Fantastic feedback for Mike Carr’s session on Advanced Presentation Skills with three experienced sales people. Mike is such an experienced expert in the field of “persuasive presentations” that he is able to coach higher impact presentations for everyone he works with. Contact us to find out what he can do for you.
A fantastic Customer Centric program written for CHEP to deliver in-house to all their sites in NZ. We had a great 2 days training the customer centric champions how to deliver the training and they left that workshop thoroughly prepared and looking forward to their first training sessions. The combined participants feedback report and the trainer’s evaluation of the participants evoked this response:
“Wow what a valuable report, thank you for pulling this together for us. Thanks again for everything. You and your team are magnificent and I have loved every minute of working together.” – Customer Services Manager, CHEP
See the full feedback report here:
Earlier this month Becky Carr facilitated an Advanced Sales Skill workshop for the sales team of a medical company with a diverse range of skills and experience. This can often be challenging to keep all participants engaged when some are more experienced than others, however, the feedback showed that where skills were already in existence it was a great refresher and helped to reinforce their knowledge base. The lesser experienced participants found it a great confidence building exercise with the opportunity to develop their sales call structure. The key areas that everyone found valuable were developing “needs” questions relevant to their industry and the DISC personality styles, a great tool for communicating better with customers.
From the Sales Team:
“A very good refresher on sales and on sales techniques – Becky was fantastic and held everyone’s attention”
“Well structured, excellent examples to implement into relevant industry”
“Delivered very well, kept everyone engaged throughout the full days training. Excellent statement of intent too”
From the Sales Manager:
“It was definitely worthwhile and I am eager to continue with some more training in the future”
Read the full report here:
Rated in the top 10 most viewed TED talks in history, Simon Sinek’s ground breaking talk explains how we inspire action. People don’t care what you do, unless they know why!
Sinek refers to the success of Apple. Apple have been selling computer products for decades now and we all know and trust the brand. Their competitors are just as capable at develop- ing the innovative and beautiful products that Apple produce and yet many people always buy Apple. So why is it that when we look at Apple, a computer company that sells us phones, computers, mp3s and much more, we see a company to put our trust in regardless of whether they’re selling something they specialize in or not. Could you image buying a mp3 player from Dell? No! Apple? Of course!
The reasoning behind this is fairly simple. When you look at the greats throughout history, including the great businesses of today, you can see a similarity in the way they sell themselves. Most of us will promote ourselves in that classic way – we tell you what we’re good at and why we’re good at it. It gives all the information we need and it should entice you into buying from us, hiring us or just following us depending on what you’re selling. But it’s nowhere near as effective as using the golden circle.
The golden circle is what major successes throughout history have used to sell themselves. Whether it’s selling products or beliefs, there’s a similarity in the way the biggest names have talked to us. It has less to do with what they’re selling and everything to do with why. People are interested in why you do things not what you do! Sure, we won’t buy something from you just because we like the why,( unless we need it), but we do invest ourselves into things that we believe in a lot more. Taking this back to Apple, they tell us all about the innovation, what they’re aiming for, where they’re going and what they hope to see in the future. It sounds so promising and futuristic and we all love that – we all buy it on a huge scale!
The greatest leaders throughout history, whether they have been politicians, human rights activists or businesspeople have all had one thing in common, they have used their platform to inspire those around them by telling us “the why”, not “the how”. It’s not all about money and votes, it’s about giving people the power to think for themselves and know that they’re with likeminded people. Leaders and inspiration are two things that are easy to come by but rarely combined, it is the combination that truly makes a difference to the mindset of people in general.
Whether you’re the CEO of an international corporation, the owner of a small business or manager of a team, you will know that productivity depends upon your employee’s motivation and positivity. If only we could keep them motivated daily. While each employee is different, one Harvard University study found that positive feedback does wonders in the workplace. The study found that each employee, on average, needs to have six positive pieces of feedback for one negative piece of feedback received.
The average ratio for the highest-performing teams was 5.6 (that is, nearly six positive comments for every negative one). The medium-performance teams averaged 1.9 (almost twice as many positive comments than negative ones.) But the average for the low-performing teams, at 0.36 to 1, was almost three negative comments for every positive one.
