Archive for the ‘Field sales training’ Category
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
Why do sales people fail to close ? This is a question we spotted on a forum recently and it is an interesting question. With over 140 responses so far it has clearly got the juices going.
The key reason why sales people don’t close effectively is out of fear. They either don’t ask the question at all, or ask it at the wrong time.
Closing the sale - is all about overcoming the fear of rejection
For a sales person to close at the right time, all they need to do is understand where they are in the process and trust themselves and the process.
As a rule of thumb it is a good idea to open the prospect up by asking them some open questions (so that’s your 7 ‘W’s.) Then just listen attentively and pick up on both what they are saying and how they’re saying it. This will allow you to decide which aspects of your product or service are most relevant to them. You support this with some benefit statements explaining clearly and concisely why this is what they need – and then you watch for buying signals. Once you get a buying signal, the close should be the natural and logical next step.
And it should be remembered that the close is simply a question that’s all. No great drama, it’s just a closed question.
If they decline at this stage you merely go back to asking questions to uncover more about their needs. To ask the question at the wrong time means you’ve not used the above process accurately enough.
Finally, remember that “everyone lives by selling something” so there should be no great shame attached to going for the close.
Like most things be relaxed, remember you’re a human, relate to them as a human and the close and successful selling should become a natural ‘next step.’
Tags: closing advice, closing techniques, sales techniques, sales tips, telesales techniques, tips on closing, tips on telephone selling
Posted in Field sales training, Selling advice, Telesales tips, sales development training, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, telesales team management | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Benefit selling and generally making it easy for your customer to buy is an important part of the sales process. It is all too easy to make assumptions or work on the basis that the more choice you can offer your customer the better – but often the opposite is true. Work on the basis that offering 3 or 4 choices is about right. If you have 55 products or services on offer, give the choice of the 3 or 4 and wait for them to say, “I’m quite interested in that option, but can I have it with ……….. ?” You know the answer is yes, but it stops them being overwhelmed by choice.
Selling benefits not features leads to more sales
Sell benefits to your customer too. Let them know how your product or service will help them, and if you can quantify this benefit – then so much the better. “So as you can see, if you were to take on this product – it would save you £10,000 a year.” You can see how powerful that would be can’t you ?
This was a key point that came out of a recent telesales training course that we ran in Birmingham for a private sector client.
We cover features, advantages and benefits and the necessity to sell benefits on our audio CD “Sell the sizzle, not the bacon” and it guides you through the 4 key benefits that people buy for. Follow this link if you want to know more.
http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=10
Tags: advanced selling skills, Benefits selling, features and benefits, powers of persuasion, sales skills, selling benefits, selling skills, telephone techniques, telesales training corby, telesales training Leicestershire
Posted in Cold calling, Field sales training, Selling advice, Telesales tips, retail sales, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Questions really are the answer. It is true that good and effective questioning skills are key to building good relationships with your customers and prospects. And remember that everyone is a customer, it’s just that some of them haven’t bought from you yet !
Questioning skills are key to building good relationships with customers
I was with a customer yesterday who was talking about the fact that his sales team who deal with customers on the phone and on the trade counter don’t readily offer alternatives when a customer asks for a product which is out of stock. This is so important for a number of reasons.
First it is important to remember that a customer who calls you on the phone or in person really wants to go away with their problem solved. They don’t really want to have to try somewhere else or phone around. So in fact, by offering alternatives you are potentially solving a problem for them. Be proactive – it is good selling and good customer service.
Secondly a customer or client can often go away with a solution that they’re happy with, or in some instances happier with than what they thought they needed ! Use your experience and expertise to offer them other things they may not be aware of.
And the best way of offering advice and alternatives is by questioning. Only by using quality questioning skills will you be able to find out all you need to know about the customer’s application and their requirements. That is important as the advice you come back with, is likely to be more useful to them. They will also respect the fact that you’ve listened and shown some interest in them.
Questions then really are the answer, as they help you find out the things you need to know and at the same time it helps you build rapport because you show interest. It works for professionals such as lawyers, accountants, detectives and doctors. Let it work for you too.
To Market runs training sessions that include beefint up your questioning techniques across the West and East Midlands including Birmingham, Coventry, Derby, Nottingham, Daventry, Solihull, Lichfield, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Leicester, Northampton and London
Tags: advice for free on telephone selling, free sales tips, sales advice, selling more on the phone, selling on the telephone, telesales advice
Posted in Customer Service tips, Field sales training, Selling advice, Telesales tips, communication skills, customer handling, telephone techniques, telesales | No Comments »
Friday, November 20th, 2009
How to deal with – “I’m happy with my current supplier.” This is one of the most common objections you face in any form of selling. As a result it is worth building some ’script’ in your head at least to help you combat it.
