Sales Progress Blog

These days people are more protective of their money, and instead of spending it freely, they are saving. For sales teams, it has become increasingly important to keep a hold of current clients; since, as most studies show, it costs six times more to get a prospect to buy than it does an existing customer. So, the question becomes, “How do we maintain our relationship with our client and get them to buy?”

Most customers leave because they are unhappy, and sixty-seven percent of clients leave because of a perceived feeling of indifference. Managers and supervisors need to coach their inside sales team to keep in front of their customers. Look at who you have not talked to in the past year and who you have not contacted in the past 30 days and make sure to send them an e-mail or phone call to let them know that you are still interested in them. Ask customers how the product you sold them is working out or if they need anything else. This way, you are letting your customers know that you value them.

Here are a couple more steps that you can take to improve your sales and increase your business opportunities:

Send Items of Interest. Find out information about your customers.

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admin Sales Management business opportunities, employee training, linkedin, Manager, Results, sales coaching, Sales Representative, sustained learning, training techniques

Today is an important day for most Mid-westerners because it marks the beginning of summer and the end of those cold, brutal winter months. With all the distractions of summer days, managers may begin to worry about one thing: their employee’s sustainability.

Sustainability - to keep up or keep going.

Everyone has those days, when work is the last place you want to be, and you’ve already started to think about weekend activities…but it’s only Monday. The sun is shining outside, the pools are packed and you’re stuck in an office. As a manager, how do you keep sales up and employees going during the summer months?

There are many things you can do to keep your employees motivated and train them to increase their sales sustainability :

admin Sales Management, Sales Training Add new tag, coaching, effective coaching, Employee Coaching, employee training, Enhance Performance, linkedin, management leadership training, motivation, sales, sales coaching, Sales Management, summer sales, sustainability, sustained learning, teamwork, training reinforcement

From infamous to famous, as most sports writers put it, Ron Artest has certainly made quite the comeback. It has been a long road for Artest ever since that brawl in Detroit, but it was one that he traveled well. There were many steps that the new NBA champion had to take to restore his superstar status, and many of these steps can be applied in the sales industry.

When it comes to coaching, there are many methods that you can take, but one of the most effective, is the peer-to-peer coaching. Before he went to the Lakers, Artest was a fantastic defensive player, but he tried to play every role and that was not always possible. When he paired up with Kobe Bryant, Artest immediately settled back into his defensive game, since he now had a partner that would create balance. By having employees sit down with one another, they can open the lines of communication and target areas of development. It will also foster team development and build performance levels.

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admin Sales Training business coaching, effective coaching, Employee Coaching, Enhance Performance, linkedin, management leadership training, management training, sales skills, sustained learning, training and development, training reinforcement, training techniques

Last week we talked about a post from Selling Power discussing the top issues on the minds of sales leaders in 2010.  Shortly after posting I came across these interesting new stats published in the December/January edition of E-Learning Magazine from the Spring Board Project.  I would say these statistics create a strong case for why we need to continue to train our employees.

50% of employers say they currently have such a serious gap between their needs and employees’ skills that if affects their productivity.  In today’s business world, there is no room for drags on productivity.  According to this statistic 50% of businesses could improve their productivity by providing additional training for their employees.

48% of employers do not provide ongoing education or skills training primarily because of cost.  Budgets are tight so this is certainly a valid point, HOWEVER if you are one of those company’s whose productivity is struggling due to lack of training you may be costing yourself more money to your bottom line because you won’t spend the money to invest in your employees.

80% of workers show keen interest in pursuing further education and training.
Give the people what they want, it just may be what your company NEEDS.

62% of workers say a convincing reason to pursue training is that the future economy will be extremely demanding, and if their skills are not to up to date, someone will pass them by.  This is very true; you could also take this stat to a broader view.  Given that the economy will be demanding, if you do not update the skills of your employee who is to say that your customers won’t pass you by for a competitor with better-trained employees?

Certainly training your employees can be expensive, and in tough times there may not be the financial resources available to run a true training program or to hire an outside resource.  With that in mind it’s time to get creative.  Take advantage of free resources available via the web.  Article sites, blogs by sales trainers, websites like Selling Power which offer thousands of free resources, coaching your employees, role playing, all of these things are free and can be beneficial to the needs of your employees.

If you know someone is struggling with handling price objections you could first send them an article on handling price objections, and then schedule time to role-play and practice handling those objections.  These two simple things can really spring board the employee ahead, and will cost you nothing but a little bit of time.

This year stop using budget as an excuse to not train your employees, and get creative with free resources.  Your bottom line will thank you.

Shannon Gburzynski Sales Management, Sales Training coaching, Leadership, sales, sales coaching, Sales Management, Sales Managers, Sales Progress, Sales Representative, sales skills, Sales Success, Sales Training, sustained learning

There’s nothing more frustrating than to leave a good webinar, workshop or meeting — and have all the content forgotten. That’s where Sales Progress’ software — the Training Generator — comes into play. Here’s a quick video that tells you more about the software:
Training Generator Overview
Contact info@salesprogress.com to turn ideas into action with the Training Generator.

Matt Byrnes Sales Training sustained learning, training generator

When you get a chance, please take a peek at traininggenerator.com. This new-look Sales Progress software has some slick features, including a workbook that lets you see what learners have applied…months after a training topic is covered. Click on “Features” to get a preview or web demo of the re-vamped Training Generator.

Matt Byrnes Sales Training sustained learning, training generator