Sales Training Motivational Speaker | Gavin Ingham» Closing the deal

The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 10

Gavin Ingham — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:50:29 +0000

So, it’s week 10 of The Sales Apprentice and we’re down to six; Natasha, Suzy and Jim facing off against Helen, Tom and Melody. Just looking at the last six I was left feeling pretty uninspired. They are none of them without their shortcomings and I don’t think I would be investing £250k into any of them from what I’ve seen and that’s before we see them torn limb from limb in the interviews and hear what crackpot business ideas they might have…

And I wasn’t that inspired by tonight’s task either! I have to admit that I think it would have been better weeks ago as a warm up and I’m not sure how much value it was adding at this late stage in the game unless Lord Alan is planning on setting up a market stall!

Lord Alan was in his element tonight but then he loves to talk about his roots trading, restocking and buying more tat to shift on to some other hapless punter. Tonight’s task? To sell £250 worth of stock provided by Lord Alan, notice what was selling, buy more of it, sell more, invest in more etc. No need to worry about left over stock as Lord Alan would add this into the final figures. Thed team with the most stock and money after two days would win.

Simples, you would think, but not for our Apprentices…

Sales training tip: Don’t make simple things complicated. Stupid people make simple tasks appear really complicated. Clever people make really complex tasks seem really simple. On tonight’s task the Apprentices strayed away from what was a simple task and made it all rather more complicated that it needed to be.

As a sales motivational speaker, I see this all of the time…

Melody stepped up to be PM saying that she had not been PM for weeks and was duly elected. Over on the other team, Tash stepped up but was challenged for the role by Suzy. Jim had the final vote and he cast it for Tash perhaps sold by her bragging about “operational experience.” She doesn’t striike me as that being her strongest suit and I’m not sure if her comment to Suzy about being “over the moon” that she was in her team because of her sales skills was ironic or serious. I thought it was serious which, if so, is an opinion based somewhere near the capital of La La Land as Suzy has looked distinctly rocky in this area previously, most notably in her total screw up in a market she should have known well in Birmingham.

Out on the street, in what was effectively a glorified car boot sale, Jim was knocking out nodding dogs and cheap looking brollies. Again, I am struggling to understand why Lord Alan thought that at this stage yelling, “Roll up, roll up and buy my brollies and tacky nodding dogs,” was of any use to anyone?! Surely, this is not what he has planned for the winner!

Jim was getting into it and proved yet again that he is the master of the meaningless encounter. Give him a stranger, a quick impulse purchase and the opportunity to give it a bit of blarney and he’s off. Nick smiled (no really, he did) and said he was beginning to like him… well… a bit anyway.

Suzy, meanwhile, was wandering around affluent West London streets trying to sell duvets and blankets door to door. I am not quite sure who she thought was going to buy these but none of that mattered because she gave up far too easily before returning to the car and falling asleep!

Sales training tip: Know your product. Know your customers. Know where your time is best spent.

Bad salespeople waste their time knocking on every door and speaking to every prospect. Bad salespeople wear themselves out and make few sales.

Good salespeople know their product, know where there customers are, know why they are going to buy and know how and when to approach them.

But if Suzy has got it wrong, Helen and Mel had lost the plot entirely and were wandering into retail outfits trying to sell their wares. Clearly, this task was about selling to the public and this HUGE faux pax would no doubt cost them dearly.

Over on the other team, Tasha was trying her best, yeah, to give them a run, yeah, for their money, yeah. But as a leader she was coming across as a bully. She appeared disinterested in her team, what they had to say or their feelings. And she was defensive too. Plus she totally missed the whole point of the task to the extent that she was still defending her refusal to reinvest in new stock even after Lord Alan told her she had missed the point in the boardroom!!

But, whilst Tash was patronizing Suzy, Mel and Helen were gifting the task back to her by not only continuing to promote their just plain daft idea of selling to retailers but by also not reinvesting in the nodding dogs as Tom had asked them to. Infact, Helen was so unimpressed by Mel’s lack of strategy that she attempted a coup at the end of the first day, suggesting Mel should sell and she should take over as PM in charge of strategy. As you can imagine, Mel was not impressed.

Sales training tip: Have a strategy. Without a strategy salespeople run around like headless chickens. Without a strategy salespeople waste time, energy and effort. Without a strategy you are unlikely to hit your targets, maximise your sales or develop the business that you want.

One of the big themes of today was that neither team leader had a strategy… or if they did, they were bonkers! Mel reinvested in totally random products that just made no sense and she had no idea how she was going to sell them. Tash refused to reinvest sufficiently and missed the whole point of the task.

Jim though was continuing to charm the birds from the trees with his own slick patter. Nick was feeling the love. “He’s found his forte,” he said. I’m not sure it’s what he meant to say but his “compliment” was effectively endorsing Jim as a market trader. Nothing wrong with that but maybe not what Lord Alan wants to invest in…

Let’s face it, making impulse sales in the street is more about upbeat attitude and engagement than anything and it most certainly does not require advanced selling skills but you might have thought it did to hear them talking about how Tom had stepped out of his comfort zone to make sales, blah, blah. For goodness sake, so he smiled and spoke to a couple of kids selling what…? Three nodding dogs!!!

