Sales Presentation Training to Learn Sales Skills That Will Stop You Irritating Your Customers

This sales presentation training will tell you if you, or your sales team, are irritating your customers. Many sales people don't even know they are doing it. They could be losing sales and missing out on rewards, and be unaware of why. Only good sales training techniques will make them aware of their habit and get them to stop. They can then learn sales skills that will eliminate the problem for good, and increase the effectiveness of communication with buyers. So what's this habit that many sales people have but don't know they are doing it?

Erm, you know, obviously, you don't want to irritate the buyer

The next time you hear someone giving a presentation, on anything not just a sales presentation, count how often they repeat an irritator. Irritators are those words or phrases that people have a habit of repeating, and that add nothing to the meaning or the communication of the message. Typical irritators include: You know, obviously, yeah, basically, at the end of the day, and the most common irritator of all; Errmm. When people have the irritator habit they only use one. It's very rare to hear a mixture of different words or phrases repeated.

Errmm or err, tend to be used between sentences. To the listener it sounds like the presenter is thinking of what to say and just making a noise to fill the gap. Basically and obviously usually come at the start of a new topic in the sales presentation as a way of introducing the sentence. Listen to sports celebrities and spot the irritators. U.K. soccer players and managers can often be heard repeating; you know, at the end of the day, and over the moon, when giving interviews. On a recent sales presentation training course I had a delegate that constantly used the irritator; my friend, when showing features and benefits to a customer. Like most people he didn't realise he was doing it.

Sales presentation training on stopping irritators

The first sales training technique to stop people using irritators is to make them aware they are adding them to their presentation. You can do this in several ways. If you have visual or audio recording facilities, ask them to do a sales presentation and record it. Then play it back to them and ask them what they think. Most sales people will watch the replay and not pick up on the irritator habit. Once you point it out to them a look of revelation comes over their face. They realise they have been doing this for years and never noticed. For many just the action of pointing out the habit is enough to stop it happening. If they include it again, once they are aware of it, they can start to irritate themselves.

A good sales training technique to include in your sales training courses is to get all the delegates counting the number of times their colleagues use an irritator for the rest of the training course. I ask people to count by holding up their fingers as they listen to other delegates presenting. This usually limits the inclusion of the irritator to one or two as the speaker is again made aware the habit has returned. You have to use some diplomacy and tact when making people aware of their speaking habits. They can take it personally and feel insulted or embarrassed. When giving sales presentation training make it light hearted and fun and tell them how you used to have the same problem.

Now add some more selling techniques

Using effective sales presentation training to eliminate irritators will improve the communication of the message and help keep the attention of the customer. When sellers learn sales skills the effects stack up on each other. Once the irritator habit has been stopped, you can start looking for more sales techniques to improve the sales presentation. As more selling techniques are learned and put into action the effects will compound and sales results, and rewards, will multiply.

I'm Stephen Craine and I earn my living by managing successful sales teams. The sales presentation training above comes from the training I give to my teams. My income, my job, and the success of my teams, rely on the results we achieve, so we only use what works. You can see more sales training on my website by opening http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com

If you like the training you've seen so far you can get a free sales training course and try it out for yourself. There's no catch, no registering or submitting your email address, just click on the link and it will take you to the page where you can open the training course. To see the course open http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com/free-sales-techniques.html You can use it, save it, and even pass it on to others. Try it out and let me know how you get on.

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Mind Games and Money Making Tricks Used by Sales People When Influencing Customers to Buy

Mind games, money making tricks, and unethical selling techniques, are still used by many sales people despite being bad business practices. I've listed below some of the common tricks sales people use when influencing customers to buy from them. They are used by large and small business sales operations and can bring down or give a bad reputation to not just a company but a whole industry. Look at what happened with the vacation time share and holiday club marketplace. A whole industry tainted by a few companies using questionable sales techniques that were at best unethical and at worst illegal.

You can't build a long term large or small business sales enterprise based on money making scams. A successful sales operation should be built on relationships with your customers, repeat business, and customer referrals. Not one-off sales made with false claims and sales tricks to close the deal. So here are some examples of the sales mind games and influencing techniques that you should avoid.

Lying about who you work for

This is a common sales scam to gain a sales appointment with a prospect and to manipulate the buyer and close the sale. It was used by agency sales people trying to convert domestic power customers away from their existing supplier. In the UK they would start the conversation by saying they were from British Gas and were helping people find the best package for their gas and electric supply. This was to get them through the door and gave them some credibility. They felt it was more productive than saying they were from a competing company and were trying to get the customer to change.

