What is expected of sales people today? And so, what do they need know or learn?
Let’s first look at what clients want. This will help us determine what sales people need to be able to do.
Clients today have access to more information than ever BEFORE. Clients can make product versus product comparisons very easily. And most clients know what they are after even if they don’t know how to articulate it.
Clients expect to communicate and deal with a real professional who knows their own business and how they can best serve their clients’ needs with creative solutions and fresh ideas.
This is what clients want from sales people:
- To deal with a real professional
- To be ‘helped’ and understood
- Business acumen and commercial awareness
- A definition of what ‘success’ will look like
- A planned approach for change
- Conceptual thinking and empathy
Clients want to deal with ‘business people’ who can sell, that think about possibility and take information to the imagination phase. Clients value subject matter and solution expertise which is not the same as product knowledge.
Effective sales professionals truly add value to client relationships well beyond the product. The product is now only part of the sale, not the sale itself.
This approach to selling is seen as a distinct competitive advantage to businesses and any salesperson or sales team not putting these skills into practice is at risk of losing sales and clients. Training sales people in these skills has a significant effect on the profitability of a business.
Online Sales Training that has been developed understanding what clients want from a salesperson and what are the skills that sales people need is key to any sales training and development strategy. Nowadays there is a myriad of online sales training offers. Some work better than others; they vary in length, depth, cost and philosophy. Make sure you choose the one that is right for you. What is sure is that there is no excuse to stop training and learning.
Why don’t you try our Introduction Sales Essentials Course so you can see for yourself? It’s free.
Happy selling!