Developing Your B2B Sales Skills
Unique Skills for Business to Business Selling
I was having a long dialogue with several clients during the past two weeks and the subject of Trade Shows came up. Seems there is concern over the return on investment with participating in trade shows.
So I did a little research to check out what the experts were saying about Trade Shows and got some interesting information.
So, first, trade shows are still considered a valuable investment due to three factors…
Been doing some observation work with several b2b sales people and have noticed one thing. Most of the sales people need to ramp up their ability to really listen to their customers.
Again the signs are there for us to learn. Our customers and clients actually want us to listen and comprehend and understand what they want and need. It is our job to deliver these results by listening aggressively.
The truth is most b2b sales people are trained or have behavioral styles which are very adept at presenting and talking. Sometimes they can even ask questions after being trained on the Questioning Model of B2B Selling.
However, the question remains – are they really listening to what is being said by the customer?
Often listening is the one skill sales people take for granted. Their expectations are limited to believing they are naturally good at listening. Therefore, there is very little time and effort applied to learning exactly how to actively listen.
How about some b2b sales tips regarding the reasons to learn the skill of listening?
Recently I have observed several sales people doing customer calls and noticed a glaring deficiency in their skill sets.
Quite simply it is the ability to engage their customer with their storytelling skills or in their case a total lack of story telling skills.
The ability to capture the imagination of the customer and quickly engage or engross them into your story will give you a huge competitive advantage over the feature and benefit legions calling on your customer.
Really? Nice Voice Mails Get Deleted!
Welcome to the new world of the busy executives and decision makers. Anything not related to what they need or gets their interest is in automatic delete mode.
Most B2B Sales People call a targeted prospect and leave the following voice mail…
Earlier I wrote an article about how the buyer does not need the b2b sales person anymore. And, this statement or information is true. Yet, there are some systematic issues which are creating confusion within the sales organization.
Okay, first, the amount of product knowledge training is still out of control. During the Great Recession, companies figured they could constraint expenses by using more product knowledge training – which could be handled by internal staff rather than outside sales advisers. The data has been showing organizations have been spending upwards of 85% of their “sales training” budgets on product knowledge.
Second, it is true product knowledge does help the sales person to be more creative in recognizing sales opportunities when they are dropped in their laps. And, a side effect is the higher confidence factor when a b2b sales person understanding their products and product lines well.
Third, the majority of product knowledge training is a total waste of time and resources!
Before you think I have totally lost my mind, take a moment to read what I have to say about this topic – because I believe it has more Truth than I thought I would see in my lifetime.
Sure I read the book from Neil Rackham – one of the most acclaimed sales researchers in modern times – as he stated buyers do not want to be bothered by aggressive and pushy sales people anymore. That much I truly believe is correct based upon my interaction with so many buyers and decision makers.
Yesterday, I listened to a Marketing Expert talk about how much times have changed relative to actually how much a buyer needs a sales person. He stated prior to the widespread use of the internet, buyers actually needed us for product information and ideas for solving their problems.
Today, that has changed, the buyer can get as educated as they want from their laptop or tablet by searching the internet for product information, success stories, how to use our products, applications of solutions and even do some price comparisons – all without a sales person to talk with for one minute.
Does that ring any bells for you?
Okay, so what do you need to do to counter this change in need focus on the part of the buyer?
Over the weekend I had a couple of conversions with sales people who started their part of the conversion by stating…
“Man, I’m busting my butt at work – been putting in long hours at the office.”
They were using this statement as some sort of badge of honor for victim-hood. I know I sound a little hard on these folks and I know it sounds harsh on those who feel the same way as my friends. Well, so be it.
The true is we need to work hard at our professions if we are going to keep up today. The real question is “what ” are you working hard on? This is the key to understanding the big picture of life.
Based upon your answer, you could be setting yourself up for future success or future downturns.
I know the above statement sounds very absolute – like an either – or situation. True is it is fairly close to an absolute issue based upon both experience and some high performance research.
Now, before I get too far into this b2b sales tip and my comment box gets full of objections, I will say I have found some exceptions. The key word here is “exceptions” rather than a norm.
The key point here is optimistic b2b sales people usually are more successful in the long term than their evil twin the pessimistic b2b sales person. Now, I use the term “twin” for a specific reason. When a b2b sales team have all been trained in the new b2b sales model and have equal quality accounts to call upon, then they are twins relative to the opportunities presented.
However, the truth is the optimistic group usually out performs the pessimistic group over the long term. Why? Because they miss more opportunities due to things like destructive self-talk, slip of the tongue events with buyers, and a lack of positive energy to demonstrate and energize the buyer.
Recently, I was reviewing what is working and not working on phone calls with customers or potential customers (my version of prospects – just sounds more positive to me.) And, there seemed to be seven statements that scream “I’m a Sale Person about to Try to Sell You Something!”
Now, I’m a b2b sales person with some serious wear and tear in the b2b sales world. And, I remember being taught to actually use these phrases by some pretty good sales trainers in a different time period for b2b sales.
However, times have changed. The “good ole boy” network is dying or dead. Customers have no time to lose or use for talking with sales people except for focused and purposeful dialogue about improvements. In fact, in many industries, due to the commodity pricing (and buying) – buyers are actually telling suppliers to stop sending b2b sales people to their offices. They prefer to buy using an electronic or internet connection for ordering – to lower their costs.
Times have changed. Therefore, it is your responsibility to lose the seven phrases that scream “old school sales person – beware!”. Because the buyer will disconnect from you either literally or figuratively – by not actually listening to anything else you say.
So here are the big seven you will want to lose from your prospecting calls…
How about a provocative question to start the week? Yet, it is a great question to ask of sales people.
Do You Really Know How People Decide to Buy?
I know you will answer with many of the same answers I have used during the years of b2b selling. Here are many of the typical responses to this question…
Okay, once again, focus upon the real question – How Decisions are Made – rather than what you sold them.
Now if you are like most people (and I was included in this group until a few years ago), assumptions were made based upon our experience in selling, what sales trainers had told us and other externally driven answers. However, precious little thought time was devoted to learning how the decisions are made.