Essential Selling Skills Easily Mastered

Essential selling skills to master whether you are starting out on your sales career, maybe you have just completed your on-boarding sales training or you are already an experienced salesperson in reaching out to customers. Hopefully this list of essential selling skills will make you feel more confident in all aspects of selling to customers.

In this article, we’ll focus on some practical and essential selling skills to include in your sales tool bag to act as points of reference in your sales activity.

Essential Selling Skills from Theory to Practice

OK, firstly we all know that it’s essential for you to develop a whole range of selling skills in order to do your job successfully. A lot of sales training programs fail to engage salespeople due to outdated methodologies or delivery channels. Sitting through lengthy presentations or reading outdated training materials will probably not help you in completing every day-to-day sales tasks. To be effective, you need to acquire selling skills that focus on the actual activities you do and can easily relate to as you go about selling.

Additionally, as you go about learning and acquiring more knowledge on the essential selling skills, research shows it’s best to do this in bite-sized sessions or micro learning.

You can begin by listing out all the skills you need in your current sales role. Prioritize the areas or sales stage where you may have a gap. Then break them out into manageable chunks so that they are easy for you to learn and implement in your role. For instance, instead of reading up on your sales playbook for an hour, think about dividing your learning into shorter, five to ten minute video lessons or modules. These will be much easier to absorb with the added benefit of fitting into your daily schedule.

free sales training video with a list of essential selling skills

Selling Skills to Consider.

Any sales training topic you wish to focus on should be related to your own goals and the selling skills gap you have identified.

For the more inexperienced salesperson amongst us, you may want to brush up on the basic selling skills such as discovery questioning, value propositions etc. Then, you can go about learning the more advanced sales skills such as negotiation skills, presentation skills etc. You could even list out different skills based on the type of customer you interact with, inbound v outbound or map your selling skills to your companies sales process.

Here are the most essential selling skills and topics you should consider adding to your knowledge base:

Sales techniques to close sales: When it comes to the stage where you are closing a sale, remember that is more than just selling products or services. Every sale has to be personalized, you need to build trust along the way, understand their needs, be a credible provider of information and provide solutions that solves their pain points. Closing a sale is a process, not an event. Here are some closing essential selling skills to help you win over more customers.

Solution selling: Successful salespeople provide insights and compelling perspectives on their customer’s challenges and critically how to successfully deal with those challenges. This requires you to put the buyer first, have meaningful business conversations and become a trusted advisor who solves business issues.

It means understanding all your customers’ needs, values, and priorities. Then, you present customized solutions that relieves all their pain points. To close effectively, you need to be both a market and product expert. You need to have a deep understanding of all your products FAB (features, advantages, benefits). This will help you to navigate how your product or service works, provide proof, and paint the future picture of how it will benefit the customer personally and the business.

Selling skills are critical when you have to decide whether your product or service is a good fit for the customer. You can only sell to a customer who is receptive to your approach based on their own internal challenges. You cannot sell to everyone so learn when to walk away.   The skill is to master how to identify if the customer has pain points and challenges that they are open to discussing. Then and only then can you demonstrate how your product or service can address their challenges.

Up-selling and cross-selling: When it comes to existing customers, some essential selling skills will include the ability to up-sell and cross-sell. These sales skills involve offering additional benefits that complement the customer’s existing situation. To generate revenue, remember that the decision by a customer to invest more money is much easier than the decision they made on investing in the initial purchase.

The reason up-selling and cross-selling is so valuable in the sales strategy is because they maximize the potential of each and every phone call. Up-selling involves using your sales skills to present the customer with a recommendation for another product or service. Cross-selling is a sales technique where you will offer to present a related product or service alongside the one the customer is already using. Both techniques will have to be mastered as they not only provide additional revenue and sales for you.

Sense of urgency: Creating a sense of urgency has to be genuine and not some false panic sales tactic. The customer must feel the need to make a purchasing decision because the pain and challenges you have gotten them to accept, cannot be tolerated much longer. If the pain acceptance is missing, then it’s doubtful any urgent sales tactics will work. If executed correctly, the customer will be motivated into action, now you can layer a sense of urgency on top of the pain.  The urgency could be time based, offer based, implementation based or even FOMO (fear of missing out) on the opportunity presented.

Account-based selling: With these essential selling skills, you prioritize higher value, targeted accounts that match your company’s ICP (ideal customer profile). Account based selling involves you conducting deeper levels of research into markets, profiles, news, industry, and key decision makers. Then you will create a tailored sales plan for that account. This approach demands that you have deeper engagement, understand how to build relationships with key people, and navigate your way across departments to get consensus on selecting your proposal.

Communication skills for successful selling.

Communication is one of your soft essential selling skills. The skill is to be able to articulate your insights, understanding, and ideas, clearly and concisely. This is critical to sales success. The ability to ask the right type of questions is central to uncovering your customer needs and guiding the sales conversation. It begins with active listening to allow you to focus on related open-ended questions that encourages your customers to share their challenges, goals, and desired future state.

Excellence in communication also requires you to avoid using jargon or technical terms that your customer may not understand. Instead, practise how you will communicate in simple language that conveys the value and benefits of your offering. Focus on crafting a compelling value proposition that highlights the unique selling points of your product or service.

Active listening: Active listening is an essential selling skill for effective communication. It involves you fully engaging with the customer, paying close attention to both their verbal and non-verbal language. Plus, you must also demonstrate your genuine interest in their needs and concerns. The skill of active listening is the ability to gather valuable information to help you tailor your sales approach and pinpoint their pain points. Over time you will master how to filter information, recap on important details, and then use them in future interactions with your customers.

Empathy: Empathy in sales is your ability to accurately put yourself in the customers shoes in order to understand their situation, values, and needs from their point of view.  Then have the skill to communicate that information back to the customer and get their agreement that you have understood them correctly. Learn how to nod your head while they talk to show you are completely engaged in the discussion. How to use the appropriate tone of voice while speaking and consistently reflect your customers points with the right mix of words and language. Empathy is another on the list of soft essential selling skills for you to have as a successful salesperson.

The power of persuasion in sales

The power of persuasion in sales helps to unlock real conversations and trigger a customer to listen and learn more. Each customer has their own perspectives and biases when deciding if they should listen to you. Persuasion is about getting the time and space for you to understand and address their concerns. You will master when to introduce tools such as white papers, references, social proof, and research to assist in keeping their attention. Also, you will position yourself as an expert in your field, in order to build trust and influence their decisions.

Negotiation skills for successful selling

Negotiation is a critical selling skill for successful salespeople. The best sales negotiation skills don’t rely on you manipulating the customer, but you instead learn to focus on the right principles and behaviors that drive successful sales conversations and lead to win-win results. The goal of your sales negotiation is to find creative solutions that result in positive outcomes for all parties, everyone achieves their desired end result and feels good about it.

Prepare to negotiate.  To be an effective sales negotiator requires preparation. This involves you communicating to your customer on how they can satisfy their needs, what needs to be agreed, having clear objectives, overcoming objections. Plus, what is and what is not up for negotiation.

Sales mindset: To master sales negotiation always involves finding a common ground on price, options, delivery, implementation, and contract terms that is agreeable to both parties. By approaching negotiation with an open minded sales mindset, you will build strong relationships with more customers and enjoy your sales role even more.

So, there are a list of essential selling skills for you to ponder, research further or maybe even go on your own learn journey. You can watch some free sales training videos here.

