Geschreven door Marijn de Geus | April 12, 2012
Sales skills (or any other soft skill such as managing, collaborating or presenting) are not taught by telling people all sorts of interesting information. A couple of practices or roleplays aren't enough either. Although interesting, my experience tells me they rarely make the difference. A sales training will only be effective when it is focused on the 1 to 3 most urgent subskills. So it's about focussing on behavioral change and learning new behavior.
Saleschanging in 6 steps
1. Dare to be ambitious
2. Affirm good behavior
3. Adress most urgent subskills
4. Acknowledge that behavioral change is not about 'knowing'
5. Prescribe desirable behavior
6. Facilitate deliberate practice
1. Dare to be ambitious
Every serious trainer should openly aim to quickly and structurally increase the participants sales effectiveness. You will make the participant competent. All other is a side issue.
2. Affirm good behavior
People rare start at zero and especially salespeople are often quite good at what they do through experience and talent. Don't forget to affirm the things a participant excels at ('keep doing!').
3. Address most urgent subskills
If you see top salesman John end a conversation, you'll notice him missing a chance to close. And account manager Mona knows she is not a good listener and has a hard time clearing up a client's wishes. If you are able to observe which subskills form each person's bottleneck, you'll know what to focus on in the training.
4. Acknowledge that behavioral change is not about 'knowing'
If you train John and Mona, you could spend time to find the reasons for their ineffective behavior. These reasons are usually very complex ('addicted' to a sideeffect of the behavior, a preconceived notion that it's the way it should be done, etc.). But if you realise that change is not a rationally manageable process, why spend so much time investigating the underlying reasons?
5. Prescribe desirable behavior
As a doctor prescribes medicine and rest, a trainer should prescribe desirable behavior. It might sound odd, but in my experience most people crave clear instructions. Sometimes even litteral texts for how to close a deal (John) or ask the right follow-up question (Mona).
6. Facilitate deliberate practice
When the most urgent subskills are known, the actual work starts. And that's: practice. Simply making hours focussing on one subskills. Have someone practice on something a 100 times, until - in the actual sales conversation - the subskills is ingrained in his or her behavior.
Ericsson call these most urgent subskills a 'skills gap' and the practice part 'deliberate practice'. We are used to these things in sports: think of practice a backhand or freekick. (Our) online tools enable you to bring people a saleschanging event, while financially and logistically interesting.
