Last week I stumbled across a YouTube video of an incredibly fast guitar player. This guy was freakishly fast.
He played “Flight of the Bumblebee” and started at 170 bpm. He played it flawlessly which was impressive by itself but then he increased his speed to 210, 230, and finally 270 bpm. It was insane to watch!
The introduction stated that he had spent upwards of 16 hours a day learning how to play the guitar when he was a child. Sixteen hours a day!
No wonder the guy can play like a machine!
Most people look at superstars in any industry (sales is no different) and wonder how they got that good.
Sixteen hours a day is the simple answer.
Invest enough time doing something and you will eventually get good, providing you seek to constantly improve.
Most people don’t dedicate enough time to fully develop their selling skills. And what complicates this even further is that constant modifications and updates are required if you want to stay competitive in today’s business world.
Are you prepared to dedicate 16 hours a day to improving your skill?
This means using your standard eight-hour day to practise your selling skills and investing the other eight hours developing new habits, learning new techniques, reading, listening and watching new sales strategies.
Sixteen hours a day is all it takes to become a freakishly great sales person.
BTW: If you haven’t seen this video, I encourage you to take a few minutes right now. You won’t regret it.
Could your team use some fine-tuning in their approach? Please feel free to contact me if I can help you. 905-633-7750 or kelley@fearless-selling.ca.
Today’s business world moves at break-neck speed. We have so many more ways to communicate with our prospects and customers. We have access to a wealth of information at our fingertips. And, most people want a quick-fix to their problems.
However, this “get-it-now” mentality can affect our ability to improve our selling skills for one simple reason.
Progress is slow.
Anyone who has embarked on learning a new hobby, sport, or language quickly learns that they can’t pick it up and master it in a few days. My guitar instructor told me that the majority of people who start guitar lessons end up quitting within four to six weeks once they discovered that it was going to take months of practise (Canadian spelling BTW) to develop the muscle memory required to play the guitar.
Unfortunately, too many people look for a quick fix, easy solution that will cure their problems. This applies to sales, too.
They try to implement or use several new concepts in their sales calls, meetings and appointments yet only achieve minimal results, at best. In fact, at first, the new concept doesn’t work for them because they haven’t mastered that particular skill yet. However, rather than continuing to work on that skill, they revert back to their old habits and claim, “That concept doesn’t work.”
If you’re serious about increasing your sales you have to realize that progress is slow, especially in the beginning.
You need to be disciplined enough to practice applying that new concept EVERY day.
You need to adapt the skill to your personal style.
You also need to evaluate your performance and progress and make adjustments along the way.
And finally, you need to realize that you won’t see a dramatic improvement overnight; progress will be measured in small, incremental steps.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and you can’t expect to dramatically improve your results overnight.
What I Do
I help sales people master their sales conversations so they can win more business and increase their sales. I do this by conducting sales training workshops and delivering keynote speeches at conferences, sales meetings and other events. If you or your company is planning an event, contact me to discuss a program that will help you meet your goals and objectives: 905-633-7750 or Kelley@RobertsonTrainingGroup.com.
Everyone who sells a product or service is required to deliver a sales presentation from time to time. Whether it’s an informal presentation to one over coffee or a formal presentation to a group of decision makers, these sales presentations can make or break your ability to move the sales process forward and increase your sales.
Here are 7 strategies that will help you deliver a killer sales presentation, every single time.
1. Start with a brief summary of the other person’s situation.
Forget the details about your company, the awards you have won, the companies you have worked with; you can discuss them later. When you open a sales presentation with an executive summary that outlines your understanding of your prospect’s key issues, you will immediately capture their attention and separate yourself from your competition. It sounds easy; however, most of the sales presentations I have witnessed begin with an overview of the seller’s company which may be important to the seller but it is seldom very interesting to the buyer.
2. Keep it brief.
If you have been allotted 60 minutes set a goal of finishing in less than forty-five. No prospect is EVER going to complain that you didn’t use up your allotted time.
3. Focus on “must-have” information.
The vast majority of sales presentations include far too much detail, usually about aspects of the product/service that are irrelevant to the buyer. Improve your sales presentation by discussing ONLY the most important elements of your offering. Be prepared to talk about the “nice to have” aspects but only if requested and if time permits. Contrary to popular believe most prospects don’t want to know everything about your solution; they only want to know what’s relevant to their situation.
4. Use stories, cases studies and examples.
Weave stories into your presentations that demonstrate how people have benefited from your offering. Use case studies and example that are relevant to each prospect’s business.
5. Create a two-way dialogue.
The average sales presentation is a one-way flow of information with the seller doing all the talking. Make your presentation stand out by engaging people in a conversation. Instead of spending your allotted time talking, ask your prospect questions, opinions and perspectives. This actively engages them in the presentation, keeps their attention, and helps you differentiate yourself.
6. Conclude with a specific call to action.
Don’t make the fatal mistake of ending with something weak like, “If you have questions, feel free to give me a call.” Summon up the courage to tell the decision maker exactly what you want them to do.
7. Practice.
Perhaps the most vital element of delivering a killer sales presentation and yet often the most overlooked or neglected. The more important the sales opportunity, the more critical it is that you make the time to verbally rehearse your presentation. The goal is not to memorize it but to help you remember key points, anticipate potential objections and your responses, and to ensure the presentation flows properly.
