Sales person or a trusted advisor. Who are you?

So this past week in our weekly training session, we were discussing the topic of “mindset” as it relates to conversational selling with prospects.  To illustrate this concept, I placed one of our new client’s sales representative, who considers himself a very good sales person, into a role-play at the start of class.  The set up was this…pretend you’ve just sat down with a new prospect that is really interested in your services and just run the first 10 minutes of your sales call.  Simple huh?  As the rep began to work his way through the role play, it was evident that he was uncomfortable and really was not sure what he was trying to accomplish on the call.  Before too long, he was committing P.P.S. symptoms, Premature Presentation Syndrome!

After about 10 minutes, I stopped the role play and we debriefed the good, and not so good.  Then, I instructed him to perform the exact same role play only this time, act like you are the prospects “friend and trusted advisor” and that he has millions of dollars in the bank and does not need this sale.  Almost instantly his tone and body language immediately changed and he started to be more genuine and authentic in both his questions and his answers.  Before long, he had the prospect selling him on why he needed to use his company and services.  The light bulb went off from everyone in the class about how much pressure we place on ourselves and our prospects during a sale call.  We spent the next 15 minutes talking about personal presence and what you are exuding during our first 10 minutes of meeting someone, especially a prospect for the first time.

Clint Babcock, Partner with the Sandler Training, is an interactive and engaging trainer that has trained thousands of sales people and sales managers.  Clint works with Business Owners and companies that are struggling in the areas of sales Strategy, Structure, Staff, and Skills.  Through ongoing reinforcement coaching and training, Clint has been able to help companies grow revenues and greatly increase their closing percentages.  Clint often is called on to speak at national sales meetings and various associations. Clint can be reached at cbabcock@sandler.com.