Enough.

In The Boardroom…

Both team leaders were disliked by their teams but who had won? I won’t keep you waiting… drum roll… the winner was… Tash, with a final asset value of £751 to Mel’s £728.

A slim win and you’d expect a far more competent performance from the winning team and the winning project manager this far on in the competition but this task was not won by one team, it was lost badly by the other.

And Lord Alan thought so too, cancelling the winner’s treat for the first time ever…

Back in the Boardroom…

Helen looked shell-shocked. Nine wins and now this… she realised her own mortality. And she was deservedly in the boardroom too having been party to most of Mel’s bad decisions and having totally missed the point of the task. Mel had been poor too and Tom, well he didn’t screw up as such, but then again I don’t see selling three nodding dogs as any kind of great achievement.

So it was down to Lord Alan. What would he see in them? Who would he like to work with? Frankly, I’m struggling. Not just with these three but in general. I’m not feeling it. But who would go tonight? Our Al wasn’t sure. And it was a tough one. Who was more at fault?

“Helen. Frankly you have let yourself down girl. You just didn’t get this. I wasn’t expecting to see you here and you is just an assistant really, innit? Tom, I’ve seen you in here more times than I have eaten jellied eels recently but then you did sell free (3) nodding dogs yesterday and I can’t scoff at that. Melody, I like you one week ‘cause you’re gusty and selfish and the next I don’t. Being frank, I’m holding out for Tom just incase he has some invention tucked away that makes me even richer and I obviously ‘aint gonna sack Helen ‘cause that might mean I might have to go into business with that quick-talking-Jim so I’m afraid, with regret Mel, you’re fired.”

He flattered them all as having exceptional abilities and it being such a hard decision. Odd, given they’d just been beaten by a team that he refused a treat to because they did so badly. And odd because he must be watching different footage than me.

Talking Sales Success Summit

Gavin Ingham — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:51:07 +0000

Have you checked out the Talking Sales Success Summit yet? Over two days I will be interviewing 10 experts on what separates sales superstars from sales dreamers and sales rockstars from sales losers. During 10 hours of pure sales training gold I will be seeking to discover secret sales strategies, little known selling tactics and proven techniques that you can use right away to make more sales.

And you’ll be pleased to know that I have hand-picked these experts not because of the books they’ve written (although many of them have) nor because of what the press says about them (although they do get great PR!)… No, I have selected them because of what they have to say about specific areas of the sale. You might recognize some of them, you might not recognize some of them but they all have one thing in common… I have tracked them down because they can help you to unlock sales strategies and tactics that will help you to make more sales. In the rest of this post I am going to introduce you to the experts, their backgrounds and some of their tips and strategies. Enjoy…

Philip Hesketh author of “How to Persuade & Influence People” talks about the Psychology of Persuasion.

Philip is a professional speaker on ‘The Psychology of Persuasion’. He combines a powerful mix of thought provoking, well researched, persuasive techniques with a unique brand of humour. He inspires, entertains and informs on how buying, selling, persuading and influencing work. His book, ‘How to Persuade and Influence People’ is an Amazon number one best seller.

Phil says…

Ask more questions.
Ask supplementary questions when you get the answers.
Establish the compelling emotional reason(s) to buy.
Always talk value not price.
Establish the buyer’s expectations.
Manage those expectations.

Simon Hazeldine author of “Bare Knuckle Selling”, “Bare Knuckle Negotiating”, “Bare Knuckle Customer Service”, “The Inner Winner” and, “The 7 Inner Secrets of Highly Persuasive People” talks about The Bare Knuckle Selling & Negotiation Process.

Simon works internationally as a Professional Speaker, Performance Consultant, Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach in the areas of sales and negotiation, persuasion, influence and leadership. He has a Masters Degree in the Psychology of Performance, is Certified as a Master Practitioner and Trainer of NLP, and is a Fellow of the of Sales & Marketing Management. He is the bestselling author of several business books that have been endorsed by business leaders including Duncan Bannatyne from “Dragon’s Den” and multi‐billionaire business legend Michael Dell.

On negotiation Simon says…

Set your objectives – aim high!
Be firm and flexible – be persistent in pursuing your objectives but not rigid in pursuing any particular solution.
Know your LIM Know your BATNA.
Give them a good listening to!
Ask lots of direct questions and listen the answer.
Listen more than you speak.
Seek information – Give information.
Focus on underlying needs rather than positions.
Understand their motives and what they want.
Acknowledge and express emotions (rather than be emotional).
Reward signals, encourage flexibility.
Summarise regularly.
STOP! Step back , think, organise your thoughts, proceed.
Give To Get If You… Then I…
There is no such thing as a free lunch!
Be flexible, be creative.
Can you meet their needs in a way that benefits you too?
Nothing is agreed until it’s all agreed.
Trade low cost for high value (and vice versa).
The real work starts after the negotiation stops – make the deal work.

