Tag Archives: Sales Advice

How to Develop Your Selling Skills

Sales Blog, The Navigator News, ,

Last week, we talked about the need for salespeople to build and expand their selling skills in order to adapt to, and compete with, artificial intelligence.  This week, let’s talk about exactly HOW to develop your selling skills.  “But, Troy, I work on my selling skills all the time!”  No, you probably don’t, if you’re like most salespeople.

I ran a poll on the biggest LinkedIn sales group.  I asked, “On the average, how much time per week do you spend improving and practicing your sales skills, not counting time you spend selling?”  The results were about as I expected:  “Less than one hour” – 48%; “1-2 hours” – 32%; “2-5 hours” – 13%; “more than 5 hours” – 7%.  That old 80/20 rule really is looking valid on this one.  So, how should you be practicing?

My recommendation is this:  Pick one critical skill of selling, and work on it each week.  Next week, pick a different one, and so on.  That will keep you from getting bored and falling into a rut.  The critical skills are:

Prospecting:  Work on your approach.  There’s no prospecting approach that can’t be made better; in many cases, making it shorter makes it better.  Your initial approach statement should be 10-15 seconds – no more.  That goes for telephone prospecting (you do that, right?) or live, face to face prospecting.  Refine it, hone it, improve it, and test it.

Questioning:  The most important skill set in questioning.  Develop two new, great questions to ask a prospect.  Practice them, and more importantly, practice LISTENING ACTIVELY to the answers.  Repeat and refine.

Presenting:  You already know that I don’t like one size fits all presentations.  However, I do like a “modular presentation,” where you are prepared at a moment’s notice to present on different benefit/feature combinations, or aspects of your service.  Think of it as a mental “slide deck” where the slides can be rearranged, inserted, and deleted on the spot.  Practice one “slide” per week.

Proposing:  Present price and terms confidently and in a way that doesn’t invite distrust or uncertainty.

Closing:  Practice getting comfortable with asking simple, to the point, closing questions – and then shutting up.

Handling objections:  Make a list of common objections, and then come up with your first, best response to each one.  Practice clarifying, isolating, and resolving objections.

As I said, rotate these around to stay fresh and incrementally build your skills over the long haul.  And practice.  Most salespeople don’t practice skills except in front of the customer.  That’s dumb.  In front of the customer, mistakes cost you money.  In your office, it costs you nothing except a little time and a little pride (if anyone else sees).

And here’s the mentality you should use in your practice.  Some of you know that I am a former and reformed wrestling fan (today’s product is just insulting to the intelligence, in my opinion).  Still, I like listening to podcast interviews of past wrestling personalities.  It’s mind candy for when I drive, and I drive a lot – but occasionally, something really profound emerges.

One such profundity came from a wrestler and wrestling trainer named Dr. Tom Prichard.  The host and Prichard were discussing a particular dangerous wrestling move that had been botched on a recent show, and could have caused paralysis or even death.  Prichard said, “People shouldn’t do moves that they don’t know how to do.”

The host agreed and said, “Practice till you get it right, right?”

Prichard said, “Nope.  Practice until you can’t get it WRONG.”

Wow.  That’s pretty profound, isn’t it?  There’s a big difference, as I thought about it, between “until you get it right” and “until you can’t get it wrong,” and it’s the difference between conscious thought and habit.  I encourage you to follow Dr. Tom’s advice.  Whatever technique you are working on, practice it to the point that you can’t get it wrong, and you won’t.  How much does that take?

It depends on you and your mental makeup.  Studies show that habits form at 21 repetitions.  Maybe it takes that much for some techniques; maybe it takes less than others.  I’d suggest that when you realize that you aren’t having to invest the same level of conscious thought to get through a particular technique, you’ve got it.  Then, when you’re in front of the customer, that conscious thought can be invested in paying attention to the customer, their reactions, and their words.

Because – even though they aren’t practicing the way you are – the customer is always the star of this particular show.  Don’t forget it, and keep working to develop your selling skills.

What I Won’t Be Offering During COVID-19; But I Will Offer Sales Advice

The Navigator News

Sales Advice I Can Offer For Today

I don’t need to tell you, right now, that we are undergoing a huge upheaval in our society.  I obviously don’t know where you live or what measures are being taken during the COVID-19 crisis. But I can tell you that in Kansas City, where I live, the steps have been positively draconian.  Bars and restaurants closed, and public gatherings of more than 10 people banned.

As I scroll through my LinkedIn feed, I see basically three types of posts.

