Government Could Use Some Sales Training
Government Could Use Some Sales Training
Sales 101 Lesson #1: Accountability and Truth Telling
Every sales professional learns early on in their career not to blame the company or a specific department. They represent the company and must take responsibility for problems no matter where problems originate. Taking ownership of the problem builds trust with customers because the customer knows three things:
• The problem has been acknowledged.
• A specific person is taking responsibility for the problem regardless of whom or what else is involved.
• They know there is one person who is going to lead the charge to get it solved.
Maybe I am missing some news coverage, but has anyone seen any person from the republican or democratic side say, “It’s my fault.” The result is we don’t believe all the rhetoric and continue to pull money out of the stock market. Every good salesperson also knows that being genuine and authentic is the number one skill in persuasion and building trust. The American people would probably be somewhat forgiving, more trusting, and willing to buy if we could hear some truth telling like:
• “Our intention in reducing the loan qualification standards to get more people into homes was correct. The methodology was wrong. We screwed up.”
• “We got greedy and lost our way. We crossed the line and then the line disappeared.”
Instead, egos and personal agendas get in the way of serving the customer and there is no admission of error or remorse.
Sales 101 Lesson #2: Sell to the Customer’s Needs
Every good salesperson is drilled with one concept when entering the sales profession: listen to the customer’s needs and fill that need. If you want to see what not listening to customer’s needs look like, tune into those things called “debates.” Both candidates are oblivious to the biggest need on our minds right now – THE ECONOMY. The candidates are busy satisfying their set of needs, which is the need to diminish the other person’s record/personal character or talk about their pet projects of war, education and healthcare. Although all those are important needs, they are not the need that is keeping everyone up at night. It’s also interesting to watch the candidates field a question and supply an answer that has nothing to do with the question but everything to do with their agenda. If that happens on a sales call, the prospect quickly dismisses the salesperson because they are self absorbed and the sale is lost.
Sales 101 Lesson #3: Align the Solution to the Customers Pain
Thousands of dollars are invested every year in presentation skills training. I have a new sector for presentation skills trainers: The United States Government. Imagine a salesperson showing up to a prospect with a $700 billion dollars proposal and selling it in the same fashion as the government’s bailout presentation: “You need to do this, you must make a decision right now, and we have to add in stuff you don’t want in order to deliver the solution.” All of us in sales know we would promptly be fired for such a poor proposal and delivery. I guess that same standard doesn’t exist in government.
Sales 101 Lesson #4: Pay for Performance
Many people worry that salespeople are paid on commission and don’t care about their needs. Let me suggest a different perspective. When a person is paid on performance, you must deliver in order to get the business, keep the business, and get referrals. You actually step up your game because there are no guarantees on your next dollar. What a concept! Imagine if CEOs running these large financial institutions made money when the company is making money and lost money when the company is losing money. Has anyone seen a salesperson get a golden parachute for not achieving their sales goal? Take the gold out of the parachutes and CEOs will be much more careful about jumping into stupid opportunities.
Sales 101 Lesson #5: Actions Speak Louder than Words
Is anyone else amazed when you hear the candidates and others saying, “I wrote a letter. I warned congress.” Now put that same verbiage into sales: “I wrote a letter to the prospect. He didn’t buy.” The sales manager would have one answer for the salesperson: “No one cares about your intentions, we only care about results.” Government must truly be a great place to work. Just remind everyone you tried to make something happen and you get rewarded as if you actually did. Everyone is appalled at AIG’s arrogance and ignorance on their $400,000 junket. Anyone seen any action to get that money back? AIG’s response is rather pathetic, “It was already in the budget.” So was my retirement account.
Stop campaigning and get the candidates and congress enrolled in some sales training. Maybe we will see the stock market reverse.
Government Could Use Some Sales Training - To learn more about this author, visit Colleen Stanley's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
In order to be transparent, let’s start this article by disclosing I own a sales training and consulting firm, therefore, some of this information may appear to be self-serving. With that warning, read on. We have just gone through the wildest week ever on Wall Street. Many government officials are scratching their heads wondering why the $700 billion dollar bailout didn’t alleviate the worries of the consumer. They are/were shocked that people kept pulling money out of the stock market and didn’t trust their battle cry that everything was going to be okay. “DUH!” is the best response I can muster. Government officials need to spend some time in the profession of sales and learn basic Sales 101 skills when it comes to satisfying the customer.