After all, if you can make 10% difference to your success in handling this objection, think what difference this would make to your sales results.
Happy with my current supplier - how to deal with that old chestnut
There are many things you can do and say to deal with such objections. Follow this link to the full article we’ve written on ezine http://ezinearticles.com/?Objection-Handling—Im-Happy-With-My-Current-Supplier-Thanks&id=3289726
It is also worth spending a little time with your colleagues brainstorming some ideas. Combining your ideas in this way builds synergy, creates team spirit and helps everyone. One of our clients has recently started doing this every Monday morning and is already seeing more positive results and a better team atmosphere.
Tags: dealing with objections, handling objections, overcoming objections, overcoming objections on the telephone, telephone selling, Telephone skills, telephone techniques, telephone techniques training, telesales advice, telesales training
Posted in Field sales training, Overcoming objections, Selling advice, Telesales tips, sales development training, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales | No Comments »
Friday, November 13th, 2009
Having a range of quality questions to use when talking to prospects on the phone can be massively helpful and can get you further than perhaps your competitors will on the phone. You may have done work on open and closed questions before. You may even have done them with us.
Questioning techniques for telesales and telemarketing
The next stage is to develop some great questions that will help you get that bit further. We were carrying out some work with a client in Kettering, Northampton recently and we were talking about how to deal with the objection “I’m happy with my current supplier thank you.” A quality question could be “ok that’s interesting, what is it about dealing with ABC that you particularly like ?” Whatever they answer is going to help you understand what is important to them.
If someone is considering a number of different options or suppliers, certainly a question which works well for us is “and how will you decide who to go with ?” or another way of asking the same question is “and what are the most important factors in helping you decide who to choose ?” As soon as they’ve told you that you know what you need to sell against. Forget everything else – just focus on what is important to them – which they’ve just told you !
Any tips you have for us, let us know at info@tomarket.co.uk. We’re always keen on new ideas.
Tags: dealing with objections, free tips on telesales, telesales advice, telesales ideas, Telesales tips, telesales top tips for free
Posted in Field sales training, Getting past gatekeepers, Overcoming objections, Telemarketing management, Telesales tips, communication skills, contract cleaners, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, telesales team management | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
The importance of customer profiling is key as finding customers in challenging economic times can be challenging.
Particularly within business to business markets profiling your customers to sell more effectively and easily should be straightforward. Even with consumer marketing, knowing something about the demographics of your customer by postcode will tell you some interesting things.
With B2B marketing, selling, telesales and customer service, taking some time out to look at who you sell to can be done in minutes. The things you need to know are the industry sector they’re in, and ideally the size of the company. For instance knowing whether they are a large, medium sized or small business is helpful.
Then profile other companies who are similar. If for instance you have a couple of key customers or clients in plastic packaging or fine chemicals distribution or the public sector such as councils, it may be that companies in this sector are spending at the moment, and/or doing well.
And the other tip is to look at your customer’s website to see how THEY describe the market they’re in. This is more useful than you deciding. Then use these terms and put them into Google to find others who do the same.
Tags: business growth ideas, customer profiling, marketing top tips, new account development, sales advice, sales techniques, small business growth, telemarketing, telesales
Posted in Field sales training, Selling advice, sales development training, telemarketing, telesales | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
A one day business development seminar is about to be run for business owners and is fully funded in the East of England, the Eastern Counties including Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
If you’re a director or business owner manager of a small to medium sized business in Leicestershire in the East of England your place at this £500 one day business development seminar may qualify for full funding. So to you – not a bean ! Not one shilling !
Funded is available through Train to Gain. The seminar is titled
How to win and keep more business
So it will cover elements of sales, customer service and how to motivate your team to build better customer relationships. And of course you will pick up ideas from other people like you (who run their own businesses) so good opportunities to network too with like-minded people.
If you think you may qualify, and you’d like more details on how to improve the sales and customer service functions within your company just let us know via e-mail. You can e-mail me directly and I’ll write to you personally with more details. If you have any questions in the meantime – pick up the phone and give us a call.
