Sales Course?
- Thread starter probyn
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You may want to start with the Dale Carnegie Course before heading onto a specific sales course. Dale Carnegie is not a sales course specifically, but equally important because it's a people skills course. You're not going to be able to sell anything especially if you're self-employed without highly developed people skills. You should already be familiar with How To Win Friends and Influence People, which the entire course is based on: http://dalecarnegeie.ca/ Dale Carnegie also provides sales training, but I've never taken it so can't comment.
The Canadian Professional Sales Association also has courses you may want to look at http://www.cpsa.com/index.aspx At least they've been around for a very long time and not some fly by night operation. I'd honestly stay away from anything from New Peaks (formerly known as Peak Potentials.) They run an event called The Millionaire Mind Intensive that was created a while ago by T. Harv Ecker. The 'seminar' is basically a hyped up few days full of mindless junk and they bug you at every opportunity to buy tapes and seminars.
The other option is to take a course at college or university. Probably a good introduction to sales, but don't expect a lot of content.
A lot of self-employed people I know did not take any formal sales training. They are just passionate and patient enough to persevere with their business until they gain traction. Takes a lot of trial and error to figure out what will work for you.
The Canadian Professional Sales Association also has courses you may want to look at http://www.cpsa.com/index.aspx At least they've been around for a very long time and not some fly by night operation. I'd honestly stay away from anything from New Peaks (formerly known as Peak Potentials.) They run an event called The Millionaire Mind Intensive that was created a while ago by T. Harv Ecker. The 'seminar' is basically a hyped up few days full of mindless junk and they bug you at every opportunity to buy tapes and seminars.
The other option is to take a course at college or university. Probably a good introduction to sales, but don't expect a lot of content.
A lot of self-employed people I know did not take any formal sales training. They are just passionate and patient enough to persevere with their business until they gain traction. Takes a lot of trial and error to figure out what will work for you.
Shutup and listen to what the potential client needs.
Be able to answer all their questions about your sprocket.
Never slam the competition, but be able to positively differentiate your product from theirs.
Always deliver what you promise. Customers have long memories.
The more people you talk to the better. It tends to be a numbers game.
It goes in cycles. Some sales periods you can sell ice to Eskimos and others you couldn't give a hungry dog a bone.
Don't get discouraged. Not a job for people with delicate sensibilities.
90% of what you need to know.
Be able to answer all their questions about your sprocket.
Never slam the competition, but be able to positively differentiate your product from theirs.
Always deliver what you promise. Customers have long memories.
The more people you talk to the better. It tends to be a numbers game.
It goes in cycles. Some sales periods you can sell ice to Eskimos and others you couldn't give a hungry dog a bone.
Don't get discouraged. Not a job for people with delicate sensibilities.
90% of what you need to know.
Passion for your product is very important. It speaks volumes and conveys a message that words often cannot.
All great points.
If a prospect asks a question you don't know the answer to, don't just make up some nonsense. Just be honest, tell them you don't know, you'll find out and get back to them.
Show genuine interest in your customer and think in terms of how your produce can help them solve a problem, rather than how you can convince them to buy your stuff. To do this you need to have product knowledge and problem solving abilities/sales techniques.
For books, it would depend some on the type of sales, retail, industrial, online, etc.
For books, it would depend some on the type of sales, retail, industrial, online, etc.
This is pretty much spot on.
The other 10% is trail and error because everyone is different and you need to find out what works for you.
IMO passion is over-rate especially if it blinds you from what the prospect is asking for. You should be excited about your product or service, but not so much that you stop listening to your prospect. You may have the greatest mouse trap in the world, but it's useless if the customer is asking for a cell phone. I've seen this so many times where a small business person is trying their hardest to sell me on something that I have zero interest in. Financial advisers tend to be the worst at this.
That's How to Win Friends and Influence People in a nutshell. You can't engage someone in a business or personal relationship if you don't have a genuine and authentic interest in them. People know when you are faking it.
Agreed.
If you take this statement on its own, you're correct.
It goes along with the other quote I had posted with it.
I see a lot of big corporations now getting on board with this new sales method/courses called "The Challenger Sale"... First heard about it maybe 4 or 5 yrs ago. Its really picking up steam lately. Anyhow, I haven't looked into it at all, just what I hear during small talk. It could very well be more BS, but, it probably wouldn't hurt to read up on it.
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