Tag Archives: Sales coaching

Sales Coaching

The Sales Training Series – Make Every Buyer a Coach

In a selling situation with multiple buyers, what is your sales strategy for getting through to the ultimate decision maker?

“By any means necessary,” you say? Then you have no sales strategy. What you have is a recipe for failure.

Of all the tragic misconceptions that afflict salespeople in selling environments with multiple buyers, the worst might be the notion that lower-level “influencers” are mere obstacles in the seller’s path to the big honcho-the person with final buying authority. Do you believe that the ultimate decision maker (UDM) is the only buyer who is really worth your time? Do you think that “strategy” means figuring out how to bypass or maneuver around the lower-level customers so you can get to the UDM?

If so, you are losing a lot of business. That’s not a strategy for anything but disaster.

For one thing, a lot of those influencers may not have the power to make your sale, but they do have the power to kill it-and they will, if you alienate them.

There is much more to this, however, than just the danger of making enemies. Lower-level buyers can be your most valuable resource. They can actually direct you to a winning strategy.

After all, what is an effective sales strategy? It is a plan that guides you from one logical step to the next as you move toward a sale. In order to know what those steps must be, and how to complete each one successfully, you need information. Somehow, you must discover the client’s key needs, the forces driving the buying decision, the stakeholders involved, the way the buying process works in the client’s company, and more.

Wouldn’t it be nice if some expert guides within the company would give you this information freely? How about if they also would coach you through the steps necessary to complete the sale? And suppose they’d willingly bring you to the top decision maker because they actually want you to win?

Such guides exist in every client organization and every one is a potential sales coach. If you can get them to see you as a valuable consultant and partner, capable of serving their needs, you can stop worrying about how to get to the ultimate buyer. They will take you there-and root you on to victory.

In The Field:

Dan Crear, a sales executive for Action Selling of The Sales Board, was in hot pursuit of a great opportunity at a thriving global bank. (Yes, even today there is such a thing as a successful bank.) The ultimate decision-maker was the kind of person who liked to spread the decision-making authority around. Nine people surfaced as key influencers.

Crear assessed the situation and determined the role of each player. Then he devised questions to draw out their personal stakes in the buying decision. One key question was: “What evidence do you have that your current situation is producing an ROI?”” This led each decision-maker to define what ROI meant to them.

Once the payback was defined in individual terms, every one of them wanted him to win the deal. With their support, he did.

Duane Sparks is CEO of The Sales Board, Inc. and author of the Action Selling Sales Training Series. Action Selling is a sales management training program that creates a culture of sustained revenue growth. This success is based on a researched-proven selling process; an easy-to-follow road map that shows salespeople how to consistently win more sales, shorten sales cycles, protect margin and cultivate loyal customers. Over 300,000 have been training in Action Selling and consistently show results of selling at a rate that is 6 times more than those without training.

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Sales Coaching

Effective One on One Sales Coaching Sessions

Recently I have read posts on this subject on a several popular blogs. My most recent “snooping around” session revealed on one of those blogs that an “effective One-On-One coaching session should be planned six months ahead of time”. My curiosity ended, as did my snooping session. If you are holding your coaching session every six months you should be fired as a sales manager! You sales people are customers of your leadership, and they need service from you more often than every six months.

There are four types of coaching sessions:

Behavioral – something has come to your attention that must/should be shared. Though we think of these sessions as addressing negative behaviors you should use them to recognize positive behaviors also.

Discovery – As a manager you have uncovered a developmental issues that should be addressed. This is the first session of a field training program that should end with a bi-lateral contract between you and the sales person.

Follow Up – These are frequent mini-sessions to check up, and exchange feedback.

Bottoms Up – If you are a great leader this should happen often. Instead of you discovering a developmental issue one of your team members seeks out your help. Why? Because you are trustworthy and they know you are there to serve them.

First a note about tone. Attitude is everything. If this is a behavior coaching session do not send mixed messages. If a negative behavior issue is serious enough to warrant exploration and coaching, don’t mince in other topics. The outcome of behavioral coaching sessions are usually uni-lateral next step contracts. If you have discovered a specific sales skill that needs improvement you do want to recognize those other skill areas that are best in class. If this session is a follow up you should summarize previous discussions, recognize progress and discuss next steps. The key to follow up coaching sessions is that this is a bi-lateral agreement to next steps.

