“Repetition is the mother of all skill.”
~ Tony Robbins, author of Unlimited Power

In sales seminars and sales training programmes I often talk about the difference between sales skills and sales techniques…

Sales techniques are something external to you, they are something that you hear or that you know. Sales skills are something that you own, they are yours through hard work and practise. And, what’s more,  they won’t abandon you in even the toughest of markets.

When I speak at sales conferences many salespeople sit back, cross their arms and ask for “the advanced stuff”. They tell their boss that they don’t need sales training because they already know it, they’ve heard it all before…

Take open questions as an example. Any salesperson with more than about 5 minutes selling experience knows what an open question is – a question that requires more than a “yes” or “no” answer. We all know that open questions start with the words what, where, when, why, how, who which. But how many salespeople put undue sales pressure onto their clients by asking (self-centred) closed questions when they should be asking (well constructed) open questions?

“Most salespeople” is the correct answer.

The ability to ask great questions is one of the critical skills for being a sales superstar yet most salespeople fair badly at best in this area.
Think back to the first time you were taught about open questions. Did you understand it? I’m guessing that you did. Let’s face it, it really isn’t that complicated is it? Most salespeople hear it, think that it makes sense and move on. They hear it, they acknowledge it but they never practise it. They get it intellectually but because they never practised it, it never becomes a skill for them. It never becomes something that they own.

Put under pressure in a sales meeting or in a cold call, and with the adrenaline flowing, they revert to type asking controlling closed questions and “forgetting” to ask carefully constructed open ones.

As Robbins says, “Repetition is the mother of all skill.”

• If you want to be a great golfer you need to practise your swing, over and over.
• If you want to be a great pianist you need to practise your scales, over and over.
• If you want to be a great at anything you need to practise it, over and over.
• If you want to be a great salesperson you need to practise your sales skills, over and over.

If you are a salesperson and you want to outsell your competition and win more clients fast, you need to create an ongoing sales development programme for yourself that includes regular practise of all of the sales training basics.

Don’t wait for your boss to put you on a sales training programme. Don’t wait for your sales results to fall off a cliff. Don’t wait until it’s nearly too late to start. Start now and make regular sales training practise of your selling skills  part of your daily habits. You’ll be amazed what you can achieve from a mere 15 minutes a day practising your basic sales skills.

If you’re a sales manager, sales leader or business owner then you need to think about how you can help your sales team to practise their core sales skills regularly. One-off training is not enough by itself. You need to create ongoing sessions and exercises for them to participate in, both individually and as a team. One company I know bought several copies of my Objection handling book Objections! Objections! Objections! and then “drilled” the answers in sales meetings. They added £1 million to their bottom line.

Not convinced it’s worth the effort? Not convinced you can get the same results? not convinced that you buy into this whole practise argument? What would Tiger Woods, David Beckham and Johnny Wilkinson tell you to do?

I rest my case.

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We are aiming to get responses from over 1000 sales professionals thus giving us a true and accurate snapshot of what it is really like to work in sales in 2009. The survey is being widely promoted in the media and I will be publishing the results and anything that we can learn or use from them. This research will also be featuring in the autumn / winter edition of the ISMM’s Winning Edge magazine.

The results will provide the data for the report ‘The State of the UK Sales Industry, 2009’ and is applicable to anyone in a sales led role. The survey is totally anonymous and the the results will be made available free of charge to download to everyone that takes part and will be published on GavinIngham.com, 2009 Sales Survey and also www.aaronwallis.co.uk.

The survey consists of just over 60 questions and will take around ten to twelve minutes to complete. The questions are designed to be a mixture of work related and life related questions. We hope that you enjoy completing it.

To get you thinking, here are some interesting results from the 2007 survey…

• Almost 50% of respondents said they’d lied at interview, mostly about why they left their last job and about their salary.
• Only 23% of female respondents were in senior management jobs compared to 46% of men.
• 54% of female respondents earned over £25k. 81% of male respondents earned over 25k.
• 32% of respondents said they’d had no training in the previous year.
• The number one top priority in any new job was the opportunity to grow and develop.
• Female respondents were twice as likely to be satisfied with their career/job.
• 43% didn’t take their full holiday entitlement.
• Being respected was the single biggest driver for all respondents – far more than money.
• 60% thought they could do their boss’s job better!