 Source: Essential Selling Skills Easily Mastered – The Digital Sales Institute

Five Core Sales Skills To Master

Five core sales skills to master to help you improve any selling activity. Hello and welcome to this quick video lesson on some core sales skills. Whether you are an experienced salesperson or just starting out in your career, mastering these skills will help you improve your performance and achieve your sales goals.

Skilled salespeople can be defined as those who become market experts, researchers and have a keen interest in the customers business and needs. They know that selling a product or service is secondary  to understanding their challenges. In digitally enabled selling, a salesperson has to wear many hats, meaning they need a range of sales skills to call upon. Whether they play the role of consultant, negotiator, enabler, or challenger, it’s all about what the customer wants to achieve if they were to make a buying decision. Skilled salespeople always make it a priority is to build a strong channels of communication with their customers.

Did you know that 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up?

The Core Sales Skills To Master

The first skill to focus on is active listening. According to a study by HubSpot, active listening is the most important sales skill. It helps build trust and rapport with prospects. This means paying close attention to what your prospect is saying, and not just waiting for your turn to speak. When you actively listen, you will be able to identify their needs, concerns, and motivations. and then tailor your sales pitch accordingly. Active listening includes being empathetic. The skill to assure customers that you have the capability and proof to help them achieve their requirements. This requires you to place yourself in their shoes, listen to them intently, and acknowledge their pain points.

Second on the core sales skills list is Questioning. Effective questioning helps uncover customer needs and pain points. Ask questions that help you uncover needs and desires, that motivates a customer to invest in learning more. Unless you ask targeted questions, you will not be able to uncover those needs and desires, or present your product or service, as a solution to them.

Third on the list is Storytelling. Humans find stories compelling in a way that a simple presentation of the facts, often cannot match. Telling stories helps create an emotional connection with prospects. Stories with emotion can significantly change your desired outcome. You may have amazing verbal skills, but you can very easily fail as a storyteller because in oral communication, a lot also depends on the non-verbal aspects of communication and often, what you don’t say is of equal importance to what you do say. Communicating to others is more complex. It’s harder because we have to actively work to understand them. What compels people to do the things they do? When we can identify our audience’s motivations and appeal to them, we can gain their attention and drive the action we seek. In other words, it’s by being thoughtful about those we are communicating to that we can get our own needs met.

Fourth on the list of core sales skills is objections. Sales objections are inevitable, but effective handling can turn them into opportunities.  Successful salespeople see objections as an opportunity to respond. The customer may not have fully understood your original positioning, so this is your chance to offer clarity. Also, it’s about hearing their concerns, and to respond to them with empathy. No matter how great your product or service is, there will always be objections to overcome. Rather than trying to argue with your prospect, it is better to acknowledge their concerns and provide solutions that address them. This will show that you value their opinion and are committed to finding the best solution for their needs. Just as the sales process has multiple steps and you are required to make multiple requests to advance your deals through the process, objections come in multiple forms and at different points along that path. Facing these roadblocks and getting past them, at each point on the sales process journey, is the key to getting in the door, shortening the sales cycle, increasing pipeline velocity, avoiding stalled deals, and, of course, closing the sale.

The fifth core sales skill is Closing. Closing is the ultimate goal of any sales interaction. Done correctly, it’s more about confirming a sale rather than closing. The ability to gain commitment from a customer to buy a product or service, requires a combination of knowledge, empathy, and value building skills. Closing is not an event but is a continuous process during your sales conversations. Always be asking for a series of yes commitments. Fear of closing: For many salespeople it’s not the lack of a good closing line; those are a dime a dozen. It’s the confidence, the mindset, the conviction that are often lacking. So, , you should be looking for opportunities to ask for the sale, right from that first conversation.

The Core Sales Skills

According to a survey by Salesforce, top-performing salespeople are 10 times more likely to be great closers.

Bonus Core Sales Skills To Learn

This sales skill is building rapport. People buy from people they like, so it is essential to establish a connection with your prospect. Find common ground, ask questions about their interests or hobbies, and show genuine interest in what they have to say. Building rapport will make it easier to gain their trust and ultimately close the sale.

Never forget the importance of product knowledge as part of core sales skills. You need to know your product inside and out to be able to explain its features and benefits in a way that resonates with your prospect. In your sales training, make sure you have all the information you need and are prepared to answer any questions they may have.

In summary, the five core sales skills that you need to master are active listening, questioning, storytelling, handling objections and closing. By focusing on these skills, you will be able to improve your sales performance and achieve your goals. Thank you for watching, and good luck with your sales endeavours!

Categories: Sales Training

Source: Five Core Sales Skills To Master – The Digital Sales Institute

Sales Training Program Expert Tips

Sales training program expert tips for anyone involved in sales management or sales enablement some insight into planning any form of sales training. It sounds simplistic to say that sales training is the act of training salespeople or the sales team on the product and sales process.
The definition gets more complex when we consider how many types of sales and the types of buyers there are. An inbound salesperson may not be able to do prospecting or cold calling for new business.

Then we have the various sales techniques, methodologies, product knowledge, and all the attributes that go into making a successful salesperson. Sales training can sometimes be viewed as a cost rather than an investment that lifts up sales performance and revenue. Any sales training program can be delivered in many formats, from classroom to online, offsite workshops to seminars. Salespeople can be encouraged to self-educate or trained as a group.

Sales Training Program

Many people in sales roles today would not have chosen sales as a career. In fact, a lot of salespeople begin their career without any training at all especially in smaller companies. The “you have it, or you don’t” concept of selling creates the idea that salespeople are born not made (with training like any skill). Unlike many careers, sales or selling is a producers role. That means being at the coalface of revenue generation, day in, day out. So, yes – a sales career is more demanding. While it helps to have a natural disposition towards communication and persistence, most salespeople learn the skills and acquire the knowledge to master selling via constant reinforcement and training. Investing in a sales training program has many benefits apart from improving sales results. It has positive effects on motivation, it helps to assess salespeople, identifies future managers or leaders, highlights weaker salespeople who may need more training or coaching etc. It also happens to be the perfect stage for team building and to reenergize the sales teams. Before we go deeper into this free sales training programs guide, let’s start on how to choose the right program for your sales team. Mapping out the sales process and customer touch points is a great way to begin planning.

Choosing the sales training program depends on the sales process and type of sale. The sales process is the step by step journey that a salesperson and buyer travels together towards completing a sale. Everything from the initial call, to demos, free trials, presentations etc are all considered to be part of the sales process. What type of sale does your business enact? The sales process for large enterprise high value sale is very different than that of a small business transactional type selling. Things to ask is how are the leads gathered, how long does a sale take, how many customer touch points are there, how many decision makers are there plus how simple, or complex is the product or solution?

Selecting sales training programs that do not fit into the overall business model and sales strategy can be a waste of time, money, and resources.

Let’s explore the types of sales to help guide you on the sales training program options worth considering.

Types of Sales Training Program Methods

There are two main types of selling methods that a sales training program should account for, namely Transactional and Relationship. Relationship selling can be further broken down into consultative, challenging and solution selling. Depending on whether you sell B2B or B2C, the value of the sales etc, then the sales process could involve a bit of all.

Transactional Selling.
Transactional selling usually involves quick, well understood and lowish value sales. This methodology is about making the largest number of sales possible in a given time period.

These types of sales require less consideration from the buyer due to the price, knowledge, or familiarity with the product. The buying decision is heavily influenced by  a trigger need, for example a broken phone or laptop. So, a transactional selling process would suit where a company can sell in high volume at low price, educated customer, well understood product, easy to compare and the ability of customers to buy now.