Coaching sessions should be orderly. You should control some parts of the discussion and you should let your team member control others. However, this is not a free flowing, never ending conversation. You may end up being friends with some of you sales people but remember, friendship is the outcome of effective leadership, leadership is never the outcome of friendship.

The coaching session outline;

Warm Up – I guess you could just hit them over the head, but why? This is a team member. The only reason to minimize this part of the discussion is if you have uncovered a negative behavioral issue that if not addressed could result in the termination of this team member. Initiating a serious conversation with frivolous small talk is disingenuous.

Orientation – If this is the first coaching session to reveal something you have discovered, particularly if the team members overall contributions are satisfactory, this part of the discussion is crucial. For instance, if you are concerned with this team members prospecting skills you should discuss what lead to this discovery. “Jim, thanks for your first quarter results. It helped show the others that the goals are achievable even with this difficult economy. But I was exploring our CRM system and think I discovered something. I noticed that you not only made your goals, but had the highest proposal to contract closing ratio! In fact, you also had one of the highest closing ratios in moving prospects from the needs analysis to the proposal, congratulations! But that led me to think, are you motivated to dramatically increase your earnings? Because if you are I think I discovered something that is holding you back…” Now the stage is nearly set for you to focus the conversation.

Focus – This is the meat of the conversation and two-thirds of your time should be spent here. But step back a little. Dust off those sales skills from your past life. If you sold like I did, you’re best sales pitches were not about what you told a prospect right? First you need to sell the need. Continuing our conversation with Jim…”Since you have world class skills at the end of the sales cycle, I did a little arithmetic. You may already know this but if you were able to put 3 more prospects into your pipeline every quarter your earnings would increase by 10%!” My best sales presentations came about because of the questions I asked! You need to use your open ended probes, your directional probes and confirming probes. You need to find out if the lack of prospecting is a skill gap, or a will gap (see separate articles on each subject on blog). If Jim agrees he has a need to increase the number of prospects in his pipeline, you’re halfway home! You now have to come to agreement on how to satisfy that need.

Contract – Every coaching session should end with a contract. Simply put this is the agreement going forward, which defines each person’s action plan and roles. In my Sales Excellence Process there is a form which defines each person’s commitment. The contract (unilateral or bilateral) should be driven by what you determined to be the cause of the problem. If the issue is skill then you as the leader will have an obligation to the sales person to deliver the training. If the issue is one of will to do the task then the sales person will have more obligations to the contract while your role will be inspecting what you expect.

Coaching sessions are the most important duty of a sales manager. How you go about delivering a coaching session will define your leadership. Get your mind right! Are you there to help, or are you there to catch someone doing something wrong? Remember “Cool Hand Luke”?

Boss: Sorry, Luke. I’m just doing my job. You gotta appreciate that.

Luke: Nah – calling it your job don’t make it right, Boss.

Sales Performance Advisors delivers field ready tools to help sales people, sales managers, directors and executive management optimize their sales results.

You can contact Gregory Deming @ (925)216-5081
gregorydeming@gmail.com

You can view our blog @ http://www.peaksalesperformance.wordpress.com

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Sales Coaching

Recession Proof Your Sales Team in the Next 90 Days!

The game has changed!

Listening to people across Australia, from the news to people on trains and buses, in the office and at social gatherings, “economic crisis” is on everyone’s lips. Adding fuel to the hysteria are the dire warnings coming from the government. As the panic ensues, CEOs, managers and sales people, are sent ducking for cover.

So if you are managing a team of salespeople, what should you be doing right now? Should you,

 

  • batten down the hatches?
  • shrink your sales team?
  • wait to see what happens in the stock market this week?
  • get out of the office and go into the field – what good will it do anyway?

 

Whether a “recession” will spread itself across all industries, or whether it will remain localized to just a few markets, one thing you can be certain of… the game has changed! Once we shake ourselves out of our “deer caught in the headlights’ reverie and acknowledge that the game has shifted, then we need proactively change our game plan.

There is no “silver bullet” solution

Whilst there is no “silver bullet” solution to achieving sales in a softening market, If you are reading this report then you have no doubt been wondering how you are going to dig your sales out of this “crisis economy” and get your salespeople to achieve their sales goals. Let me start out by asking you what on the surface may seem like a simple question If you knew better would you do better? Of course you would! Well, after reading this report you will know better. The real question is… will you do better? In other words, will you simply read the information below and dismiss it as being too simple? Or will you apply the knowledge herein with a definite of purpose for the next 90 days?

The simple sales leadership tool that delivers high speed results!

