Sales Training Connection

AUGUST 6, 2012

It is one thing to list why a customer should do business with you; it is another to be able to relate a past success stories that brings that list to life. Relate details. Set the stage for the story with details that a physician can relate to. In a previous blog we included tips for successful story telling.

Health Care 111

Health Care Training Relationals Positioning 111

Sales Training Connection

DECEMBER 12, 2012

Being able to relate past successes related to high-value customers that resemble your prospective customer is an extremely powerful sales technique. Success Stories. Reps require help developing the skills to tell those stories.

Sales Qualified Lead 108

Sales Qualified Lead Banking Ideal Customer Profile Lead Rank 108

Sales Training Connection

DECEMBER 3, 2014

Given that the respondents were rating their own sales training, that is a relatively telling percentage. We wondered what the number might have been if the survey had asked salespeople the same question. We suspect worse news.

Training 99

Training Survey Sales Coaching Report 99

Sales Training Connection

OCTOBER 6, 2014

The survey also revealed that “while many middle managers are motivated by the type of work they do, significant issues exist among many of those occupying the middle management ranks, related to: declining opportunities to progress professionally. a lack of the decision authority to get their jobs done.

Motivation 98

Motivation Chemicals Lead Rank Lead Scoring 98

Sales Training Connection

NOVEMBER 11, 2014

Can you relate a customer story or describe the research that demonstrates your product does what you say it does? Second-level product knowledge refers to the application product knowledge relative to the customer’s business challenges. How do they impact productivity, risk, expense and revenue?

Face-to-face 91

Face-to-face Competition Engineering Account 91

Sales Training Connection

JULY 11, 2012

First, let’s review a major pitfall that should be avoided and then explore three strategic considerations related to understanding the competition. Other related blog posts you might find interesting are: Eight ways for sales reps to differentiate from the competition. The Pitfall. Selling value is more important than ever.

Competition 100

Competition Ideal Customer Profile Training Relationals 100

Sales Training Connection

OCTOBER 21, 2013

Can you relate a customer story or describe the research that demonstrates your product does what you say it does? Second-level product knowledge refers to the application product knowledge relative to the customer’s business challenges. How do they impact productivity, risk, expense and revenue?

Face-to-face 97

Face-to-face Competition Account Engineering 97

Sales Training Connection

MARCH 14, 2012

Considerations related to life style flexibility and non-cash rewards are becoming increasingly important for many people. What happens when a sales rep leaves for a competitor, “taking” many of the accounts along – as often happens in some markets, like medical device sales? Bottom line – sales rep turnover matters.

Hiring 117

Hiring Territories Compensation Churn 117

Sales Training Connection

APRIL 23, 2012

This combination of trends is especially true in those portions of the medical device market that generate the largest profits: CRM devices, cardiology, spine-related devices, and orthopedics devices. At the same time physicians are more willing to accept a medical device offered at the lowest price as long as it meets quality standards.

Health Care 112

Health Care Decision Maker Training Benefit 112

Sales Training Connection

OCTOBER 13, 2015

Let’s explore those questions by examining some research from my old colleague Neil Rackham related to conditions that tend to increase the probability of the existence of a Consequence Issue and some early warning signals of actions by the customer that all is not well. How do we detect these Consequence Issues? Unjustified postponements.

Trends 50

Trends Relationals Buyer Sales 50

Sales Training Connection

APRIL 27, 2015

Some relate to the mind-set and attitude of the sales rep receiving the coaching while others pertain to how the feedback is provided. A part of the receptivity issue also relates to the content of the feedback. There are many reasons why giving feedback often fails to make a difference. So, receptivity is an issue.

Sales Coaching 50

Sales Coaching Coaching Call-back Objections 50

Sales Training Connection

JUNE 4, 2012

Large organizations are not just big little organizations. They possess a higher level of complexity that makes them qualitatively different. That’s why navigation in a larger organization is difficult and why it is relatively easy to “get lost” when you are engaged in major account selling.

Strategy 112

Strategy Territories Call-back Competition 112

Sales Training Connection

MAY 4, 2016

Perhaps the one that has received the most attention relates to treating sales training as a “process not an event.” A second, less talked about but equally important, consideration for optimizing the investment relates to how the sales training is designed in the first place.

