Get serious about winning bigger sales opportunities!

Recently, I facilitated a two-and-a-half-day B2B Sales Training Conference. The purpose was to aid an organisation who needed help changing the mindset of their current sales team. At the start of the sales conference, the CEO addressed the sales team while introducing me. He said that the whole sales team needed to get serious about winning bigger opportunities. The company could no longer sustain the current way they were selling. Profit margins had reduced, so the company needed to work on a better sales strategy while introducing new revenue streams. In particular, they needed a new strategy to bring in higher volume clients for their main core products.

Can you relate to the above? Profit margins are lowering, so you need higher volumes of orders while introducing new revenue streams. It is integral to maintain your margins to hit budget i.e. you need sales growth and diversity. I think this is key to survival in today’s competitive marketplace, however, it’s sometimes hard to change this mindset!

For the sales team at this conference, it was a big shift in the way that they are currently operating. This was a line in the sand moment, where my professional sales training and experience had to come into effect. This company needed help in achieving this message and setting new goals, with the motivation to see it through. For me, this was easy, as it’s my passion to help companies create the necessary shift in sales behaviour and attitude.

It’s all about the WHY, HOW and WANT to do it. Most sales teams hate sales training, and they normally say, “not another one!” I know how to motivate a sales team as I have walked in their shoes. I spent 22 years in the office technology industry and almost 12 years running Key Business Advisors. I have walked the walk and can talk the talk at any sales level. Sales is the blood of every business and, in a competitive market like today, we all need to operate at a high professional level.

My Approach:

When addressing this experienced sales team, it was important to remember they had been in sales for 20 years. As such, they already had great skills sets. In order to reach them, it was important to be on my ‘A Game’ and lead from the front.

What I always do is sell myself and my company, and do so in such a way as to set a high benchmark for the team. Once I finished my introduction, I asked the team their opinion on my presentation. I asked if they were keen to work with me and if they were ready to raise their bar when it came to sales. It was important to ensure they understood the role of a professional salesperson, how to present themselves, their company, their points of difference, and why companies want to deal with them and their organisation.

The Outcome:

The team loved it! With the benchmark set for presenting like a professional, I challenged the team to present back to me.

During the training session, I asked the team which company they could aim for, to create the highest revenue and volume of sales? The team told me the name of a company, without any hesitation. I then asked how much revenue this company contributed to their sales, now, and what potential revenue is there. The answer was 15% contribution now, with 85% potential revenue. However, the company in question utilises other competitors and it’s a bit of a minefield when selling to them.

We utilised this client as a focus point over the conference. We worked on raising the bar so high that the sales team could focus on winning this client. In order to do this, I had the team identify how their products would better meet this client’s needs and expectations over a competitor. The sales team also needed to believe in the company’s capability to deliver. From here, we assessed this client was a “Tier 1 Client Opportunity”.

As part of the workshop, I got the team to :

• Build presentations that are at a Tier 1 level
• Showcase the capability to service a Tier 1 client better than their competitors
• Know who’s who within this Tier 1 client i.e. All decision-makers, stakeholders and major influencers
• Use the power of social media (i.e. LinkedIn) to showcase their capability
• Utilise the power of Sales Navigator to identify who we need to connect with
• Raise the bar as a professional salesperson in their speech, presentations and wording
• Know the objections, closing techniques and begin with the end in mind
• Know how to use the company resources such as CEO, National Sales Manager and Technical Experts to their advantage
• Showcase the capability of their company
• The need to be different from our competitors and have boardroom lunches
• And lastly, the importance of being good educators, not a typical salesperson

During this sales conference, we went through my 12 Step B2B Sales Process, which covers everything that a professional salesperson needs to be successful in today’s world. The most thrilling thing for me, at the end of this two-and-half-day sales conference, was the engagement, belief, commitment and motivation from the team to make it happen.

Myself and my team at KBA are passionate about taking businesses from good to great. I can help you implement a better-structured sales process to assist in achieving your company targets and goals. Dealing with salespeople can be challenging and frustrating if they won’t change. However, if you can show them the reasons for change, using professional help and support, it will be worth the investment.

By the way, one week after the case study above, the team followed the sales strategy we workshopped and the message from the CEO was :

‘Colin, we followed your recommended sales process and we have booked our first boardroom luncheon and presentation with a Tier 1 client. The team and I are so excited as it works, thank you!’

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