SMM 2-3 Proven Sales Management Techniques to Establish Trust With Your Salespeople

On this week's episode of Sales Management Mastery we're going to talk about what's in it for you to placing deposits in the trust account, plus three proven methods to establish trust with your salespeople so that you can drive your company's sales revenues.

Today we're going to talk to you about the shear importance of why this is such a critical part of your overall sales management strategy. Whether or not you are a new sales manager, a tenured sales manager, a business owner listening to this, who has a bunch of sales managers that report to you, VP of Sales, CEO, establishing trust with your front line salespeople is important with your front line sales people is a part of good sales leadership but also great sales motivation, and everything sort of flows from it. And it's the first thing that you need to do is establish that trust or re-establish it. On this show we are going to give you three proven techniques that will allow you not only to re-establish or establish trust so that you can drive your company's sales revenue.

And our real goal here is to give you some honest, straight forward techniques and strategies that really do work. Everything that we're really going to be talking about on this show really comes back to this basic foundation of trust. And think about it as you are building a house. Trust is the foundation. You can't really build the house, and start putting up walls, or doing any other work on the house, unless you have a strong foundation first. So you have to dig it out, pour the foundation, and that's really what the trust account is all about.

Today we're going to give you 3 tactics to use in order to establishing that trust.
Whether you're an old sales manager or a new sales manager or any other person involved in a sales organization, it's extremely critical for you to establish that trust so that they don't tune you out, and tune into your sales message.

You've probably been asking yourself, "What are these trust accounts going to do for me?" at least for right now. And that's quite alright because when I first learned this concept, and then refined it through years of being a sales manager is that it was a relatively new concept because I had I thought that as soon as I became a Sales Manager that all I'd need to do start dictating and telling people would do. And I failed miserably, and it was the worst six months of my life because I realized that people don't listen to because of what you tell them, they listen to you because of how it resonates with them.

That message that you're given to your sales reps whether it is a leadership message, a motivational message, a management message; only resonates with them if they trust you enough to tune into you.

And we're going to talk about tuning into the right frequency with your sales people and those sorts of things in later shows. But it turns out that producing great sales results has everything to do with trust.

What stands out to you most when you mention "trust account"? It's that first word: trust. And trust is that one sole element that just can't be absent in a relationship between anyone, whether in your personal or professional life.

But especially between a sales manager and a sales rep because sales reps, if you've been a sales rep, and have worked your way through the ranks, you know that you wanted to do things on your own, in your own way. And you always felt like you had the best answers to most of the questions. The best sales reps are open to suggestions, but in order to be open to those suggestions, they have to come from a credible and trustworthy source and that's what we're trying to establish.

As the saying goes: trust is the glue that binds people together in groups because it's that thing that holds us together. If you ever had friends, or business associates that you couldn't trust or they breached your trust you either didn't want to do business with them, or you started to tune them out.

So it's sort of a fragile balance as a sales manager, and as a management professional to make sure that you are always putting deposits in the trust account.

Because trust is hard to earn, it's easy to lose, and when it's lost it's nearly impossible to regain. And that's the reality of human interaction. So we have to be careful not to make large withdrawals from that trust account, and constantly make steady deposits instead.

Forming a relationship built on trust allows your sales reps to act so that the rules of the game aren't constantly changing.

Then they know that your message is going to be consistent and that they trust what you're saying then they know that there's some stability in what you're saying and what you're doing. They know that your actions are consistent and congruent to what your words are. And if those to things are off, if your actions are different from what you're saying, then you end up losing trust.

And when you have consistent actions with consistent words that you are dictating to your sales people, it encourages peace of mind. And when your sales reps have peace of mind, they become willing to exert extra effort and place themselves on the line for you, and the team, and the organization in general. Peace of mind is very, very important and that's why establishing trust is so critical.

First establish trust then reinforce that trust by looking for the smallest opportunities to make deposits into those trust accounts. There are lots of ways to do it such as praising them for job well done is one way to do it. But there are many, many ways that you can do this.
And the beauty of it is that when you are making deposits in the trust account you are also motivating. We are going to talk a lot about motivating in this pod cast, but specifically trust has a foundation of motivation. If your sales reps don't trust you, and you are constantly taking withdrawals from the trust account, then your motivational powers are significantly reduced.

If you are consistently enhancing that trust, then your motivational powers as a leader are greatly enhanced. So it really is a parallel concept in motivation.

