Selling to Consumers | Sales Training Blog by Skip Anderson

Why Can't Tiffany Sell to Men?

Dear readers: Don't sell like Tiffany.

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A Play in One Act: Why Can't Tiffany Sell to Men?

As the scene opens, the sales manager is having a private sales coaching meeting with Tiffany, one of his average salespeople. Rachel is sitting back in her chair, lets extended, looking tired and frustrated.

Sales Manager: "What's up with your sales this month?"

Tiffany: "I just can't sell to men."

Sales Manager: "Why?" 

Tiffany: "I just can't get them to buy?"

Sales Manager: "Can you sell to women?"

Tiffany: "You know I can"

Sales Manager: "I know you can sell to men, too."

Tiffany: "I'm not comfortable doing it."

Sales Manager: "Are you comfortable doing other things with men?"

Tiffany: "Yes, of course. I just can't sell to them."

Sales Manager: "Tiffany, I know you can sell to men."

Tiffany: " -- "

Sales Manager: "So, if I KNOW you can sell to men, and you KNOW you can't sell to men, what do we do?"

Tiffany: " -- "

Sales Manager: " -- "

Tiffany: "I'm just saying I can't sell to men."

Sales Manager: "Let's pretend I'm a woman. Sell me this pad of sticky notes."

Tiffany: [role playing] "What are you looking for in your sticky notes."

Sales Manager: [role playing] "I like purple ones. And I don't like the little ones. I like bigger ones."

Tiffany: [role playing] "What else?"

Sales Manager: [role playing] "I need the jumbo back or something. I hate running out of sticky notes."

Tiffany: [role playing] "What else?"

Sales Manager: [role playing] "That's it."

Tiffany: [role playing] "Here's our super jumbo pack, which has twice as many sticky notes as the jumbo pack. And you get two different shades of purples. Do you like the size of these."

Sales Manager: [role playing] "Yes, that's what I had in mind."

Tiffany: [role playing] "Do you want to get these?"

Sales Manager: [role playing] "Yes, thank you."

Tiffany: "See, I told you I can sell to women...I just can't sell to a man."

Sales Manager: "But I am a man. I was just playing the role of a woman."

Tiffany" " -- "

Sales Manager: " -- "

Tiffany:  "Oh yeah."--

Sales Manager: " -- "

Tiffany: " -- "

Sales Manager: " -- "

Tiffany: "Okay. I can sell to men."

THE END.

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Dear Readers: Okay. You can sell like Tiffany now.

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If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, and the financial, real estate, and insurance markets.

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Sales Coaching the Over-Talker

I've written over and over again about the salesperson who talks too much in this blog and elsewhere. Yet, the problem continues. Salespeople have a tendency, I'm afraid, to over-talk.

I was surprised and pleased when one of my sales coaching clients recently asked me this question:

"How can I stop from talking so much?"

Wow! How's that for meeting your problems head-on! I wish every salesperson everywhere was so forthcoming about the personal challenges that limit their sales performance.

My client and I discussed the issue and I shared the following four strategies for overcoming over-talking during a sales interaction:

1. ADD TWO FULL SECONDS OF SILENCE

When your prospect finishes his sentence, wait two full seconds before responding. This will seem like an eternity, but it's value is in forcing the salesperson to become mindful about the words their speaking. Most over-talkers are on automatic pilot, so a good first step is to destroy the auto-pilot mechanism.

2. RECORD A SALES INTERACTION

Many over-talkers do so because they've never heard themselves do it. Their memory doesn't accurately record the reality of the sales interaction. The best reality is a video recording of a real customer interaction. The next best solution is an audio recording. I have seen recordings literally change the lives of salespeople forever. That's how valuable the process can be. If you've never done this for yourself, I will promise you that you will hear things that you had no idea you were doing or saying.

3. ROLE PLAY

Role playing is so valuable in sales coaching and sales training. An effective method is to role play typical sales scenarios, with the coach playing the customer. The coach and the salesperson should select a physical signal (touching the ear lobe, itching the elbow, raising the hand, etc.) that the coach can use when the coach notices the salesperson over-talking. Without stopping the role-play, the salesperson will get practice adjusting their selling behaviors in real time.

4. SELF-EDIT

Write down responses to common sales questions such as "Why should I buy from your company?" or "Can you do any better on your price?" Writing the answers down forces the salesperson to be mindful. Then, have the salesperson speak the written responses aloud. If necessary, edit the written answer to a more succinct response, then repeat. Writing down responses and editing is a great way to give the salesperson permission to self-edit, because if they could self-edit in real time, they'd probably already be doing it.