Ari Galper Founder & CEO of Unlock the Game® talks about How to ELIMINATE Personal Sales Rejection Forever…And Make More Sales.

Founder & CEO of Unlock The Game® Ari Galper is the Creator of Unlock The Game®, a new sales mindset and approach that has revolutionized the world of selling. With a Masters degree in Instructional Design, which strongly analyzes the way people learn, and supplying nearly two decades of experience in direct selling in a variety of industries, Ari has pioneered a breakthrough sales system – Unlock The Game – through his experience working with iconic companies such as UPS and QUALCOMM over the past twenty years. Built on the concept of authentic communication and trust, his visionary approach to selling relieves the pressure for both the seller and buyer, producing profound results.

He has shared the stage with fellow entrepreneurs, including Joan Rivers, Mark Victor Hansen, Dan Kennedy, Harry S. Dent, Christopher Howard, Bill Glazer, Alexandria Brown and many others. His strategies have been used by countless global organizations throughout the world. Ari’s mission is to help business owners, entrepreneurs and sales professionals, break through their fears of selling as well as create a better lives for themselves, their families and, of course, their clients. Unlock The Game is quickly becoming a standard for how to create genuine trust for anyone who sells a product or service.

Ari says…

Diffuse Pressure.
Get to the Truth, Not the sale.
Be a problem-solver and trusted advisor.

Andy Smith author of “55 Ways To Increase Your Emotional Intelligence” talks about How to Create the Life You Want.

Andy Smith is an Emotional Intelligence coach, Appreciative Inquiry facilitator and NLP trainer. He specialises in the practical application of leading-edge approaches to the personal development of leaders and key professionals. Andy’s work ranges from executive coaching (using the Hay Group’s Emotional Competence Inventory 360º assessment as a starting point) to the design and delivery of coaching skills training for managers and coaches. He has developed a number of coaching models which incorporate appreciative and solution-focused tools in practical and jargon-free formats and has written two books.

Will Kintish talks about The Secrets of Great Networkers.

Will Kintish was a practicing accountant for nearly 30 years. During most of those years selling, marketing and business development generally were not activities associated with his profession. It is only now, in today’s modern and competitive world are the professionals expected, not only to be great technicians but to be able to help bring business in. This is often uncomfortable for most people. In the last 9 years since leaving the profession he has presented to over 50,000 professionals and business people across Europe.

Will shares 10 strategies for when networking works…

when the right attitude is in place.
when comfort zones are stretched.
when patience and persistence is in evidence.
when the right clients are exchanged for the wrong clients.
when the first move is made.
when the right impression is made from the start.
when an interesting introduction is used.
when listening occurs far more than talking.
when there is an active follow up.
when being generous is seen as the key to networking.

David Shepherd author of Presenting Magically talks about “How To Double Your Sales By Asking 3 More Questions“.

David Shephard is the Managing Director and Head of Training and Research for The Performance Partnership. The Performance Partnership was founded in 1993 and has become one of the fastest growing NLP training and consulting companies in the UK, attracting clients from all over the world. It is dedicated to providing them with the very latest developments in advanced human communication and change technologies.

Rob Brown talks about “How to Build Your Reputation“.

Jill Konrath author of “Snap Selling” talks about “Selling to Crazy-Busy People“.

Jill Konrath’s career is defined by her relentless search for fresh sales strategies that actually work in today’s business environment. She’s the author of two bestselling sales books and is a popular speaker who helps sellers crack into new accounts, speed up sales cycles and win more business. She likes to work on:

Tough Challenges. When Jill recognized that the crazy-busy work environment was wreaking havoc with sellers, she immersed herself in the issue till she discovered new strategies that worked. The result? SNAP Selling, her highly acclaimed new book that jumped to #1 on Amazon within hours of its release — and continues to be a top seller.

Big Issues. Jill’s initial book, Selling to Big Companies, addressed a major sales problem that continues today-how to set up meetings with prospects who’d rather avoid salespeople all together.

Unsolvable Problems. When the economy tanked in 2008, Jill realized that most job seekers had no idea how to “sell” themselves. Instead, they were commoditized by their look-alike resumes and using reactionary job-hunting skills. So she wrote Get Back to Work Faster, a game-changing career book at the same time she launched a free monthly webinar series.

Alan Fendrich talks about How to Stop Hiring Salespeople By “Gut Feel.”

Alan Fendrich is married for 34 years and a career entrepreneur. In 1993 Alan founded a company, Radio Profits Corporation, that through luck and good fortune was wildly successful. The company’s success caused him to have to hire 300 salespeople a year who generated more than 60,000 individual sales a year, and until he sold it in 2000, more than $84,000,000 in sales. In the process of hiring all those salespeople, he developed the Advanced Hiring strategy which cut the sales turnover in half and doubled the number of top sales performer hires.