  1. The first is outright panic.  No need to elaborate; you see enough of that already.
  2. The second, posts on good health practices and common-sense adaptations during the COVID-19 issue.
  3. It’s the third type of post that bothers me and to be perfectly honest, it’s a type of post I considered and then rejected.

I see a lot of opportunistic posts attempting to capitalize on the panic by offering ‘quick fix’ services.  And again, full disclosure I thought, very briefly, about offering some sort of “teleselling during COVID-19” online program.  And then I rejected it for several reasons.

First, I find that kind of opportunism crass.  It’s only a slightly more palatable version of the guy who filled a U-Haul with hand sanitizer and attempted to price gouge.

Second, and more importantly, it goes against my philosophy that selling isn’t a quick transaction; it’s a long game.  And the long game for Sales Advicethis thing is back to normal.  The epidemic has already “nosed over” in China and South Korea.  In 60 days, COVID-19 will be over.  Perhaps 30 days. And when it does, the money spent on those quick panic fixes will be wasted.  Honestly, even if I offered such a program, it would be at least two weeks before I could put it on.  I figure best case scenario, someone books me 3-4 weeks from now.  By the time they implemented, COVID-19 would be essentially nosed over, and we are getting back to normal.

Don’t get me wrong, I love working with my clients.  I’m coaching two this week.  We’ll spend some time, of course, on the short-term effects, but as usual, we will be working the long game, because that’s where the big wins happen.  But I won’t be offering any “Virus specials,” or the like. (Admittedly, if this is still going on in 60 days, I might change my tune. But I don’t believe it will based on the numbers and evidence that I have seen).

So, I’m not an epidemiologist, a doctor, or a health professional.  Nor am I an emergency services worker.  I’m a participant in the economy, in the area that drives the economy.  So, the best I can do is keep doing my best.  And in that vein, I’ll dispense some sales advice.

Do your job the best you can

Do your jobs as best you can.  On Wednesday, September 12, 2001, I made a sale, because I was the only salesman from my industry that showed up to the customer.  I didn’t do it to be crass; I offered the customer the chance to reschedule if he found the sales call offensive.  But, I explained, since I’m not in law enforcement or an emergency worker, the best thing I could do was to help keep the economy moving and so there I was.  He agreed, and we signed the deal. It wasn’t a huge one, but it was a very important one.

Continue to Make Sales Calls

If you can continue to make sales calls (if your customer is fine with it and you are fine with it), do so.  If you’d rather make them by Skype, do that. And if you can’t make a sale, focus on offering your customer value DURING THE CALL.  Find a way to help make your customer’s life easier. Find a way to make your machines last just a little longer, work a little better, etc., and pass it along.  Your customer will remember it.

Practice Hand Washing and Social Distancing

If you’re making your sales calls live and in person, observe all the normal good hygiene procedures.  Wash your hands well (do I really have to say that?).  Carry sanitizer in your briefcase if you can, and offer it to your customer.  Don’t shake hands if you’d rather not.  A speaker once gave me this advice to avoid getting sick when I speak:  “Shake everyone’s hand that wants to after you speak. Then, treat that hand as if it is radioactive until you can get to the bathroom and wash it thoroughly.”  I’ve observed that advice for ten years and it works.

Continue to Do Your Job

The best sales advice I can offer is to DO YOUR JOB.  This might seem overly dramatic, but as salespeople, we are economic soldiers right now, and anything we can do to help keep the economy moving, and people working, is a service to our country.

If you can (I can’t because of the aforementioned rules), be brave and eat lunch out.  Tip the servers, in fact, over-tip them.  They’re doing their jobs and struggling, too.  If not, maybe get take-out and tip whoever brings your food to the counter.

We will all get through this.  We all just need to do our part and as salespeople, our job is to do business.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  Certainly, if you have loved ones that are especially at-risk, take all the extra precautions.

And no, I won’t be offering any specific services to capitalize on the panic. (I’m not hoarding toilet paper, either.  What the heck is up with that?) Instead, I’m sharing sales advice and I’ll be doing MY job.  If conventions are held that want me to speak, I’ll speak (with the aforementioned radioactive hand).  I’ll train salespeople, not to sell in the short term, but to build quality relationships and produce long term growth.  If companies need help hiring salespeople, I’ll help. I’ll perform the sales audits for my clients.  And I’ll continue to coach business owners and sales managers for long term profitability and growth.  And, if we all do it well, we can weather this storm and continue to prosper far more than any “MAKE SALES DURING COVID-19” seminar could ever do.

We’ve got this.