Another thing to keep in mind when you're talking about establishing trust is to always treat your sales rep as the end unto themselves. And what this is separates the men from the boys. Never treat them as a means to an end. They are not just a tool for you to get what you want. They are the journey; they are not the end point or the destination. So treat them as an end unto themselves. When you start to use your sales reps, then the sales reps will start tuning those sales managers out. So creating trust is very important, it encourages peace of mind, and it is a very critical way to motivate and lead your team to where you need them to be.

Let's get into 3 proven methods to establishing trust with your sales team.

The first is to evoke the law of reciprocity. The law of reciprocity is a rule that states this:

If you do something nice for someone, then human nature dictates that the recipient will feel compelled to do something nice for you in return. It is in essence, you reap what you sow. And this is an irrefutable law that you should teach your sales people as a sales technique. It's particularly effective because human nature dictates that at the precise moment that you do something nice for someone, the other person feels compelled to return the favor. This is just a law of human nature,

If you do something for them, then they do something nice for you in return.
I had a neighbor the other day take in my trash barrels because I was late getting home. And you know what I am going to do next week? I am going to take in his trash barrels. That's the law of reciprocity. We are using this principal in order to establish trust, with the goal of driving sales.

So, we aren't manipulating this rule, we are just using it to our advantage. And that's really what this whole show is about, it's talking about the laws of human psychology and how we can use them to get what we want which is success for your organization.

So be careful on this one, however, not to call this out as soon as you do it. There's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. You can't say, now that I've done this for you, what are you going to do for me! I know people that do that, unfortunately, and it's really annoying. And it makes you not want to do anything for them again because it isn't a win-win situation, you just keep giving.

You will eventually get more in return. Don't keep tabs, don't keep score because its really important not to do that because when the time is right they will repay you, you don't have to ask for it or keep score, this is what the law of reciprocity is all about.

So the idea is to do something that allows them to feel that they must do something for you in return, so be subtle and don't dictate. You can do this all the time with your sales people. The most important part of this law is to remember that reciprocity is implicit, meaning that it is implied, it's not something you should call out on.

If my neighbor said, "Gee, I brought in your barrels they other day, what are you going to do for me?", then that's not reciprocity, that is negotiation. That is not what we are talking about. We are talking about doing things for people that will help them, because usually it comes back to you and usually it comes back even more than what you've given.

If you've ever read the book the "The Go Giver", I highly recommend you picking it up, by Bob Berg and John David Mann, it is a tremendous book about the Law of Reciprocity in essence. In this particular case we are using this law to get the best out of our sales people or for your sales managers to use this law to get the best out of their sales reps.

So number 2 in our proven methods to establishing trust is:

Let the Sales Rep take all of the credit for all of the good stuff.

Harry Truman said, "People always perform well if you don't worry about who takes the credit". You as a sales manager, have to make sure your sales managers understand this, if a sales rep goes out and makes a sale and the sales manager is out on the call, and comes back to the office and tells everyone how HE made the sale, how great do you think the initiative and motivation will be for that sales rep to go out and do the same? If he's a very good sales person he'll continue to go out and do the same.

But, is he really motivated to start telling people and makes himself feel good about what he's done when he knows that the sales manager is trying to take the credit?

So don't worry about who takes the credit. Your sales managers get paid for how well the sales people do. In most organizations there is a tie in to bonuses and incentive compensation.

Never take the credit for the good work of the sales people. Remember, one time in your career, you were probably a pretty good sales person, maybe you're an entrepreneur and your built your business, you got promoted into management, you brought in new business, maybe you won a bunch of awards, and you had lots of individual glory. But they way to get the best out of as a sales manager, is not to put yourself in the spotlight. It is to put the sales person in the spotlight, and even give them undue credit for things. We will talk about how to lead and coach.

The time for individual glory really has passed. Your role is to look good by helping others get results for themselves.

Your job, getting results through others, is not getting direct results on your own. Unless your structure is completely different, but in 99% of the cases, and the members to our Academy Program, the sales managers lead, and the pay and compensation and bonus is tied into how effective the sales person is.

The glory for you comes as the proud manager or the proud business owner, who watches from the sidelines when sales people go out and do it on their own. Sales people need a lot of ego gratification, because there's a lot of crap that they are dealing with out there, so give them the credit for the good stuff, it will just help establish more trust in that trust account, and it also motivates them at the same time. Motivating and trust account depositing are very much intertwined.

