Sales Training & Coaching

Do you have salespeople who can't find enough qualified leads?  Who spend months wining and dining prospects with nothing to show for it?  Who "wing" big presentations and lose the business?  Who know a lot about the product, and very little about the customer?  Who are always "busy," but seldom effective?

My friend, your organization needs a dose of Market-Obsessed Selling:

Selling that attracts prospects through principles of lead generation marketing.

Selling that focuses on helping your customers and prospects make good decisions, rather than pressuring them to buy from you no matter what.

Selling that paves the way for a successful long-term relationship based on mutual value, not never-ending discounts and "special considerations."

Selling that cuts the sales cycle way down by using the buyer's own concerns and objections to close the deal.

I lead sales training for large and small. companies.  I can create the programs, write the materials, lead the sessions, plan and implement small group and individual follow-up coaching.  I can also adapt any decent sales model or training that you're already using.

The popular sales models have three main flaws:

1. They rely on the salespeople to be extremely analytical.

Most successful salespeople are driving, fast-talking, competitive, relationship-building creatures of hunch and intuition.  Have you ever seen what happens when you stick a bunch of them in a room and ask them to use templates and research tools to get really analytical about their accounts?  It's a little like trying to toilet-train a piranha.  It's hard, it's harmful to you and them, and why bother?

Market-Obsessed Selling ties a quick and dirty analysis to immediate action, which top salespeople love.  We don't analyze for the sake of more information, but because it's going to get us closer to the sale.

2. They are hard to implement, because they ask salespeople to look and feel awkward in front of clients with commissions on the line.

There's a big difference between learning a new skill and actually applying it.  Sales training is like teaching someone to juggle.  You can't do it by lecture, e-learning, discussion, or reading.  They may understand perfectly what to do, but the only way to learn how to do it is to do it. 

Selling differently means feeling awkward - have you ever seen a beginning juggler lunge all over the place trying not to drop the balls?  How would you like to feel that way about your profession?

Because commissions (and often the job itself) are at stake, getting salespeople to practice the new, weird skills is like having a beginner juggle Faberge eggs.  They're too nervous to even let go once.

Market-Obsessed Selling doesn't stop with the classroom.  We spend more time reinforcing, supporting, brainstorming, and reminding after the training than in the training.  We help salespeople practice in a safe place, and take small next steps in front of customers.  We also help them talk with customers about the selling process itself - it's amazing what happens when you tell people what you're doing and get them on your side!

3. They assume that salespeople have much more time than they really do.

This one kills me.  Have you ever seen the look on salespeople's faces when you give them a huge form to fill out?  For good salespeople, any activity that doesn't involve a decision-maker's signature is dismissed as "paperwork."  The sales trainers create cool templates and detailed analysis tools, complete with boxes for buyer's role, type, importance, DISC profile, favorability rating, etc., and nobody is using them!  Salespeople need simple, results-oriented tools that sacrifice complexity for ease of use.

Salespeople don't have time to spend days in training.  Because if they're in a classroom, they're not selling.  And only selling increases their income.

Market-Obsessed Selling uses simple tools that serve the salesperson, not the other way around.  And we don't spend even ten seconds on bogus role-plays or simulations.  All training sessions are customized to your actual opportunities.  That means your salespeople are learning to sell in better and more effective ways at the same time they are doing their real work.  Each salesperson leaves Market-Obsessed Selling with an action plan specific to them, with assignments, deadlines, and accountability for results.  They leave the training so energized to sell, you won't recognize them.

Not convinced?  Good.  Don't believe what people say about themselves. 

Read the articles and tips on this website. Check out an old article I co-wrote, on why traditional training basically sucks, and what to do about it.

Check out some testimonials from real clients of mine. 

Sign up for my fortnightly ezine, the Motivated Marketing Letter.

If you like what you see, try me risk-free: get my do-it-yourself marketing course, "Leads into Gold," and try it for 90 days. If you don't like it, return it for a full, prompt, and cheerful refund.  Imagine your sales force implementing these powerful strategies.

If after all that, you think that my personal attention can give your business the boost it deserves, give me a call at (919) 323-3167 or email me at howie@howieconnect.com.