Why not have your say in the 2009 survey now? I’ve already had mine! As a ‘thank you’ for completing the survey you have the opportunity to win an ‘ultimate experience’. This is a choice of over 100 experiences ranging from a 30 minute ‘Tiger Moth’ flight to an overnight golf break for two to a racing experience in a Lamborghini.

You can take the 2009 Sales Survey here now and you can rest assured that I will be using the outputs to ensure that my sales training programmes, sales seminars and sales products stay ahead of the game and keep giving you the motivation and the strategies that you require to keep on selling with passion.

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The two year old, wearing blue shorts and a white t-shirt and still standing up puffed his chest out, looked his Dad in the eye and stated, “Feed ducks!” Dad looked straight back at him and asked again, “What would you like to drink?”

“Feed ducks,” came back the reply.

“We can feed the ducks afterwards Robert but we are sitting down for a nice drink now, what would you like?”

“Feed ducks,” Robert shot back decisively and like a boy who was not to be messed with.

“Robert, we are having a drink now so sit down and tell Daddy what you would like,” said Mum.

“Feed ducks,” retorted Robert.

“Robert, we are having a drink now,” said Mum, “If you don’t behave yourself there will be trouble.” “Yes Robert,” agreed Dad, “Decide now or you will be sorry.”

“Feed ducks.”

“Robert, if you don’t behave we won’t have a drink,” said Mum.

“Feed ducks.”

Various items were picked up off the table, Mum stood up and Robert and the family disappeared off towards the edge of the lake where they stood peacefully and Robert got to… feed ducks.

As a motivational speaker and sales training consultant I see a lot of salespeople every day who could do with a shot of Robert’s tenacity and persistence. In sales seminars, I see a lot of salespeople who could do with a jolt of Robert’s determination and purity of focus. Robert got what he wanted by deciding what it was and then taking action until he achieved it. It wasn’t clever, it wasn’t pretty but it worked.

And a lot of salespeople and business builders that I know could do with being a bit more like Robert.

Too many salespeople spend their lives looking for a reason why they cannot ask for the deal, why now is not the time to close and why the client might say no. In my sales seminars, I teach cutting-edge sales techniques that take the pressure off your prospect and help them to make the right decisions for them. I help salespeople to get away from ABC (Always Be Closing) and apply truly consultative selling techniques and strategies…

But as Robert demonstrated, selling is all about tenacity and persistence and sometimes it doesn’t matter how you do it, you just have to take action.

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Gavin

You came into our offices around a month ago to deliver a morning’s training and said we could contact you with any thoughts/questions we had following the day - hence me getting in contact! I am a fairly junior salesman, currently employed in a pre-sales role i.e. cold calling companies to set up appointments for the sales team. My question is around job titles - in your experience, what difference does a job title make to a persons’ success or indeed their perceived chance of success?

Just going on my own thoughts, the title for my role in my employment contract is ‘Junior Sales Executive’. I feel however that having this on my email signature would probably jeapardise my chance of success - might a prospect see that and assume that I am not senior enough to be dealing with? A further thought is the impression that there is sometimes a stigma attached to being called a salesman - ie nobody in my business calls themselves that on their business card - everyone is a ‘Systems Consultant’. Given my more junior role I describe myself as being in Business Development.

I wondered what your thoughts were? I think that its mostly something for the salesman rather than the prospect to worry about…

What a great question. What difference does a job title make to your success / perceived chance of success? I think that you already know part of the answer with your insertion of the word perceived… I will answer this in two parts…

1) To the salesperson themselves.

Many people, including many salespeople, have limiting beliefs about what being a salesperson means about them. Many people associate negative meaning to being a salesperson. When I speak at sales conferences I often ask attendees what the general public thinks of salespeople and they say things like “pushy, aggressive, slimy, sell their grandma…”. With beliefs like these it is not surprising that many salespeople would rather have a card entitled “account manager” or “account director” rather than “salesperson”.

Clearly, this is not reality. Whatever your title, this does not change who you are and what you can deliver. It does not change how much value you can add for your clients. It does not change your ability to build relationships, grow your network and SELL.