The Asset-Based Thinking 5:1 Praise to Constructive Feedback Principle gives you a guideline for giving feedback to your employees, consistently and across the board.
How can you achieve this?
This process takes a couple of minutes of your day and means the world to employees. By focusing on the behavior you do want in your team, it lifts the standard in a positive manner.
A little constructive feedback is an essential part of the mix of course. It focusses people on what needs to change – showing it is not going unnoticed and that you are not willing to be complacent in your standards. This feedback needs to be in private, one on one and be objective not personal. Focus on facts and outcomes and ask them how they can do something differently in the future.
When they make a change, remember to praise them! Get that balance of 5:1.
Whether you are sitting down with an employee in your office for an annual review or are working in a collaborative team environment, practice the 5:1 Praise to Constructive Feedback Principle. Each employee is different, with various strengths and weaknesses. While it could be challenging to keep the feedback mostly positive, employing this tactic will help employees retain their engagement with your company, leading to loyalty, motivation and increased job performance.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be once I knew what to do.”
This is a real quote from a participant in a recent NZQA sales certificate workshop we are facilitating. What inspired the sentiment? Learning how to prospect.
Sales prospecting refers to the process of seeking leads, which are people or clients that lead to sales. This can be done using a variety of methods: emails, phone calls, social media connections, in person meetings. Prospecting doesn’t just involve unearthing new clients, but it can also mean re-establishing connections with old leads.The benefits of sales prospecting are apparent, yet many companies have yet to hire individuals specifically for this position.A good sales prospector is able to supply his/her company with a reliable, consistent flow of new leads and clients. As a result, higher-ranking employees are able to focus on account development instead of salesmanship, which drives the institution forward. Many times, these folks can seal the deal begun by the sales prospector.
Sales prospecting may seem like an unfamiliar term, but almost everyone who works in sales probably understands the meaning. It’s common for people in sales to be required to seek at least some new business. The tricky part is that a lot of salespeople just don’t like it or don’t know how to approach it. Reaching out to potential clients can be stressful and comes with a certain amount of pressure. However, it’s often the most challenging aspects of a job that are the most rewarding. A salesperson who is good at prospecting will never be out of a job.
So what’s the good news for salespeople and their managers? Effective prospecting is trainable!
Prospecting is a process that, done consistently, provides results. Here are 10 guidelines:
https://www.amazon.com/Raised-Myself-Failure-Success-Selling/dp/067179437X
This book originally written in 1949 is a timeless classic that is a must read for every sales manager or incentive driven sales person. It is a great resource when setting up sales teams to use CRM and get their buy-in on how activity tracking can enhance their results.
The book shares an inspirational story of how the author was going to give up his sales role selling insurance. Then he turned it all around by tracking his sales activity numbers. He soon saw a pattern in his activity and adjusted his approach feeling empowered once he knew what created his success. He then went on to be selected for the Million Dollar Round table club to be one of the industry greats.
A great start to our new PrintNZ National Certificate in Sales programme, with some fantastic feedback from the positive and engaged participants on the course.
Interesting video on what motivates people. Dan Pink gives a strong argument as to why money is not a motivator when it comes to complex problem solving. For simple mechanical problems money is a good motivator but for creative problems that require brain power he says giving people autonomy, drive to master the skills and purpose are better motivators.
View this Ted talk below.
In Superteams, renowned teamwork specialist Khoi Tu explains how to make sure your team delivers consistently superior results and emerges stronger from the inevitable crises you will face.
What do the SAS, Ferrari and the Rolling Stones have in common? Their success is about much more than talented individuals. They are Superteams.
Every organisation, whether a business or a sports club, lives or dies by the quality of its teamwork. No man can be an island for long; only great teams can face a crisis and emerge stronger. So how do you build the right team? Many people think of it like a rock supergroup: bring the best of the best together and magic will happen. Yet supergroups often flop, while bands of unknowns rise to the top.
View this YouTube clip below.
