File Under Misc - Encouragement & Skills for New Salespeople

December 1, 2021January 14, 2022

The Truth and Nothing but the Truth

The next item on my list at the Big Box Home Improvement Store was a moisture meter for the garden. I checked the store’s app to see where I would find the item. The store showed nine in stock but no location.

The employee looked in his device and said the meters were in the Seasonal section at the front of the store. They were not.

The next employee I asked about the meter told me he knew where they were kept and I followed him to a shelf location—that was empty.

Remember, they showed NINE in Stock

He apologized and said they must be out. I showed him in the app where they had nine in stock but that no location was shown. He said, “Sorry, we must be out.”

November 18, 2021January 14, 2022

Don’t Settle for Being Part of the 80%

Why did you go into Sales?

I am fascinated by what people think sales is about.

Easy Money?
Easy Work? (Just play golf all day)
You were told you were a natural because you talk a lot
You can’t find a job so you go into sales
You take a job selling until a good job comes along

Easy Money?

It’s easy money. That’s what a lot of people think selling is. How many times have you talked to someone and that thinks that all salespeople do is drive around all day? If that were only true.

Selling is hard work. Prospecting, making phone calls, making appointments, having meetings, being told “we’re not interested”, building proposals, and more. A salesperson spends their day working to get in front of good prospects. Then they spend their evenings putting together proposals they hope will be excepted. Many days go from daylight to well past dark.

November 10, 2021November 17, 2021

First Day of Sales?

My first days in sales were a mess and I did not achieve quick success but persisted in my pursuit. What could help me achieve success quicker? I wasn’t sure of the answer but knew it was available because of seeing other’s success. I was fresh, raw, and untrained.

On my first day on the job, the Sales Manager said, “Here’s your catalog, there’s your territory. Now go forth and sell.” That was the complete sales training program in a nutshell. I was lost and it took me several weeks to make the first sale. A kind woman took pity on me and bought one case of toilet paper. I thought to myself, “This is not working.”

November 3, 2021November 3, 2021

How Serious is Your Sales Training?

Can we all agree that sales is a profession? If you believe it is a hobby or part-time job, you can quit reading now because this is for professionals only.

I’ve been thinking and writing about sales training a lot lately. Two particular articles, Are you the person responsible for sales training, and How necessary is sales training to your corporate success, reflect some of my philosophy.

I know that training is essential to a company’s success, yet I see salespeople struggling to succeed. Why is this? I can only work from my own experience, and with only one exception, it was not a positive one.

I understand the cost factor in extensive training, but I also know it pays off in the long run. Well-trained salespeople tend to stay longer on the job and make more sales at better margins. That is a win/win to me.

May 15, 2020November 5, 2020

If the Customer is Bored, It’s Your Fault

The sales rep I was working with that day had started his PowerPoint presentation, plowing through the thirty-five slides with maniacal fervor.
I was watching the customer; she was beginning to roll her eyes. She looked at me as if to plead for relief. I bumped the sales rep’s foot to get his attention, but his focus was intense.
Then I reached into the sales rep’s computer bag and brought out a sales agreement. That finally diverted his attention from the computer screen.

May 12, 2020November 5, 2020

Are you the person responsible for sales training?

When I started in outside sales, the Sales Manager handed me a 3-ring binder and walked over to a map on the wall. He raised his arm and, with an extended finger, pointed at the map, drawing a lazy circle around an area an hour from the office. He said, “We don’t have customers in this area, so you can call on anybody you like.” It was virgin territory with no list of customers or prospects. That was my training!

Time Passes

Decades later, I became the manager of a wholesale/retail business. In the beginning, I watched the operations to see how things ran. Quickly, I began to notice inefficiencies.

April 28, 2020November 5, 2020

Are Great Questions a Skill You Want?

Red letters with Questions with a blue question mark

“After every difficulty, ask yourself two questions: “What did I do right?” and “What would I do differently?” -Brian Tracy

Asking the wrong question over and over again will never result in a good answer. Over the years, I have witnessed ill-prepared salespeople ask the wrong question, ask a bad question, and get frustrated when the prospect shuts them down.

The Importance of Questions

Well thought out questions are a salesperson’s best friend. They help uncover problems the prospect is experiencing. It can help them discover ‘who.’

April 24, 2020November 3, 2021

How Important is Sales Training to Your Company’s Success?

” I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”
Muhammad Ali

Do salespeople need training?

Every new sales job I’ve started required some type of training. Whether it was for a new CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software or product knowledge, training is an essential part of onboarding a new hire. So why do companies fear training new sales reps?

Consider other professions

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