Many salespeople do obsess about titles and how a better title would help them to sell more but then again many salespeople think the same about their territory, their products, their prices and their education. These kinds of thought can have a huge negative impact on your psyche… don’t let them!

2) To the prospect.

Titles can sometimes make a real difference to prospects. Prospects have biases and prejudices the same as everyone else and can make snap decisions about others the same as you do. Some prospects might be turned off by the word “sales” and prefer to think that they were getting “service”. Others may like to think that they are dealing with someone senior and hence prefer a title that reflects this.

The reality of course, is that once you are through the door they will judge you on who you are and no fancy titles or strings of letters after your name will hide the fact if you are a no-hoper. It’s fair to say that sometimes directors have more success setting up appointments with directors than salespeople but then is this because they have the title or because they act like they have the title?

At the end of the day, by far the most important thing is having the right attitude and making the call about your client and not you. Most clients only care about themselves and their business. Why should they care about you or your title?

More thoughts…

You asked the question about the word salesman on the card and I think that some clients would see this as refreshingly honest and others as a turn-off. Conversely speaking, using something else when you are plainly a salesperson may well make no difference and could even make things worse… calling a lion a horse does not mean that you want to be feeding it sugar lumps, does it?

As for the junior thing, yes this could effect your clients and their impression of you particularly initially. If this is an internal title does it really need to be on your cards? This is probably not in anyone’s interests really.

So what does all of this mean?

• Your title may effect people’s impressions about you and may awaken their personal prejudices and preconceptions.
• Your title may effect you and your self-worth but you must not let it. You are not words on a piece of paper.
• Anyone with any title can sell anything and you must not get hung up about this.
• You don’t need to give a title when cold calling… I never have.
• Why not consider not having no title at all? Or like some companies having multiple titles for differing circumstances?

But mostly, don’t fight with reality - you always lose. If you are stuck with a title get over it and get on with it. Anyone can sell with any title at any time and analysing these things for too long may negatively affect your mindset and your sales results…

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So that done (!), I thought I would sum up some of the core sales training lessons from this year’s Sales Apprentice…

On sales motivation and mindset…

• Top sales performers perform, they don’t talk about performing. Sales is not about what you say you’re going to deliver. Sales is all about what you actually do deliver.
• Sales success is all about action. 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.
• Maintain your focus because sales superstars are focused. They know what they want. They work out how to get it. And they take action to achieve it.
• Sales success is about taking responsibility - responsibility for yourself, your sales activities and your sales results.
• Sales success is directly related to effort.

On prospecting…

• Know your client, know your client, k-n-o-w your client.
• Set objectives for all sales activities and prospecting calls.
• Get proactive and get your prospecting done. Procrastination and lethargy are the enemy of successful new business winners.
• Get yourself in the right mental state for cold calling. Attitude is your ability to access your skills.
• Know where to expend your energy. Working smarter is the route to success.
• Know your product. Know your product. Know your product.

On selling…

• Under promise and over deliver. Delivering on your promises is essential in any business.
• Develop trust and credibility if you want top class client relationships.
• Always give 100%. Nothing short of 100% if good enough if you want to be a sales superstar.
• When negotiating, sound like you believe in what you’re saying and plan your negotiation tactics and strategies.
• Sell on value and not price.
• Maximize the impact and effectiveness of your sales activities.
• Understand your clients, their markets and their needs. Your sales presentations need to be matched and tailored to suit their wants and needs and not just your own.
• Ask better questions. Listen harder. Seek to fully understand your clients.
• Know that people buy on emotion and justify with logic.

On presenting…

• To make powerful and persuasive sales presentations you need to know your stuff, you need to know what you’re presenting, you need a solid and proven structure.
• Know your audience. Know your audience. Know your audience.
• Do your preparation and planning.
• Have a call to action. People need an incentive and encouragement to buy now.
• Practise. Practise. Practise.
• Give 100% and be yourself.

