Joe’s listening skills: “I feel you asked pretty good questions about the buy- er’s needs. He told you a great deal about what he looks for in a product. That’s good. What I’m wondering about is why you didn’t use some of this information in your product presentation?”
Joe got a little tense, but conced- ed, “I guess you’re right. I could have used some of the things he told me, but, unfortunately, I didn’t remember them all. I think that, perhaps, I wasn’t listening properly and was much too concerned with asking him a lot of questions.” Bill replied – with some feeling of satisfaction on his face – “You see, you’re learning. First, you have to listen to what the buyer says, then you have to use the information to sell. When he told you he was look- ing for greater productivity and ease of maintenance, your presentation should have been built on these two major items.” Joe was impressed. “Yes...you’re right, and I moved in a different direction. I guess that’s why he didn’t respond well to my presen- tation and changed the subject.” Bill nodded his head. “Joe, I’m glad I came. I know you want to learn, and I’m glad we could learn something together. Let’s prepare ourselves for the next call.”
TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS A week later Bill attended a meet- ing with the company’s sales training manager, Frank Walker. Both reviewed the new sales training agenda. Bill glanced over the schedule and commented: “Frank, to be honest with you, your training schedule does not have enough time allocated for teaching listening skills. I was on the road with my people just last week and I am amazed at their low listening ability. You’ve got to do something about this.”
Frank was surprised: “I’d like to hear more about this. You know, we put almost every sales rep through our listening skills seminar last year. Some liked it so much that they even
came twice! This year we’ll do some reviewing, (he pointed to the agenda) but I can’t see how we could spend more time on this subject.” Bill replied: “That’s only one hour – and 20 minutes of that hour is spent on looking at a movie. Why don’t you do some role-playing in addition to this hour? Let’s say another hour on role-plays, OK?”
Frank conceded: “OK, you are the one who has the final say – you’re in charge of your sales force. Let me make a note of this.” Bill’s sales force enjoyed the sales training seminar tremendously. Every- body liked Frank’s program; all made good comments about the agenda. The listening skills part went well; and, though some voiced mild objections since they were already familiar with some of the material, they participat- ed with enthusiasm in the role-plays Frank had prepared.
SAVING A SALESMAN Six months later, Bill reviewed Joe’s sales performance and noticed he was still weak in getting large accounts. He still had the same problems with listening. What was worse, he never got a single order from the company they had visited together.
Bill picked up the phone and called Frank: “Listen, I’m just reviewing Joe’s performance and wonder if you could come over here and help me with a training problem?” Frank was in Bill’s office within min- utes. “What seems to be the prob- lem?” he asked. Bill frowned: “Well, I’m not sure I
know. Joe is a good sales rep with small accounts, but I need a bigger market penetration with big accounts. He can’t bring it. I don’t know what to do. I can’t do the work for him, and I’m not sure he can do it for himself!” Frank thought for a moment, then asked: “Where do you think he’s weak? It seems to me he did pretty well in our last sales training course. As a mat- ter of fact, I even videotaped one of his role-plays and showed it to other people since it was nearly perfect.”
Bill shook his head. “I get the feel- ing Joe can do it. I rode with him and gave him some pointers. He needed to work on his listening skills and on his presentation. Now you say he’s able to understand and use his skills in the class. But why doesn’t he use them with his large prospects? Or is there another problem we haven’t touched on yet?” With this, Bill stood up and asked the key question. “Should I invest the money to replace him or to save him?” Frank shrugged. “Hiring a new rep may cost you six months in training time and you’ll pay a few thousand dollars in the hiring process. Why don’t you let me take a look at the situation? I could ride with him for a couple of days and give you a report. This way we can say we did the best we could to save him.” Bill agreed. A few weeks later he read Frank’s handwritten report. Here are some excerpts: “Joe has excellent knowl- edge of our product line, his com- petitors, and the markets. His selling skills are above average. His per- sonality with clients is friendly and outgoing and he has a good sense of humor. However, he tends to express notions of insecurity when dealing with executives of larger companies. He indicated he does not have their vocabulary and education. This may be the reason for his staying away from the larger accounts.” As Bill continued reading Frank’s
report, he suddenly realized there was a way to help Joe. He grabbed his yellow pad and developed a plan of action. If you were in Bill’s place: 1. What do you think it really is that prevents Joe from doing well with large accounts?
2. What specific plan of action would you develop?
By using this scenario as a teaching tool, share it with your sales team (and your manager). See how many action plans you can develop to increase sales to large accounts.
THE SALES MANAGEMENT BOOK SELLING POWER NOVEMBER 2016 | 13 © 2016 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.
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