the first face-to-face meeting, the prospect refuses to tell how much money this problem costs them to have, then again, they’ve broken a rule of conduct. The sales executive must move on. Set your code of conduct on what you expect from prospects and don’t deviate. That makes it easier for you to ‘let go’ at the appropriate time.



During his 19+ years of experience as a leader, experimenter and coach for hundreds of B2B sales teams, Bill Caskey doesn’t blame prospects for how they treat most sales organizations – for not seeing their value, for treating them like servants, and for sucking up their expertise and taking it somewhere else and getting a lower price. Sales organizations play a part in this game too! Our sales behavior is the problem not our clients. Learn how to play the high-income seller’s new rules at <a href="http://www.theelitesellerblog.com">http://www.theelitesellerblog.com</a>

High-Income Selling Strategies: 5 New Rules To Govern Your Behavior And Actions In The Sales Cycle
Everyone wants to earn more, but few are willing to change behavior to do so. In fact, most aren’t. In my work of over 19 years with the high sales achiever, I find that most of them operate with a different set of rules about selling and the pursuit of new business. These new rules help govern their behavior and actions in the sales cycle. I have over 25 rules that I’ve documented, but here are the top five for you to consider:

1. Define what you want to attract.

High sales achievers are very specific about what they want to attract, both in terms of financial outcomes and business relationships. The Universe has an interesting way of delivering to you exactly what you order, so be specific on your order when you place it. The Universe doesn’t respond well to, “I just want to make more money.�

2. Bring up what scares you.

Most sales executive fears are an illusion. The worst thing we can do with fear is to ignore it. That feeling of fear is trying to tell you something and what it’s telling you is, to act on it. If you’re in a sales process and you feel some fear about bringing up a difficult subject, then that’s exactly what you should discuss. Reveal what you feel.

3. Never Coerce.

It’s been my privilege to work with some extremely high achievers in the profession of business-to-business sales. One thing I find about them is that they are ‘detached to outcomes.’ They spend no time “convincing, persuading, and defending.� And they spend little time trying to coerce prospects into their way of thinking. When you, a marketing and sales professional, begin to encroach on your prospect’s freedom, you become the pain and they’ll get rid of you. Tell people upfront “it’s alright if you decide this is not a fit at this time, let me know and I’ll be gone.� But do that upfront. That way you’re not 18 months into the process when you hear ‘no.’

4. Think “Process.�

The greatest businesses in the world have the greatest processes in the world. So why should a sales professional be any different? Of all the processes that the high sales achiever has, the most important one is the sales process. A great sales process is one where you can, in a step-by-step fashion, lead people from beginning to end with the constant understanding that some people will qualify “out of the process� and you can move on. Not only should you have a process, but you should also follow it and be indignant about the prospect’s adherence to it. Great sales processes are better for the prospect because it helps them identify their problem quicker and create a better solution. If you feel your sales process is only in your best interest, then you’ve got the wrong process.

5. Think ‘Leverage.’

One way to leverage your strengths is to hire other people and train them to do the things you don’t want to do. But as sales professionals--even as high achieving sellers -- you might not have the latitude to go hire staff. But what you can leverage is “current relationships.� High achievers never make cold calls. Why would they? The reason: they have learned the power of referral marketing. They find a way to use their current client/network relationships to bring them new, ideal clients.

This is not as simple as “give me ten people you know, so that I can go make a sales call to them.� It is a thoughtful, strategic way to generate enough goodwill with your clients that they demand to introduce you to their friends and associates. A great referral program doesn’t work if you’re not thinking “leverage.�




Through his 19 years of experience as a leader, experimenter and coach of hundreds of B2B sales forces, Bill Caskey has seen an evolution in sales management. Today’s high-income sellers must be part marketer, part relationship developer, part closer, and part CEO. Sales executives must now be extra effective when they are in front of their prospects by playing by the new rules – rules that Caskey has learned and documented for the high achiever at: <a href="http://www.theelitesellerblog.com">http://www.theelitesellerblog.com</a>

Sales Through Storytelling: Story Tell, Story Sell!
An old French proverb tells us "Nothing succeeds like success!" And in sales nothing succeeds quite like success stories. Are you sharing yours? Why not? The secret is in how you share your successes.