On sales leadership…

• Watch out for sales terrorists in your business who focus everyone on the negative and undermine your business. In today’s turbulent economy you cannot afford to have negativity like this in your teams.
• Utilize the skills of your team effectively. Different people have different strengths and different weaknesses and using these to best advantage is key.
• Be approachable and personable so that your team will communicate with you, confide in and support you.
• Encourage involvement and participation and create team spirit.
• Take responsibility and make decisions.
• Judge the reality of a situation not just what you believe it to be.
• Learn to delegate. Being a great leader is not about being able to do everything yourself.
• Get the right salespeople into your business to build high performance sales teams and get great sales results.

So that’s it for another year. What did you learn and what are you going to do differently to get the sales results that you want?

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But, real or not, representative of their day-to-day style or not, this was prime time TV and they had to make a spectacle of it. What’s more, of course, the whole premise of interviewing at the end of the hiring process is ludicrous; many of the issues that are discovered at this late stage should have been weeded out at first interview stage… preferably on the phone thus saving you valuable time and money.

Not many sales training tips tonight but plenty of ideas on how and how not to hire yourself a high performance sales team. And not many surprises with the outcome of tonight’s show either…

The four interviewers this year were Claude Litner, Sir Alan’s former “global trouble-shooter”;  Karren Brady, the managing director of Birmingham City Football Club; Bordan Tkachuk, the chief executive of the computer and IT firm Viglen, one of Sir Alan’s companies; and Alan Watts, hot-shot city litigator who acted for Sir Alan in his successful proceedings against the Daily Mail for libel.

Their mission, apparently, break through the bragging and the bluster and get to the truth.

Perhaps the interviewing wasn’t as outrageous as last year but, none the less, if you were setting up a business and you had never recruited anyone before and you chose to adopt some of these interviewing approaches for finding the right salespeople for your business you could very quickly land yourself in very hot water indeed. Headed by Claude Litner, this was a master-class in bullying your interviewee by being overly personal, “I wonder if you’re delusional”, I’ve read your CV… it’s fair to say that they’re exceptional, exceptionally bad” , “You’re talking nonsense, you’re talking nonsense aren’t you”, “Don’t be daft”, “You’re little miss perfect aren’t you”, “You seem a little immature”…

But at least this was balanced out by Karen, in particular, who demonstrated some powerful interviewing skills, building rapport, listening to her interviewees and asking strong developmental questions to really find out what the candidates had to say. She wanted to find out what made the candidates tick and from what we saw did a good job of it.

Sales leadership tip: Getting the right salespeople into your business is essential if you want to build high performance sales teams and get great sales results. Yes, it’s important that you challenge individuals under interview but it is also essential that you get them talking and really find out what drives them and makes them tick. Behaving like Sir Alan’s attack dog is no way to recruit great salespeople as it simply backs them into a corner allowing you to see little more than how they behave when someone threatens them.

Here are 5 top tips for recruiting sales superstars by getting the best out of sales interviewees…

1. Do your preparation. Develop a standard set of questions.
2. Listen and ask developmental questions.
3. Ask evidence based questions because anyone can talk theory. You need to understand what they have actually done not what they say they can do.
4. Don’t divulge too much about your company at first. Find out what they know.
5. Be tough and challenging but not rude. Do not personalize it.

What did we learn about the apprentices from these interviews?

Kate prefers to work with men. James looked like he was going to cry most of the time. Lorraine was not confident about her CV and “accidentally” added an extra year onto her current job to pad it out. Yasmina had exaggerated the turnover and the profit of her current business. Debra was accused of being hated and swearing at work and said that she had never had so much negative feedback in a day.

In the board room…

“James I have taken on board what you said, there is nothing wrong with being friendly… I think you’re a corporate man… that don’t exist in my business, with regret you’re fired.”

And James was gone and we were left with 4 girls…

“Lorraine. You think you’re good at sales yeah?… You can’t keep bleating about that hard upbringing all the time… you had altercations with people… (she said she had learnt from the show)… Lorraine you might have to take that with you now, I have to balance what is suitable for my organization so I am going to have to say to you, you’re fired…”

And there were three…

“Kate. You’re in the final.”

So the last place was between Debra and Yasmina. “If I tell you that there is nothing between you. It is a very, very, seriously tough decision that I have to make…  Debra you should be proud of yourself. I’ve made my decision and I wish you the very, very best of luck and I know you’re going to be very successful in the future. Debra you’re fired. You keep in touch.”

