Ask Roxanne!
Dear Roxanne,
I am a salesperson in a company that I like, but I know it's not my final home. I'd like to use my time in this company to build my sales skills so that when I do choose to move on, I have dynamite skills both for hiring and for doing my new job. Problem: my current management is terrible about feedback. I need to know what skills I should be working on, and in what way. Can you help?
– Kenneth R.
Dear Kenneth,
There's nothing as heartening as an employee who's yearning to improve, and nothing as irksome as an employer who can't or won't help them do so. Fortunately the skills that make a great salesperson transcend industries and employers. I'll walk you through them, then the rest is up to you. Good luck!
– Roxanne
Do you have a question about how to handle a situation or a relationship in the workplace? Ask Roxanne!
What Makes a World-Class Salesperson?
When it comes to assessing a sales team, sales managers often ask themselves questions like, "Who’s a hard worker?" or worse yet, " Who do I like best?"
These may be fine qualities for a mail-order bride, but when it comes to salespeople, likeability and even hard work don't necessarily add up to the thing that matters most: closed sales. Instead, five basic competencies should form the backbone of ongoing assessments for sales managers and self-assessments for salespeople:
- Selling skills. All right, wise guy, I heard that. If assessing salespeople on their selling skills sounds as obvious as assessing beekeepers on their beekeeping skills, why are selling skills so often completely ignored in assessment plans? Too many sales managers see salespeople on the phone all day and think it MUST somehow add up to sales. This just in: Even a monkey can hold a phone. You need to ask yourself whether your salespeople are exhibiting the basic skills that make sales happen. Do they know how to find and nurture solid prospects to keep the sales funnel full? Do they know how to ask the right questions? Do they know the difference between the end of a conversation and the closing of a deal? These and a dozen other skills add up to genuine sales competency.
- Communication skills. Can your salespeople make complex ideas simple? Can they get customers talking by asking open-ended needs questions? Do they move easily among the three perspectives (I—you—they)? Are they outgoing, energetic, and people-oriented? Do they really LISTEN as well as speak?
- Presentation skills. Presentation is more than just communication. We've all had the experience of listening for an hour to a smooth and gifted communicator whose actual message we can't remember to save our lives. Presentation requires an understanding of form—the creation of a psychologically effective whole, with a beginning, middle, and end, that gives the listener not just information but comprehension. A presenter is constantly assessing his or her presentation through the eyes of the listener and making a human connection that brings mere information to life.
- Product knowledge. All of the above skills add up to candy-coated squat if a salesperson doesn't have a soup-to-nuts, quick-draw understanding of your products. Pop quizzes work wonders.
- Personal growth. Show me a salesperson who's convinced that he's as good as he can get and I'll show you a dude on the way to obsolescence. While he's busy polishing his trophies, hungrier salespeople who know there's ALWAYS more growing to do, more techniques to perfect, and more skills to build, will eat his lunch.
Three Self-Assessments for Sales People
The five competencies, the seven habits, the ten commandments of sales—it all comes down to three little questions the best salespeople should ask themselves in the mirror as often as possible:
- KNOWLEDGE. Do I KNOW what I need to know?
- SKILLS. Can I DO what I need to do?
- RESULTS. Do I SEE the results I need to see?
Are you Ready to Discover Your Impact and What it Really Could Be?
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Attend Permission to Be Extraordinary™ August 4-5.
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For more information:
Online: Event details
Call: 1-800-236-5885
Call today for more information or to reserve your seat in this life transforming event: 1-800-236-5885.
"Permission to Be Extraordinary gave me the confidence to know I could take my company to greatness"
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(profits increased 44% the year following PTBE)
"Permission to Be Extraordinary gave me the confidence to know I could take my company to greatness"
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(over 25% ROE the year following PTBE)
The Proven Formula for Tapping into Your Team's True Potential!
Do you ever get that gnawing feeling that you've only tapped the surface of what's possible for you and your organization? Are you in the "trance" of work and feeling stuck? Would you, if you knew how, want to transform your organization, your job, and your life?
Lead The Transformation™ is for leaders from all industries who KNOW there must be so much more and have decided to play the big game and tap into it.
Attend Lead The Transformation with a team of your top "movers and shakers" October 6-7.
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This two-day session is focused solely on transforming a culture quickly and advancing that breakthrough. Attendees will discover they DO have the power to create meaningful and lasting change in the workplace to get craziness out and results in!
Call today for information or to reserve space for your team:
1-800-236-5885.
You will want to bring at least four to five people with you so you can go back and effect massive change quickly.
Don't Miss This Powerful Opportunity to Grow and Transform!
July is Maestro Month—an unprecedented offering of more than 70 FREE teleconferences from world-class leaders such as Deepak Chopra, Jack Canfield, Marianne Williamson, Michael Port, and John Gray.
Whether you are on the front line, part of the management team, or the run the show, you will definitely benefit from the insights if these thought leaders.
I'm humbled and thrilled to be among the presenters.
Attend My Free Teleconference:
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Date: Tuesday, July 14
Time: 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time
Don't miss this opportunity to discover how to:
- Replace a "Why we can't" with a "Why we CAN" attitude.
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This will be a fully interactive experience on MaestroConference, a new technology that allows you to engage me and other participants as if we're in a live workshop. Sign up today!
Register now to gain access to my teleconference and up to two other calls during Maestro Month (spaces are limited and have been filling fast so don't wait).
Feel free to forward this offer to friends! |