There were cases reported in the media where elderly and vulnerable people were left totally confused. Some had signed contracts without reading them because the nice sales person said they needed a signature just to say they had called and completed the interview. Only when they received notification some time later that their power supply had been cancelled and was changing to a new supplier did they realize something was wrong. By that time the sales person had spent their commission and had moved on to the next money making scam. The power companies received bad publicity and lost trust and credibility.

False referrals

This sales scam is being used at the moment by off shore telesales and telemarketing companies offering to resolve all your outstanding debt problems. The reason they are giving for calling is that you have outstanding debts. This is a pure guess and in the current economic climate many people they phone will have debt problems. Some even claim to be calling you because your bank has contacted them. They ask who you bank with as a security question and then confirm that you answered correctly. Imagine a person receiving the call that has real debt problems. They think their bank has asked these people to call. All kind of thoughts will run through their mind, which is exactly the way this sales mind control trick works. They have a prospect at the end of the line that is now either panicking or thinks the sales caller has the credibility of their bank behind them. When the credit crunch eases and debt is no longer a hot prospect area, the off shore money making scams will move on to the next short term money maker.

My manager wants to know what I did wrong

Another bad business practice that some direct sales operations use is the manager feedback call. The sale person has presented their product and tried to close the sale, but the prospect has not agreed to buy from them. After several attempts to get the sale the sales person appears to have given up and the prospect relaxes and drops their guard. The seller then asks if they can use the phone and call their manager as he cares about customers and wants feedback on what the salesperson has done.

After a short conversation the sales person hands the phone to the prospect saying their manager would like a quick word and some feedback on how the sales person presented the product. The sales trick then used is for the manager to try and close the sale. One way is to ask what the seller would have needed to do to close the deal. The answer is then used to come back with another proposal. There are variations on this scam such as the sales person being reprimanded in earshot of the prospect in order to create sympathy from the prospect. Another way is for the manager to use his power to get the prospect a special deal, but only if they agree to the sales today.

These mind games and scams have been used in some industries for many years and the same ones are still around today. I often invite sales callers in just to see their strategies. I recently agreed to a sales appointment for double glazing. The presentation was very poor and objection handling came down to one stock answer, which was to offer a lower price with guaranteed credit if I signed today. After several attempts to close me the seller reached for his phone and called his manager. The manager asked how much I had been quoted and I answered. He said that was far too much and the sales person was new to the company and had given me the wrong price. That's strange I said, only a moment ago he was telling me what a great company you were and how he had worked for you for over twenty years so he knew all about the great products. There was a silence that I wasn't going to break. The salesman, sat in my living, room was going red with embarrassment. The manager at the end of the line couldn't come up with anything better than he was getting his staff mixed up.

Is it any wonder the double glazing market suffers from a reputation for poor sales ethics when these sales techniques are used? There are many very reputable companies in all direct sales markets, but many have to overcome the credibility issues created by a small minority that are more focused on money making scams than they are on providing a great service that will gain them repeat business and stacks of referrals.

I'm Stephen Craine a working sales manager and trainer. There are very effective and ethical ways to disguise your sales and appointment calls and make them appear more beneficial to the prospect. Using these techniques will increase your results while maintaining and even improving your credibility. You can see free sales training and ideas on how to put this into action at Telephone Sales Skills to make your call customer friendly. You can add these sales skills to the other training available on my website. There are free sales training courses and pages with sales tips and ideas on all aspects of the sales process. Start at the home page and have a click around the free sales workbook courses at http://www.Sales-Training-Sales-Tips.com.

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NLP Sales Negotiation Techniques That Work on the Customer's Internal Map of Reality

Sales negotiations work in two ways. In the external real world, and in the customer's internal world where they make pictures, listen to self talk, and create feelings and emotions. Most sales people know how to negotiate in the real world, but how many can use powerful NLP sales negotiation techniques to negotiate in the internal world of the buyer's mind.

Negotiation techniques are used when there is a discussion between two or more people with separate objectives for a common situation. This happens all the time as you try and close a sale. Imagine what an advantage you would have if you focused on what the buyer's real objectives are, and how they arrived at them.

Internal and external negotiation techniques

There are two negotiations going on at the same time. One is in the real world. The other is in the internal world of the buyer's mind.

Your objective is for you and the customer to see the sale from the same viewpoint. For example the customer won't agree to the price you are asking. If you drop your price you have moved to where they are in the external world. This is using external negotiating techniques, and it's cost you money.