So we were left with Kate and Yasmina, the two you could have picked for the final 6 weeks ago. Who do you think will win? Roll on Sunday.

Sales interview tips: If you’re currently interviewing for a new sales role, here are 6 quick tips for interview success…

• Do your research.
• Identify the key skills you think your interviewer will need and think of specific examples where you have demonstrated these skills.
• Take evidence of your results with you.
• Know your figures.
• Prepare some questions.
• Close Close Close.

For more tips on succesful interviewing read this Sales Interview Techniques article now.

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If you want to win new business you need to be able to find new client information. In this video, the third in the series, we look at 10 top tips for improving your prospecting and new business generation.

Follow these links to check out video 1 of Finding New Client Information and video 2 of Finding New Client Information. Don’t forget to join the GavinIngham.com success newsletter free too as we will be launching new videos and sharing more sales boosting articles regularly.

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Tonight’s task was to select products to sell live on a TV shopping channel. The team that sold the most would win. A task like this is all about picking the right products for your target audience and then selling them effectively. How would they fare?

On team Ignite, Howard volunteered to project manage Lorraine and Kate whilst over on team Empire, Yasmina volunteered to project manage James and Debra. Debra also wanted to be project manager and agreed to Yasmina leading the team somewhat ungraciously, “For me, I am happy to be project manager every week,” she stated. Err, yes Debra, but that’s really not what it’s about though is it?

Both teams split in two to select products which the other members of their team would have to sell on TV the next day. All were treated to “sales presentations” on various products which they could choose from. They may have asked but, if they did, we never heard one question or one comment on target markets and audiences…

Sales training tip: Much as knowing what the products do is important, so is knowing who the audience are and what they buy. Me, I would have spent rather more time asking questions. Who are the audience? What do they like? What do they normally buy? How many did this product sell last time? When was it last on the channel? What have they bought that’s similar? How did they sell? How do the prices compare? How price conscious are they? What compels them to buy now? Etc etc.

Choices were made. Kate selected a hideous leather jacket with silver or gold leaves on and a healthy chip pan for Howard and Lorraine to sell. Howard and Lorraine selected a rather bizarre pet craft kit and a mini electronic, air guitar for Kate to sell.

Over on the other team, James and Yasmina selected a leaf grabbing contraption and a polo-neck, scarf type piece of clothing for Debra to sell and she in turn selected a cheap remote control car and a pack of elasticated hairclips for them.

Notably, James, Yasmina and Debra did not have a product priced over £29.99 whilst Kate, Lorraine and Howard had two approaching £150. Would this make winning hard for Yasmina and her team or would their cheap “pile them high, sell them cheap” approach work?

On the TV…

James was cheesy, “If you’re not first with this, you’ll be last with this”, he quipped, “Stop spying and start buying.” Debra meanwhile looked slick but did claim the line of the week, “This is the answer to the scarf,” she stated confidently. What was the question again Debra?

Over on the other team, Howard and Lorraine looked uncomfortable working together. Selling the chip pan they waxed lyrical about the chips but said little about how to buy the product. Kate looked like she was enjoying herself selling the air guitar, perhaps a little too much.

Sales training tip: Every sales message needs a call to action. People need an incentive and encouragement to buy now. They need to know when to call, why they should call now, the number to call, the numbers that are selling, the number of people hanging on the line etc etc.

In the board room…

Empire had sold £1541.88. Ignite £1376.73.

A win for Yasmina and her team. Apparently Debra had been “exceptional” according to the TV channel representatives. Howard and his team had failed to win despite their higher priced products. Neither the leather jacket nor the fryer had sold to the expectation levels of the channel.

During the conversations that followed it became clear that both Howard and Kate blamed Lorraine. Lorraine thought Howard should go due to being over cautious. In private, Nick vociferously stood up for Lorraine to Sir Alan, “She is so often right.”

In their defence…

Howard said that he is a great communicator and works well in teams. Nick told him that he lacked ambition and is not brave. Lorraine said she has natural business acumen. Sir Alan asked why she wanted to work for him then? Kate said she has been a strong team player. Sir Alan said that one of them is “not going to be very happy.”