This seminar is ideal for business owners, and directors within companies in Cambridge, Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, Norwich, Ipswich, St Ives, Haverhill, St Albans, Stevenage, Letchworth, Baldock, Hemel Hempstead, Luton, Leighton Buzzard, as well as the wider counties of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire
Tags: Bury St Edmunds, business development ideas, business growth seminar, cambridge, Ely, fully funded training, funded business growth seminar, Haverhill, Hemel, how to build business workshop, Ipswich, Luton, new business development, Newmarket, St Ives, Train to Gain funded training, training for business owners
Posted in Customer service management, Field sales training, Free training, Funded training, Personal development, Selling advice, Train to Gain funding, business development, business growth, customer handling, customer services, owner managers directors, sales development training, seminar | No Comments »
Monday, May 18th, 2009
Fully funded business development seminar – Birmingham West Midlands now launched for business owner managers and directors. This one day seminar is titled
How to win and keep more business
and so it covers elements of selling, customer service and team motivation – in fact everything you need to keep your company ahead of your competition and winning more business.
This one day seminar is fully funded through Train to Gain if you are a business owner or senior director, and meet the qualifying criteria as a small to medium sized business.
To find out more details just e-mail us to register your interest to me personally andrew@tomarket.co.uk. I will then make sure you get the full seminar details by letter or e-mail.
This one day seminar is aimed at business owners in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, West Bromwich, Oldbury, Wednesbury, Solihull, Lichfield, Tamworth, Burton on Trent, Coventry, Warwick, Leamington Spa, Stratford on Avon
Tags: birmingham, building new business workshop, building sales, Burton on Trent, business development seminar, business growth, coventry, customer retention seminar, developing selling, free business growth seminar, Leamington Spa, lichfield, Oldbury, personal development workshop for business owners, solihull, Stratford, Tamworth, Telford, Warwick, Wednesbury, Wolverhampton
Posted in Field sales training, Free training, Funded training, Personal development, Selling advice, Train to Gain funding, business development, business growth, customer services, owner managers directors, sales development training, seminar, telemarketing, telesales | No Comments »
Friday, May 15th, 2009
A one day business development seminar is about to be run for owner managers fully funded in the East Midlands.
If you’re a director or owner manager of a small to medium sized business in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire your place at this £500 one day business development seminar may qualify for full funding. So to you – not a bean ! Not one penny !
It is being funded by the government through Train to Gain. The seminar will be based on
How to win and keep more business
So it will cover elements of sales, customer service and how to motivate your team to build better customer relationships. And of course you will pick up ideas from other people like you (who run their own businesses) so good opportunities to network too with like-minded people.
If you think you may qualify, and you’d like more details on how to improve the sales and customer service functions within your company just let us know via e-mail. You can e-mail me directly and I’ll write to you personally with more details. If you have any questions in the meantime – pick up the phone and give us a call.
This seminar is ideal for business owners, and directors within companies in Leicester, Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Loughborough, Coalville, Oakham, Rutland, Market Harborough, Wellingborough, Nottingham, Mansfield, Sutton in Ashfield, Derby, Lincoln, Newark, as well as wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire
Tags: building business, business development, business growth seminar, business growth workshop, corby, customer service training, developing new business, Funded training, funding for business growth seminar, kettering, leicester, Lincoln, new business ideas seminar, northampton, Personal development, sales training
Posted in Customer service management, Field sales training, Free training, Funded training, Personal development, Selling advice, Train to Gain funding, business development, business growth, customer handling, customer services, owner managers directors, sales development training, seminar | No Comments »
Friday, April 24th, 2009
Good news is that there is a new sales course with partial funding available through Train to Gain.
To Market is now able to off you a one day course entitled the
21 things you need to know to sell more products to more customers
You can commission us to run this course in-house on your premises, or if you have less than 6 people for training why not join us at one of our open courses ?
For anyone new to selling, or someone just in need of a brush-up on technique with some top tips on selling skills and sales techniques this course is for you.
During the day we cover ;
§ Identifying needs
§ Getting past gatekeepers
§ Benefit selling
§ Questioning skills
§ Expression, energy, emphasis in the human voice
§ Opening the sales call
§ Dealing with objections
§ Call wrap-up
§ Getting commitment
Provided you are a SME (small to medium sized business) and you are the owner, a director or a senior manager within your organisation, and you undergo the training yourself, then there is funding available for this course through Train to Gain which means you get this one day course for up to 6 people for just £500. The normal fee is £1,500. So yes the government (bless them) will put £1,000 into training for you and your team.
What do you reckon ?
For more details and to register your interest just e-mail us at info@tomarket.co.uk and we’ll get the ball rolling for you.
Tags: Field sales training, funded sales training, getting past gatekeepers training, identifying needs, introduction to sales training course, introduction to selling, objection handling training, sales techniques, selling techniques, telesales course
Posted in Field sales training, Funded training, Getting past gatekeepers, Overcoming objections, Train to Gain funding, communication skills, partially funded training, sales development training | No Comments »