When he sold that company in 1999 he retired for a half year, realized he was not cut out for retirement and founded Advanced Hiring System so that he could continue to work with businesspeople. He spreads the word wherever he can that sales hiring can be a lot more successful than most managers are experiencing.

Jim Rees author of “Maximise Your Mind Power” talks about how We are all Built for Greatness and asks What mark are you going to leave?

Having completed 3 consecutive solo finishes in what is considered to be one of the toughest races on the planet – The Race Across America in 2007, 2008 & 2009 and going faster each year – Jim Rees has a deep understanding of what it takes to push beyond what most people think is possible. Jim is no stranger to endurance races. He’s competed in 10 Ironman triathlons around the world including the famous Hawaii Ironman and has represented GB in his age group in 2 world long course championships. Jim also set a new world record for 24 hours of non stop cycling on a static Watt bike at last year’s London Cycle Show – cycling 448 miles.

Drawing from his personal, sporting and professional career, Jim has seen and experienced perceived impossibilities turn into reality. From this, he absolutely knows that the majority of us are barely scratching the surface of our potential, whether that’s on the tennis court or in the boardroom. For the past 8 years Jim has been running Ripple Leadership which focuses on individual, team and organisational potential.

Jim says…

Be aware of the patterns of behaviours and the finger print they leave in every interaction.
Discover the beliefs that you hold about yourself, the company, the product, the economic environment, your boss etc.
Commit to seeing it through to completion.
Learn how to perform under pressure.
Learn to be present – totally there for someone.
Take 100% personal responsibility for everything that is showing up in your life.
Success and failure are learnt behaviours and are not permanent. They are all part of conditioning.

If you want to check out the 10 hours of sales expert interviews then say yes by clicking on Talking Sales Success now.

The Sales Apprentice 2009: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part III

Gavin Ingham — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:04:27 +0000

Week 3, the car, circa 6am and the boys were talking. Ben, he of “to me making money is better than sex”, was pumped up and ready for the third task, “I’m not nervous, whoever is up against me, their arseholes are going to be twitching like rabbits’ noses”.

Sir Alan had called the candidates to the new athletic complex at Lee Valley, the elite Olympic training ground East of London, “Here we are at Lee Valley athletics centre… fitness is big business… people can hardly afford to pay for a membership at those fancy gyms, what I want you to do is create a piece of portable home fitness equipment. And tomorrow you are going to try and sell them to three of Britain’s big retailers…”

So a design, pitch and sell task; the kind of task that many previous teams of apprentices have failed spectacularly at. This could be good. After a team member shuffle up with Kimberly and Kate moving to Empire and Philip and Noorul (“I’m posh”) moving to Ignite they were off – the team with the most orders at the end of the task would win and someone from the losing team would get fired.

Our two teams had two days to design, prototype and sell a completely original piece of fitness kit. On the Ignite team, Debra half stepped up for team leader, as did Lorraine. “I’m a little bit calmer than other people,” said Lorraine. Phillip and Noorul , meanwhile, were favouring Debra. Patronisingly, Lorraine asked Debra, “Are you capable of managing unique personalities?” Some of this lot really ought to read some books on communication skills…

Putting himself forward to lead Empire James said that he had “a reasonable amount of product management experience”. The others seemed happy for him to hang himself out to dry and none of them volunteered or objected. As Empire discussed their initial thoughts for a product, trainee stockbroker Ben suggested that they should go down the “sex sells” route. He began to expand his idea by explaining that it should be “something that you can incorporate into actually having sex that creates resistance whilst you’re doing it.”

I wonder, has James ever had sex and who is this target audience of people were who are so busy (and sad) that they want to double-up and exercise when they are getting lucky? In any case, this suggestion seemed more sex toy than fitness kit…

Perhaps worse, or maybe not, Debra’s team, couldn’t think of any ideas for a piece of fitness kit at all. Debra, who has to have one of the most expressionless faces I have ever seen, wasn’t looking on the positive side of things, “It’s apparent that none of us are creative” she bleated.

Sales training and business tip: Creativity is a state of mind as much as it is a skill. Anyone can learn to be more creative and the starting point is the belief that you can be creative…

On the other team, James and Empire had finally focused on “flab” as their target enemy and “bingo wings” in particular. I’m not sure that you can say “bingo wings”… surely that’s fatist or classist or something? None of the apprenti seemed bothered by minor complications like these and they quickly agreed that this was what they were going to be designing. James put Ben in charge of designing the product and Ben described it as “this is for people who cannot even lift their own body weight”.

Meanwhile, Ignite were listening to estate agent Philip who was plugging the idea of a core cube (or blocks of dense foam that you could stack), rather like a Swedish ball but in a cube shape instead. Debra was pushing her idea of an ankle exerciser for the elderly. “Biddies need foot stools”, she said (what?).