“Kate. I think you stepped back in my eyes in this last week. You say you’re not a one trick pony… but you might be… Howard you’re a steady Eddie… Lorraine you speak a good game, your age has got nothing to do with it… I’ve noticed a couple of times that you seem to make your mind up afterwards and I ‘aint got time for people like that either… This is a very difficult decision because you three people have come a long way in this process… Howard, you’re fired.”

An interesting decision and one I agreed with. Howard has never really stepped up. We are one week from the final and he is still a figure in the background. Worse, he has twice been present when bad decisions have been made and has seemingly done and said nothing to contradict the bad decisions being made. But he is a nice guy and eminently enmployable…

Howard in the cab, “I’m gutted. Really gutted…. If Sir Alan thinks I am risk adverse then ok I will take on board the feedback.”

So…

Kate, Lorraine, Debra, Yasmina and James remain to face the wrath of the interviewers from hell next week. Who will survive the ridiculous, unrealistic, un-PC, verbal attacks of Sir Alan’s attack dogs? Who do you want to see in the final?

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I’m really not sure who I wanted to lose this week or who I’d like to sack first. Lorraine is singularly annoying, Debra is contrary and aggressive, Ben is puffed up and ego-tastic, James is Tim-Nice-But-Dim… Howard, Kate and Yasmina seem the best of a bad bunch with Kate perhaps my favourite…

Anyway, back to the plot and our teams had 6 hours to visit suppliers, view potential products and make their selection of the products that they wanted to sell the very next day…

In Holland Park, James and Yasmina loooked at a birthing pool. In an attempt to influence their decision the client informed them that they had recently sold £5,000 worth of stock at a similar event over three days. Useful information but why did they not ask this question themselves and why did they not ask any follow on questions?

Sales training tip: Selling is all about asking questions. Selling is all about understanding. Selling is all about asking the right questions to aid understanding for both you and your client. Even when the client offered useful information why did they not ask more questions about where this other event was, how many attendees there were, why the people bought, what the competitive products were etc. I would have even asked them what they knew about the Baby Show and whether they’d been to that show before…

In South London Debra and Ben looked at a protective head cap for toddlers. As they left Ben was dismissive, “I’d want my kid to get cuts and bruises” he said, implying that children these days get molly-coddled. Debra agreed with him. And so do I…

But this has nothing to do with Debra and nothing to do with Ben and nothing to do with me. This is all to do with parents and future parents and, more specifically, the parents and future parents at the Baby Show. Would they make an impulse purchase to protect their child’s skull? Is this something that they would buy? I wouldn’t but I think they probably would.

Sales training tip: When you make assumptions about your prospects and your market based on your own preconceptions and beliefs you run the risk of getting it wrong. This is why planning, preparation and research are a critical part of the sales process.

Next up, Knightsbridge, and Debra and Ben fell in love with a horse. A wooden, rocking horse to be more precise. “We are known as the best rocking horse makers in the world… they sell to kings and queens everywhere”, boasted the rocking horse maker. I couldn’t visualize many kings and queens gracing Earl’s Court with their presence and I’d heard enough to move on but Ben and Debra were enchanted… “if you only sell one”, dreamed Ben.

Yes Ben, IF.

Kate and Howard meanwhile had realized the potential of selling the protective head cap that Debra and Ben had dismissed by playing on FEAR.

Sales training tip: People buy on emotion and justify with logic. Protecting your child is natural for any parent and, particularly, for first parents. At £15.99 this could be an easy sale… whether you agree with it or not

Decision time…

James asked Debra what she had seen that she liked and she said that as long as they got the rocking horses she didn’t care. “What’s your second choice?” he asked and Debra replied, “I wouldn’t choose any of them. I got to be honest, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t put my kid in a cradle, I wouldn’t put high heels on a 6 month old and I probably wouldn’t pick a head guard that they’d pull off.”

James and his team selected the birthing pool and the rocking horses. On the other team Lorraine, Kate and Howard selected a foldable buggy and the head guard.

The show…

Lorraine and her team quickly discovered that there was another company selling the same buggy as them and that they were selling it for £35 cheaper than them too. Oh dear.