Relationship Selling
Relationship selling are complex, usually (but not always) are higher value, have longer sales cycles and includes a level of customer education. They often require a customer to change an internal process or procedure, they may require more in depth knowledge transfer to the buyer or the consideration level for the buyer is high so involves multiple stakeholders. These type of complex sales are a type of sale that comes with high stakes as in customer may only buy once in 5 years, already have a solution or vendor relationship. Most of them entail a lengthy sales process, implementation, change management or a legal contract. Because these type of sales have a long sales cycle and can continue over many meetings etc, they are less about the product or solution and more about the impact of change alongside the relationship (trust, credibility, proof, believability).

Define The Sales Process

The sales process is your sequence of specific and value-added steps, interactions, and markers towards the goal of a sale. Today, most businesses have their own sales process which outlines in a sales playbook how their sales are managed. To be success, the sales process must be well planned and can be used in day-to-day sales activities by every salesperson.

Acquiring and developing customers will involve using a variety of marketing, sales, and support resources with the goal of generating profitable revenue. The sales process can be visualized as a funnel which maps out all the steps a salesperson must take the customer through plus it has a number of markers which indicate if the customer is really on a buying journey.

Customers enter the sales funnel at the top and a percentage will successfully proceed to the next stage, narrowing the numbers at each stage of the sales process as the sales progresses.

Constant lead generation and identifying sales opportunities to keep filling the sales funnel can be the hardest of the sales process. Inbound leads can be warmer (due to some trigger event); however, they are also usually looking at several vendors for comparison. Outbound leads are typically colder as they would enter the sales funnel via cold outreach, emails, or approached via social selling. The sales process lessons in a free sales training program should outline how leads will be generated and in what volumes to meet the sales targets.

Startup companies especially must spend time thinking about the steps in their sales process and the cost of customer acquisition. These factors will strongly determine whether the company will be generate revenue or not.

A sample sales process would be.

1. Lead generation.
2. Qualification of lead.
3. Preparation for interaction.
4. Diagnose pains or challenges.
5. Quality of opportunity.
6. Educate the buyer/buying group.
7. Solve the pain and propose solution.
8. Confirm attractiveness of offer.
9. Close the sale.

Free sales training program

Sales Methodology

The term “Sales Methodology” defines the type of approach a salesperson will take during the sales process. This focuses on the formulaic steps in the sales playbook and sales training program. Everything from call preparation, mindset, discovery questions, qualification criteria, uncovering needs, challenging perceptions, sales assets, sales meeting structures etc. Sales methodology is what defines what type of sales training program is needed to be in place to support all of your sales efforts. Sales methodology goes hand-in-hand with the overarching sales strategy. The correct sales methodology for the customer type or market you address alongside the documented sales process will create an environment for the sales team to sell successfully.
Sales Methodology Training Strategies There are a variety of methodologies designed for different aspects of the sales process. Studying each one individually is valuable, implementing the one that best fits your business is ideal.

Types of Selling Motions

Consultative Selling.

Consultative selling involves selling complex, high value or intangible solutions that match known challenges or pain points. It is optimized around a highly personalized relationship for the highest revenue at a high win rate. One of the earmarks of consultative selling is avoiding being in a three or four way competitive pitch. This methodology addresses a hierarchical buying process in which salespeople focus their efforts on identifying and influencing a number of decision makers.

Strategic Selling.

Strategic selling involves selling innovative solutions (unconsidered needs/business change implications) to high value accounts, even if they do not recognize a problem currently. The hallmark of strategic selling is around “Proof of Value” or “Highly tailored Workshops” with senior executives from the target company team who can be motivated to optimize their business. This sales methodology often requires top down organizational selling, where senior C level executives from the seller organization reaches out to C level executives from the target company.

The SaaS Sales Method.

The SaaS Sales Method involves selling reoccurring revenue that disrupts the buyers current position. It is optimized around make buying easy, lifetime value, benefit realization and selling based on priority. SaaS sales operate at a quite high velocity and will blend online selling, webinars, and remote meeting techniques. This method is focused on a more fluid market which is consensus driven. This method is framed around a market where the buyer is less concerned with arriving at the decision but more how quickly they can move through the buying process.

Account Based Selling (ABS).

Account-based selling has increased in popularity in recent years. This methodology looks at every individual customer as a market of one. Instead of one salesperson targeting a single contact within a single account, a team of salespeople will be assigned to target multiple decision makers or stakeholders at the company. This more invested, personalized approach of account-based selling can be a successful strategy when selling to larger corporate, especially when considering that decisions within a typical large account can involve a buying group of 7  to 9 people on average

Conversational Selling.

Conversational selling is similar to transactional selling. It is the highest converting sales methodology and provides live or real-time sales conversations that drives connection and trust. It replaces the more traditional product pitches with conversational interactions where the salesperson aims to understand and meet the customer’s needs first.

Value Based Selling

In the simplest terms, a value-based selling approach focuses on helping customers understand what problems a product or service can solve for them and what value it will bring to their business.  Importantly, such value orientation not only informs the outcomes of the sales process, but also every interaction with the customer. Such a process-based focus gives customers a reason to stay connected with reps and continue the sales conversation because they receive repeated reassurance that the rep is focused on their pain points and working toward finding a solution.

Sales Training Program Guide

Salespeople who have had well planned out sales training program can have a major impact on revenue generating ability of any company. After receiving sales training, the sales activity of salespeople increases drastically. Training should inspire and motivate the sales team, making them eager to practice new sales skills and engage more customers. Increased customer interactions equals more  sales opportunities, leading to more sales. Sales training has the added benefit of improving mindsets, challenging beliefs, removing limitations etc.  Confident salespeople naturally sell more because they are in control.

Maintaining your sales team’s focus throughout the sales cycle can be a  balancing act in itself. So much time and money is invested into hiring and on-boarding salespeople that any decrease in the amount of time spent selling will eat into your company’s profit. Time to consider online sales training or blended learning.

Sales training online that aligns salespeople and processes to avoid inconsistency in the sales process requires short-term and long-term changes that bridge the gap between the current status quo and the requirements of the sales methodology. Briefly, these are:

a. Alignment across the customer organization: Implementing a new methodology requires cooperation from customer success, training, enablement, and front line sales managers. After all, a sales training program cannot be implemented by front line salespeople alone but  requires an infrastructure to succeed. It’s always worth checking out some free sales training videos

b. Front line salespeople and leadership buy-in: Ultimately, the nitty gritty of methodology adoption will be overseen by front line managers, who will also take responsibility for ensuring the salesperson completes the training. Hence, everyone’s buy-in to undertake and learn is essential.

c. Clear communication: Bringing salespeople onboard to own their own skill and career development requires clear and structured communication. It is important that the message with regard to the need and value of to undertake sales training programs pervades through every level of the customer organization.

Source: Sales Training Program Expert Tips – The Digital Sales Institute

The Art of Negotiation: Practical Tips to Boost Sales Results

Sales negotiation is a crucial selling skill for any salesperson involved in closing deals and generating revenue. It requires a planned approach, effective communication, and the ability to find mutually beneficial solutions. In this article, we will explore valuable tips to help you excel in sales negotiation and achieve favorable outcomes.

So, we know that negotiation is key to securing more customers, raising profits, and avoiding lost business, but it’s a tricky skill to master. Any type of negotiation boils down to finding some common ground with another person or group, reaching a mutually beneficial agreement, and establishing trust in that relationship. Whether you are negotiating a salary raise, closing a sales deal, or buying a new car, understanding the principles of effective negotiation can help you achieve your goals and save money in the process. To do that, you’ll need practical advice that can help you further your goals.