Delivering a killer sales presentation will not only make you stand out from your competition, it will help you increase your sales, propel your business and feel more confident. Now, go and modify the next sales presentation you have scheduled and start making more sales!
Did You Know…
Kelley helps people master their sales conversations so they can win more business and increase their sales. He does this by conducting sales training workshops and delivering keynote speeches at conferences, sales meetings and other events. Book Kelley for your next event: 905-633-7750 or Kelley@RobertsonTrainingGroup.com.
During our conversation I suggested that sales people stop delivering canned and generic sales presentations because they are ineffective. One of the worst approaches you can use in a sales meeting is to immediately launch into your presentation. Unfortunately, many sales people still use this approach and it does little to help them grow their business and increase their sales.
I also went on to say that it is critical to rehearse your sales presentation several times beforehand especially if the prospect is one of high-value.
On the surface, these two strategies may seem to conflict with each other but they don’t. Here’s why…
The best sales call is one with a two-way dialogue. An open conversation between you and your prospect during which time you ask them tough, probing questions that make them think and that help you determine the extent of the their problem, the implications and the impact, and their level of commitment to solving the problem.
The challenge is that most sales people don’t ask difficult and challenging questions because they mistakenly think that prospects will be offended. Plus, they feel very uncomfortable asking questions of this nature.
My suggestion during the interview was to also verbally practise asking those questions BEFORE meeting with your prospect. This helps you become more comfortable asking the questions and gets your brain and mouth working together. This process is also effective because you actually hear the questions and when you repeat them several times, they no longer sound as difficult to ask.
Once you gain the information you need, you launch your presentation but you only discuss the key aspects that relate to your prospect’s situation. That’s why you practise it beforehand. That practise helps you commit to memory the key points you want to make. When you practise a presentation several times, you can easily recall specific aspects and highlights.
Here’s an example…
A couple of weeks ago I met with a new prospect and although I had a presentation prepared I used that presentation as a guideline only. The presentation itself only took 15 minutes but the conversation lasted almost 90 minutes. And after that conversation, I had a much clearer picture of what my prospect was looking for.
If you are serious about increasing your sales it is critical to practise and rehearse…but please…don’t pitch!
BTW: Practise is spelled correctly: it is the Canadian spelling for the verb.
About Kelley
Kelley helps sales people master sales conversations so they can win more business and increase their sales. If you’re planning a sales meeting, conference or event and need an engaging & informative speaker, call him at: 905-633-7750 or Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca. Here’s a quick video of a partial presentation: http://bit.ly/ef5P5l
A recently conversation with a client struck a chord with me. We were conducting a follow-up conference call to a workshop I delivered a few months earlier and several of the participants admitted that they had not applied any of the concepts from the program. I can’t say I was surprised but I was disappointed, especially for the owner of the company who paid good money to help improve his team’s selling skills.
Change is difficult for most people. Although we have good intentions at the time, integrating new techniques into our sales process or approach is difficult.
Let’s be honest here…most of the time when you try something new it doesn’t work properly or it feels uncomfortable. Anyone who has tried learning a new sport, language or hobby knows how awkward it feels at first.
Modifying your sales approach is no different.
It takes a concerted effort. It takes discipline. And, above all, it takes persistence.
The daily pressure of getting things done, of dealing with customer issues, and of finding new customers or increasing your sales, directs your attention away from the goal of improving your approach.
That’s why most sales training doesn’t work.
Too many companies rely on event training rather than embarking on a program that will help their reps integrate new principles into their approach. Getting a team of sales people to change their approach requires on-going coaching and help from others such as their manager or leader. Yet, the vast majority of sales managers are run off their feet just trying to keep up with their day-to-day tasks, let alone invest valuable time coaching their sales people.
But it doesn’t have to be like that!
You CAN improve. You can get better. You can achieve better results.
Stop waiting for your boss to provide coaching and hold you accountable to improve your efforts. Make a commitment to yourself to incorporate one small change into your sales routine or one concept into your approach.
Focus on doing ONE thing differently.
Determine what could have a positive impact on your results IF you consistently incorporated it into your daily routine.
Write down EXACTLY what you need to do. Post that someplace where you will see it…all the time!
Don’t beat yourself up when it doesn’t work at first. Instead, keep trying to perfect that concept and adapt it your natural style.
Modify, evaluate, and adjust. Repeat.
Here is a personal example of how this concept has worked for me.
One of my goals this year has been to learn how to play the guitar. I have never taken a music lesson and I have never read sheet music. This means that I have to learn how to read the notes on a page, while at the same time, play them. This has been REALLY tough for me.
I thought I would be smart and took a short cut by writing the notes above the staff so I didn’t have to try and do everything all at once. This got me started but I quickly realized that if I continued doing this I would never really learn how to read sheet music and that would ultimately cause problems down the road as the music became more complicated.
So, I went back several lessons and started practicing without the cheat notes. It’s taken me longer than I expected and it’s been VERY challenging and frustrating. However, I am making progress. And, for the first time, actually believe that I can learn how to play the guitar.
If you are serious about improving your sales results, you need to make a concerted effort to improve your approach. It takes effort, energy and lots of practise. But in the long run, it’s definitely worth it!
