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Trained Sales People Rarely Get Outsold!

Guest post by: Joe Ippolito

Article Overview: Salespeople will never admit that they got outsold because of a lack of sales skills.

Trained Sales People Rarely Get Outsold!

I was recently training a group of senior sales managers and asked them, "When is the last time a member of your sales team admitted that the reason your company didn't get the deal was because they got outsold?"

After a moment of silence, one manager spoke up and said it happened to him once, about 20 years ago. How many of you have had a member of your team admit they got outsold? Probably about as often. Typically, when a sale is lost, you hear such reasons as the price is too high, the competition is entrenched, their product is better, it's not in the budget, or any number of excuses.

Salespeople will never admit that they got outsold because of a lack of sales skills. For example, salespeople love to enthusiastically present their product, service or solution before they have effectively uncovered the true buying motives of the prospect. When this happens, they unknowingly provide the prospect with the stalls and objections that end up getting used against them when they do try to close.

Or, maybe the salesperson has a full pipeline but can't seem to close enough business. The reality could be that they never learned effective closing or presentation skills. Instead, they will tell you the market is tough and no one is buying.

Unfortunately, in both examples, it is usually a case of the salesperson not knowing what they don't know. After all, how often does the prospect tell the truth of why you didn't get their business? The prospect will not tell you that you got outsold by someone with the skills to establish trust in the first few minutes of the sales interview -- the skills to ask the types of questions that enables the prospect to discuss their true needs so a solution can be identified and presented. When you have lost the sale, the prospect is more comfortable focusing on made-up business shortfalls, and not make it personal.

As a sales leader, you should hope your salespeople begin to recognize and admit that they simply got outsold. It is only then that you can begin to get them the sales training and skill development they need so that they stop fooling you and themselves.

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Article Tags: beverly, ma, management training, north shore, sales training



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