Be Prepared for Negotiation

Before you start negotiating, it’s crucial to do your homework. By gathering as much information as you can about the upcoming deal, you’ll be able to walk into the negotiation with confidence. Perform market research, gauge the other party’s interests, and focus on how it affects the bottom line of both parties.

The more you know, the better equipped you’ll be to make smart decisions and come out on top. The biggest mistake a good negotiator can make is to come into a meeting where the other party knows more than they do. It sets a bad precedent and gives far too much power to the other party which ultimately costs the business.

Set Realistic Expectations

When you’re negotiating, it’s important to have a clear and attainable idea of what you want to get out of a deal. Make sure you’re not being too aggressive with your demands or asking for things that are unrealistic because this can hurt your relationship with the other party and sabotage the negotiation.

On the flip side, if you’re too passive or give in too easily, you might not end up with a good deal. The key is to find the sweet spot between being assertive and being flexible. This way, in any negotation you’ll be able to reach an agreement that works for both sides.  Asking the question of why the other party wants what they say they want is vital simply because the underlying interest can be different from the stated interest.

Negotiation – Listen First, Talk After

It’s important to really listen to what the other party is saying during a business or personal negotiation. Pay attention to their words, the tone of their voice, and how they’re using their body language. By showing that you’re really listening and valuing their input, you’ll build trust and set yourself up for a successful negotiation.

In addition to that, you also gain clues about what they really want out of a deal. Words can only convey so much, and it’s the context around those words that reveal their true meaning. Listening gets a better understanding of their point of view and can spot any potential objections or concerns they might have.

Don’t Just Take, Give

Negotiation isn’t about getting what you want, it’s also about making sure the other party gets what they want. At the very least, they should be able to leave the table satisfied with the course of events. Never lead the conversation with stuff that you want to get from them. Talk about a problem they have, then offer a solution to it.

Of course, solutions should have fair compensation, and that’s where the reward for you comes in. It’s a give-and-take relationship at the end of the day, but when it gets one-sided, then things start to get problematic. Nothing ends a negotiation faster than one party realizing how much nothing they’ll get from a deal.

Don’t Settle For Less

At the end of the talks, never settle for something that you aren’t completely happy with. There’s always a compromise that can be reached somewhere. If the other party isn’t willing to offer that compromise, then you’re better off looking elsewhere. A good negotiator knows when to give up a lost cause.

The danger of settling for a bad deal is that it sets a power imbalance that will be very difficult to get out of. The other party, whether maliciously or unintentionally, will start viewing your business as a resource, not an equal. Whether it’s growing digital money investments or expanding a project, a reasonable compromise is a must for success.

Avoid Weak Language While Negotiating

Sometimes you will negotiate with a “powerful” counterpart, such as your boss. In these scenarios, you might feel pressured to use disclaimers:

» “I know this might sound like a lot, but ______.”

» “I hate to ask for this, but ______.”

» “Would you possibly consider ______?”

Eliminate these words. Your counterparts will negotiate more aggressively,

giving you a worse deal. You receive better deals when you are firm and confident

Mind Before Heart

Negotiations can get intense, especially if there’s a lot on the line or the issue is close to your heart. But it’s important to keep your cool and stay professional, even if things get heated. The old adage of “It’s nothing personal, it’s just business” doesn’t just apply to old mafia movies.

When you’re able to keep your emotions in check, you can stay focused on what you want to achieve and avoid making any rash decisions that could hurt the negotiation. So, take a deep breath, stay calm, and keep pushing forward.

Types of Negotiation

Negotiations and negotiators can come in multiple different flavor in order to reach a goal. Consider, for example, integrative negotiation versus distributive negotiation—arguably one of the better-known negotiation behaviors. Integrative negotiation refers to a negotiation behavior whereby both parties seek to maximize joint gain. This process stands in contrast to distributive negotiation, where the process aims to reach an agreement to distribute resources such that the value achieved by one negotiator comes at the expense of the other. Distributive can be seen as the split the pie example: win-lose, whereas integrative strategy aims to enlarge the pie together before splitting it. Which results in a net increase for both parties, often referred to as win-win.

Conclusion

Keep in mind, becoming a skilled negotiator is a journey that never truly stops. Thankfully, refining your abilities and being flexible to new circumstances makes that journey a whole lot easier.  Always be confident in your negotiations and you’ll see positive results almost every time. Take sales training lessons from sales experts whenever you have the opportunity, as they can provide a bounty of information that no amount of books or resources can help you master.

Source: The Art of Negotiation: Practical Tips to Boost Your Results – The Digital Sales Institute

Selling Skills Training For Salespeople

Selling skills training has one goal, to increase the effectiveness of sales motions and outcomes for salespeople. Whether it is one program, or a number of programs divided into the various sales skills, selling skill training is all about the “how we sell”. These are the step by step tactics that include everything from target selection, opening conversations, building relationships, selling to the need and closing deals. Today, more and more sales training is delivered online or remotely.

Selling skills training is not a one of event, it is a process, a learning pathway that takes time to absorb. The training will should map out the stages and content for a salesperson to follow in order to improve their selling skills. Relevant content reflecting the latest trends, videos, cheat sheets, expert insights and practice are essential aspect of any sales skill training program. The sales skills salespeople need varies across industries, as B2C selling is different from transactional selling which is different to enterprise type sales. Inside salespeople should focus more on voice communication and value propositions more than presentations, for example.

However, no matter how much buyers have changed, there are a number of core sales skills that still hold true, and every salesperson should learn.These skills must cover how to communicate effectively, how to engage positively, how to ask meaningful questions, getting agreement and commitments. All these plus soft and hard skills should be covered by worthwhile selling skills training program.

Selling Skills Training Fundamentals.

The core of selling is “conversations” and so the fundamental aspect of sales are also useful in one’s day to day life. Genuine interest, questions, communication, clarification, and commitments are life’s normal activities. So, let’s take a look at some of the sales skills involved in the daily routines of most salespeople.

Sales Conversations.
Simply put, real, meaningful conversations creates sales opportunities. A salespersons ability to communicate effectively has been the bedrock of sales since selling was defined. How well the value of any service or solution has been communicated to a buyer will decide if they will pay money for it. Selling will always be about the exchange of value for payment!! How to construct and open sales conversations is a key topic in sales skill training.

Expert tip – follow these 5 conversation steps.

1. Put people at ease.
2. Control emotions and voice.
3. Master storytelling.
4. Build rapport and genuine interest.
5. Be authentic and credible.

Remember, when it comes to selling motions, conversations are between the salesperson and the customer or buying group, that inspires actions. Both sides are trying to get extract value from the conversations, salespeople strive to secure a sale and the customer wants a future state that is better than their current situation. Both sides want an outcome that feels good and rewarding.

With that in mind, let’s look at the rules of conversation from a sales perspective:

● Put people at ease. A salesperson who is calm, confident, prepared, personable, and engaging is what buyers like. If a salesperson is aggressive or nervous, they will shut down any potential open conversation. Always speak clearly with confidence and use words that are believable to the customer. The success of any sales conversation (the hardest part of selling is getting a conversation started I the first place) is completely based on getting the customer to listen. By demonstrating confidence in what is communicated in the conversation, the salesperson makes the customer feel at ease and open to answering questions.

