Sales training ideas – A note on honesty when selling.

Okay, I finally reached the end of the car buying road today. Coincidentally, the salesperson I liked the most ended up having the best deal. Funny how that happens.

Now that all is done, it amazes me when I look back on everything I went through in the process. Just remember this, one of the most important sales training ideas: EVEN THE PERSON WITH THE LOWEST IQ ON THE PLANET  HAS A BUILT IN BS DETECTOR; when you don’t shoot people straight, they usually know it.

I heard statements such as, “This deal will be below my cost, we’re actually losing money on this deal.” And, “It will actually cost us more to get your car (trade-in) fixed, than it would cost you because we’re a big car dealership and they’ll take advantage of us.” That’s in addition to flat out lies such as when I had a deal on a car, then they came back and said “Hm, actually after looking over your car a “second time”, we have to give you $1,000 less.”

The point is: The guy who eventually sold me a car was on my side and he was honest. I knew he and the dealership were making money and he didn’t hide it. He pulled up all sorts of information on the web and educated me on what to look for and what I was getting. He is also the guy I had to call to tell I was buying the car somewhere else, before that deal fell through. I went back to him because he was kind, courteous, and respectful in defeat. He said, “If there’s ever anything I can do to help, call me.” From the moment I met him he was always professional, helpful, and treated me with respect, while being honest.

That’s the lesson for today: be straight forward and honest and have the customer’s best interest in mind, because if you don’t, the customer will know it and you won’t feel very good about yourself.

Sales Training – Selling Tip # 2 – It’s all about focus

When selling, you want to make sure your focus is completely on the other person and how you can help. Your objective is to be of service and do everything you can to work in that person’s best interest.
People have a sixth sense, or a built in barometer that tells them when you are more interested in making a sale than you are in helping them out. When you focus completely on the other person, are honest, straight-forward, and do what is in their best interest, they pick up on this and this helps to build trust and credibility, while also making you more likeable. Trust, credibility, and likeability are the most important aspects of the salesperson-customer relationship. When you have these in place, people want to buy from you and they also want to come back again and send friends and family to you.

John Chapin – co-author of Sales Encyclopedia www.completeselling.com

Sales Training Tip #1: What it takes to be successful in sales

You really need 3 characteristics to be successful in sales, they are:
1) Positive Attitude – With a positive attitude you will do what needs to be done when it needs to be done, which of course is the path to success. If you are new and you don’t know what to do, you must find out and attitude is important when finding out what you must do.
2) Enthusiasm – This is tied in with attitude but is slightly different. Enthusiasm is the passion, the drive, that gets you up early and keeps you up late. It’s what makes you go the extra mile.
3) Hard Work – Nothing can take the place of hard work. It is also a good idea to work smart however, when you are just starting out, you may not know how to work smart yet, thus you must do the hard work to get the job done.

With the right attitude, enthusiasm behind that attitude, and the hard work to back both of these up, you will eventually succeed.

John Chapin is co-author of Sales Encyclopedia www.completeselling.com

Sales Training Ideas – Why prospects focus on price.

How many times have you found yourself in a price war when competing for business? How many times has a salesperson found him or herself in a price war when you were the purchaser?

When one does not understand the real differences in two or more products being considered, 99 times out of 100 price will be the deciding factor. Why? It’s the one clear difference.

It’s simple, if Box A is assumed to be the same as Box B, and Box A is 1 dollar, whereas Box B is 2 dollars, obviously you’ll buy Box A because it’s half the price of Box B.

Now intuitively we all know that there has to be a reason why Box B is twice the price, but if we talk to the salesperson for Box B and she does not differentiate the two, or show why Box B is twice, or more than twice, as good as Box A, we’ll assume the person selling Box B simply priced the same product as Box A at a higher price and thus buy Box A.

Most prospects and customers don’t know our products and services as well as we do. They also do not want to put a ton of work into the process of getting educated or finding out all the differences for themselves, they rely on the salesperson for that. Many will test us by simply saying, “Hey, this one is half the price of yours, I’m buying this one.” If we don’t then do a good job of educating why we are twice the price and instead get into a price war, they will assume that price IS then the only difference and buy on price.

The bottom line: Assuming you price your product with integrity, the only way your product costs more money than a competitive product is if it is more valuable than the competitive product. When a prospect pits you against the competition based upon price, they are really saying, “Okay, the only difference I see is price and your higher priced, so I’m not going with you. If price IS the only difference you will cut your price to or below your competitor. If price is not the only issue, you will now educate me as to why your product is more valuable.”

Again, people assume the higher priced product is more valuable and they are waiting for you to educate them as to why. Many salespeople go straight to price assuming that is the quickest way to the sale, and through their actions tell the prospect, “My product is NOT more valuable, price is the only difference, and now I’ll do what I can to cut my price.”

Educate as to why your product costs more and build as much value as possible, cut price as an absolute last resort.