Getting Past The Gatekeeper

Module Objectives:

• Avoid Gatekeepers to get straight to your contact.
• Determine the most efficient routes through and around Gatekeepers
• Identify and adapt to different Gatekeeper behavior types
• Discover windows of opportunity to reach contacts
• Defuse Gatekeeper objections
• Enlist Gatekeepers as advocates and supporters
• Establish Gatekeeper as sources of information.

Field Work:

• For three accounts profile potential gatekeepers including:
• behavior style
• communication style
• primary responsibilities
• best time to contact
• typical roadblocks/objections
• Prepare a list of information you would like to gain from them to help you work more effectively with the decision maker.
• Contact at least 3 gatekeepers and work to build rapport and trust with them

Initiating the Sales Conversion

Module Objectives:

• Build rapport and trust, to build credibility with customers
• Use benefit statements to link solutions to customers’ needs
• Use situational probing to reveal client’s goals, priorities, concerns, and values
• Turn “I Don’t Care” customers into opportunities
• Use open, closed, clarifying, confirming and implication questions to uncover needs and goals

Field Work:

• Create introductory benefit and FAB statements for three accounts.
• For each benefit statement define specific:
  • open questions
  • closed questions
  • clarifying questions
  • implication questions
• Use these statements and questions with three key customer contacts.

The Solutions Customer Want to Buy

Module Objectives:

• Collaboratively develop a specific course of action to solve customer’s most important problems
• Value vs. Risk Analysis, demonstrate how swift agreement serves your customers’ best interests.
• Integrate value and benefit to link recommended solutions to specific customer needs.
• How to use five objection types to uncover additional needs

Field Work:

• Develop a set of risk-benefit questions for three accounts.
• Create a list of obstacles and objections that might be raised, and identify specific ways to address each one.
• Use these questions and strategies during three customer contacts

Closing Strategies That Really Work

Module Objectives:

• Test for agreement on recommended solutions
• Gain commitment and determine readiness to move forward
• Explore Four Categories of Closes to overcome last-minute concerns, reassure customers, and properly finalize deals.
• Implement a Win-Loss analysis
• Indentify opportunities for improvement
• Identify important customer information and processes that should be shared with the rest of your organization.

Field Work:

• Select the appropriate closing technique, and test it with three accounts.
• Write a full evaluation summarizing the results including:
• what went right
• what could have been done better
• what needs immediate improvement
• Discuss the evaluation with the team and work together to analyze and assess the data.

Structuring Your Message

Module Objectives:

• Learn how to target your presentation according to the needs of your audience.
• Experience a proven strategy for preparing and delivering a presentation that quickly gains attention and hold interest throughout the presentation.
• Learn how to use Q & A – even objections – to reinforce your message

Field Work:

• Prepare a presentation deck for an upcoming presentation for three accounts.
• List all anticipated questions and objections, and develop detailed answers to be used with each one.
• Deliver this presentation either live or face to face. 

Handling Q&A

Module Objectives:

• Identify the Dos and Don’ts when handling the Q&A at the end of a presentation
• Discover and practice a strategy for using the Q&A session to reinforce the most important points of your presentation
• Learn skills to remain calm and focused when you must deal with objections that seem confrontational or hostile
• Discover what to do when you don’t have the answer

Field Work:

• List any questions you expect when delivering presentations to your three accounts and devise appropriate responses to each anticipated question
• Bridge back to value items or main ideas you want to reinforce.
• Create an opportunity  to present information to your key accounts and give them an opportunity to ask questions.

Presenting over the Web

Module Objectives:

• Discover all the advantages using of web-based presentations.
• Explore the various tools and concepts that drive web-based presentations.
• Learn the dos and don’ts of web-based presentations.
• Gain hands-on practice in the operation of web-based presentation processes.

Field Work:

• Design and deliver a web-based presentation to three accounts
• Record the presentations and share them with your manager.

Outstanding Verbal Techniques

Module Objectives:

1. Understand the importance of verbal skills when presenting over the phone or the web
2. Learn and practice the 4 Ps that project confidence and believability to the customer
3. Develop skills that will align your tone and energy level with that of your customer, in order to build rapport and trust
4. Discover how to recognize and verbally match the customer’s behavior style in order to increase effective communication

Field Work:

• Using a set of skill-building tools, spend at least 15-minutes a day practicing your new verbal techniques.
• Record your practice sessions and create a checklist of the areas where you need the most improvement.
• Monitor your improvement effectiveness during your contacts with key accounts.