● Control emotions and voice. Research into purchasing emotions shows that buyers are reluctant to back a proposal that’s being pitched by a salesperson who is nervous, fumbling, and overly apologetic. On the other hand, they are likely to be persuaded by someone who speaks clearly, who holds his or her head high, who answers questions assuredly, and who readily admits when he or she does not know something. Confident and assertive salespeople inspire confidence in others: their customers, their audience, their peers, their bosses, and their friends. Sales skills training must empower salespeople with the ability to gain the confidence of others as this is one of the key methods in which a self-confident salesperson finds success.

● Master Storytelling. Telling relevant and impactful stories is a key element of adaptive selling; it provides the link between salespeople and customers. It is how we as individuals, understand the wants, needs, past experiences, and viewpoints of the customers we come into contact with.  When a salesperson is communicating with others, a natural state is to consider their own personal goals. Instead, they should purposefully weave stories from the perspective of the customer. Letting go of sales jargon. Instead, skilled salespeople tell stories that matches the experience the customer is seeking and the way they are perceiving their challenges.

● Build rapport and genuine interest. Connect sales conversations to the life of the buyer. Effective communication happens when we follow the basic principles of professional communication skills. These can be abbreviated as 7 Cs, i.e., clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete, and courteous. Sales skills training programs should go into the seven C’s in detail.

Clear. Be clear about what you want to say and write.

Concise. Use simple words and say only what is needed.

Concrete. Use exact words, phrases, Use facts and figures.

Correct. Use correct spellings, language, and grammar.

Coherent. Your words should make sense and should be related to the main topic.

Complete. Your message should have all the needed information.

Courteous. Be respectful, friendly, and honest.

If a salesperson has achieved the desired level of outcome through building rapport and interest,  they can say that it is “effective communication”. e.g., If their communication gets the desired response from the customer, it means that they have effectively conveyed the message.

●Be authentic and credible. In sales, being authentic and a credible source of information is the sum of all the things a salesperson does when they want to create understanding in the mind of a customer. It is a bridge of meaning and purpose. It involves a systematic and continuous process of telling, listening, and understanding.” A salespersons commitment to values and ethics is a key driver of protecting the businesses brand.  It’s important that salespeople possess: Integrity, Respect for others and Adherence. Selling skills training programs should cover this topic os part of the soft skills required in sales.

●Be comfortable with Objections. Salespeople have to become comfortable with the uncomfortable objections. The reality is any objection is an expression of disagreement, opposition, or concern raised by prospects when considering a decision with a proposal. A salesperson has to recognize them as a signal that the buyers values or outcomes aren’t being met.  For many salespeople, resolving objections is the most stressful part of the sale. Ironically however, objections or concerns indicate buying interest and provide critical information for removing roadblocks. Without objections or concerns, salespeople can lack value-identifiers—clues into potential buying motives. This information allows a salesperson to realign their communication or offerings to match a prospect’s value identifiers.

●Be a professional. Selling is a profession and has been in demand for centuries when man first discovered money. In fact, sales is often claimed to be one of the oldest professions in the word. The classification of salespeople as ‘professionals’ should sit comfortably with every salesperson, just the same as other classifications of professional such as lawyers, accountants, doctors, vets and so on. An undeniable truth is that nothing happens anywhere in the world until a sale takes place and the seller brings in money that pays for staff and can trade profitably. To be a real sales professional requires sales training on a constant basis much like any other skilled profession. Some sales training videos can help on the learning pathway.

Selling Skills Training Motivation

One of the best definitions of modern salespeople is that they are ‘solution specialists’. This may seem an inflated title, but it does describe the real activity of successful selling, which is problem solving in the best interests of the customer. So, can anyone sell? Yes, of course they can, BUT only if they really want to. It is probably worth noting, as a motivation and a stimulus, that as salespeople become successful at winning new business, they will also increase their income, and many people this is a good enough reason to engage with selling skills training.

Good and successful salespeople can sell only what they believe in. It is therefore worth establishing what good salespeople actually do. Very simply it is that, given the chance of meeting a prospective customer, they will bring them on a journey that fulfils the customers’ expectations and delivers a sale to the salesperson.  Enjoy some free sales training. Now, that is selling!!

Categories: Sales Training

Tags: sales training, selling skills, selling skills training

Source: Selling Skills Training For Salespeople – The Digital Sales Institute

Sales Trends with Real Examples

Sales trends and the sales models of the future have never been more difficult to predict. Will inbound lead generation be enough to power growth, will organizations have to rethink or even retool their sales strategies, what does the sales force of the next five years look like. These and other questions are now top of mind for many sales leaders.

Sales Trends with Examples.

Unite the Customer Experience.

A disjointed sales process that clashes with internal procedures can cause major obstacles in the buyer’s journey. The knock on effect is a lack of any seamless customer experience that buyers now demand. Sales organizations will have to unite the sales process to match what their buyers expect. A Revenue Operations team consisting of sales, marketing, product, customer success and delivery should be installed. The goals for revenue operations is to remove internal roadblocks and get everyone focused on 1 single thing- revenue.

Revenue is driven by the value and the amount of customer purchases. By having everyone unite behind the customer experience brings clarity to all actions and sales insights. Implement clear processes that are supported by data, shared insights, feedback loops and communication that deliver on the customer experience that buyers now expect.

Sales Expertize at Hybrid Selling

Salespeople and the sales organization have to be tooled and have sales training on multi-channel or hybrid selling. They are masters at selling remotely, via email, in person, on the phone and on social media. To reach and communicate with the target audience, salespeople will have to adopt this multi-channel approach. We know that customers are more empowered than ever due to freely available information from multiple sources. The reality is that sales leaders need to plan for a future where their customers are empowered to make buying decisions on their terms, not the companies.

Any potential buyer has many avenues of sales insights into the workings or pricing of a company. They research products and companies, they seek out reviews, sales trends, compare pricing, and decide who they will engage with and who to buy it from. All of this can be completed without ever having to speak with a salesperson. Which begs the question – what is the role of a salesperson in this new reality?

The modern buyer is increasingly moving away from the traditional sales channels and moving towards the digital channels for B2B purchases. Business organizations forecast that 59% of their annual purchases will be enacted through websites and other online channels by the end of 2023. This means that every sales leader will have to assess how effective the sales force is at using the social channels and technology to connect with the customer. It will take a mindset change from one of pushing products to a mindset of bringing value to potential customers that puts there priorities first and centre.

Sales Trends and Value Based Selling

Value based selling is one of the sales trends that is really taken hold across future thinking sales organizations. A simplistic meaning for value based selling is that is sales methodology  that focuses on the total value a prospect or customer will receive from the product, instead of focusing on the narrower benefits of the product. This method of selling works on the premise that rather than selling a result of a product or service will give to a customer, a value-based sales strategy will instead focus on the bigger picture by outlining the value beyond the price the customer pays, value such as cost reduction, profitability, and other business implications the product offers.

Value selling is about salespeople taking a personalized approach to each and every sale based on information about that customers particular needs and wants. When the buyer can visualize the future value for the product or service, they gain a deeper understanding of the solution without the need to push features or specifications. Value based selling is about communication, business rather than product value, what it does for the buyer and their role. So, value selling requires personalized research, be the signal not the noise, avoid leading with sales pitches, have meaning value conversations, bring insights and unconsidered needs, focus on how buyers buys and not the sales process, be credible and genuine.

Focus on the Person, Not the Product

Buyers want personalized buying experiences. Sales trends show us that the world is moving away from selling products to selling experiences or a bundle of values. Over 80 percent of buyers are more likely to engage with a vendor if they are offered a highly personalized experience.