Training 50

Training Ideal Customer Profile How To Territories 50

Sales Training Connection

MARCH 28, 2016

In the past a lot of good ideas related to sales improvement have never made it out of the other end of the tunnel and Sales Enablement is not immunized against such an end. Although a number of pitfalls await, one that we believe desires particular attention relates to the grand old idea of “not putting the cart before the horse.”.

Sales Enablement 50

Sales Enablement Relationals Exact Sales Leadership 50

Sales Training Connection

JANUARY 25, 2012

Let’s take a look at an idea that relates to giving coaching feedback and begin with this premise. Some relate to the mind-set and attitude of the person receiving the coaching while others pertain to how the feedback is provided. Obviously a part of the receptivity issue relates to the content of the feedback.

Sales Coaching 76

Sales Coaching Coaching Face-to-face Construction 76

Sales Training Connection

MARCH 26, 2014

The sales manager needs to make sure the same is true for successes – this is helpful to the sales rep and to other sales reps who might be taking the same journey in the future. Collect best practices. As sales coaching efforts unfold good ideas will emerge relative to what sales reps looking to change need to learn. Document these best practices!

Sales Coaching 135

Sales Coaching Coaching Face-to-face Commission 135

Sales Training Connection

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

Can you relate a customer story or delineate the research that demonstrates your solution does what you say it does? How do they impact those previously noted outcomes like: productivity, risk, expense and revenue? And can you fine-tune these narratives based on whether you are talking with a customer engineer versus the CIO?

Ideal Customer Profile 121

Ideal Customer Profile Face-to-face Training Engineering 121

Sales Training Connection

AUGUST 9, 2016

There is no attempt to relate the findings from the study to the specific needs and concerns of the physician in question. Using words like: I, me, we, and us in relating to the findings reduces the third party value of the study. Most importantly tie back the findings to the benefits for the patient at every opportunity.

Data 50

Data Study Fashion Call-back 50

Sales Training Connection

MARCH 7, 2012

Becky Quick one of the anchors on CNBC recently related a personal story in Fortune that not only rings true, but reminds me – and I suspect many other women – of one of the “deadly sins” of selling. Quick goes on to relate a similar story shared by Anne Mulcahy – former CEO of Xerox. But it turned out not to be that easy ….

Buyer 78

Buyer Training Relationals B2B 78

Sales Training Connection

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

And, as expected, most of the references related to software. One of our Sales Training Connection friends – Colletti-Fiss – did and found 360 million results! They narrowed the search by putting “definitions of” in front and 429,000 results appeared.

Face-to-face 100

Face-to-face Software Software Google 100

Sales Training Connection

MARCH 5, 2012

So, let’s step back and explore three important fundamentals related to selling value in B2B markets. The senior sales leadership needs to establish policies that relate pricing to customer value and the cost of doing business. It’s not product-centric. It is helpful to remember that products have no inherent value.

Maximizer 92

Maximizer Policies Discount Call-back 92

Sales Training Connection

APRIL 13, 2012

Gain agreement on the purpose of the call. Establish the customer’s permission to ask questions. As is usually the case, there are some common mistakes – Opening mistakes are relatively easy to overcome if you just keep them front of mind. The three most telling mistakes are: Wrong Time – Wrong Place.

Sales 114

Sales Training Relationals Research 114

Sales Training Connection

AUGUST 1, 2016

A classic example of the latter was the recent development of a virtual reality product sales training curriculum developed by one of the leading MedTech companies that enables sales reps to actual walk through a human heart to better understand the clinical factors related to implanting their latest absolvable stent. Internet Company.

Training 50

Training Lead Rank Trends Ideal Customer Profile 50

Sales Training Connection

MARCH 25, 2015

One aspect of this ownership relates to what is done before the program. For example, front-line sales managers can be invited to serve as table leaders to relate the learning to the real world and orchestrate feedback – Marketing can be invited to serve as participants to provide and gain insights.

Training 50

Training Exercises Survey Case Study 50

Sales Training Connection

NOVEMBER 10, 2016

All sales managers get a tremendous amount of internal requests from top management related to answering ever-popular questions such as: Are you meeting your sales figures? Third, they can identify the time sinks and fourth, they can identify whether it would make sense to invest in tools or additional support personnel to help the cause.

