Consultative Sales Training – The Vital Ingredient
The ability to convince yourself of your potential is the greatest selling skill of all. To win more business with this approach, one of the questions you must ask yourself is: ‘Am I a two- or three-dimensional salesperson?’
The classic approach to sales training is two-dimensional. It focuses on product knowledge and skills training.
Many people take the view that if you give salespeople superb training in the products they sell and in modern consultative selling skills – building relationships, using questions to uncover requirements, matching the correct solution, selling against competition, closing, follow-up, writing proposals, negotiating – that’s enough to prepare them to do an outstanding job. But it’s not.
The third dimension
There are thousands of salespeople whose product knowledge is outstanding, whose understanding of sales skills and networking is superb, but whose results are still no more than average. They have neglected the third dimension, personal development – you as an individual, how you think, your drive, confidence, stamina, attitude, persistence and self-motivation.
What is the X factor that sets them apart?
Think of the most successful person you have ever met, in any field. What makes them that successful? I’ll bet it’s not their knowledge or their expertise – it’s their drive, their enthusiasm, their confidence. They have a mental toughness, an inner steel, a ‘go for it’ mentality. They think like a winner and when things don’t go according to plan they know how to turn on sufficient energy and motivation to put themselves back on track.
To get to the top in sales you must have a willingness not only to work on your product knowledge and sales skills, but on yourself.
Your attitude counts
The biggest single cause of failure in competitive selling is not lack of product knowledge, nor is it lack of sales skills — it’s our personality under pressure. Top sellers have mental toughness and they work on it constantly. As sales training guru Zig Zigler taught, it’s your attitude not your aptitude that determines your altitude.
We have to be able to handle our yo-yo emotions. We have to stay strong. Mastery of this is critical to ensure that we are not a transient guest at the top table of selling. What really matters is how we run our mind. Your sales training is not complete without it.
Learn more about LDL sales training.
