• By JC Calhoun
• Published 04/18/2010
• Non-Fiction

Introduction How do successful sales people personally approach and consistently involve their prospects in a positive manner? Why do your less-than-stellar sales people alienate the prospect before they even have a chance to present your company’s product or service? Are they being too aggressive? Are they moving their prospects down through the sales pipeline? Possibly they are tired of struggling, fruitlessly attempting to get people to buy. Ongoing Training Sales people are not born with sales success. It comes from sales training and effective ongoing coaching. Successful sales people continuously seek to expand their knowledge and strengthen their skills. They also possess the ability to present the company’s product or service in the best possible light. Star performers know how to forge a bond with the customer or prospect and thus gaining an edge over the competition. Focus Makes a Difference Star performers sell where they can create the most value. Keeping focused on winning new, repeat and referral sales is a challenge for many sales people. The best sales person attains sales success through systematic qualification, planning, and managing progress to target their most valuable and profitable sales opportunities. They increase their efficiency and effectiveness by selecting and focusing on the most valuable prospects, quickly identifying and lowering the priority of less valuable situations. Effective Coaching

Selling skills

are trainable, but it is important to know what level of skills your sales teams have and how effective they are when in front of a customer or prospect. The only way for you to assess these skills is to be out with them on sales calls. Xerox found that 87% of sales skills taught in training are lost without coaching in the field. Getting out with your sales teams and assessing their presentations will help reinforce the desired skill set. It will also identify areas where each individual needs to learn to become more skilled. If you want improvement, then ride with your sales teams. However, have a clear and well thought out plan of what is to be accomplished on the call. Remember you are there to coach, not sell. Conclusion

Increase the ability of the sales organization to deliver results by highlighting sales opportunities by project and customer over time. Provide new product training and competitive edge information. Spend as much time as you can with your sales people out on calls, assessing their skills and reinforcing what they do well. Coaching is most effective in the early stages of the sales funnel where there is opportunity to improve sales effectiveness. Outrageously reward your high sales performers. Finally, your sales force comes in 4 flavors: Poor Performers, Under Achievers, Solid Performers and Star Performers. I have a saying…You cannot polish what will not hold a shine. Spend your valuable time with the Under Achievers and the Star Performers for maximum sales results. You should provide support to the Solid Performers and explain and show what you want the Poor Performers to accomplish.

JC Calhoun is an innovative strategist providing consulting and CRM advice. A dynamic leader with ability to increase value by correcting operational deficiencies. JC identifies improvement opportunities in sales, distribution, P&L, and business operations. Contact: http://www.inforockers.com

by JC Calhoun