Sales training tip: Ask better questions. Most salespeople just do not ask enough questions nor do they ask the right questions. In this case, Lorraine failed to ask the question as to whether anyone else would be exhibiting the product at the show.

Kate and Howard, true team players (!), whispered to each other, “I can’t believe she didn’t ask if anyone else was selling it”, whispered Kate, “Do you know what? If we lose, we’ve got a reason, we’ve got an excuse,” replied Howard. Good to know that they have a plan in place… even if it is their excuses if they fail!

Lorraine, meanwhile, was making a hash of demonstrating the buggy. “She’s making a complete horlicks of it”, commented Nick. Lorraine knew that she could not work the buggy last night and yet she had walked in to the show itself still unable to work it. What is that about? Why did she go to bed before she could take that buggy down and put it back up again blind folded, one-handed and wearing boxing gloves?

Sales training tip: Everyday I see salespeople who know that they have not completed something adequately but who pack up their bags and go home at 530pm anyway. Sales success is directly related to effort. Often, I have worked through the night to complete something important. That’s what important means, worth dedicating time and effort to. Clearly, operating the buggy was important and I would not have slept before I had mastered it.

And then a prospective customer showed Howard, Kate and Lorraine how to operate it. “We just don’t look professional when people ask how do you recline it and then they have to show us. It doesn’t look good”, said Howard implying that Lorraine was at fault. You knew you couldn’t operate it too Howard and you went to bed as well. You could have worked it out yourself you know.

That’s two weeks now that he has claimed innocence whilst seemingly being present whilst bad decisions were made. He does remind me a little of the Jasper Carrot sketch, “Never been involved in an accident… seen thousands”.

Over on the other team, Ben was half-heartedly trying to get people to talk with him about the rocking horses, “Can I interest you in our rocking horses?”, “Would you be interested in our rocking horses?” and “Excuse me, could I interest you in our rocking horses?”

Sales training tip: Closed questions of this kind are not the best kind of question to get people talking to you. It is far too easy for a client to say, “No”… and they all did. Planning and preparing your approach for engaging clients is critical. When you work a show or a stand you need to plan and prepare a strategy for enticing, engaging and converting prospects. You need to know what you need to achieve and how best you can achieve it.

In the board room the results were in…

Empire (Ben, Debra, Yasmina and James) had sold £722.
Ignite (Lorraine, Kate and Howard) had sold £1606.89 (or was it £1666.89?).

Debra was quick to cast blame, “In my mind, if you are a family, you will always have a need for a buggy…” What? She is unbelievable and so contrary. She says one thing one minute then reinvents history and says something else the next. Debra, do you not remember saying that you would be gutted if you did not get the horse?

James was criticized for choosing the birthing pool when only 2% of people have home births (or was that birthing pools?). James took this on the chin but said that they had also spent far too much time championing the rocking horse and far too little selling the birthing pool.

Sales training tip: I don’t know enough about this market to comment on their choices and anything I could say would be based on best guess and not research however… James is right about the strategy. Debra and Ben seemed to be looking for the knock-out punch, the big one, the retirement sale. They (rightly) pointed out that if they could sell one rocking horse they would win.

But they didn’t sell any rocking horses and they didn’t win. Too many salespeople rely on one big deal or one important deal to help them to hit their targets but then when it doesn’t come in, which is frequently, they miss target. They whine about how unlucky they were, how close it was and what would have happened if…

Debra continued to say that there were other options and that she had told James that. No Debra, I wrote it down. You said, “I wouldn’t choose any of them”. She continued about the choice of the birthing pool, “They beat us because they picked a product that everybody needed”… Ah, of course yes, because everybody needs a rocking horse Debra!

James elected, not surprisingly, to bring back Debra and Ben…

Ben claimed that he had shown Sir Alan raw business talent. He said, “I’ve shown you that I can be a compete grafter?” Apparently he can “compete at a world class level” and, did I tell you, he had a “scholarship for Sandhurst”?

But Sir Alan wasn’t having any of it, “It’s a very tough decision and it’s not a nice one for me to be perfectly honest but I feel that the light at the end of the tunnel has gone out quite frankly and I think it’s time Ben for you to leave this process. Ben you’re fired.”

Bye-bye Ben.

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