Unable to agree they visited a personal trainer for advice and the personal trainer promptly rained on both of their parades saying that she would not buy either product. As this product had to retail for under £30, Kate, James and Howard decided to do some research on the high street to see what actually does sell best in this market. The surprising answer (which really highlights the sales training principle of always knowing your market) was… a door chin up bar.

With this knowledge under his belt, James was convinced that the best plan was to kiss – keep it simple stupid. With James not present at the designers, Ben had other ideas and, in conjunction with Majid, was keen to change James’ “simple” brief and bump up the design spec and add multiple features.

In the final minutes of the planning time, Debra’s team, through Philip, came up with a solid idea for a “bum ball” to work on core stability. Next morning, both teams got their first chance to see their prototype products. Ignite’s “bum ball”, now renamed as a body rocker, looked sleek and smart and they seemed rightly pleased. Empire’s “home multi tone”, by contrast, looked home made, Heath Robinson-esque and like something I might have created in my middle school woodwork and design classes.

Ben was at it again, “I’ve come up with a bloody great product. I’ve actually shocked myself”. Project leader James grimaced and said, “I like it”. He was clearly lying, which he then pretty much admitted privately to the camera.

Ignite’s Lorraine was practising her sales pitch with the strangest word soupage style…

“The body rocker, it’s innovative, it’s new, it’s original, it’s functional, it’s dynamic, it’s completely blown every other product of its kind out of the market. It’s portable, what I mean by being portable? You can carry it in your handbag, children can use it to enable them to have a stable stability… what do you think so far?”

Thanks for the explanation of portable Lorraine and “stable stability”… suddenly my world has become clear. Debra, who I think could barely muster an emotion even if Lorraine danced the can-can and tossed off her clothing, seemed no more impressed than I was, “Errrm, I didn’t really know what the product was”, she said.

Back in the real world (!), Ben was giving himself some I-love-me-love, “It makes perfect sense that Kate and I are doing the modelling” (cut to him doing press ups ) “I’d say, out of the men, I probably am the best looking. You can tell just by looking at them they’re all out of shape. I’ve at least graced the floors of a gym once or twice.”

Sales training tip: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, selling is about results, not egos. Selling is not about talking the talk, it’s about walking the walk. Selling is not about what you say you can do, it’s about what you actually do. Selling is not about promises, it’s about delivery.

On the way to their first sales pitch, Lorraine was practising her lines and, despite being a “sales woman”, she didn’t seem, able to string two lines together.

Sales training tips for making powerful presentations: To maker a powerful and persuasive sales presentation you need to know your stuff, you need to know what you’re presenting, you need a solid and proven structure BUT you also need to be natural. Practising memorizing your pitch word for word in the manner in which Lorraine did can make your presentation stilted and un-engaging.

Cue Lorraine and her first sales pitch to Power House Fitness, “Let me introduce you to the next iconic design that is a functional, portable, fitness product The Body Rocker…” Noorul leant back six inches on the rocker and then said how much pressure he felt under and how much he could feel the burn. “In terms of target audience there isn’t really anyone who wouldn’t use this product,” continued Lorraine, “I think even Nan who is sitting in the chair all day could use this product in terms of not seizing up…”

Hmmm, I’m kind of not sure, is this for ripping the stomachs of young fit people or is it for octogenarians?

At Totally Fitness, James’ team had botched their first sales pitch, “We target mid to high end so I am unlikely to direct them to this if they have the money to buy a £2000 multi-gym, for example”, stated his prospect. Bang, that’s one door shut.

Sales training tip: Know your client, know your client, k-n-o-w your client.

At John Lewis, Ben was in his element demonstrating the kit and as Kate mentioned the fact that the equipment would exercise your bum, Ben bent over and slapped his bum like a slightly chubby, overly smiley, very cheesy, stripper. The client grimaced.

Lorraine meanwhile, was completing her final sales presentation, still sticking to her “original, dynamic, portable, functional … lip smacking, thirst quenching, ace tasting, motivating, good buzzing, cool talking, high walking, fast living, ever giving, cool fizzing bum body rocker… oh, sorry, that was something else…”

Sales training tip: I know that we never see much of any sales presentation in The Apprentice but what we never see are the compelling reasons why products should be bought. What we never see are any questions or any client engagement. Do our apprenti even consider important questions like what problems their products solve, or how their clients will benefit from using them, or how they compare, improve upon or complement existing products in the market…? Instead, all we get is meaningless words and swaggering promises…

And then Debra closed John Lewis, demonstrating that closing does not have to be sophisticated and that sometimes just asking is all that it takes,

“Can you see it on your shop floor and can you see yourself putting forward an order for that product?”

“If we want this product exclusive to John Lewis, what does that mean for you?” queried the client, playing his dead-pan, I am a serious business person face, for all he was worth for the cameras.

Philip, “You’d have to make us a serious offer on a serious amount of orders because we do have other people interested…”

Client, interrupting Philip, “Order? Have you thoughts about that?”

Debra, “No, we’d have to have a conversation as a group about that”.

