Helping salespeople improve their skills like actors, musicians, and athletes improve theirs.
The unspoken assumption every salesperson I've ever worked with has had about the role is that there's basically two primary parts to our job, and it wasn't until recently that I came to realize there's actually three. The two everyone agrees on are; 1. Uncover pains/needs/goals 2. Position our solution as a match for the above Every sales training I've ever received, whether internally or from an outside vendor has focused on one of these two areas. but there's actually a third job, which is probably the most important of the three... It's something top performers due instinctually... it's something that I'm now flabbergasted isn't commonly trained on... The third job is Shaping the buyer's perspective. Shaping the way they see the problem, the cause-and-effect relationships they see in their business, the level of priority they put on different factors, the stories they tell themselves about how they got here and what it will take to change. If you can shape all that, then the job is more than half done before you've done your first demo. If you can shape that, then your win probability will soar regardless of how many MEDDPICC fields you do or don't have filled in. Big thanks to 🐒 John Bissett and 🐒 Calum Kilgour for helping me see the significance of shaping! #sales #salestraining
I would add a 4th which is change management. How do you do this at the individual level, AND show your buyer that the rest of their team will follow the new vision?
I like to support the local businesses in my community and have done so as often as I can in the thirty-plus years I've lived there. When the business is a service they provide (plumber, for instance) and it was a good experience, they never have to woo me with a sales pitch ever again. They're the first ones I call when a need arises. I believe the shaping Jonathan mentions above starts with not being a self-centered (commission-minded) jerk at the outset, continues through the transaction phase of the service whereby I feel like a mutual good deed has occurred, and is nurtured by a minimal or non-existent sales pitch for my business in the years following. Above all, think long term as a salesperson. Otherwise, our interaction feels one-sided, like I've been "had," and then I'm looking for opportunities for revenge (in the form of a bad reviews). Take it from someone who's had ample opportunities to hand money over to various businesses over the years--there's your shaping in a nutshell.
It’s the bit most sales trainers ignore. And possibly the most important element? Or up there at least.
Chief Revenue Officer, Syncron | Technology-Supply Chains-Sustainability | Helping people and companies embrace change and think differently.
2moAnd your sessions for us really brought colour - examples and safe practise with SlingshotEdge .. thank you. It was also the most fun training :-)