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Sales Training Manuals/Sales
As a sales consultant makes daily telephone calls to get appointments and give presentations, many have wondered why some buyers do not purchase when the advantages of purchasing seem so blatant – so logical. Over the years, we have thought that the answer to that was in building a trusted advisor relationship with the buyer, so that we could have more credibility. We have also solicited testimonials and other proof sources to help us with this.
We like to think that we are logical beings – that we lead our lives in some sort of intelligent and coherent fashion, and that our decisions are always levelheaded. This, however, is not the truth. It is, at its best, a laudable goal, and at its worst a delusion.
History has shown that everything from blood circulation facts, to doctors washing their hands, to applying anything new ends up being a decades-long admission that what we originally thought was incorrect. Only then do we start looking for new directions. Why is this true?
1. Nobody ever wants to be wrong.
This leaves us with prospects that manifest what I have called “the evil twins”:
1. Procrastination
2. Hesitation
The prospect appears to be "tracking", but will not close?
All sales are psychological, even when given a cloak of logic.
A definition of pain as it relates to selling is: Any actions or decisions, from a prospect's viewpoint that lead to emotional stress on a self-graded basis, and appears to them that they were incorrect in what they chose (an earlier decision).
The question becomes, "Why any emotional recall system that addresses these painful issues is necessary at all — within any sales process." Most types of presentation contain some form of a generalized recall system to make issues top of mind for the prospect. This is generally done by a needs analysis, or marketing materials. Unfortunately this does not quite do the job, as they do make the issue(s) top of mind, but leave them unhandled, and more alive than ever. This leaves the prospect reluctant to emotionally open up, or purchase.
There goes your trusted advisor status.
In each life, things happen that are not pleasant. Things that are physically or psychologically damaging – this is what we call pain. Pain stops all of us in our tracks, freezes us in time, and thwarts our goals and purposes, and in the case of psychological pain, we may not even be aware of it.
Everything in the present, because of new stressful issues, is then viewed through the prism of past painful issues. This is generally done sub-consciously, so we don't even know it (that's not nice). We like to think we get over things and move on – perhaps not. It can be a small pain or a very large pain; they all have the same effect of interfering with our attitudes, and our emotions that are centered on the area that the pain originally occurred in. Past painful decisions distort present reality and hamper our moving forward.
What a good recall system should give us, in sales consulting, is a tool that directs the prospect’s critical thinking skills to those areas of upset. Those areas of upset are discovered easily by use of a targeted assessment that the prospect fills out -- a Targeted Wants Analysis. Therefore, we are the working off what they perceive as an issue, not us. It is already in their reality, and their top of mind, and because of that they can handle it easily, with a little direction from us, as consultants.
A good recall process helps to desensitize an emotional issue, and make our prospect’s thought-software fully available to them unencumbered by bad, past latent energy. This permits a logical decision made in present time, on our product or service. If they purchase your services or not, you will have helped them tremendously.
A paradigm represents a modification from what is now being done. Paradigms are difficult, as one has to form new habits and replace the old habits. The exceptions are few, as most people getting new training, leave the training or read the sales training manual with the best of intentions to implement, but then slip back into the old habits and abandon the newly learned material in the heat of battle.
Sales Training Manuals and Rapid Sales Success Techniques
Pundits - (experts), write most sales training manuals. Most manuals would include the follow as chapters:
Company History, Mission Statement, Opening Procedures, Presentation, Closing Procedures, Handling Objections, and Daily Tasks.
Sadly, sales training manuals and sales training in any form have little impact. This is backed up by a number of studies that confirm that training does not change behaviors, attitudes, or results of the vast majority of sales consultants.
This is, obviously, a terrible Return On Investment. All manner of things have been investigated to determine the cause of this – Everything from the trainer, to the material, to the methods, management, and the sales consultants.
We’ve learned over the years that sales psychology must be employed, in the sales consultancy world, to become a consistent peak performer. We also know that coaching is required to get a sales consultant to a point of smooth and effortless delivery.
The same is true for the data in sales training manuals and sales training in general. There must be a coach. As sales consultants, we’re not only trying to absorb information from anything new, but we are trying to change some of our own basic behaviors - and that takes coaching, from a third party. After all, we are converting informational data from either written or verbal sources into action items.
Interestingly enough are the surveys that have been done on coaches and training companies to determine why training fails. These surveys point out the number one reason why training does not "take".
That reason is management.
Management leaves everything to the trainer, or to a training company, and they have no ongoing coaching. The trainer, coach or training company delivers the training, and then Elvis leaves the building, and everything remains the same.
ANY new skills, from any new training manual act as a paradigm for the student of those skills.
A paradigm represents a modification from what is now being done. Paradigms are difficult, as one has to form new habits and replace the old habits. The exceptions are few, as most people getting new training, leave the training or read the sales training manual with the best of intentions to implement, but then slip back into old ‘comfort zone’ habits, and abandon the newly learned material in the heat of battle.
Taking in, and absorbing information is one thing -- Putting information into practice is quite another. Maximizing success requires an observer to make sure that what was said in a sales training manual is actually being implemented in the real world.
Coaching creates a new ‘comfort zone’ for the new material. This takes a little time and discipline, but when done, the Return On Investment speaks for itself.
Transform your training with good ongoing coaching at implementation, and it will convert and transform the mediocre into the extraordinary.
https://www.createspace.com/3394922 (An Amazon Company)
