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Can anybody recommend a company for b2b sales training?
I can't however I can offer some advise, based on numerous years experience and a plethora of sales training courses over the years.
Its all about understanding the customers requirements (needs and wants) which is done through specific open questioning, and then aligning your proposition with their requirements. Sometimes requirements are hidden, ie the prospect doesn't know what they need or want, so the skill of the sales person is in asking the correct questions.
The best sales people ask questions and listen to the answers, the stereotypical salesman is all mouth and no trousers.
Spar-white index board at 230 a tonne 😂
Any work training or team building courses bring me back to this…
What industry / sector / size / commercial model?
It’s what i do / my company does - happy to chat even if just to throw ideas around so at least you know what to discount!
Its all about understanding the customers requirements (needs and wants) which is done through specific open questioning, and then aligning your proposition with their requirements. Sometimes requirements are hidden, ie the prospect doesn’t know what they need or want, so the skill of the sales person is in asking the correct questions.
+1
I used to work in bid evaluation (the opposite of b2b sales). Some bidders knew the game and knew all they had to do to pass the technical evaluation was answer yes (honestly) to the requirements. Others did the whole shiny suits and brochures thing. Do not do the shiny suits and brochures thing, it's a PITA when the customer has 5 bids to evaluate. We can't let that affect the outcome, but we still hate you.
This guy is not very corporate and certainly not to everyone’s tastes, but he’s bloody good. I’ve seen a few over the years, and this guy is a step above.
https://www.uksmosthatedsalestrainer.com/
And read Problem Prospecting by Richard Smith and Mark Akers.
As Lunge says, Benjamin Dennehy is great.
But it's also really, really important to match trainer/materials to sector and also sales team level/makeup. Sales is such a broad church - anyone saying there's a one size fits all training methodology is a charlatan.
What sector are you operating in OP?
Sales is about understanding fully your product first and then when meeting with potential customers listening to the problems they have and fitting your product into that issue as the solution (assuming it will fit, if it doesn't don't try to sell something that will only come back to bite you hard). Once you have ably demonstrated how your product solves the problems the client has then you have established yourself as somebody who listens and can offer solutions. You are no longer seen as salesperson but somebody who fixes problems, and the world is full of people with problems. Your skills will be in demand. And if you don't have the solution learn the marketplace competition and recommend someone else's product, people value honesty and will trust you even more.
The ears and mouth should be used in the ratio you possess them. Do twice as much listening as talking, you'll be amazed what people will tell you.
And be nice.
Not my area at all, but it’s single track so it went hold me back
A mate runs a distillery, they only do b2b.
He told me everyone thinks he is the ultimate sales man and you would think he was. Genuinely engaging, articulate and interested in people. But as he says sales is say much more than that. Loads of it is straight forward admin and follow. Remembering to phone up ask how it’s going? Is there anything else we can do for you? Are you due a restock? I think in the end he put some else on commission for follow up
But as he says sales is say much more than that. Loads of it is straight forward admin and follow. Remembering to phone up ask how it’s going? Is there anything else we can do for you? Are you due a restock? I think in the end he put some else on commission for follow up
Very simplistic, but Sales roles have two different tracts, Hunter Gatherers and Farmers / Account managers. The skills to nurture an existing client are very different to those required to acquire a completely new one.
In our business, the Hunter role was the hardest to recruit for as all we were really buying was connections with one or two specific clients and you could never tell if they had them until after you'd hired them. We mainly hired them as contractors and cut them loose if they didn't. The good ones could make a lot of money (some made millions in commission).
Check your tie, check your fly
Oh, and MEDDPICC
As footflaps says, there's sales and then there's sales.
The 2 things I've suggested are geared to cold outreach stuff, so very much the hunter role, which in my experience is the hardest part of the role. People who are good at it and like it are like gold dust, they're also invaluable if you're looking to really grow a business.
The other side is the account management side which is all about relationships, doing what you say, knowing the product, etc. Much easier to hire, much easier to train as well.
The other side is the account management side which is all about relationships, doing what you say, knowing the product, etc. Much easier to hire, much easier to train as well.
Again, hugely simplistic, but another way of looking at is was the Account Managers were decent, hard working, diligent people who cared about the customer and the Hunters were selfish bastards who'd sell their own grandmother into white slavery for a 5% commission.
I’ll disagree a bit with lunge as an Account Manager myself. Not only a sales role, you need to be able to grow and manage senior relationships internally and externally to be able to demonstrate and help the company deliver a good and helpful relationship to your client.
That means both retaining the incoming revenue stream already there, but also growing it without breaking the trust barrier. Often and certainly at a senior level this means gaining relationships / seats at high tables, building organisational trust, demonstrating viable solutions vs customer requirements /strategys and helping to manage thier outcomes / expectations throughout the use of them. It’s a difficult set of skills to juggle when you have sales target to be judged by, and often more difficult when the size of the at number has more zero’s e.g. growing a £1m client to £2m needs a shit load of faith/value realised by the customer and doing deals of that size can take an extended amount of time which may not suit a defacto sales target.
Not every sales person has those skills, or the patience to work in periods of time beyond balancing quarterly or annual targets.