Introduction to sales

A 2-day workshop

When staff are new to sales it can seem daunting, especially when they have targets to meet. If the staff you need to promote your products and services get it wrong then it can knock their confidence and negatively impact how your customers see you as an organisation.

This programme provides staff with the basic skills they need to sell and enables them to:

  • Understand their customers and their needs
  • Identify potential new customers
  • Build rapport
  • Assess customer needs
  • Introduce products and services
  • Gain commitment
  • Maximise sales with existing customers

Learning objectives

This course will help participants:

  • Profile customers
  • Research and identify potential new customers
  • Use the consultative sales process
  • Build effective rapport with customers
  • Identify customer needs through effective questioning and listening
  • Position products and services effectively
  • Close the sale or gain commitment to further action
  • Manage their customer portfolio to maximise sales

Who should attend?

This innovative and practical course is most suited to staff who wish to develop their sales skills and provides a solid foundation on which to build as well as the opportunity to develop existing skills. The course introduces many powerful concepts from research in social psychology and behavioural science, which make it both lively and engaging. The techniques are quick and easy to learn and have a rapid impact on performance.

Format

A practical, interactive two-day session for a maximum of 12 participants. There are lots of different activities throughout – group exercises, short skills practice sessions and assessments of real calls or video clips – as well as formal inputs from the trainer.

 

The style is very facilitative and learner-centred, taking into account the needs and preferences of the group on the day whilst at the same time delivering the programme as agreed with the client in order to meet the specified learning objectives.

Special features

The majority of the training we deliver is either tailored or completely bespoke. This workshop can therefore be delivered entirely as advertised, or it can be tailored to your particular requirements, or we can simply take it as a starting point for a conversation with you before we draft a completely bespoke programme for you – the choice is yours. As a rule, there is no additional charge for this service.

 

This course can cover complex sales that require prospecting for new customers and active portfolio management or it can be amended to cover more straightforward sales of products and services in the retail environment. It can be tailored to cover face-to-face, telephone or web-based sales staff.

To get the absolute best from this training we also offer workplace coaching after the training to support staff as they develop their skills and ensure that the training has an immediate impact on sales performance.

1 Introduction

  • Aims and objectives of the training
  • Personal introductions and objectives
  • Self-assessment of existing sales skills
  • Overview of content

2 Knowing your customers

  • Who are your customers, and what do they want from you?
  • What are your strengths, compared to your competitors?
  • Who are your new potential customers?
  • How do you communicate with new customers?
  • What do you need to know about your customers before you start to sell?
  • Making the initial approach
  • Planning your pipeline – keeping the customers coming

3 The four-step sales process

  • Overview of the consultative sales process
  • Key benefits of using the consultative sales process
  • Focusing on behaviours not targets
  • The behaviours of a good salesperson
  • Common pitfalls and mistakes
  • Personal strengths and weaknesses

4 Building rapport

  • First impressions – Mehrabian theory of communication
  • Short cuts to building rapport
  • Looking out for clues as to how the customer is thinking
  • Looping back to keep the conversation flowing
  • Acknowledging past communication
  • Dealing with emotions such as anger
  • Setting the agenda to keep control
  • Getting past gatekeepers

5 Questioning and listening

  • How to ask open questions to uncover information
  • Left brain questions
  • When closed question can be useful
  • What stops us listening?
  • The four levels of listening
  • How to develop your listening skills

6 Presenting products and services to customers

  • When to present
  • Using benefits not features
  • Making it personal
  • Using reciprocity
  • The tendency towards the middle
  • Using consistency

7 Gaining commitment

  • Testing the water
  • Dealing with objections using ACLEO
  • Asking for the business
  • Getting referrals
  • Ending with a personalised close
  • Following-up

8 Managing your customer pipeline

  • Spotting opportunities for cross-sales
  • Managing your portfolio
  • Maximising sales proactively
  • Review meetings
  • Customer satisfaction measures and surveys
  • Mystery shopping

9 Putting it all together

  • Skills practice
  • Personal learning summary and action plans

Any questions? Please just give us a call on 01582 463463 – we’re here to help!