Learn to tell thirty-second "success stories." During sales calls a quick-hitting story can make or reinforce a point in memorable fashion. Success stories may be told in response to a question, to serve as a testimonial, or even as an aside. Did you know you had a storied past?

Stories work for several reasons: they're more memorable than numbers, names and dates; and listeners enjoy the drama: a problem followed by a solution, a mystery solved with a twist, or a creative workaround to a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Also, your listener can find him or herself in the story. A good story will resonate with prospects.

"We're wired for stories, individually and collectively. Since the time of Odysseus we've been told stories. Since we were little kids we've been read and told stories. This is how we’ve been conditioned to learn; our morals and our values are taught through stories." So says Gay Ducey, past president of the National Storytelling Association.

Look at your sales history and pick out an accomplishment. Now tell the story behind the accomplishment. It states that you helped a past client increased sales 60%. But tell how you did it; Cite a "before vs. after" description. What was the secret? Stories that reveal secrets captivate.

The Three S's of Success Stories

Success stories offer a setting, a situation and a solution. Remember, you're the hero of your stories. Your decisions, actions and insights made the difference.

Here is an example:

"We recently received a call from a merchant unhappy with their current vendor. They were paying high fees, receiving poor service and experiencing frequent security breaches. In short order we were able to launch a wireless processing system that was more secure, more reliable and even less expensive. Through customization we were able to address their foreign and domestic needs, a strength of ours."

Not only does this success story demonstrate an independent sales organization's ability to solve problems, it showcases an understanding of business, markets and methods.

Stories can demonstrate your professionalism, customer service, researching ability, creativity, problem-solving inclination or other strengths.

Consider this story for a job-seeker:

Here is an example of how one candidate summarized his most recent employment for a competitor

"In my last job I was hired to manage a production department at war with the editorial department. I walked into an environment full of distrust and resentment, built up over years of animosities and recriminations. Through my implementation of cross training between departments, initiation of mutual social outings such as picnics and scheduling of project post-mortems we were able, after 6 months, to convert resentment into understanding and competition into cooperation. As each department began to understand how the other one worked we were jointly able to improve the workflow and consequently shorten time to market with publications. Even quality improved as we better understood how best to work together. That showed me the importance of internal communication and how hard it can be, though not impossible, to change an existing culture."

Not only does this success story demonstrate the candidate's ability to solve problems, but it shows interviewers the candidate's understanding of interoffice politics and the human side of operations.

Stories can demonstrate your detail orientation, dedication, leadership, independence, researching ability, creativity, serice or problem-solving inclination. Remember that employers want well rounded hires so make sure they see evidence of your varied skill set. Here are a few examples:

• Your conversion of old equipment into new uses shows you can think outside the box and are resourceful.

• The non-monetary ways you recognized your staff shows your creativity, abilities as a leader as you demonstrate your understanding of how to motivate others.

• The weekly internal E-letter you created for employees not only boosted morale, it gave evidence of your strong communication skills.

• The canned food drive you initiated at your last job not only showed your commitment to your community, it also raised visibility for the company and improved their public relations.

• By forming a lunchtime jogging club you helped bring employees from different departments together while improving the health, and mental health, of employees who participated. Your leadership and team building skills were further evidenced when your runners club formed a Centipede in the recent Bay to Breakers race.

• Your multilingual skills helped aright a project suffering from miscommunication between subsidiaries from overseas. Not only could you translate phrases and idioms of speech, your insight into cultural differences bridged a gap and corrected a wayward project. More than showcasing your knowledge of languages, you demonstrated the ability to liaison between different groups, negotiate and turn an important project around.

Here are a few examples:

• Your analysis of existing processing statements and identification of cost savings

• Your experience with a variety of systems and payment methods: credit, debit, phone and gift cards, etc.

• Your skill in designing billing systems that cross borders and time zones and convert currencies"

Best yet, this Story Tell, Story Sell method works for sales, management, consultants, meeting planners, solopreneurs and even politicians. I know, I've coached them!

Review your past work history and identify the stories within each accomplishment. Now tell them to others. Don’t forget the moral to your story: the point the story tells about you (and your firm), your skills and credits. And remember, yours is a never-ending story!