Building Value Statements

Content:
The true definition of “consultative selling” is, “to first, uncover and fully understand the goals, problems and needs of our customers and then, and only then, to offer options and recommend relevant solutions.” However, most fail to be highly successful in uncovering the scope of their customer’s needs. In today’s economy, people buy based on value. Our ability to demonstrate how our product or service creates value for the customer is directly tied to whether or not we truly understand our customer’s needs and desires. Yet, many sales people continue to make the fatal mistake of skipping this all-important probing process and jump straight into trying to sell their customers on the features of their product or service.
 

During this interactive webinar you will:

1. Learn to appropriately use open-ended questions to diagnose the customer’s problem
2. The difference between risk and benefit questions and how to demonstrate consequences
3. How to use close-ended questions to confirm the customer’s needs
4. Ways to identify customer commitment

Building Value Statements: Speaking their Language

Content:
If the foundation of consultative selling is addressing the customer’s unique needs, then it could be argued that the door to booking the sale is speaking their language when it comes to providing a compelling reason for them to buy.

Everyone knows that in today’s marketplace value wins over price, but if you’re unable to connect the dots between who is making the buying decision, why they are (different buyers within the business have different driving concerns), and how to speak their language – then your efforts to discuss value may still be in vain.

In the end, your ability to connect these dots so that you can clearly communicate that your product or services will deliver the value they are looking for is critical to the bottom line.
 

During this interactive webinar you will:

1. Understand the buying process and how you fit in
2. Learn the 5 buying decisions every buyer makes
3. Understand the differences between intrinsic, extrinsic and strategic value
4. Recognize the primary business buyer types and what concerns drive them
5. Create value statements using the FAB formula

Work Smart, Not Hard: The Power of Referral Selling

Content:
What is the purpose of selling? The purpose of selling is to complete a transaction in which one party receives some valuable consideration in exchange for delivering a commodity or service to a second party. Okay, that is still too complicated; let’s be perfectly clear: selling is about closing.

How can we increase our overall close rate with current resources and minimum effort? Is it possible to take your closing rate to a whole new level by adopting one simple strategy?

The answer is YES - invest more of your time and energy into Referral Selling.

The metrics vary slightly by industry, experts agree that it is not unreasonable to expect pitches made to leads generated by customer referrals to close at rates reaching and regularly exceeding 50%. Referrals open doors by giving you an instant credibility boost
 

During this interactive webinar you will:

1. Understand importance of Referral Selling in improving your Close Rate
2. Learn importance of Trust in Loyalty levels of your Client base and referral quality
3. Learn ways to build trust with existing and new accounts
4. Recognize different referral levels based on your current account analysis

Offering Value Your Customers Will Appreciate

Content:

It doesn’t make a bit of difference for you to be convinced that your customer would appreciate the value of your product, if only he would try it. He is not likely to try it until he becomes convinced that this product offers the value he requires to meet his need. Your role in the sales process is to identify his motivation, understand his needs, and explain your product in such a way that the customer connects the dots for himself.
 

During this interactive webinar you will:

1. Gain an overview of customer value investing
2. Identify important customer-product orientations
3. Understand the principles behind relationship selling
4. Learn how to identify and work with three different buyer motivations
5. Discover how to use FABs to create customer awareness and interest

"Close" Encounters

Content:

A Close is defined as "to put an end to; to finish." In selling, this means the process used to bring your customer to a decision, whether it be yes or no. Closing actually is a logical progression of ideas bringing about a decision. Since the close is the process of helping your customer make a decision, you should keep in mind that everything you say during the approach and the demonstration is directed toward closing the sale. You begin closing the sale when you first meet your customer. From the very beginning, all of your talking, thinking, and action is directed toward closing.
 

During this interactive webinar you will:

1. Learn how to build rapport
2. Understand the importance of building long-term relationships
3. Conducting a thorough and effective needs analysis
4. Asking for the order

Creating Value with Power of FABs

Content:

We make decisions to buy in order to address problems that may be affecting our business. Helping your Clients achieve their goals and solve their problems is the key to creating value propositions. Your job as a sales person is to extract and understand the explicit need of your clients and then demonstrate how certain features of your product will be advantageous and what SPECIFIC benefit they will provide in order to bridge the gaps in your customer’s situation. Creating Value with Features, Advantages and Benefits (FABs) is a powerful way to build customizable solution for your customers to fit their needs.
 

During this interactive webinar you will:

1. Identify basic motivating Factors behind Buying Decisions
2. Create Introductory Benefit Statements for your Company/Product/Service
3. Learn FAB format – Feature – Advantage – Benefit – an effective way to sell
4. Practice utilizing FAB format when selling specific product/feature

The Art of Recommending Solutions and Handling Objections

Content:

Some sales representatives are great at building rapport; others are wonderful at explaining features, advantages and benefits. However, for a lot of people in sales, the moment of truth comes when the deal gets personal, when they recommend solutions and must deal with customer anxieties and objections. There is an art to navigating this part of the sales process. You don’t have to revert to high-pressure tactics right here at the end; it doesn’t even have to be uncomfortable. But you do have to understand how to handle both your emotions and your customer’s emotions, and be able to carefully guide both of you to the successful conclusion you both want to achieve.

