Sales Training To Grow People. And Grow Businesses

I’m in a Starbucks right now. I don’t drink coffee, but the person I’m meeting does, so here we are. For breakfast I ordered Starbuck’s PERFECT oatmeal. I don’t know exactly how long they’ve had it on the menu; I think it was new in late summer. I’ve had it 8 or 10 times now. BUT the last 2 times I’ve had it, it’s been far from PERFECT.

The last time we met here, my client and I both ordered it and instead of PERFECT oatmeal, we got oatmeal with the consistency of miso soup. We sent them back and got our PERFECT oatmeal PERFECTED, no problem.

This morning while I was in line, another patron was turning her PERFECT oatmeal back in. Reason? Too runny. A small debate ensued behind the counter. The posted instructions on how to prepare PERFECT oatmeal were scrutinized. The other patron was given a 2nd rendition of PERFECT oatmeal.

Undeterred, I ordered mine. When I popped the top after the prescribed 3-minute waiting period, my PERFECT oatmeal was shriveled like a raisin. Humpty-Hump from Digital Underground might like his “…oatmeal lumpy” but Biggie Neale doesn’t.

The lesson: Never name anything PERFECT. The expectation is WAY TOO high.

Practice this (expectation management) in every aspect of your sales life.

• Never commit to fulfilling what you don’t know you can fulfill.
• When discussing price, always start high.
• When there are problems or concerns, lead with them.
• Make lead times longer than they’ll be.
• When something’s wrong, call the prospect/customer immediately.

I was going to title my next book THE PERFECT SALES BOOK. Now maybe I’ll call it THE PRETTY GOOD SALES BOOK.

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As many of you know, we have a channel devoted solely to Caskey videos. This is everything from Sales Training Q&A to Ask Caskey videos where we take a question each week and post an answer.

I also recently recorded a new video on How To Sell During a Recession. This is Part I of two parts.

Link to You Tube Videos

We’ll let you know as more are uploaded.

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This situation occurs in about 1 in 3 sales training sessions I conduct. It’s one of my favorite (not really) things to hear from salespeople:

I GOT THE VERBAL!

You got the verbal? You got nothing.

If you’re a professional salesperson, you probably already know this. If you’re new or struggling, here’s the tip:

IT’S NOTHING UNTIL IT’S SOMETHING.

Deals go bad. Prospects lie. Things change. All of these events can change the VERBAL in a New York minute. So what should you do?

1. Watch what they do, forget what they say: If someone gives you a VERBAL, take it at face value and keep your own emotions and expectations in check.
2. Drive the process: Once the VERBAL comes, it’s your job to drive to an end. Share the crystal clear steps: i.e., Thanks, Joe. Here is a document that outlines specifically what happens next.
3. Stay mentally behind the deal: Everyone around you will want to “get excited.” Not you. You stay even-keeled. You get excited when the money hits your checking account.

Last but not least. No matter who asks, never again say: I GOT THE VERBAL.

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Do your presentations leave people cold? How would you know? Salespeople need to be good at presentations. Period.

And the rules are changing as well. You’ll need to stop selling and begin educating and connecting with people.

Here, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale talk about some tips to use when doing a presentation. They cover a few. Then you can email them at listener@advancedsellingpodcast.com to get the PDF of the rest.

Other blogs/podcasts mentioned in this week’s podcast:

Seth Godin blog
Ultimate Sales Chick podcast
Sales Leadership of Indianapolis

 

 Presentation Tips (13:10): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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I recently spoke at a women’s sales conference, The Sales SheBang (www.salesshebang.com). It was my first time participating and only the 2nd year for this conference. What an awesome event!

The 3-day event started with an expert summit. The presenters and a few invited guests were given time to present on a subject where they have expertise. As some of you may know, I have an “alter ego,” the Ultimate Sales Chick. I do a podcast (listen at www.ultimatesaleschick.com), so I did my best to teach the ins and outs of podcasting. The other women shared wisdom on everything from writing your first book, to really understanding who you know and how to leverage your connections.

The next 2 days were spent in breakout sessions, either teaching or attending. What a blast! I taught on the power of personal value in the sales process. I didn’t realize how ironic that would be.

To be honest, at first I shied away from presenting at the conference. Wouldn’t we all be teaching the same thing? How much value could there be in each of us putting our thoughts and feelings behind our subject matter? I know, maybe I should start drinking my own Kool-Aid!

I learned some huge tactical lessons, but, more importantly, I learned some huge life lessons:

1. Every woman had the intent to help the other participants—no ego, no ulterior motives.
2. There was an ABUNDANCE of knowledge and an unending generosity to share it.
3. Because we are all very different, each lesson was unique. I heard lead generation discussed in 3 different ways and took something different from each!

What can you take from this, especially in crappy times like this when we tend to feel a bit nervous, desperate and worried? Go serve! Go talk to other people you may be able to help or connect. Heck, go talk to your competitors. Think outside the box.

My personal values (and yours) make our products unique. Don’t bury your head in the sand. Learn from the wisdom around you. Celebrate it. Share it.

It comes back tenfold.

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In this week’s episode of Caskey Q&A, Bill Caskey talks about how you can effectively communicate the value of the products that your company offers to your prospective customers. This is great information because the better you can communicate your value to a customer, the more apt they are to buy from you. Make sure you check back every week for the latest episode of Sales Training Q&A.

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After a fair amount of work, we’ve launch a new website (blog) that is designed to give leaders of teams some of the same content we’ve provided here. It’s called Leadership Insights.

We recently opened  the Leadership Institute of Indianapolis. It’s an academy to help tomorrow’s leaders become better. And the blog Leadership Insights will help you sample some of our philosophies.

And yes, we’ll be combining some of our marketing and sales tips with leadership development.

Coming soon, we’ll have a video tutorial for emerging leaders. It’ll deal with how to lead and manage more effective teams.

Our goal at Caskey is to continue to give you highly-applicable, new strategies to help you grow your business.

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Bill and Bryan go to the mailbag this week to answer two questions from their listeners: How do I ease my way in to new accounts when the account’s been transferred from another salesperson? and How do I have my boss see that this is a better way to sell? Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale address both of these issues.

 

 Questions from Listener Mailbag (12:06): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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You’ve heard the saying, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” Well, if you haven’t heard that, you just did, so consider this your lucky day. Well, we have a cousin saying: “How you show up, determines what shows up.” Sales trainers Bryan Neale and Bill Caskey discuss the notion of how you show up on sales calls. And they help you get your mind right to do so properly.

 

 How to Show Up (12:28): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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