As a self-employed speaker, trainer and consultant on communication and customer service topics, Craig Harrison is simultaneously a decision maker, gatekeeper and caller on a daily basis. Craig is standing by to take your calls and e-mails: (510) 547-0664, or via Excellence@craigspeaks.com. Visit his website at http://www.ExpressionsOfExcellence.com.

Selling with Success - Gaining Rapport
Gaining rapport is perhaps the single most important element to selling with success. Without rapport your chances at making a sale are slim to none. Rapport is created from your first point of contact with a potential client and so one easy way to gain rapport is through the use of your client’s name. Hence:

o Get to know your clients name,
o Use your client’s name,
o Remember your client’s name, and
o Use your client’s correct title.

Sounds easy doesn’t it? Yet how often is this done in practice? I once accompanied my sister-in-law in Barbados to a new gym she wanted to check-out with a view to perhaps joining it. I’m a qualified Personal Trainer and so she, or rather my brother, wanted my expert opinion. I introduced myself to the Manager who then proceeded to spend the next minute or so asking me if I was called anything other than “Nickolove� even though I had indicated that was the name I preferred to be called. I wasn’t even the main client! So you can imagine how impressed I was with her sales skills. (The gym didn’t pass muster with me either.)

There are exceptions to using a person’s real name. One of my friends is called “Tifsihitâ€�. She is a beautiful individual and I wanted to honour her by using her full name and I tried to do so. However, she politely informed me that my efforts resulted in saying something rude and that she was happy to be called “Tâ€� â€" an abbreviation used by most of her friends. I humbly acquiesced.

Sometimes we meet individuals whose names we later or promptly forget. How many times has this happened to you? Do you ask the person their name again? In many cases people are reluctant to ask a person’s name the second or third time around. However, the irony is, people don’t mind being asked their name. It shows that you are interested in them and people generally respond favourably to this.

When you are talking to a customer, address them by name and use their name during the conversation. You don’t have to overdo it but when people hear their names mentioned it helps to make them feel that they are being spoken to as an individual rather then just anyone or everyone. It helps to give them confidence that you are seeking to address their individual needs.

Many people say that they can’t remember names. Just saying this helps to reinforce this negative and false belief. The truth is, unless you have a medical condition that affects your memory, you have a perfect memory and, with a little effort, you can remember the names of a roomful of people if you so desired.

One technique that helps me to remember a person’s name is for me to ask a person to spell their name for me, especially if it is somewhat unusual. When a person spells their name I can actually see the letters and this makes it easier for me to recall.

I am also unashamed at repeating a person’s name a few times until I get the pronunciation right (or not as in the case of Tifsihit!). This repetition also helps me to remember their name.

I also like to discover the meaning of names. I meet many people with exquisite sounding names and I’m always curious as to their meaning. Even common names have interesting meanings. Take the name “Stephen�. I discovered only this weekend that the name Stephen is of Greek origin and means ‘crown’. Knowing what someone’s name means is another way of engraving that person’s name into my memory. It also creates a natural focal point for light conversation which adds to building rapport.

There are many excellent resources on the market to help you develop your memory. I highly recommend choosing one of these resources if you want to dramatically improve your memory and your ability for remembering names. It’s too lengthy a discussion for this article.

Finally, use a client’s correct title. Many times I receive correspondence addressed to “Mr Nickolove Lovemore� or sometimes I receive calls asking to speak to “Mr…� What is really irritating about this is that, in many cases I have actually spoken to the person sending the correspondence and there is no way you could mistake the sound of my voice for that of a man.

I remember a situation where I received a letter from a real estate agent I had been dealing with who fell foul to this error. When I pointed out that my title should be “Ms� and not “Mr� I was told that they assumed “Mr Lovemore� was the decision-maker and so had addressed the letter accordingly. That went down like the proverbial lead weight. How chauvinistic! I was the individual to whom they always spoken to and yet it was assumed that I, a lowly female, was incapable of making a decision about a financial contraction of this magnitude even when a “Mr Lovemore� had never been mentioned.

Getting a client’s title wrong is a sure way to alienate them so if you are unsure about a client’s title simply ask them. If this is not possible then circumvent this problem by not using a title at all.

There are many hurdles to overcome with regards to building rapport. Get your client’s name right and you will sail over the first hurdle and be one step closer to selling with success.