If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, and the financial, real estate, and insurance markets.

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I Don't Push It On Them

One of my sales coaching clients - I'll call him Mark - and I were having a discussion last week about the roadblocks he was experiencing trying to sell his product more successfully. He gave me permission to describe our conversation in this post.

In an effort to understand the dynamics surrounding Mark's challenges, I asked him many questions. During coaching sessions, I always look for information that raises a red flag: something unusual, something that indicates a blind spot in the seller's perception, or something that makes alarm bells go off in my mind.

I had one of those red flags raised when Mark was explaining how he worked with his prospects selling high end big ticket retail products.

"If I don't feel our product is right for the customer, I don't push it on them," Mark blurted.

With red flag raised, I started asking Mark questions about this idea. My first question was, "Mark, I understand you don't like to push product on your customer when you don't think it's right for that particular customer, but when do you think it's perfectly okay to push your product on a customer?"

Mark gave a long and rambling answer having to do with respect for the customer, pushiness in selling, needing to make sales goals, management's expectations, how it's fun to sell to a customer that likes your product, when a customer should buy a particular product for his own good, and so on. But he never really answered the question.

"So Mark, when do you think it's perfectly okay to push your product on a customer," I asked again.

Silence. Mark was thinking. That's always a good sign in a sales coaching session.

"I'm not sure," he replied.

So we talked it through at some length. I shared with Mark that I thought it was never appropriate to push product on a customer. That means when the salesperson doesn't think the product is a good fit for the customer, and it also means when the salesperson does think a product is a good fit for the customer.

I told Mark that having a push mentality in selling will always throw you off course, not only because when you push, you can't guide, and when you push, you can't lead. It also throws the salesperson off course because a push mentality requires a salesperson to determine when it's okay to push and when it's okay not to push. By taking pushing out of the selling equation, a salesperson doesn't have to make this determination.

Mark agreed and vowed to take product pushing out of all future sales interactions.

Then I had one more angle to discuss with Mark relative to his "If I don't feel our product is right for the customer I don't push it on them" statement. I started here:

"Speaking theoretically, what if a customer determines your product is a good fit for him, but you don't believe it is?"

Mark talked about the need to guide the prospect in the right way, being true to your own beliefs, and so on.

I counseled Mark: "The customer's conclusions are always more important than your conclusions. So if a customer believes product X or feature X is a better fit or most important, even though you [think you] know product Y or feature Y is more beneficial, you have to sell the customer what he wants, otherwise you're letting your biases get in the way of serving your clients, and in this way, you're limiting your sales."

This was a stunning revelation for Mark. He had always believed one of the most important selling functions was to guide his customers down the correct path, but he realized he hadn't been guiding, but had instead been steering, and that he couldn't ultimately determine what the correct path was anyway.

To review, here's what I believe Mark learned in our coaching session:

1. "Pushing" a product or service is not part of a sales representative's job description, so don't waste any time or energy doing it or thinking about when you should do it.

2. Guiding a customer is good. Steering a customer is bad. Let the customer decide what's a good product fit and then support the customer's decision.

If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, and the financial, real estate, and insurance markets.

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Post Traumatic Sales Disorder: PTSD

In the sales profession, we have a very high exposure to failure (in fact, in many selling jobs we will fail to make the sale more often than we will win the sale...how's that for ruining your day?). Most successful salespeople have developed (or were born with) a high tolerance for weathering the storm of a selling failure. They have high bouncebackability; they get back up on their feet and keep moving forward.

But on the other end of the spectrum are sales representatives who get mired in the failure part of selling. They've developed post traumatic sales disorder, my terminology for someone who gets stuck after a selling set-back and has difficulty moving forward.

Individuals with PTSD may need some extra therapeutic coaching from a sales manager. Think of this as mental health therapy for the ill salesperson. These individual may need hand holding, advice, and a step-by-step plan to help get the salesperson out of the funk. At it's worst, PTSD can end sales careers, but usually some helpful coaching can prevent that step.

Here's how to identify a salesperson with post traumatic sales disorder:

1. They've had a significant sales set-back (perhaps recently, but not necessarily).

2. They seem fixated on this failure and talk about it well after it should have been cleansed from their psyche.

3. They are visibly down. This may be in the form of depression, low energy, lack of drive, missing work, etc.

4. Their sales performance is suffering. PTSD isn't just about the initial sales set-back, it's about the other sales that are lost while in the throes of PTSD.