Just to clarify, this is not to say the product or service being offered is not important, rather to open up to the consideration that the product should not be the focal point of the sales activity. In a world where companies can struggle to clearly outline the uniqueness of a product, salespeople who can deliver personalized, positive experiences will be a major competitive advantage. last  We’ve talked a bit about this before, but truly unique products are rare nowadays. Focusing on the person and not the product is a more subtle sales approach than product based selling. Research is showing that it pays off with higher repeat customers and referrals.

Score with Soft Sales Skills

In the modern sales process, regardless of how advanced the sales teams technical and hard selling skills are, they need soft sales skills too. Because what the modern buyer expects from salespeople is largely linked to emotional intelligence, communication, and critical thinking. Unfortunately, many salespeople often fail to recognize that buyers are mentally questioning them with back of the mind questions. Or, if salespeople do realize that buyers have these doubts, many try (too hard) to compensate with smooth-talking, product lead charm offensives. Too many salespeople try to replace buyer doubts with features or benefits or with a case study.

It is often said that hard sales skills will get you in front of a customer, but you need soft sales skills to win over and keep the customer. In fact, sales trends research shows that salespeople tend to exaggerate most customers’ needs and misjudge the importance of other important selection criteria. This can lead to tone-deaf sales messages and missed new business opportunities.

Having salespeople with strong soft skills will become more important than ever as a way for businesses to connect with customers. The salesperson will be called on to combine digital literacy with essential human skills such as communication and problem solving. Globalization and digital disruption have lowered the barriers to entry for business, meaning that today the real competition is often in the quality of the customer experience. Businesses are finding that customers are looking for service, not just low prices.

Social Selling will come of Age

The value of social selling has often been disputed. In the rising tide that WAS inbound marketing, using social media was seen as a nice bolt on in the sales process. Now as times get leaner, leads harder to generate, buyers reluctant to engage, many sales organizations will have to seriously commit to social selling. Social selling is not about selling a product, it is the activity of selling your company socially. It is a sales technique that uses the social channels to find, engage, attract, nurture relationships and yes, when appropriate to connect. All the time, every message, every share, every piece of content is focused on providing value.

According to LinkedIn, 75% of B2B buyers use social media to make buying decisions

There is no doubt that communication methods and sales trends to reach customers will continue to evolve and change. Blending multiple methods to reach potential customers in both B2B and B2C markets is the dominant sales tactic. Cold calling and sales prospecting results benefits hugely from the use of social media to draw attention to any organizations value proposition.  Extend your companies brand and reach with content, videos, and data to actively engage with prospects and develop a connection with them with social selling.

Video will be one of the top sales trends

Video use and consumption is everywhere. Now it’s time to bring sales video into the sales process. Well crafted, bite sized video messages or promos is now a proven tactic to engage prospects and customers. Salespeople should be using video to differentiate themselves and add personalized messaging to what would likely have been emailed.

When it comes to creating value, you want your prospects to feel something. That’s why video is a great way to get attention and dispense information quickly. It’s one thing for your prospects to read about your company or products, but it’s far more compelling to see motion and insights via the medium we are all now most familiar with.  We live in a time poor, distracted world, so it’s important that sales messaging is unique and personalized from the myriad of other messages fighting for buyers attention. Video is an excellent way to do this, as it can help you create a unique, human, and personal impression that will resonate with customers.

Source: Sales Trends with Real Examples – The Digital Sales Institute

Sales Training Guide Insights

Any sales training guide should ultimately impact how selling is conducted in any organization. For a company to win, their salespeople have to win.  The more a salesperson trains, the more likely is that they will generate more revenue for themselves and the business. Successful selling needs continuous up skilling to keep improving close rates, customer engagement, higher value sales and a more motivated sales team.

Well trained salespeople are more skilled at approaching prospects and existing customers. They know how to ask the right type of questions, they can uncover needs, have meaningful sales conversations, build trust and when the time is right, offer the right solution. An organizations sales training guide must boost the confidence of the sales team when it comes to using sales tactics and strategies.

Most salespeople are hungry for success and a long career in sales. Getting access or exposure to the right sales training can go a long way towards helping them achieve their goals. Like any skill, acquiring the knowledge to improve selling results can be a steep learning curve whether that is a someone who is new  or the more experienced salesperson eager to expand their skills or take on a new sales role. So, with the right topics, lessons and delivery in place, sales training can turn team all members of the sales team into effective sellers. Here are some sales training guide ideas to consider.

Sales skills Focus

Understand what is selling.

So, in selling, a customer-focused solution should be the end result of all efforts in the process. The role of the salesperson is to be really effective, so the actual sales activity must facilitate the decision making for the customer.  To do this, salespeople must be able to.
Open meaningful conversations with a customer.
Understand the business issues of the customer.
Help customers to understand these issues.
Build an effective solution.
Link the proposed solution to the issues.
Paint a picture of what the future looks like.
Gain commitments along the way to keep the sale moving forward.

Selling change.

Buyers are most likely to rethink their current position or reset pre-established buying criteria only when “given a reason to change,”. The buying decision is the result of both how well information was transferred from the business to the buyer, that buying has been made easier and the believability of the information.At the most basic level, it’s important to understand that most people buy for one of two reason –– they buy to move closer to pleasure or to move further away from pain. People buy to move closer to pleasure or further from pain (or in some rare instances both), so when selling any product or service be very aware of why that customer is buying. To improve selling opportunities, salespeople need to understand the buyer, their pain, what they want to gain and then they need to add value to open the buyer to change.

Selling today is all about recognizing the true motivations of buyers and aligning conversations, presentations, and solutions to match their needs and desires. One study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology shows that getting a person to agree on one issue will boost the likelihood of getting their agreement on another issue.Psychology tells us that people do not like making tough decisions, so we need to make buying easier.

Measuring sales progress.

The only way for salespeople to know whether their sales efforts (ROSE- Return On Sales Effort) is successful is by monitoring their sales progress. In the sales training guide, there should be a section on how to improve sales outcomes, topics on how to identify Yes Commitments or Yes points at each of the stages in the sales process that can be tracked and improved upon. Yes Commitments = One commitment at a time. Yes Points = Series of Yes commitments that the salesperson wants in any sales stage. The sales training should start by breaking the sales process down into its logical chunks, such as, for instance:

• Prospecting
• Discovery
• Presenting Value

For each logical stage in the sales process, identify the Buyer Yes’s that impact the sales teams ability to move a sale OVER and not just UP.

Competing for mindshare.

In any sale, salespeople aren’t simply competing against competitive offerings. They are competing for “mind share” (5 Why’s of why listen, why care, why change, why you and why now ). They are competing for internal resources, competing against alternatives including The Buyers Status Quo.  Competing against internal Buyer Roadblocks also known as the silent stages.

 To overcome roadblocks, salespeople must understand that the Decision-Making Journey relies on active decision making, with a focus on cognitive and behavioral influence and engagement.

Research shows that significant challenges faced by salespeople when selling into an organization include the lack of urgency of the part of senior management to implement new technologies, as well as the necessary budget to move forward with these initiatives. In contrast to the salesperson, the prospective buyer does not share the same focus on just one offering. They are looking at multiple even overwhelming numbers of things that they could invest in. Salespeople have to overcome the many implications that a potential customer must consider before purchasing any offering. Implications include concerns about change, risk, user-training — the many tangible and intangible factors that are associated with the actual adoption of a new offering.

Be clear on who you sell to.