Nickolove Lovemore is a Life & Success Coach and a NLP Practitioner. Please visit http://www.SuccessAccesories.com for information regarding new program - Selling with Success.

National Blinds & Doors
National Blinds & Doors
Blinds & Doors are an indispensable part of your home and a major source of insulation to a home. Blinds & Doors come in different styles and colors according to the latest modern trends. Blinds & doors are a basic part of your home comfort and aesthetics, so always select the right window fashions & doors for your home or any other project because the first notion is the last, so be careful in this matter because blinds and doors can noticeably increase the value of a home.
National Blinds & Doors offer a very high quality and elegant unobtrusive insect screen system to give a perfect level of class and elegance to your home that blends with either timber or aluminium. You can also select from a vast array of styles to suit bi-fold doors, French doors, and sliding doors. There are many other types of screen doors available from national blinds & doors, to suit doors such as stacker alfresco doors for outer entertainment rooms and screen enclosures.
Now you can enjoy the most beautiful evening breezes more than ever before without being interrupted by various insects and bugs with the expansion of a new concept in unobtrusive retractable insect screens with National blinds & doors. They prevent your home from insects and have ability to make your choice almost unnoticeable, especially when they are installed in large openings.
National blinds & doors are also for those clientele looking to renovate or refurbish their homes and then sell them or those who wish to restore their homes before moving in themselves. In order to assist in the amount of light that’s required to come through a window, National blinds & doors are your best source to décor your home with unique and reliable materials along with the latest designs.
Types of National blinds & doors
Plantation Shutters: - Plantation Shutters can be custom made for your home from many different substrates to have exactly the type of individual class, elegance and long-lasting grace required, at a very reasonable price! Providing continuous all-round efficiency and a life span of total elegance and a wonderful fit with any decor. Plantation Shutters will help you make your dreams become a reality for you and your home and offer an extensive range of styles to suit various applications.
Motorised Blinds: - Motorised blinds are power-driven interior and exterior window shading systems that can be operated by State of the Art controls, switches, AV and the most advanced Home Automation Systems such as AMX along with timers, and sun sensors which add complexity as well as good looks to any room for your home or office. National blinds & doors specialise in motorised window treatments and offer a complete range of programmed and motorised shades.
Blinds: - Blinds (roller) are now available in new deluxe and exclusive fabrics. These excellent energy-efficient shades currently exist with a full range of Dual lifting systems and device options.
Cedar Shutters: - Cedar Shutters is the second name of Smooth Finish. Strength and Durability. Natural Finish. Cedar Shutters can be modified to your specification. Cedar is a long-lasting wood; and in its natural condition, not harmfully exaggerated by rain or sun. It gamely accepts oil- and water-based paints and stains.
If you’re looking for a door that’s safe and secure, save your time and select National Blinds & Doors for your home. These blind and doors are very easy to operate and are very practical. You can purchase or order National Blinds & Doors from www.nationalblindsdoors.com.au, which is a worldwide leading company that offers sky-scraping quality and finish to their blinds and doors. There are huge varieties of blinds & doors available on the market with different styles, colors, shapes and materials. http://www.nbdonline.com.au�is a best gateway to quality window and door fashions for new and old customers.

National Blinds & Doors is your number one choice window coverings - We will supply and install the latest in Plantation Shutters, Motorised Blinds, Roman Blinds, Timber verticals and any other Window covering you may need.

Setting Your Goals In Sales Training
It doesn?t matter if you are in an auto sales training, TV and radio sales, estate sales or time share sales in my conversations with sales management over the years, I?ve found that top producers all have one thing in common: they?ve taken the time to sit down and create goals for themselves and committed to sales training.

Even if during the sales seminar they were skeptical when they started the process of goal setting and planning, every one of them has become a true believer.

What Is A True Believer?

A ?True Believer? isn?t someone who just works sales leads. They are someone who has been amazed by the incredible power of goal setting and the power of their own mind to be sold on the sales job. Every one of them has accomplished far more than they ever believed possible even if they are in mobile home sales or business sales they are the ones that move up to the top.

It didn?t stop with sales goals or material successes. This belief runs deep in all areas of their life. They?re convinced of the power of the mind and want share that with the world. They just seem to live in a world that favors them. There life has become an extension of their sales attitude.

Are You Happy With Your Current Training?