Top of Funnel 101

Top of Funnel Funnel Face-to-face Ideal Customer Profile 101

Sales Training Connection

AUGUST 14, 2013

The second reason why more than one might be the right answer relates to that ever-haunting issue of “unpredictability.” The difference may be a matter of factors such as: expertise, access, internal credibility or personal relationships.

Buying Cycle 103

Buying Cycle Account Training Strategy 103

Sales Training Connection

JUNE 6, 2016

Examples of knowledge would include knowledge related to: product, marketplace, company background and sales best practices. What does this look like? Let’s over simplify a bit and divide all the possible content into two bins labeled – knowledge and sales skill.

Training 50

Training Study Negotiation Maximizer 50

Sales Training Connection

JUNE 4, 2014

While her five points were written to apply to all managers – we thought salespeople would be able to relate to them. Suzanne Peterson , an ASU B-school professor shared five ways bosses annoy their staff. Avoid sending cryptic messages asking to see a staffer. “Give me a call sometime today, I’d like to talk about something?”

Sales Management 123

Sales Management Face-to-face Pivotal Sales Leadership 123

Sales Training Connection

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

Too many people involved is inversely related to how thoroughly an issue is discussed. This is a great way to present a solution that assembles exactly what the competition is presenting – an opportunity to differentiate is missed. The “Rule of 7”– the maximum number of people that can effectively participate in a meeting.

Account 116

Account Scale Lead Qualification Training 116

Sales Training Connection

OCTOBER 4, 2016

Our best suggestion is to restrict the term sales process to mean the overall set of steps you take from the beginning to the end of your sales cycle to win the business and avoid using the term interchangeably with concepts related to sales models and frameworks. You have just adopted a new questioning model.

Sales Process 113

Sales Process Scale Territories Sales 113

Sales Training Connection

DECEMBER 1, 2014

So, pick 5 blogs that relate to your learning needs and read them on an ongoing basis. There are 100s of blog sites about sales – clearly some are better then others. But you can find recommendations throughout the web to help sort that out. White Papers.

Sports 128

Sports Coaching Training Competition 128

Sales Training Connection

JANUARY 8, 2014

An additional role for the Call Manager relates to follow-up accountability. The specific responsibilities of the Call Manager include: opening and closing the call, managing the agenda, ensuring that each team member gets airtime at the appropriate time, and redirecting the call when necessary.

Meeting 116

Meeting Call-back Distribution Software 116

Sales Training Connection

JANUARY 12, 2015

Although it related to leadership programs across functions, we thought the finding would be particularly important for Senior VP’s of Sales and Sales Training Managers. Build in the specifics related to your industry and company. McKinsey reported an interesting research study on leadership training.

Sales Leadership 50

Sales Leadership Face-to-face Study Training 50

Sales Training Connection

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

Here are five key findings that related well to Sales: Nine in 10 respondents say an entrepreneurial attitude can lead to new ideas that promote growth in a tough economy. Nearly half the respondents believe management support is critical, but only one in five believes their company delivers it.

Health Care 112

Health Care Lead Rank Infusion Decision Maker 112

Sales Training Connection

APRIL 13, 2012

Because of unique talents, skills, and attitudes every sales rep is particularly good at certain tasks and activities related to bring value to their customers. Because of the increased importance of creating value by the way you sell, perhaps it’s time to add the notion of a Personal Value Proposition. What might it look like?

Competition 124

Competition Sales Coaching Training Coaching 124

Sales Training Connection

MARCH 19, 2012

Do you have a related effort not going well that should be recovered and completed before pursuing this, or might you be “on a roll” where the halo effect increases your odds? Assess whether this opportunity leads to related work. Are you in a situation with the customer that lends itself to you closing a future sale?

Lead Qualification 115

Lead Qualification Lead Rank Lead Scoring Leads 115

Sales Training Connection

OCTOBER 24, 2013

Finally show them how you, better than anyone else, can help them to make the leap from where they are – to where the want to be. Fourth, sequence your presentation content based on importance. It is a good idea to sequence the order of the information presented relative to its importance – first things first.

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Proposal Sales Training Groups 129