The sales training guide should pinpoint who the company sells to. As with most things’ sales, the simpler, the better. As customer target selection is directly linked to “creating an organizations value proposition”, defining one to maybe three target customers will do a much better job when it comes to customizing the various value propositions, go-to-market plans, and the sales activities mapped to the customers’ needs. Truly understanding who the target customers are is a fundamental step to almost any type of strategy and sales training. One of the easiest ways to improve sales results is to establish and fix onto the ideal target customer(s) and their persona(s).

If you truly understand who the target customer, then the sales team can:

1. Differentiate and customize the value proposition to the customers’ needs
2. Supercharge & align go-to-market tactics to each customer set
3. Customize every facet of the sales activity to the target customers
4. Ultimately, drive better customer value than competitors

Clear messaging and value propositions.

The value proposition(s) used in sales conversations by salespeople is a short, compelling statement that articulates the specific benefits the company/product/service is offering the target customer. It is the acid test in sales to make sure a salesperson has something to say, which answers the customers “Why Listen” and “Why Care” questions if they were to consider a buying journey. In other words, value propositions are a key building block in answering a customer’s question “why should we buy this product or service?”. Every good sales training guide should contain lessons and content on clear sales messaging and well defined value propositions.

Sales Training Guide Done Right

When sales training is deployed and correctly utilized then the organization should expect the following outcomes:

Consistent sales approach. The sales team understand and follow the documented sales process including assets, procedures, and sales playbook.

Drives sales behavior: Salespeople embrace implementing the new sales skills learned, and their mindset changes to a more positive state.

Improved sales productivity: As the selling skills become second nature, it allows the salespeople to be more productive, to own their roles, customers see more value in engaging with them and so sales go up.

Sales training costs go down: Online sales training programs can be one channel to ensure training costs go down and sales time goes up.

Consider using E-Learning

eLearning is growing in sales training for numerous reasons, beside the fact that it works, it makes financial and business sense. Many organizations are still reluctant to include e-learning in their corporate sales training guide. In a remote working environment, one where salespeople need to take more responsibility for their up skilling, the use of online sales training or even free sales training can counteract the lack of classroom based training.

In time poor noisy world, nearly everything anyone consumes is becoming quicker and shorter. That’s why micro learning is now the go-to sales training channel. A  learning experience that is effective, affordable, and flexible. A training system that allows salespeople to be on top of their selling skills, so their results constantly improve.

The online sales training programs up for consideration should include some of the following:

• Bite sized videos: These engage the learner “also called microlearning” in ten to twenty minute lessons on all the topics in the sales process. This facilitates a proven sense of faster completion plus fits in to suit the salespersons schedule.
• Certificates: Training that provides certificates when the training has been completed is a very compelling reason to encourage salespeople to finish the course while motivating them to learn more.
• Downloads: Effective training programs should include downloadable PDF’s, templates, how to guides so salespeople can share and learn repeatably.
• Measure progress: This allows the salesperson to measure and mark off their own progress towards the goal of completing (even repeating) the sales course.
• On the Go: Sales training programs that are available across devices are loved by salespeople due to its ease of access and portability.

Constant Feedback Loop

Learning new skills never stops, salespeople need ongoing coaching and mentoring to reinforce how to use the skills they have invested time in acquiring. Even in a remote world,  weekly sales team meetings are invaluable to share insights, experiences, tips, and stories. Sales leaders should always include one to one coaching in their sales training guide. Sales coaching should empower the salesperson to take ownership of their role and sales activities, which means they are more likely to be committed to their own success.

Final word on the sales training guide

For all salespeople, learning about selling or new sales skills, should lead to a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience. Deliberate practice involves attention, rehearsal and repetition and leads to new knowledge or sales skills that can later be developed into more complex knowledge and skills.

The Ingredients of Success

Having strong goal intentions and commitment to your goals are an essential ingredient in the success of your implementation intention.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”

Categories: Sales Training

 Source: Sales Training Guide Insights – The Digital Sales Institute

How to write effective sales scripts – The Digital Sales Institute

How to write effective sales scripts

Source: How to write effective sales scripts – The Digital Sales Institute

Sales scripts can play an important part when it comes to a business generating leads or in customer acquisition. These leads when nurtured properly can over time be converted into sales. Sales organizations hire lead-generation experts to engage and attract audiences via their sales scripts. Lead generation involves the use of multiple techniques like cold calling, social selling, email outreach, and social media ad campaigns.

All of these techniques require a solid sales script or even a number of sales scripts that stimulates the viewer to take some action. The old methods of lead generation are nearly extinct, old sales techniques of the “spray and pray” phone calls are gone. To engage buyers today requires more than making call after call using plagiarized and even boring sales scripts. Lead generation is now both art and science. The use of data, research, customer profiling, market intelligence and value propositions are blended into sales scripts to drive up the return on sales effort.

This takes resourcing, planning plus a lot of time and effort. Otherwise, you just end up facing rejection and no response. One of the roles of sales training today is to find some new ways to revamp he sales scripts that really do drive customer engagement in the sales process.

What are Sales Scripts?

Sales scripts are a combination of value propositions, predetermined questions, answers, situations, and facts that guides a salesperson to talk confidently and allow for flexibility according to the customers response. A sales script should not be taken as fixed rules or checkpoints but it should be considered as a flexible guide to deal with the points that arise during a sales conversation.

If you still using a vanilla flavored worn out sales scripts that are not delivering with generating leads then stay tuned We will guide you to create sale scripts that align to the modern sales process.

Tips to Write Effective Sales Scripts

Here are a few effective and powerful tips when it comes to writing sales scripts. Follow the tips below to maximize your lead generation efforts using sales scripts.

Ø  Identify Your Niche First

You should be clear and focused about the products you are attempting to sell to whom. Ask yourself, why would this product or service be of interest to a prospect, what is the value proposition and why will they listen? You need to be focused on the pain your potential customer may have, and not just a product sales pitch. While talking to a customer jumping from solution to solution or product to product can make you ambiguous or that you are more interested in selling rather than understanding.

Be confident and have valid reasons for your approach to the customer, what information or insights will be of interest to them. Do not confuse yourself and the prospect with unclear or irrelevant  questions. Every and all sales scripts should support your value, proof and understanding of the circumstances that your potential customer may be experiencing.

Ø  Pay Attention to Your Audience

Different products are used by different people in different markets. Hence, any sales script needs to be personalized to that specific audience. You can tailor the script according to your potential customer’s industry or challenges you have uncovered during research. This can be done by conducting online and social media research or even talking to customers in the same market to know their issues. Try to put yourself in the working day of the person you intend to call, list out the problems they could be facing as a company or as an employee on practical grounds. This will enable you to create questions and value points for your sales script.

Ø  Map the Benefits

Always sell solutions to pain points, then benefits before features. Mentioning how you solve pain points and resolve issues in your sales script is a powerful wat to catch the any customers attention. By providing proof, insights and useful information you can make a real connection and build rapport. You do not need to mention all the benefits in your sales script. Just map the potential pain points or challenges to the main benefits of your product or services. You can tell them the secondary benefits after selling the solution to their pains as a way to reinforce your value to the customer. Make sure your solution is productive, decreases their headache, reduces hassle and takes cost out of the business. Your sales script should have at least one value proposition, one impact statement, three to five discovery questions and four benefits that generate interest. Watch this free sales training video.