I defined happiness in training as, The progressive assimilation of worth while skills that will help me to reach my professional goals. As a sales trainer, I have been working progressively, step-by-step toward making permanent lasting impact on every sales professionals life.

This purpose alone can generate a continuous feeling of success and achievement within me, but if it doesn?t translate in your personal sales training it is all for not. The sales game has always been the more people you sell, the more successful you will be. As a sales professional, you have more control of this than almost every other profession. Geoff Thomas a sales associate is found of telling his sales staff, ?Your raise is effective just as soon as you are.?

I know you can create an environment of happiness for your customer through fabricated rapport skills but a genuine joy for sales will close more deals than you can imagine. Without your skills of salesmanship, there would be nothing for company to do. When you walk out of the office in the evening, it is natural for you to feel like a winner. This goal is well entrenched in the sales experts I know. It also gives you the psychological momentum to overcome obstacles and plough through adversity as you reach your sales goals and assist others.

Sales training more than anything else should have you recharged as you go back out into the world. If the sales seminar doesn?t motivate you to work every sales lead more efficiently than why bother.

Does Your Training Connect With Your Values?

Every great trainer has a personal strategic planning process. It usually begins when you determine what you believe in and what you stand for ? your values. If your values and the trainers match this is the glue that holds the core concepts of the sales training in place. These values shape our personality and our character as a sales professional.

Your virtues and qualities are the sum total of all your thoughts, actions and beliefs since the moment you were born. Your values, virtues and inner beliefs are the axle around which the wheel of your life turns. All sales improvement begin when you clarify your true values and commit yourself to live consistently with them. It?s been said, ?You must stand for something, or you will fall for anything!? Great sales trainers know the value of the sales process and believe every prospect they meet can find value in their product or services.

When Attending A Training How Specific Should Your Goals Be?

To achieve success in training you will find trainees are successful because they?re very clear and committed to their values and specific outcomes from the training. Unsuccessful trainees are fuzzy or unsure they perhaps were forced to the training without a buy in from the sales manager.

When a training is a complete failure, you?ll find that the trainer didn?t clearly outline the real values of the training at all. These trainers stand for nothing and hope their audiences fall for everything.

While training the sales staff at Positive Changes, our sales staff had access to a wealth of resources designed to help them succeed in their goals. For instance, use the Sales Mastery series to stimulate your other-than-conscious and keep you on track with specific, clear and organized sales goals. They trained each franchise location to set goals for the day, week and the month. Using these mind trips within themselves helped them to enroll others into its use.

Dr. Patrick Porter is an entrepreneur, award-winning author, and motivational speaker. His electrifying keynote speeches and seminars deliver the real life, nuts ?n bolts concepts he used to take his business venture to astounding heights. <a href="http://www.patrickkporter.com">http://www.patrickkporter.com</a>