The better your sales people perform, and the more they do it own their own, the better you and your company look. If you're a new sales manager this is probably really hard to change. I really do think that sales is an ego driven vocation, without question. Have confidence in your own competence to perform as a great sales manager on your own, don't feel insecure or threatened by the work of your people, because the better they look, you are going to look more and more brilliant because they are bringing in more business under your tutelage.

Let them take all the glory, and when you do you're putting more deposits in the trust account. In the end your trust account balance will be overflowing. The biggest balance at the end of the day wins because that's the sales manager with the biggest balance has the most motivated sales people.

Number 3 in our proven methods to establish trust with your sales people:

No one likes to be told what to do, but suggest instead.

I've never known anyone, and personally for myself I hate to be told what to do, that's why I started my own business, and became an entrepreneur is because I couldn't take direction very well. I was a sales person for many years and didn't like to be told what to do. My wife is in sales too and she doesn't like to be told what to do, especially by me. People love to thing that they are in control, they love to think that are in control at all times.

If they are being told what to do all the time;

They'll be plenty of times that you'll have to tell your sales people, no question about it in not uncertain terms, what they need to do in a give situation. There will be times for it. How you say it, is the most important part, and it's not the fact that you have to tell them what to do, because you are going to have to tell them sometimes, but How are you going to do it? That's how you can put more in the trust account and motivate them at the same time.

Ben Franklin once said, he's one of the greatest statesmen of the modern era, and proven sales man, having built many business and retired a very wealthy man, would advocate, "When at all possible, avoid giving direct orders."

If you're a new sales manager, this is going to be tough to do, because you going to want to tell everybody what to do, but avoid giving direct orders when at all possible.
Never dictate, or decree, instead imply or make suggestions. This is a great way to put more deposits in trust account, and motivate and empower your sales people too. Remember, one of the things that we want to do is create a high performance, low maintenance sales team.

You want to be off doing other things; planning strategy, helping yourself get promoted, you want to be looking at the thirty thousand foot view; you don't want to have to do the job of your sales people especially if you're running a big company and all of those sales people report to you.

Instead of telling them what to do, request, imply or make suggestions.

Instead of saying, I want you to go to the O'Neil account and tell them x,y, z."

Change that slightly and say, "It might be a good idea if you went to the O'Neil account and..."

Or maybe say something like this, "If I were you I would do this at the O'Neil account..."

Or another one, "You may want to consider talking to the O'Neil account and saying this..."

The sales rep listens to that and says, okay, he's not dictating to me what to do, but he's giving me a suggestion and I'm going to decide whether it is the right thing to do.

You want to empower these people, and motivate them and lead them, and coach them and establish trust with them by doing little things like this. It's not in what you say; it's in how you say it.

Here's another great suggestion, if circumstances call for you to absolutely make a suggestion instead of telling them what to do, or correcting them immediately, replace your normal response with just an answer to, "okay, can I make a suggestion?" or "May I make a suggestion", this just softens them up the dictating part of telling them what to do part of your job.

This method is far more effective, and less dictatorial than saying, "No no no...what you need to do is this..."

Now if the sales rep is brand new, and they don't know what they don't know, they just came out of training, yes, you have to tell them what to do. But gradually over time, you're going to wean them off of that, your not going to tell them as much. Remember high performance, low maintenance sales people is what you want to have. Then you as a sales manager, you as a GM, sales become more and more on auto pilot because your sales people are doing things automatically.

Once you actually make a suggestion, then if they don't do it, then you could always come back to that after and say, "hey I thought we agreed that you would do this". So the key word in the sentence is "we" decision instead of a "you" did this decision, the sales person memory is refreshed with that interaction that you have come to this point together, not just you as their boss. So they feel far more empowered, and they've taken ownership of the decision. Taking ownership is a very, very powerful technique in producing high performance low maintenance sales people.

So just as a review.

1. Evoke the law of reciprocity
2. Let the sales rep take all the credit for the good stuff
3. No one likes to be told what to do, suggest instead

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Handling Sales Objections With a Simple 4 Step Process That's Making Money For Salespeople Everyday

Sales objections can be handled with a simple 4 step process that smoothly turns objections into sales for any product, any type of sale, and in any market place. No longer fear objections and become an expert on handling them. A major benefit many sales people have gained from using this process, is to start really enjoying selling because they have the confidence to overcome sales objections.

