Sales Training: If You Can Answer Yes to These 5 Questions You Don't Need More Sales Training

By: Cheryl Clausen
Submitted: 2007-01-17 15:34:49
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Fewer than 15% of the people entering the insurance, financial planning, or real estate industries will last longer than 3 years, according to industry experts. Of those that make it past the 3 year mark, 20% will barely hang on and 20% will be the top producers. So what about the 60% that want to move closer to the top 20% and keep themselves out of the bottom 20%? Will more sales training be the solution to your quest for greater success? Well if you can answer yes to these 5 questions the answer is, no, more sales training isn’t what you need to increase your success.

1. Am I able to secure and hold appointments with suspects?

2. When I identify a suspect as a prospect am I able to move the prospect through my sales cycle?

3. Do I know what to do and say to obtain a sale with a prospect?

4. Do I know how to do what I need to do to obtain a sale with a prospect?

5. Do I have enough knowledge in my area of expertise to answer most questions that prospects have?

At this point you have probably had extensive sales and knowledge training. You may have been told that it’s just a numbers game and that if you put enough suspects into your sales funnel that you are guaranteed to have a certain number come out the bottom of your sales funnel. So no matter what you want your income to be you just have to work the numbers backwards and presto, there you have it! Hmmm, how’s that working for you? Exactly what I thought! Hello, you aren’t selling widgets! You have chosen a career that is highly relational. In a relational business working the numbers is working unnecessarily hard for little or no return. By now you realize that something just isn’t working, but you probably haven’t figured out what isn’t working and why what you are doing isn’t working.

Have you noticed that many of the other people in your industry that are in the 60% club with you have been in the business for years? If experienced and knowledgeable people in your industry can’t break out of the 60% club in spite of their experience and knowledge, how can you ever hope to break out of the 60% club? Do those in the upper 20% just seem to have star power that you don’t have? Is it possible that there is a way for you to get into the top 20% club and develop this elusive star power that the members of this group seem to have? Yes, it is entirely possible. We’ll talk later about how to develop star power.

What does the top 20% in your industry know that you don’t know? What do they do that you don’t do? What skills do they have that you don’t have? What are these elusive things that enable them to work less than you do yet earn more than you do? Why do clients seek them out and walk past you like you’re chopped liver? Why are people attracted to them and want to be associated with them? Let’s look at 3 of their top income producing secrets!

Secret #1

People aren’t born with star power they develop it. In your relational business whether you call it star power or charisma it is a skill that you can develop and you can develop it effortlessly. You too can become charismatic unless you are self-centered and egotistical. People who are charismatic are that way because they have developed the talent of making other people feel important. Don’t believe me? One of the most successful and charismatic women in business was Mary Kay Ash. Whether you like the products that made her legendary or not, you can’t logically argue against her star power or her financial success. She believed that everyone she met had a sign on their forehead that said, “Make Me Feel Important”. Can you argue with that?

In your relational business when you make other people feel important how does that impact your business? First, you must understand how to make other people feel important. You make other people feel important by asking questions about them, truly listening to them, and by empathizing with their needs and concerns. Most of you are pretty good at asking questions, you just don’t listen to their response. You are too busy thinking about what you are going to say next and figuring out how you are going to ask them questions that get them to respond in terms of you. Just in case you aren’t aware of this, that’s called manipulation. How well do you like people that you feel are manipulating you? Once you are able to put others ahead of you and your needs, your relationship with that person begins to develop. As your relationship develops they come to feel comfortable with you and trust you. As their comfort and trust increases what happens to the likelihood that they will either directly do business with you or refer others to you? Starting to get stars in your eyes?

Secret # 2

Everyone you meet is a potential prospect. How many times have you heard that? While the statement in and of itself may be true, it is a guaranteed recipe for working harder with fewer rewards to demonstrate your efforts than those in the top 20% club. When you are determined to hold steadfast to the position that you can sell to everyone, you look like everyone else in your industry and you stand out to no one! You are a NOBODY! Looking like a sheep is comfortable and you will meet a few other people who don’t mind working with a sheep if you just happen to meet them at the right place at the right time. Happy grazing! The alternative is to be the goat, sheep dog, or anything other than a sheep that prospects can easily identify as being different and more valuable to them than a sheep. This does not prevent you from selling to anyone it just helps you to become recognized by someone who can become your client. It helps you to become SOMEBODY that other people want to work with.

Secret # 3

Those in the top 20% club don’t sell anybody anything they just help their clients to buy what they have told them they want to buy. Rather than helping your clients to buy, you race your red hot little sales car through every red light at every intersection you cross and you don’t even know that you are doing it! Don’t believe me? At your very next selling encounter that doesn’t end up with a sale I want you to think back and ask yourself at what point(s) did your client seem to disengage or look physically uncomfortable? For many of you this will be a very difficult assignment because you have a presentation that you like to follow and you just keep speeding ahead hoping the client will end up at the same place at the same time you do and make a commitment to close the sale. Some of you have a specific service or product that you want to sell and you keep attempting to move the client closer to this decision in spite of having been told by the client that it isn’t what they want. Arm wrestling and speeding through red lights do not develop relationships let alone long lasting relationships that can put more money in your bank account with less work on your part. When you behave like this you are being a sales person and you are not helping your clients to buy. So how do we help them to buy? Again we go back to; ask questions, listen, and empathize with your client so that you are both working together to help them solve their needs or concerns.

In summary, you don’t need more sales training but you do need to learn and follow 3 secrets practiced by those in the top 20% club. You have the knowledge and skills to be in the top 20% club. You now need to learn, develop, and implement the secrets practiced by the most successful people in your industry. Become charismatic through your genuine interest and concern for others. Be the red jacket in a crowd of gray suits. And most importantly stop selling and start helping people buy.

Article source: Expert Articles