Are You Marketing or Selling?
Once upon a time there was a deaf salesman named Aesop. He tried to sell his wares to the blind brothers Grimm, but no matter how much he elaborated on the features of his wares, the brothers Grimm could not see the benefits. The brothers tried to explain to Aesop that they could not see the features that he described so eloquently, and that they would like to hold the wares so they could appreciate them from their own perspectives. Unfortunately, Aesop was busy talking and could not hear their requests, so the parties separated in mutual frustration and disappointment. How could the grim results of this fable be avoided? There are two schools of sales, these are Fishing with a Big Net and the Fly Fisherman. Fishing with a Big Net requires an investment in marketing, continually disseminating your message about features and hoping that you will catch some consumers. Imagine dropping a big net of the side of your boat and hoping that when you pull it up that you will have some small fish inside it. If you drop a small net, you might catch a few fish. If you want an abundance of fish then you need to invest in a bigger net and be prepared to cast it repeatedly in different waters. On the other hand, if you are a Fly Fisherman, you take pride in preparing very specific and customized lures in the right waters to catch the big fish. It requires patience and precision to cast your line in the right place and gradually pull the big fish to shore. There is an art to the cast, and also to the give and take that it takes to reel in the reward. Being a fly fisherman requires patience and skill. If you have direct contact with potential clients or customers, then stop selling and start listening. There is a fundamental flaw in the perception of sales that any person or organization can be sold at any time. This fundamental flaw presumes that people are trophies to be won, and does not recognize the human element of relationships that is so important to being an effective sales professional. If you would like to increase your effectiveness in sales, know what you have to offer and listen to what the customer has to tell you. The customer has needs, budget, schedules and personal goals. If the items that you have to offer can fit into the customer plans, then you can work together to integrate your solution with their needs. Otherwise, you are trying to sell a hairbrush to a bald man, and the features don't really matter. If your focus is the intent to convey your message, your features and your benefits, then you have just limited the potential for your success. Most customers don't really care very much about what you have to offer to everyone else, they are really interested in understanding if what you have to offer can meet their personal requirements. This presumes that you have taken the time to listen and understand what their requirements are! If the customer asks about you or your product and indicates interest, then tell them. Sometimes this is an intent for the customer to determine if they can trust you, and sometimes it is an interest in your product. Listen to the customer so you can tell the difference and respond accordingly. If the customer is hesitant, take time to build trust. It is more important to be trusted than to close a sale. Trust creates an opportunity for a future relationship and potential for more sales opportunities. Without trust, you may or may not be successful with the one time sale. if the customer wants to talk then listen. Encourage the customer to engage in conversation. Take time to learn what is important to them, what they value, their goals, their budget and their schedule. Sometimes the sales event is near at hand, and sometimes it is something that will come in time. Be patient and prepared to move at the pace of your client or customer and your pipeline will always be full. If the customer pauses in conversation then wait for them. A pause in conversation is an opportunity for internal reflection and introspection. Far too often professional sales people feel compelled to fill a gap in conversation with a sudden burst of feature descriptions. It is far better to nurture the silence and allow the customer time to contemplate the conversation. This means that the message is being digested and thoughtfully considered, this is a good thing. Even if your customers are blind to the features of your wares, you can be a successful sales professional if you listen to your customers. You are asking your customers to make some sort of purchase, to trust you with an investment of their hard earned money. Big or small, one time sale or renewing contract, you are asking for their trust and confidence in you. What better way to build trust than to give the gift of your interest in that person? What better way to demonstrate your interest than to listen to what they have to say? ______________________________________________________ Words of Wisdom "We've all heard the criticism "he talks too much". When was the last time you heard someone criticized for listening too much?" - Norm Augustine, Chairman, Lockheed Martin "Listen carefully for personal values expressed within the spoken words and you will discover the intent as well as the meaning." - John Mehrmann, Executive Blueprints Inc "Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery." - Dr. Joyce Brothers ______________________________________________________ About the Author: John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving business practices and developing human capital. www.ExecutiveBlueprints.com provides resource materials for trainers, sample Case Studies, educational articles and references to local affiliates for consulting and executive coaching. http://www.InstituteforAdvancedLeadership.com provides self-paced tutorials for personal development and tools for trainers. Presentation materials, reference guides and exercises are available for continuous development.

John Mehrmann is a freelance author, industry expert and President of Executive Blueprints Inc, an organization dedicated to developing human capital and personal growth.