If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, and the financial, real estate, and insurance markets.

Breaking Bad Selling Habits: Where Sales Training & Coaching Intersect

I was working with a client's sales representative who had been selling in his industry for seventeen years. Despite this wealth of sales experience, he was a very marginal sales performer at best.

"Ben" was skeptical about the sales system I had created for his employer and all their salespeople. This isn't unusual, of course, because in my industry we not only need to share sales knowledge, we need to "sell" our client companies and individuals on learning, embracing, and implementing sales knowledge we provide. Ben was being resistant at worst and leery at best. So I asked him a few questions:

1. Are you willing to change anything in your sales behaviors? (He said "sure.")

2. Do you know which sales behaviors to change to get a better results? (He said "not really.")

3. If, after seeing you in action, I find five sales behaviors that you would be well-served to change, would you be willing to implement these changes in your selling? (He said "yep").

4. If at first you don't experience immediate success, will you be willing to implement these new behaviors 500 times before you give up?

To this last question he laughed, and then he said "no." So I said...

"How many sales appointments do you suppose you've been on in the last month, Ben?"

Ben said he'd probably been on 65.

"Ben, how many sales appointments do you suppose you were on the month before that?"

Ben again guessed about 65.

"And the month before that?" I asked.

Ben said 65.

"So Ben, is it safe to say that you've been on about 780 sales appointments in the last twelve months?" (12 x 65 = 780)

Ben thought that was a realistic number.

"And the year before that, Ben?"

He thought 780 was good for that year, too, and the year before that and the year before that.

"So in your seventeen-year sales career, you've been on approximately 13,260 sales appointments. Ben, does that seem about right to you?" (17 years x 780 appointments - 13,260).

Ben agreed.

"Ben...You've been ingraining your incorrect sales methodology on your conscious and subconscious mind during 13,260 sales appointments spread across seventeen years. Don't you think that you owe it to yourself to try these new sales behaviors a mere 500 times before you give up on them?

Ben stopped and thought and went silent. I could see the gears grinding away. Eventually, Ben's eyes made contact with mine and he said, "Yes."

"Ben, do you mean it? You'll try these new things I'm going to teach you FIVE HUNDRED TIMES before you give up on them? You REALLY mean it, Ben?"

Ben sad, "Yes, Skip, I do mean it. It's just that I don't know if I'll be able to do it."

"Ben, how would you rate your sales compared to the others in your company? Let's say on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best?"

Ben surprised me and said "a two."

"So are you telling me you've been a marginally effective salesperson for seventeen years?"

"Yes. Marginal. Yes," replied Ben.

"Would you like to be better than marginal?"

"Yes, Skip, I would, I would, yes" was Ben's reply.

"So let's do it. Let's have you become better than marginal. Will you join me?" I asked.

He paused. And then he said "Yes."

And thus started the first step of a long journey for Ben to break old sales habits...ones it took him seventeen years to "perfect." And it was incredibly hard for him, but luckily his sales manager took up the sales coaching torch where I left off. Last I heard, Ben was still with the company and had improved several notches (hey.,.several notches is nothing to sneeze at! If 422 sales employees all improve by several notches you've got some serious revenue that's being produced with these new notches!).

Sales learning can change lives. It can change the lives of individuals and it can change the lives of companies. Sales training provides sales learning. Sales learning is a process, and it requires constant coaching to bring about the behavioral changes that drive sales improvement.

If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training.

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The Joy of Selling

A friend told me last week, "Nobody ever plans on being in sales, but a lot of losers end up there." And recently, I've talked to a number of salespeople who seem tired, frustrated, and even defeated. As a sales trainer and coach, it's my job to help them through those feelings so they can generate renewed energy and experience renewed success. Believe me, I'm happy to play that role and provide that service. It makes me joyful.

Sales is a wonderful profession. Selling is an excellent career for someone who is self-motivated, self-directed, enjoys people, enjoys getting paid for their accomplishments (at least those who work on commission can say that), and for someone who wants to strive to grow and learn, and create a good (even great) income.

Do you feel the joy of selling? The gasoline in the top-performing salesperson's gas tank is joy. Before you see any prospects, fill your tank today.

Joy is also a by-product of successful selling. The more joy we put into our day-to-day tasks, the more joy we''ll find in our "tanks."

Joy creates more joy. Sell with joy today - and always. 