In the same situation you might stick to your sales price but build the value of your product by changing the internal viewpoint the customer has on the value of the product. What the benefits of the product are worth to them. Nothing has happened in the external world. It's the same product at the same price. This is sales negotiation techniques used in the internal world, and it hasn't cost you a penny. External negotiation moves usually cost you money or time. Internal negotiating skills help you avoid giving discounts and making concessions. So which do you want to use?

Sales negotiation starting points

The buyer enters the negotiation stage of the sale with a viewpoint, and a set of beliefs and ideas. To negotiate in their world you want to find out where and how this starting point was formed. This will lead to you understanding their motivators and drivers. You will be able to relate to the reference points they are using to form their starting position on their map of reality.

For example, when a buyer says the price is expensive, you should first ask how they arrived at that belief. Are they comparing your price to a competitor's offer? They may not see the value they will get from the benefits you have presented. The buyer could be comparing your price against a price they presumed they would be paying. What evidence have they used to create that belief? This is one simple viewpoint that the buyer has. It has been formed by taking in information. That information could be correct or false. They could have distorted it, made generalizations, or misunderstood parts of it.

During the sales process enter their map of the world. Question their beliefs. Find out what they think they know about the product, your competitors, the cost, the value, the market. Are they basing their ideas of what the cost should be on a purchase they made five years ago? As early as the introduction and questioning stage of the sales process you can start to change their viewpoint, and stop sales objections coming up in the negotiation stage.

Now you can start negotiating

You understand the starting point and what's going on in the internal world of your customer. Now you can use internal sales negotiation techniques to move the buyer closer to agreeing a sale with you. This is where many sales people make the most common mistake when negotiating. They focus on the differences between their position and the buyer's. This just highlights the obstacles and does nothing to build a relationship on which agreements can be formed.

If you want to know how to negotiate to get the best possible outcome, start by confirming with the customer on what you agree on. What do the two starting points have in common? This is solid ground to build upon. Then move to the areas of the negotiation where you are close to an agreement. Question the buyer's position and how they formed it internally. When you know how a belief was formed you can change it.

For example, the buyer wants the product delivering this month and you can't get it to them for 2 months. Question why they want it this month. What is their motivator for wanting the delivery this month? What beliefs do they hold that make this a need on their map of the world? Now take the motivators and the beliefs, and the other information you have, and use it to negotiate on their map of reality. Find alternative ways to fit with their beliefs, or change them. Look at how you can satisfy their motivators and still get what you want from the negotiation. Is their a way to pacify the needs the buyer believes they have? Can you change their reasons behind their needs so they fit closer to what you can provide? If the buyer wants an early delivery date because they have been let down in the past, then you can change their belief about your promise rather than a physical concession in the real world.

Overcoming the major differences

When you have moved positions on the points you and the buyer were close to agreeing, but had some differences, you can work on negotiating the points you are farthest away from agreeing.

Look at what you've achieved up to this point with your negotiation techniques. You've confirmed what you had in common at the start of the negotiations. Using negotiating skills you have moved the buyer's position on some points. This has built a solid relationship that will help you with the next stages of the negotiation. You have also created a pathway for agreement. A process that has worked towards closing the deal, and will continue to work. When you summarise how much you and the buyer have come together it will make the remaining points to be discussed look small in comparison. You have achieved so much that neither you nor the buyer wants to lose what you have.

Use the same process of finding where the buyer's beliefs have come from. How they were formed, what evidence they are based on, and what the buyer really needs from them. Change the beliefs that you can, and find alternative ways to achieve the same objective for the buyer with the others. When you have used all the internal negotiation techniques you may still be left with differences that prevent the sale going ahead. This is when you start negotiating in the real world. You achieve your objectives by giving to the buyer, but always getting something in return. Each discount or concession you make should result in a step closer to closing the deal.

The sales negotiation process

You begin by understanding the buyer's starting position and how it was formed. You question their beliefs and their viewpoints. You understand their motivators, what they want from the negotiation.

The next stage is to confirm the common ground. Agree what you agree on. This forms the foundation of the negotiation relationship, and gives you both something that is worth building upon.

Now work on the negotiation points where your differences are smallest. This creates an agreement habit. It helps form a process that will be useful when you face the points of major difference. The more you agree upon, the more your customer will not want to waste what they have achieved so far.