Slick. Errr, not…

Sales training tip: Set objectives for all sales meetings. Set primary objectives for all sales meetings. Set fall back objectives for all sales meetings. Set fall back objectives for your fall back objectives. You get the idea.When seeing professional buyers (such as this one) in particular, you know that if you are successful they will want to negotiate so give your negotiation positions some thought and be prepared…

Yasmina, and you have to respect her for stepping in,

“I would like to put this on the table. Ok. We’re offering this product at £14 for a unit. If you can guarantee us 20,000 units tomorrow then we can guarantee you exclusivity”.

The client, coming back like a Roger Federer back hand, “For how long?”

Yasmina, “For 6 months.”

Client. “Too short? 2000 units for 6 months isn’t a particularly great deal…”

And the cameras were cut on this scene… Pity.

In the board room…

Sir Alan asked, “Was James a good team leader?”… Ben said that he wasn’t exactly like Winston Churchill…. James said that he thought that “the end prototype was not up to scratch”… Sir Alan asked if Debra was a good team leader… Mona said she was “ok” but with little enthusiasm… Philip said he was very proud of his idea… Sir Alan asked about Lorraine’s presentation… Debra showed her slippery shoulders saying that she thought that she “tried her best” but that she did not know whether that was good enough or not… . Philip offered his support for Lorraine and said that she did a “good job and it is easy to be critical later on”…

The results were in…

Empire had no orders from Powerhouse.
Ignite had sold 80 units to Powerhouse.

Empire had no orders from Totally Fitness.
Ignite had sold 100 units to Totally Fitness.

Empire had sold 500 units to John Lewis.
Nick, “(John Lewis) asked for exclusivity but Yasmina went in far too high and asked for 2,000 for a 6 month exclusivity deal but they have placed an order for 10,000 units on an exclusive basis.”

Sales training question: Did she? Did she start too high? Did she really? What do you think? Why not share your thoughts below in the comments and I will share mine with you…

Ignite had won and won well. And, for once, a good result. They dreamt up, designed and created a new fitness product in 2 days and sold 10,000 units to John Lewis. Nice.

Ignite went off for a private concert from Katherine Jenkins and Sir Alan was left to quip with the others, “Well, the empire doesn’t strike back does it?” Another one he dreamt up in the bath I’m sure…

Back in the board room…

James elected to bring back Ben and Majid… James said that he was impressed by how “alive” Ben was about the product and that he did not want to micro manage him… Sir Alan said that Maj just hung around on the periphery of the action… Maj disagreed and said that he was not given a big enough job… Nick asked Maj if it was an enduring lack of confidence in his abilities… Sir Alan asked James why Ben was back in the room… James said because he thought Ben could take the concept and turn it into something that looked better than what he had produced… Sir Alan pointed out that no-one else came up with any better ideas… James and Ben argued… Ben shouted “If you’re quite done, I came up with the concept, it was up to you guys to find our what the retailer and the consumer wanted, if you did not convey that then that is up to you”… Sir Alan asked Ben why he thought James had brought him back into the board room and Ben said that he had no idea…

Sir Alan, “James, interestingly enough Margaret felt that you wasn’t too bad in management. She sees a Jekyll and Hyde person… Your two colleagues are pointing the finger at you the logic is that you go. Maj, you seem to be hanging around on the periphery not doing much… I wonder if a leopard will change its spots… And Ben you are young… I think it would be grossly unfair if you were held responsible for the failure of this task… my instincts are that I can’t really have people that are perceived not to contribute and you might not agree with this but Maj, you’re fired…”

“You are so close to going out that door James. You got Margaret to thank for putting that glimmer of doubt in my mind…”

Final sales training tip of the night: You have to step up. You have to take action. You have to do something, anything to take you in the direction of your goals and aspirations. Maybe Maj was standing back deliberately. Maybe he thought it was a good game plan…

Success in sales does not come to those who watch the game. Success in sales comes to those who pick up the ball and play their hearts out, right the way to the final whistle.

So what do you think about tonight’s decision? Who do you think should have gone and why?

7 Tips For Selling In An Economic Downturn

Gavin Ingham — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:33:19 +0000

It’s hard to look at this week and to not worry about the impact that current events might have on sales. Many of you may be reading this and thinking, “They already have”. Every media outlet, every paper, every radio station and (seemingly) everybody is talking about events. Even people whom I have never heard talk about economics or the economy have had something to say – usually negative!

I was listening to the radio on the way home from my Close the Sale seminar last night and they spoke to someone who said that he was going to put his money under the bed because he didn’t trust banks. You know the kind of person; one of those “random” types that the research crew see wandering down the street with a can of beer and a kebab in their hand and looking out of their BMWs they deem him to be Mr Average. Anyway, what interested me was not his advice (!) but that he knew what they were talking about at all. I think it’s fair to say that normally, Mr. Average would have little or no awareness of these things.

The message is clear… many people are starting to panic.