What is Consultative Selling?
Consultative selling sales training courses are becoming increasingly popular. Even other sales training classes and sales coaching classes are offering consultative selling as a part of the curriculum. So, what is consultative selling? As any of these sales training courses will tell you consultative selling is a type of selling in which the selling is based on customer needs rather. It is a non-manipulative process. The focus here is not on product. Instead a client’s need is clearly defined and the client’s needs and objectives are addressed jointly. So, what is the difference between traditional selling and consultative selling? As any sales coaching manual or sales training manual will tell you in simple words, traditional selling is based on the need to sell an already existing product whereas in consultative selling the emphasis is on meeting the needs of a customer by developing a solution to those needs. This solution can be a product or a service or a combination of both. In traditional selling the sales person has to explain the features of the existing product or service and convince the customer that they need these features. In effect traditional selling is manipulative whereas consultative selling is the opposite. The sales person has to wait till the end of the presentation to know whether a person is going to buy his product or not in traditional selling. In consultative selling this problem is not there. You go for any sales training courses or sales coaching classes you will here these words “Customer is king�. This is true for consultative selling as well. The difference is that you first get to know your customer before you develop a product. This is especially important if your company is offering financial services. Knowing the client will also help you in assessing the financial well being of the company. To do this you should be able to ask the correct questions and to listen to the person at the opposite end. For instance if you are offering financial solutions some of the questions could be • How many years have you been investing? • What types of investments have you purchased before (for example, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and variable or fixed annuities)? Do not ask open ended questions initially rather ask questions that are useful for information gathering. Later you can ask more open ended questions. At this stage you are not expected to offer an opinion and it is best you don’t. This is only the preliminary stage. Many sales training courses try to make consultative selling sound as though it is a panacea to all evils. It is not a magic potion that is going to make your company profit rise in laps and bounds. There will be a difference but it will take time. A good sales training course will tell you this. It will also tell you that however hard you have worked to satisfy the customer by designing a solution that is suitable to the clients need; the client is going to have some objections to the plan. It is a part of the game. Clients may feel that the investment that they are required to make is not commensurate with the solution that they will be getting. They might have some preconceived notions about certain type of products. They might be hesitant about committing to a program. How can you deal with them? The best way to deal with this is to restate them. This will make the clients explain why they have the objections. Once the objections are clear you can address them. Sometimes, as the client explains his/her objection he/she might realize that the objections are not valid ones and they might just withdraw them. The most important part is the actual implementation of a solution. This is the time when the customer starts getting doubts as he/she starts getting unsolicited advice from well wishers. So, it is imperative to ensure that you are to see to it that the process doesn’t get derailed. If you get a chance to attend a sales training course or sales coaching course that offers consultative selling, don’t hesitate, just go ahead and make maximum use of it. Remember to make hay while the sun shines.

Sean McPheat provides <a href="http://www.mtdsalestraining.com/sales_coaching.html" target="_blank">sales coaching</a>, <a href="http://www.mtdsalestraining.com/inhouse.htm" target="_blank">sales training courses</a> and sales consulting to a number of businesses around the globe. He is the owner of MTD Sales Training and designs and delivers <a href="http://www.mtdsalestraining.com" target="_blank">sales training</a>, programmes and consultancy assignments across the UK, Europe, US .

Have You Seen This ???
I stumbled upon a very interesting website recently. I've been spending some
time going through it and personally,I feel it's a very useful site... I even
learnt a couple of new things! Just thought it might be useful for you too.

There's also some cool movie-style animation on the website for you to watch.

You don’t want to miss this.

Check it out, it's at http://www.preenroller.com/pramod

Cheers:
Pramod kumar shah
http://www.preenroller.com/pramod

I am associated with a company called SkyQuetCom. You can visit our website: http://www.skyquestcom.com/pramod

Sticking to Your Customers Needs
You have to give your customer what they want. If not you probably won’t sell anything. You have to be totally focused in on them and what they need. Even thought you may not think your customer will notice, they will. Don’t you respect people who put you first? You have to make sure your clients know your only care is to give them what they need and want. It is only after you have found out and given them what they need you can make recommendations. They will trust your recommendations because they will trust that you are looking out for their best interest. Listen to what your customer is telling you and ask prodding questions to get them to tell you more. This way you can figure out fully what they are looking for. You will have to ask them why what they want is important to them. You may have to ask fifteen twenty times: “So why do you need that in a product?� Don’t give up; this is the only way to get to the core of what they need to get out of your product. If your client needs one thing you have to stick to that one thing. If you start to go off topic of what they are telling you, you can lose interest from your consumer. You can also lose respect. The client may feel you are not listening to them and don’t care about their needs. You have to earn their trust and respect. Customers are aware that there are many places to get a product but you want them to buy it from you, right? Wouldn’t you rather buy something from a salesperson that puts you first? Of course you would, who wouldn’t? So be a professional and give your customer what they need! They will appreciate you, buy from you, and send their friends to buy from you. Go Get ‘Em!

Richard Cannon, The TeleSales Recruiter started selling candy in school when he was 8 years old. He’s been selling ever since. In his 30’s he was looking for a sales job he could do from home that was in line with his purpose. He looked and looked and couldn’t find the right one. He swore some day he would make it easier for people to find great sales jobs they can do from home. He built a crew of work from home people, but couldn’t help everyone because they were not all passionate about what he was selling. So now, he assist’s salespeople in figuring out what their purpose is. Then he finds them an opportunity that is in line with that purpose. Now they make more money selling something they love. For more information, visit Cannon’s site at http://www.telesalesrecruiter.com