All that remains are the points on which you have the most distance apart. But by now you have agreed so much that these points will look small on the buyer's internal map of the discussions. This is where you can start using negotiation techniques in the real external world. If you had made the common mistake of starting with these major challenges you would be facing a huge obstacle.

For more information on sales training focused on Negotiation Techniques go to http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com/negotiation-techniques.html

Stephen Craine is a working sales manager and trainer for a major UK company. He uses his experience of sales, motivation training, NLP, and personal development coaching, to achieve results for himself through the achievements of others in a sales environment.

All the sales training presented here, and on the website, has been tested and proved by working sales people in real sales situations. There are no acronyms, buzz words, or complicated techniques to market training courses. The focus is on practical sales training that achieves results.

Stephen has recently teamed up with a successful clicnical hypnotherapist in Manchester uk to offer sales and career coaching to private clients and small businesses. Combining the power of hypnosis to make personal changes and overcome obstacles, with the practical experience of a professional sales coach, offers a unique training resource.

The aim is to help anyone looking to increase sales results, develop their career, or prepare for job interviews. The coachng program can also be tailored for small businesses to give them access to resources usually only avialable to large organisations.

For more free sales training and sales skills information, and to see what else might be of interest to you or your company, visit the website at http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com

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Facebook Marketing - How You Can Get an Avalanche Of Customers

Some industry experts believe that Facebook marketing is going to be as big as Google marketing. If you haven't looked into Facebook or any of the other social media marketing sites, you could be missing out.

It seems like every type of business is getting on-board with Facebook marketing. If your business is still sitting on the sidelines, it's time to jump in and play. But before you get started, now is the perfect time to take a look at all the ins and outs of social media marketing.

Will Facebook Marketing Work for Your Business?

Everyone has read the articles, glossed over the tutorials and even watched a few of the how-to video guides on using Facebook marketing, but is there any proof that it will actually increase and improve your business?

Take Your Marketing to the Next Level with Facebook

InsideFacebook.com states the following fact about Facebook:

There are over 500 million active members currently using Facebook. Putting it into perspective, if Facebook were a country, it would have the 4th largest population on the planet.
Facebook has been translated into over 100 languages, penetrating nearly one third of the entire population.
Facebook's most recent quarterly growth rates has shown that active user numbers have increased by over 25% in 47 countries.
Over 85% of American women have a social network profile, with 95% of them on Facebook.
More than half of everyone who shops online has a Facebook profile.

While these numbers are huge you still have to ask yourself whether Facebook marketing can work for your business. The answer is simple: it depends on you and what you do with it.

Unlocking the Potential of Facebook Marketing

Even if you just consider the power that comes with the sheer volume of 500 million users, by bringing your business idea or niche marketing project to Facebook, you will have a huge opportunity to be seen by more users than ever before. You can attract new users to become "friends", and turn those Facebook friends into promoters, supporters and eventually clients just by implementing a well-planned strategy. Here are some examples:

An online publication called "Social Media Examiner" was launched in November 2009 by Michael Stelzner. He decided to not launch his publication using any of the traditional marketing methods. Stelzner instead launched his publication only using social marketing networks and Facebook marketing and achieved a number one rating on Technorati for business blogs. By the end of the first quarter, there were nearly 100,000 subscribers at the Examiner. Sound too good to be true? Yet Stelzner experienced a marked increase in sales and overall business.
Target is another example of moving away from sales flyers and traditional business promotions by launching a Party Planning Page. As a direct result of their marketing efforts, Target saw a 6% increase in sales. In fact, Target's Facebook Fan Page attracted 20% more direct hits by Facebook fans to their store. Additionally, those Facebook fans were found to have spent 33% more than other types of customers.
Morton's Steakhouse ran a Valentine's Day photo promotion on Facebook in 2009. As a result, sales and overall business experienced a large difference.

If You Work It, Facebook Works

Facebook marketing received rave reviews from analyst Kevin Ertell at ForeSee Results who stated that, "Facebook by far is the best place online to reach customers," and he went on to tell business owners, "Get a Facebook page and you will start making money."

So the question at the end of the day is, does Facebook marketing really work? And the answer, which is the same for many other business-related questions is, if you work it it will work.

You can find out more about using Facebook and other social media marketing strategies in your business and watch a free video featuring Facebook Marketing Secrets just by visiting http://myonlinemarketingcourse.com/facebook-a/. Learn how to build a Facebook business to enhance your websites and generate insane amounts of traffic in no time! You won't want to miss our Facebook Marketing Secrets.

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