Ø  Connect the Benefits with Consumer Problems

By uncovering pain, you uncover the cost of inaction with the customer, this leads to solutions and solutions leads to benefits of your proposal. Once the solution has been identified with you, connect them back to the agreed customer’s pain points and get commitment that the solution resolves their pain. You need to reinforce the cost of inaction and gives reason to act, reasons that clicks in the customer’s mind and compels them to take action – now. You should be able to sum up the key points that you gathered from niche and audience research earlier on. Point out their pain points along with providing them the solutions via your product or service.

For Example:

If your service is online paraphrasing. How will you connect its benefits with people’s pain points? Let’s see!

Do you lack sales vocabulary to generate sales scripts? Don’t worry something like an online paraphrasing can make it easier. By using AI and NLP, it can regenerate plagiarism-free content for you within seconds. It can save your time of rephrasing manually. Moreover, it is free, accurate, and fast.

Ø  Don’t Talk Too Much and End Up On Something

Learn “the talk to listen ratio” for a successful sales call, telling is not selling on a sales call.  Take pauses during the sales conversation, ask insightful discovery questions and let the potential customer think or respond. Your sales scripts should not look like a prepared speeches. They should consist of well thought out questions, interesting facts, data, and reasons for the customer to listen. Try to listen for sixty percent of the time and don’t speak for more than forty percent. Answer all questions from the potential customers confidently and expertly.  Can your sales script generate AHA moments where the customer responds positively to your communication.

End up on something

The goal of every sales conversation is to move to the next step in the sales process, it should not be terminated without some conclusion. The customer can either accept or reject what you are offering depend on factors such as relevancy, your proposition, uncovering pain and accepting that not acting will cost them. Sales conversations should not end up like this; I will call back soon when will you have time to discuss it? It should be YES/NO from the customer side.

Final Words on Sales Scripts

The use of sales scripts is not any guarantee of sales success, however it does give a map, a guide and a template personalized to a customer set or market segment. The old sales tactics of annoying people by randomly calling them does not work!!. If you fail to understand the challenges or pain points of your customer, do not bring insights or value then you have little chance of engaging them successfully.

Therefore, implement the above-mentioned tried and tested ways to write an effective sales script to support your sales training lead generation. Hope you have found this post useful.

Soft Sales Skills Training – The Digital Sales Institute

The program highlights the skills for the way we think, the way we interact with others, how we manage ourselves, and how we communicate.At the conclusion of the program, you will be able to:1. Describe ‘soft skills for sales’ needed to succeed in your workplace of today and the future2. Identify your own sales tendencies for the various skills3. Recognize when soft skills are needed in different situations4. Initiate a personal growth plan

Source: Soft Sales Skills Training – The Digital Sales Institute

 

The program highlights the skills for the way we think, the way we interact with others, how we manage ourselves, and how we communicate.
At the conclusion of the program, you will be able to:
1. Describe ‘soft skills for sales’ needed to succeed in your workplace of today and the future
2. Identify your own sales tendencies for the various skills
3. Recognize when soft skills are needed in different situations
4. Initiate a personal growth plan

B2B Sales Training Video Example

B2B sales training video example to help a salesperson improve their sales knowledge. We know that salespeople need regular access to sales training and there are a lot of options available online. But before you hand over any more of your hard-earned revenue on sales training, check out these free sales training videos.

To help you find the right ones, we have selected a range of sales topics to create a list of B2B to sales training video example. Learning new sales skills is a source of great accomplishment, and that feeling of accomplishing something is one of the best motivators anyone of us can have.
But sales training does not have to be expensive, The Digital Sales Institute brings a better model of learning for salespeople to learn the critical selling skills needed to be successful. A whole series of bite sized, easy to digest sales training videos, worksheets, tips and tricks and quizzes.

B2B Sales Training Video – Selling Definition

Selling is crucial to business success but is often a task that many new salespeople are unprepared for. Fortunately, sales and the various selling skills can be learned plus being able to sell can be done without being aggressive or having a degree in business. Here are a few traits and skills needed to be a successful salesperson:

In one of our B2B sales training video lessons on our Sales Skills 101 online sales training program we cover why the most successful salespeople have the ability to build long-term relationships with customers. They think long-term about how they can leverage the current sale into more business in the future from the same customer or with referrals.

Another video in our training modules covers active listening skills. The old sales method of attempting to talk the prospective customer into buying without finding out what the customer actually wants is long gone. Customers buy solutions or things that make them feel good. You can’t do that if you don’t know what the customer needs or wants.

Experienced salespeople understand that tenacity plays a big part in selling successfully. They know that it takes patience and probably several interactions over a period of time to make a sale, so they never give up on a qualified customer. Instead, they have a follow-up system to stay in touch with prospects or customers. They use their sales oar to keep themselves focused on the prize.

The ability to self-motivate is another important life skill. Successful salespeople have a high level of initiative and constantly look for new opportunities to learn or explore. They always view setbacks as learning experiences. They hold themselves accountable for their performance and don’t blame others or the current market conditions for lack of success.

The Status Quo Remains One of the Biggest Challenges in Selling
The reason: implementing a new solution always presents more short-term challenges than the vision of a future state. If change causes buying, then buying requires the customer to undertake a “change management project”. However, the customer’s preference for the status quo is more complex than avoiding short-term hurdles. Researchers at Cornell University and the University of Chicago have learned that a phenomenon called “sudden-death aversion” explains why the status quo is so immovable. In our online sales training programs, we go into depth across a number of our B2B sales training video lessons on how to overcome the dreaded status quo (I’m alright/not right now) scenario.

You may be interested in learning, that research discovered that buyers choose a “slow” option that avoids the short-term risk at the cost of lesser odds of future success when it came to making decisions. Buyers tend to choose to avoid short-term risks even if doing so puts them on a path to losing. Avoiding short-term risk is logical. The problem, however, is that this avoidance is so strong that buyers often choose an option with lower odds of success because it puts the risk of failure further down the road.

A change management project like switching, implementation, hassle, and adoption root customers to the status quo, a choice that avoids these responsibilities but ultimately leaves them in a less-than optimal position. This pattern of thought leads customers to the sense that they are “tempting fate” and taking a risk that doesn’t need to be taken. Unfortunately, this thinking leaves customers anchored to the status quo. It also leaves sales professionals with a roadblock to overcome.

Every buying decision large or small has consequences in the future.” In B2B buying and selling situations they are more and more stakeholders involved with the buying process, meaning it can drag the “slow” option even more, which is adding more complexity and time to many sales.

Mind the Sales Gap
At the core of every sale, there’s a gap. It’s a gap between what buyers have now (status quo) and what they believe they want in the future, between who they are now and who they want to be tomorrow, or even where they are now and where they want to go.

Remember one of the basic rules of selling – No problem or no pain equals zero chance of a sale. Problems get you to the impact and the impact is where urgency, value, and need live and where the sale takes root. In every sale there’s a gap. Never sell to need. If you only solve the problem your buyer thinks they have instead of the one they really have, you haven’t helped them at all.

Gap selling is a process of tactfully challenging buyers’ assumptions, exposing (and sometimes confirming) the true size of their problem, then correctly assessing the impact it will have on their lives. All sales are about change. Customers buy because they’ve gotten uncomfortable and have identified something that will ease their discomfort.

Customers do like change when they feel it’s worth the cost

Any B2B sales training video will help you learn that sales happen when the future state is a better state. You can’t sell a future state (where your customer wants to be) unless you have a firm grasp on your customer’s current state (where your customer is now). Our most important role as a salesperson is to use our sales skills to help facilitate our prospective customer’s buying decision process.

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Categories: Sales Training

Source: B2B Sales Training Video Examples – The Digital Sales Institute