Sales productivity is all about “execution”. Doing the activities it takes to bring home the sale. This report will illustrate how using one very simple and easily applicable, powerhouse leadership tool, can electrify your sales team’s revenue production! “A bullet proof method for recession proofing your sales team’s results in the next 90 days!” might sound like an exaggerated claim. Yet I have coached hundreds of sales managers in the use of this formidable tool, each with staggering results. In fact it never ceases to amaze me how, when the process you are about to learn is consistently applied, measurable sales increases take place.

I have even witnessed the system completely butchered by some sales managers and yet they have still managed to turn their sales around! This proven and disarmingly straightforward sales leadership process will work for you. It will work whether you are managing a sales team selling services, or products. The system is equally effective in wholesale, retail, in-home or in B2B selling environments. It makes no difference if your sales cycles are long or short or if you sell to key accounts or manage territories across vast areas.

This practical method will work for you whether your current sales production is way below par or right on target. (By the way I have even seen this system deliver results through independent sales agents). If you want to smash your current sales results then adopting this uncomplicated and yet high voltage sales management tool is an absolute MUST! You too can completely turn your sales generation engine around, no matter the economic woes in your market, if you will read and implement the information set out in this report.

Work this clear-cut system religiously for the next 90 days and watch your sales revenues blossom.

Watch out in the coming days for the continuation of this sales coaching article.

As one of Australia’s leading authorities and coaches in sales management, Ian Segail has been involved in the coaching, training and development of sales managers and salespeople for over two decades. Drawing on 25 years of experience in sales, sales management and leading an HR and training team, Ian brings a strong dose of fiscal reality and practicality to his works as a Sales Performance Coach.

Engaging directly with business owners and both novice and experienced sales managers alike, across a wide variety of industries and selling disciplines, the focus of Ian’s work is to transform sales results for companies by improving sales management practices. Ian is the author of “Bulletproof Your Sales Team – The 5 Keys To Turbo-Boosting Your Sales Team’s Results” and a number of business articles, business reports and white papers including “The fish stinks from the head!” and “Why Sales Training Doesn’t Work.”

Ian has an insatiable hunger for studying selling and people management and has passionately pursued answers to the question “How come some people can sell and most can’t?”

He can be reached via http://www.iansegail.com

Read Ian’s latest free report – “The 7 Most Costly Mistakes Sales Managers Make” here http://www.bulletproofyoursalesteam.com [http://bulletproofyoursalesteam.com/free-report/7costlymistakes.html]

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Sales Coaching

The Impact of Sales Coaching on Sales Results and ROI

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of sales coaching on sales results and ROI.

Methods

We evaluated one region of the BDL Company. (9 sales representatives) and tracked sales results before and after coaching interventions.

The coaching interventions consisted of one to two days of field coaching. This coaching focused on observing a sales representative’s performance to a selling skills process in a doctor’s office. This coaching was conducted by Jim Price of TAP Consulting Company. Jim has over twenty years experience in medical and pharmaceutical sales and has logged over 500 hours of sales coaching. Sales representatives were sent out a sample presentation in order to set expectations for the visit.

The measurement of success was the number of referral cards sent in before and after coaching interventions. The referral card is a card the doctor faxes into a surgery center to refer a patient for surgery. We measured number of cards sent in by the group three months prior to training vs the number sent in three months after training. The referral card is an objective measurement of a successful sales call because it is what the representative closes for on each call.

Results

Before the coaching interventions the test group sent in a total of 8 cards. That same group sent in 367 cards after coaching. The average number of cards sent in per representatives was 1 per representative before coaching and 41 per representative after coaching.

The 367 referral cards sent in after coaching yielded 18 surgeries at $4,000 per surgery for a total increase in revenues of $72,000. The cost of the coaching interventions was $12,000 which resulted in a profit of $60,000 and a Return on Investment of 500%.

Conclusion

Coaching interventions conducted by a well trained sales coach impacts sales results and yields a Return on Investment (ROI) of up to 500%. Sales coaching is one of the best investments you can make in your sales team.

“When properly implemented, high ROI values can be achieved with programs on Leadership, Team Building, Management Development, Supervisor Training and Sales Training.” “An ROI of 100% to 700% is not uncommon with this type of training.”

Jack J. Phillips, Ph.D (Training Measurement Key Opinion Leader)

Bio Jim Price

Jim Price has been in the healthcare industry for over eighteen years. His experience encompasses numerous pharmaceutical and surgical sales positions As a practice management consultant, Jim has worked with physicians to improve a variety of practice issues from workflow to marketing. He has also advised hospitals on vendor consolidation and procedure efficiencies.