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment, or subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Deliberate Practice & The Pursuit of Sales Excellence

Thanks to Ian Brodie, I recently learned about the work of psychologist K. Anders Ericsson from Florida State University. Dr. Ericsson studies expert performance, especially as it is created by what he calls "deliberate practice," i.e. focused practice aimed at improving a particular skill set or desired outcome.

Dr. Ericsson's studies have concluded that expert performance derives mostly from two factors:

1. Regularly obtaining concrete and constructive feedback

2. Deliberate practice

This is fantastic knowledge to have! Now we know what we need to do if we want to achieve expert performance! Read Practice Makes Perfect to learn more about these concepts. 

According to Dr. Ericsson's research, experience alone does not result in great performance (practice is fairly benign as a technique to achieve maximum human performance), but deliberate practice is. This is why accurate, focused, role-playing and other practice tools are effective human performance enhancers for the sales professional.

Sales managers: keep role-playing with your people. Practice deliberately. Do it often, and provide constructive, direct feedback, even if your sales team doesn't like it (One of my favorite compliments to get is when one of my clients or former employees tells me, "When I was with the customer, I could hear your voice in my head, telling me what to do! That's the power of deliberate practice). Direct, constructive feedback should be a priority for all sales managers in their day-to-day work.

If your sales manager isn't providing this kind of feedback, or isn't providing it with the frequency you desire, consider hiring a sales coach or find a mentor who will give you time, attention, and direct feedback. Then listen to it.

Only deliberate, perfect practice makes perfect.

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment, or subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Sales Improvement Through Sales Training & Sales Coaching

We help consumer-selling companies and individuals achieve stellar sales improvement so they sell more.

Our 3D Selling™ selling model teaches sales representatives to step beyond mere sales processes. Selling processes are important, but there's more to exceptional selling than just following certain steps. There' is a lot of great sales training information available in the marketplace, but our sales methodology is the first to be designed specifically on B2C and retail selling (selling to consumers).

To companies, we provide sales training, including classroom training in sales seminar format, and the creation of sales manuals and documentation. As business consultants, we help design sales compensation systems and we create improved management and leadership performance. We help our clients address issues that are preventing them from meeting and exceeding their sales goals.

To individual salespeople, we provide sales coaching, an individualized series of phone interactions to address sales challenges and bring sales performance to a whole new level. Our sales coaching clients dictate their specific needs, while we help provide the solutions.

Our core belief is that successful selling is a skill (just like golf, cooking, or origami). Skills can be improved, and when that happens, sales performance increases. We improve sales skills.

It's a new year with new sales opportunities. How can we help you?

Contact Selling to Consumers Sales Training at 651.681.8568 or www.sellingtoconsumers.com/contact and let's talk about it. Mention code  X397 and you will receive 50 minutes of free phone sales coaching or sales consulting time from Selling to Consumers.

Flickr graphic by kevinzhengli. 

Skip Anderson is a professional speaker, sales coach, and the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter.

Sales Coaching: A New Edition

I bought Linda Richardson's book, "Sales Coaching: Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach" when it was first published in 1996. For me, it was one of those books you read where you find yourself thinking, "I wish I would have written this book!" As a believer in the importance of sales manager's who coach, it was the best book on Sales Coaching I had ever read.

Now Linda's book is being released in a revised and expanded second edition. If you're a sales manager, get this book.

The principles of the first edition remain in this new edition, but special attention has now been given to streamlining Linda's Developmental Sales Coaching Model. Additions to this edition include remote coaching and a discussion of technology.

I admire Linda's Developmental Sales Coaching model:

1. Connect and Clarify
2. Compare Perceptions
3. Consider Obstacles
4. Construct to Remove Obstacle
5. Commit to Action

Linda believes the power of sales coaching is in the questions you ask (not unlike the power of selling lying in the questions one asks!). I agree. Questions are the secret strategy of effective sales coaches.

This book is not for sales managers who believe their job is to be the top seller in an organization. Nor is it intended for the sales manager who spends the entire day hunkered down in front of his computer in his office. This book is for the sales manager that understands that her biggest impact on her company will be achieved by rolling up sleeves and digging deeply into the sales behaviors of each of her sales people. For that kind of sales manager (and I wish there were many more of them), this book leads the way.

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Speaking of sales coaching, for a limited time, I'm offering a free 50 minute sales coaching session to any of my readers who are business-to-consumer sales representatives, sales managers, or business owners. Contact me for more information here or call our office at 651.681.8568.

Skip Anderson is a professional speaker, sales coach, and the Founder of Selling to Consumers, a B2C and retail sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Sales Tips newsletter.