Now I am not going to advocate gung-ho tactics. Nor am I going to wax lyrical about how you get what you focus on. Nor am I going to blow hot air up your ass (where did that phrase come from!). You don’t need that.

What we all need is straight talking. What we need is ideas and tactics. What we need are strategies to help us to navigate this choppy water so here is my sales kick up the ass approach to selling in a downturn.

1. Stay positive!

Your attitude determines your altitude. Your attitude determines your ability to access your skill. Your attitude determines your success of failure. If you don’t know that, you should go do something else instead of sales!

Many individuals and companies are starting to droop at the moment like little flowers in the sunshine. They need to give themselves a good dousing with common sense and motivation. Success in every market is totally dependant on attitude. This is even more the case in tough markets.

If you want to fail, get a negative attitude and I can pretty much guarantee you failure. Clients buy on emotion and you’ll never create emotion by going through the motions. Work on staying upbeat and positive. Clients have enough doom and gloom thrown at them from the media and their colleagues, they don’t want it from you too!

2. Believe you can!

I know of one large company who have just laid off their sales training department seeing it as a luxury! This is sheer fool’s folly and the directors need their heads banging together. What’s worse is that they aren’t even suffering any negative affects in their business at the moment. They soon will. Sales training and development is essential in any market, particularly tough ones. Sales training teaches your staff the skills that they require to do the job properly. Tough markets require top skills.Changing markets require changing sales skills. Sharpening your sales skills requires sales training and development.

What’s more, investing in your staff builds the belief that you believe in them and that your company is going to thrive. Cutting training teaches the exact opposite. Staff who believed that their company was “rock solid” won’t now. They’ll question, worry and share their fears and soon feelings will become beliefs and beliefs will affect their activity and their results. They will achieve what you believe. Imagination will become reality.

What you believe about this market is going to determine what you get. There’s plenty of negativity out there, don’t let you, your team and your business be a victim of this. What are you going to do to build, support and nurture positive beliefs about your company, sales and success?

3. Prospect! Prospect! Prospect!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the lifeblood of salespeople is prospecting. No matter how good a salesperson you are, prospecting is critical for your success. The more clients you call, the more chance you have of closing more sales. This is not a case of quantity or quality because quantity and quality are not mutually exclusive.

You need quantity and quality. If your conversion ratio is down, up your activity. If your existing clients are pulling in their belts, ring some more. When everyone else is sitting on their arses, get out there and meet people. Selling is not complicated, are you up for it?

4. Visit more clients!

In the busy times we often neglect some of our clients. Maybe we take on a new piece of business with a client but we don’t get chance to meet them as often as we’d like (or at all!). Maybe we have existing clients that we’d like to see but we don’t have to, so we do something else instead.

In a downturn clients want reassurance that they are working with the best, that their suppliers are thriving and that their supply lines are rock solid. Take some time out to plan which clients of yours would benefit from a face to face visit, a lunch or a coffee and make that call!

5. Check commitments!

Salespeople who learn to sell in easy markets cut corners. Not because they’re lazy but because they don’t know any better. Dotting the “I”s and crossing the “t”s is not so essential in booming markets because busy markets are sellers markets. Busy markets pick up the slack. Qualifying properly is still important but it is possible to succeed by doing a reasonable job rather than a perfect job.

Tough markets are not like this. In tough markets you need to check commitments. You cannot afford to be working on client opportunities where you end up giving “free consultancy” or where your client is just on a “shopping comparison trip”. The key to gaining commitments is asking the right questions and this is something that I teach in both my Close the Deal seminar and my Professional Selling Skills seminar.

6. Ask for referrals!

Few salespeople ever ask for referrals. Fewer still always ask for referrals. Most never ask for referrals. This is because clients can and do say “No” so it is often easier to just not ask than to risk yet another rejection.

Asking for referrals should be built into what you do. Asking for referrals should be mandatory for you, your sales colleagues and your sales team. Sure, you’ll get some refusals but if you ask at the right time and in the right way you will get some fantastic leads and introductions and you will grow your business with quality prospects.

Know a salesperson, sales manager, director, entrepreneur or business owner who would benefit from reading my blog and newsletter? It’ll take you two minutes to send them a quick email telling them to have a look at www.GavinIngham.com.

7. Strengthen relationships!

Most salespeople do not spend enough time thinking about the quality of the relationships that they hold with their clients. There are many aspects of your relationship with your clients and spending time strengthening and improving those relationships will encourage loyalty, openness and partnership in all markets not just tough ones.

Think about the various aspects of your relationships with individual clients (for example the awareness they have your company, how they view your business, how they view you, your personal relationship, your business conversations…) and devise a plan of action for improving and strengthening those. Start with your key target clients now.

So there wer are, 7 tips for selling in tough markets. Go grab yourself a cup of coffee, give yourself a talking to and plan what you’re going to do to make the rest of the year and 2009 a great time for you and for your business.