Most recently, Jim served as Director of North American Training and Development for Novartis Ophthalmics. In this position, he was responsible for the training and development of Sales Representatives and Area Sales Managers for the North American markets.

Currently, Jim provides contract training and consultation services for clients in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industry, including: Novartis Ophthalmics, Pfizer Consumer Health, Alimera Sciences, Alliant Pharmaceuticals, Eisai, NovaVision and Ciba Vision.

As a presenter at The Society of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers, Jim has been able to share his extensive experience with other sales training professionals.

TAP Consulting was created to leverage Jim’s extensive experience in physician/representative interactions. The courses offered by TAP Consulting have been designed specifically for the pharmaceutical and medical industry. Drawing on over 500 physician/rep role plays and feedback gathered from physician focus groups, Jim has been able to translate this knowledge into courses which are real time, actionable and drive results.

TAP offers courses in understanding your physician customer, basic and advanced selling skills, selling with clinical reprints and leadership training. Contact Jim Price for more information on TAP services.

TAP Consulting

Pharmaceutical Sales Training And Performance Consulting

770-596-1498

price56@comcast.net

[http://www.tapconsultingcompany.com]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1962434

Sales Coaching

Buying Email Lists – Perspective From the Insurance Sales Coach

Are you thinking about buying an email list to increase your insurance sales? Before you make that purchase there are some things you should consider Before you throw money away that could be invested more wisely for a better return. Plus you want to make sure you aren’t getting yourself into legal hot water and potentially huge fines.

It sounds like such a great idea. You could buy a list of 1,000,000 names and then send your sales message to those people. Just think if even 1% of those one million people bought from you, why you’d get 10,000 new clients. Hold the send button email breath it doesn’t exactly work that way.

Exactly how did the company selling you those email addresses get those names? Typically those companies have a website where visitors have to agree to get messages either knowingly or unwittingly from a whole host of other companies in order to get something they want. As an example, during the political campaign season there were banners ads all over the internet you could click on claiming you would get a free t-shirt for your favorite candidate for free.

Once you clicked on the banner ad you went to a website where you had to jump through a bunch of hoops agreeing to get other free gifts from other companies in order to finally get your free t-shirt. So if you did everything you needed to do to get your free t-shirt does that mean you wanted email from those other companies? Not likely.

The legality of this process is tricky and one I’d never personally want to risk. I certainly would never want to jeopardize my personal integrity with the people I hope to work with in this way. The people who got on this list didn’t really agree to opt-in to your email list. They may have opted in so they could get a free gift, but that isn’t the same as opting in to your opt-in email campaign.

That’s exactly what could create a legal or technical nightmare for you. When you send out your email thinking these folks are happy to get your message you might just get a nasty surprise. When some of the big internet service providers get a sudden burst of emails from an unknown sender, you, going to their clients they’ll flag you as a spammer and block all your messages so no one on their service gets them. Your own internet service provider may also flag you as a spammer when they notice that all of a sudden you’re sending a huge number of outgoing messages and they could block you from sending any email messages to anyone through their services. Both of these nasty surprises are a headache and can take a great deal of time and sweat equity to correct. A third nasty surprise is far worse.

Either one of the internet service providers or even an individual email recipient could report you as a CAN-SPAM legislation violator. Guess who bears the burden of proof on that deal. Yep, you guessed it…you.

Even if none of those bad things happened a purchased email list is still a bad investment because they’ll opt-out of your email campaign in huge numbers. Even the ones who don’t opt-out are about as likely to do business with you as you are to win the lottery. So getting a return on your investment will be challenging to put it in the best way I can.

There’s simply no logical reason to buy an email list when you could easily build your own list of highly responsive people who will buy from you. All you need is a one page website, a way to capture information from your visitors, and an offer to give them something they’ll want. Then once you send them the information they asked for they really have opted in to “your” list and you can legally prove it if you ever needed to. Plus you have the opportunity to develop a relationship with this stranger and convert them to a buyer.

Discover how to increase your sales without rejection. [http://increasesalescoach.com/yes.html]

Selling Insurance made easy. Get your free report here. [http://increasesalescoach.com/selling-insurance.html]

Increase Sales Coach Cheryl A. Clausen Gets Results Sales Training Can’t BECAUSE it’s never just a sales issue

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