Member Article

Skills, Skills, Skills - Part Two

Skills, Skills, Skills - Part Two

Finding new opportunities, listening to your customers, and asking smart questions were three skills from last week. As I promised last week, I’m going to give you three more essential skills that will help you improve your performance, and increase your chances of winning more business.

Presentation skills

On many, if not all, of our courses we get attendees who are petrified of presenting and visibly shake at the thought of standing up in front of customers. The thing - is presenting isn’t just standing at the front of the room to deliver your sales proposal it is every time you meet your customers and potential customers. You are presenting every time you have a client meeting and sadly we all tend to get it wrong from time to time.

When you are presenting the customer doesn’t care about your products, services, solution, the number of staff you have, how many awards you have or the fact you have been in business for twenty years.

Let me give you a personal example - a painful personal example! Several years ago we were in the final two for a big contract. We were first up and for the first five minutes I presented information on us and what we did. The competition started like this: “In a short while we will tell you about us, but first we will show you how we will save you money over the length of the contract.”

Which do you think got most attention? Yes, big loss, and painful experience for me!

When presenting you need to consider the content and focus on what is important to your customer. Too many salespeople, me included in the past, deliver presentations by talking about their company instead of the customers’ needs and how you are going to solve them.

The delivery of the presentation is important and you should consider your delivery, pace and timing. You must rehearse it so that you are comfortable with it enough to deliver a great presentation. One way to improve your skills is to make a video presentation and meeting and then watch it later. It will be painful but it will help you deliver effective presentations.

Building rapport

People still buy from people, and it is important the salesperson builds a connection with the customer quickly. Building rapport means connecting with someone.

Years ago I was told whenever you meet a customer in their office, look for and then talk about something that is personal to the person you are meeting. Over the years I have talked about some crazy stuff and on one occasion I listened to some talk about Middlesbrough football club for fifty minutes – it was only a sixty minute meeting!

To build rapport you need to demonstrate your understanding of the customer’s business, needs and any problems they face. You need to speak their language.

As an example if a client has had a problem which has resulted in a loss of productivity or revenue you need to talk about it intelligently. If you do this right you begin to establish rapport.

Doing exactly what you promised also builds a rapport.

Persistence

Years ago I was chasing a potential customer who, let’s say, was avoiding my calls and didn’t want to speak to me. The main reason was that I hadn’t give him a solid reason why he should talk to me (see presentation skills above). I was convinced he would benefit from our services but just didn’t realise it. I never give up and was determined to get to speak to him.

I did get to see him, and we did get some great work from him but it took me nearly twelve months. ‘Persistence’ got me the first meeting. I sent a letter with a picture of me next to the Oxford English Dictionary section describing persistence. He saw the funny side.

So if you want success you have to be persistent and find ways to get yourself noticed. It doesn’t mean forgetting the prospect because he or she wouldn’t speak to you the two times you rang. If you think the prospect could benefit from your product or service don’t give up.

Next week I will give you another three skills to focus on. In the meantime if you want to improve your sales skills we have several learning opportunities for you including video, training course and events;

Selling skills – our new on-line sales training programme that give you access to some great tips, techniques, and strategies for 12 months. You can find more information at http://www.learnsellingskills.com/sales_training

Introduction to B2B sales a one day course will be running in Newcastle on Friday 18th October. For more information email me at michael@arrowsales.co.uk or phone us at 0191-2267366 or visit http://www.arrowsales.co.uk/training/introduction-to-b2b-sales

For businesses in North Tyneside and in conjunction with The North Tyneside Business Forum and The Business Factory we have a sales event on Thursday 10th October at the Village Hotel. For more information email me at michael@arrowsales.co.uk or phone us at 0191-2267366

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Arrow Sales Training Limited .