How To Upsell And Cross-Sell To Achieve Rapid Sales Growth

Gavin Ingham — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:46:13 +0000

January has been a busy month of sales seminars, sales training and motivational speeches so I hadn’t had any time to think what I was going to write about this week until about half an hour ago…

I was sat at my PC in my home office, tidying up some emails when one of my good friends called. It’s been a while since I have spoken to him so I was delighted to hear from him. After a quick catch up we quickly focused our attentions onto setting the world to rights! He said that he has something he thought I would be interested in hearing…

This story starts with my friend’s 18 year old son who is currently enjoying a gap year, getting his head down and working. He has a job in major UK supermarket and he is really enjoying it.

Based in South West London the store he is working in is busy, affluent and diverse. It’s not huge but it’s a decent size. They have around about 150 staff and shifts would mean that at any one time there might be 40 or more people working in the store.

Like most retailers the store chain in question are keen on their customers owning and using store cards. This creates loyalty, allows the store to compile details on personal shopping habits and group trends and, perhaps most importantly, allows them to extend credit to their customers.

And as any business who has cards like these knows, customers on credit are worth far more than those paying cash!

So back to our little store…

Like most stores they have targets and goals and their most recent “push” is on encouraging customers to sign up for more store cards. Each member of staff, whether individually or as a group, is trained to “upsell” these cards and are then let loose on the customers. Not particularly ambitious, their target number of take ups is 4 cards per week… for the whole store.

So for the next week our young hero, despite not being on the till much of the time, asked every customer he could if they would sign up. Despite his lack of experience or formal sales training and techniques our hero signed up… 18, in one week. Now I have to admit that I have no idea how this rates or how many you or I would have signed up but it is obviously well over the target of 4 that was set for the whole store.

At the end of the week our young salesperson goes on his holidays, returning two weeks later to find out that in his absence the whole store, 150 people remember, have upsold exactly … zero.

Zero in 2 weeks. So what do we learn from this?

1. Upselling and cross-selling to existing clients is critical if you want to sell more and make more money.

Clients who have already bought off you, who are in a buying mood and who believe in and see value in what you do are great prospects for upselling and cross-selling. There is every possibility that they will buy something else if you make it known to them.

I remember as a young salesman one of my best clients buying something off someone else. I rang him to ask why he had not bought from me and he told me that he would have but that he was unaware that I could help in this area! Ouch! I never made that mistake again!

2. Know what you can upsell and cross-sell.

Up to date knowledge of what you can upsell is critical. Upselling the wrong or irrelevant products or services will just alienate your clients. Upselling and cross-selling the right stuff at the right time is your duty. How many times have you bought something only to get it home and realise that you wish you had bought the more expensive option because it has features or benefits that you would have preferred. If only the salesperson had told you about it!

A reader rang me yesterday to tell me that he was running a short training session on upselling. The first thing that he had done was outline for his team all of the options they had for upselling and how these would benefit the client. This knowledge is critical if you want to maximise your sales.

3. Make sure that you ask.

Perhaps the biggest block to upselling is that salespeople do not ask. Maybe they feel scared. Perhaps they feel cheeky. Maybe they think that they don’t have the right. Perhaps they “already know” that the client will say, “No”.

Whatever! The biggest problem with upselling, as with asking for referrals, is that most salespeople quite simply just do not ask.

Call it the McDonalds affect if you like… you have to ask! They upsell on everything and they get a lot of “Nos” but they also get a lot of “Yeses”! You need to make just asking part of your sales process too. You could significantly increase your sales results over night.

Yesterday morning I met my sister and her kids in the afternoon. I only wanted a cup of tea. As I ordered the woman said, “I’ve just baked some home-made scones. They’re still warm. Can you smell them? Would you like one whilst they’re still warm?”

“Yes please”. An easy sale!

4. Learn how to "ask" properly.

Once you know the benefits of upselling and cross-selling, know what to upsell and commit to asking you need to improve your upselling techniques. McDonalds ask if you want a bigger drink or fries but they have no idea whether you are thirsty or hungry or neither. That’s fine in Mcdonalds, they don’t have the time but you do. And you have the relationships to do this too.

As you are selling ask questions that uncover the need for an upsale. They needn’t be complex but they do make a huge difference to the relevancy of your upsell and the final result.

When booking keynotes I don’t just suggest that people buy the books or audios as well, I ask a few questions first to identify what exactly is needed and how it would add benefit for my client.

5. Keep it simple.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again but 80% of selling is about turning up, maintaining the right attitude and playing the game.

Many salespeople walk in to my seminars and demand the advanced stuff because they are so experienced yet, when you follow them around, they have forgotten or are not doing many sales basics.

Without the basics you are screwed!

My friend’s son may not know the intricacies of selling yet. He may not have the skills or the experience. He may not be as subtle, as sophisticated nor as cunning as his more experienced friends yet. But subtlety, experience and cunning are no substitute for action and if he keeps on taking action he will outsell his more established but less proactive peers.

To sharpen your sales skills and maximise your sales check out my powerful sales training books, audios and DVDs online now.