During this interactive webinar you will:

1. Learn to recognize when the time is right to recommend a solution
2. Understand how to correlate recommendations with benefits
3. Learn how to respond to three types of customer resistance
4. Learn how to use value equations to predict customer response
5. Discover how to deal with the four main types of customer objections

Asking the "Right" Questions

Content:

The true definition of “consultative selling” is, “to first, uncover and fully understand the goals, problems and needs of our customers and then, and only then, to offer options and recommend relevant solutions.” However, most fail to be highly successful in uncovering the scope of their customer’s needs. In today’s economy, people buy based on value. Our ability to demonstrate how our product or service creates value for the customer is directly tied to whether or not we truly understand our customer’s needs and desires. Yet, many sales people continue to make the fatal mistake of skipping this all-important probing process and jump straight into trying to sell their customers on the features of their product or service.

During this interactive webinar you will:

1. Learn to appropriately use open-ended questions to diagnose the customer’s problem
2. Differentiate between risk and benefit questions and how to demonstrate consequences
3. Use close-ended questions to confirm the customer’s needs
4. Identify levels of customer commitment

Probing Questions

Content:

The true definition of “consultative selling” is, “to first, uncover and fully understand the goals, problems and needs of our customers and then, and only then, to offer options and recommend relevant solutions.” However, most fail to be highly successful in uncovering the scope of their customer’s needs. In today’s economy, people buy based on value. Our ability to demonstrate how our product or service creates value for the customer is directly tied to whether or not we truly understand our customer’s needs and desires. Yet, many sales people continue to make the fatal mistake of skipping this all-important probing process and jump straight into trying to sell their customers on the features of their product or service.

During this interactive webinar you will:

1. Learn to appropriately use open-ended questions to diagnose the customer’s problem
2. The difference between risk and benefit questions and how to demonstrate consequences
3. How to use close-ended questions to confirm the customer’s needs
4. Ways to identify customer commitment

Interests, Issues, Position and Degrees of Desire

Module Objectives:

1. Interests (the why of the negotiation) Issues (the what of the negotiation) and the Positions (the how of the negotiation).
2. Degrees of Desire Wish (the best possible outcome) the Aspiration (what is fair) Bottom Line (walk away) and understanding the value of alternatives.
3. Building power by establishing negotiation boundaries and bargaining ranges.
4. How to define negotiation outcomes in order to walk away feeling satisfied
5. The importance of preparation, assumptions vs. facts.

Field Work:

• Review your three accounts and identify the key issues and interests involved in each potential negotiation.
• Create Degrees of Desire for each one.
• Project negotiation boundaries and bargaining ranges for each potential negotiation.
• Prepare to review the outcome of your field work during the upcoming coaching session.

Five Phases of Negotiation

Module Objectives:

• Understand and practice key strategies to support each phase of the negotiation
• How to plan your negotiation strategy to anticipate and address any situation that might arise
• Learn to begin the conversation and build trust, in order to keep the negotiation on a positive, Win Win direction
• How to suggest solutions that invite collaborative participation from the other side
• Give and take concessions in a way that enables each side to obtain something of value as a result of the negotiation

Field Work:

• Create a “negotiation map” for three accounts detailing what steps will be taken and/or what strategies will be used during each phase of an upcoming negotiation conversation.
• Test the “negotiation map” with at least one of the three accounts.

Seven Tactics used during the “Discovery” and “Discussion” phases

Module Objectives:

• Learn when and how negotiating tactics are used during the "Discovery' and "Discussion" phases.
• Identify the 7 most common negotiation tactics and how they affect your sales calls
• Practice effective skills for neutralizing each tactic and get the conversation back on track

Field Work:

• Identify the top seven most commonly encountered negotiation tactics.
• Select countering strategies and implement them with three accounts.
• Provide a summary of the effectiveness of these strategies in neutralizing these common tactics.

Seven Tactics used during the “Proposing” and “Bargaining” phases

Module Objectives:

• Learn when and how negotiating tactics are used during the “Proposing” and “Bargaining” phases.
• Identify the 7 most common negotiation tactics and how they affect your sales calls
• Practice effective skills for neutralizing each tactic and get the conversation back on track

Field Work:

• Identify the top seven most commonly encountered negotiation tactics.
• Select countering strategies and implement them with three accounts.
• Provide a summary of the effectiveness of these strategies in neutralizing these common tactics.