Sales 101 Lesson #1: Accountability and Truth Telling
Every sales professional learns early on in their career not to blame the company or a specific department. They represent the company and must take responsibility for problems no matter where problems originate. Taking ownership of the problem builds trust with customers because the customer knows three things:
• The problem has been acknowledged.
• A specific person is taking responsibility for the problem regardless of whom or what else is involved.
• They know there is one person who is going to lead the charge to get it solved.
Maybe I am missing some news coverage, but has anyone seen any person from the republican or democratic side say, “It’s my fault.” The result is we don’t believe all the rhetoric and continue to pull money out of the stock market. Every good salesperson also knows that being genuine and authentic is the number one skill in persuasion and building trust. The American people would probably be somewhat forgiving, more trusting, and willing to buy if we could hear some truth telling like:
• “Our intention in reducing the loan qualification standards to get more people into homes was correct. The methodology was wrong. We screwed up.”
• “We got greedy and lost our way. We crossed the line and then the line disappeared.”
Instead, egos and personal agendas get in the way of serving the customer and there is no admission of error or remorse.
Sales 101 Lesson #2: Sell to the Customer’s Needs
Every good salesperson is drilled with one concept when entering the sales profession: listen to the customer’s needs and fill that need. If you want to see what not listening to customer’s needs look like, tune into those things called “debates.” Both candidates are oblivious to the biggest need on our minds right now – THE ECONOMY. The candidates are busy satisfying their set of needs, which is the need to diminish the other person’s record/personal character or talk about their pet projects of war, education and healthcare. Although all those are important needs, they are not the need that is keeping everyone up at night. It’s also interesting to watch the candidates field a question and supply an answer that has nothing to do with the question but everything to do with their agenda. If that happens on a sales call, the prospect quickly dismisses the salesperson because they are self absorbed and the sale is lost.
Sales 101 Lesson #3: Align the Solution to the Customers Pain
Thousands of dollars are invested every year in presentation skills training. I have a new sector for presentation skills trainers: The United States Government. Imagine a salesperson showing up to a prospect with a $700 billion dollars proposal and selling it in the same fashion as the government’s bailout presentation: “You need to do this, you must make a decision right now, and we have to add in stuff you don’t want in order to deliver the solution.” All of us in sales know we would promptly be fired for such a poor proposal and delivery. I guess that same standard doesn’t exist in government.
Sales 101 Lesson #4: Pay for Performance
Many people worry that salespeople are paid on commission and don’t care about their needs. Let me suggest a different perspective. When a person is paid on performance, you must deliver in order to get the business, keep the business, and get referrals. You actually step up your game because there are no guarantees on your next dollar. What a concept! Imagine if CEOs running these large financial institutions made money when the company is making money and lost money when the company is losing money. Has anyone seen a salesperson get a golden parachute for not achieving their sales goal? Take the gold out of the parachutes and CEOs will be much more careful about jumping into stupid opportunities.
Sales 101 Lesson #5: Actions Speak Louder than Words
Is anyone else amazed when you hear the candidates and others saying, “I wrote a letter. I warned congress.” Now put that same verbiage into sales: “I wrote a letter to the prospect. He didn’t buy.” The sales manager would have one answer for the salesperson: “No one cares about your intentions, we only care about results.” Government must truly be a great place to work. Just remind everyone you tried to make something happen and you get rewarded as if you actually did. Everyone is appalled at AIG’s arrogance and ignorance on their $400,000 junket. Anyone seen any action to get that money back? AIG’s response is rather pathetic, “It was already in the budget.” So was my retirement account.
Stop campaigning and get the candidates and congress enrolled in some sales training. Maybe we will see the stock market reverse.
Government Could Use Some Sales Training - To learn more about this author, visit Colleen Stanley's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
|||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
|||
Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
|||
Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|||
John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
|||
George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
|||
Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Colleen's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
Referred by: http://www.page1solutions.com
 | ||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Salesperson Selection Disappearing Leader New Sales Leadership Paradigm ACES Research Report Lifestyle and Leadership |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Niche Blogs 2009
Top 50 Niche Blogs 2009 | |
 |
Guide To ERP Software
Business Management Software | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