I'm a working sales manager and sales trainer for a major company. The process that my sales teams use for handling objections has to work in real situations, and achieve real sales results. My job, and my income, depend upon the results my teams achieve using this objection handling sales training.

The sales objection process

Define the objection

Gain agreement

Present the answer

Close the sale

Use these simple 4 steps as the basic framework for handling objections, and closing more sales, and add all your other sales skills and sales training to the process.

1. Define the objection

The first step is to define the real objections from the buyer's viewpoint. The sales objections they perceive may not be real. They could be based upon false evidence or beliefs. You have to be able to see the sales objections from their viewpoint, even if they are not real or are based on false evidence. Then you can handle the objections. The key is to understand what the buyer believes, and views or hears in their internal pictures and self talk. This is where the real objection lies, and where it has to be dealt with.

Imagine a customer that thinks your product is too expensive because they have seen what they believe to be a similar item at a cheaper price. The customer is comparing what they believe are the benefits of your product with the cheaper one. Maybe the product they are comparing it with is inferior. Although untrue, this information is real to the buyer and must be challenged to get past the sales objection.

With good questioning skills you should define the real objection as seen by the customer. You should also define the beliefs and evidence that the customer has used to form their objection. It is their beliefs and evidence that you have to challenge if you are to handle objections based in the buyer's mind. Many objections, concerns, and questions, exist only in the buyer's mind, but to the buyer they are very real and will stop the sale if not defined and dealt with.

2. Gain agreement to the definition

Many less experienced sales people would now go rushing in with a fantastic sales presentation to handle the objection. They then find that they haven't answered the objection as viewed by the customer, or another concern arises that could stop the sale. They have used their best sales presentation to answer the objection, and now there are more to answer.

There are two really important actions that many new sales people miss out. One is to gain agreement to the sales objections they have defined. The second is to ask if there is anything else that could stop the sale. Before giving a great sales presentation to handle the objection, you want to make sure you are answering the real objection, and that there are no more objections. If there are more, then go back to step one and define them until you have all the questions, concerns, and obstacles that could prevent you closing the sale.

3. Present the answer

You have defined the objection, and gained agreement to the definition, and to there being no more sale objections stopping the sale. Now you present your solution and answer the sales objections. If you have used effective questioning skills to define the objection the buyer has told you exactly what they need to see and hear to get past their objection.

As with the above stages, remember you are presenting to overcome sales objections that exist in the buyer's map of reality, not yours. Only present the benefits that will handle the objection, not a general presentation of all the features and benefits of the product. Answer the sales objections the buyer sees, and challenge any false evidence or beliefs they are based upon. Understand what they are thinking, and what they need to see and hear to change their beliefs and agree to a sale.

4. Close the sale

Now you can close the sale, or gain agreement to the next stage of the sale. There is no need for trick closes or clever manipulation techniques. You earlier gained agreement that you had defined their objections, and that there were no more preventing a sale. That is where the main closing of the sale took place. You have presented an answer to the objection that shows the buyer the benefits that will turn the objection into a sale.

Now all you need to do is ask two gentle questions to gain their agreement to the sale. The first question is to ask if the benefits you have presented have answered their concerns, their objection to the sale. If it hasn't go back to step one and re-define their concerns, and start the process again.

Once they have agreed that you have answered their objection, the second action is to use a simple direct question to close the deal. You can relate the question to what happens next. For example, you could ask, shall we complete the paperwork? Or, can we agree a delivery date? You have done all the major closing earlier when you gained agreement to there being nothing else stopping the sale. A gentle question to ask for the order is all that is now required to gain you the sale, and the commission payment.

Don't be fooled by the simplicity of this sales objection process. It is the easy to use sales training that gets results, and that sales people are able to use in real sales situations. This sales technique is proven everyday by the sales teams I manage and train.

To see how you could put this objection handling process into action today, open http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com/sales-objections.html and then see if it's an objection handling technique you could use. Consider how easy it is to learn and put into action, and then decide if it will be of benefit to you in your sales, or sales manager, role.

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. The aim is to help anyone looking to increase sales results, develop their career, and make more money.

For more free sales training or to contact Stephen Craine, visit the website at http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com

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