For many small companies, little emphasis or resources are dedicated to sales training or developing a system of proven sales techniques and strategies.  This is a costly mistake!  Believe me when I tell you that nothing extinguishes a successful advertising and promotional campaign faster than a poorly trained sales team.

After working so hard to fine tune and improve your advertising response rates, small business owners oftentimes overlook the importance of providing their sales and support staff with the sales techniques and tools necessary to close more sales.

Implement a Sales Training program

Here is a quick look at how you can implement a successful program for training your sales team -- and on a shoestring budget!  No need to outsource expensive sales training coaches or consultants.  Just incorporate these very simple, yet highly effective strategies.

Sales Training Tip #1:   Listen Well

Have you ever had the experience of contacting a company in response to an advertisement you’d heard on the radio, read in a newspaper or saw on the internet?  Chances are you have. 

Did you contact the company to get more information or to place an order?  Based on industry research, it is more likely that your first contact with the advertiser was to gain more information on the product or service you heard about. 

Since the majority of your potential customers will not make a buying decision based on your advertisement alone,  it is vitally important that your sales and support staff are well trained to convert these contacts into customers.

The only way to do this is to train your team to listen well.  Hear what the contact has to say before making your sales pitch. Not all of the benefits of your product or service will appeal to every customer. 

Listen to each contact’s individual needs and match the most suitable benefit of your product or service to their specific needs.

Sales Training Tip #2:  Take Note!

Have your team take copious notes of the questions asked by the contact regarding the product or service.  This can be a truly enlightening exercise. 

What you discover may help you to fix potential problems in your product or service or show you creative ways to increase your business through add-on sales.

Some examples of add-on sales could be insurance products, extended warranty protection or a repair service or maintenance plan.

In any case, you now have a valuable sales lead with all the information you’ll ever need to follow up with this contact and keep s/he updated on your products and services. 

Sales Training Tip #3:  Dig Deep

Ask the right questions and benefit from greater sales returns.  What do I mean?  Let’s say you operate a janitorial service and one of your larger contract customers calls for an expensive add-on service, like floor refinishing.

What would your likely response be?  “Sure Mrs. Jones, we’re happy to accommodate your request right away.  As a valued customer, we’ll even give you a 30% discount.” 

You may be missing out on the potential for increased business with Mrs. Jones by not asking her why she’d like to upgrade her service.

The well trained sales professional would say something like this.  “Sure Mrs. Jones.  As one of our best customers, we’ll give your job priority scheduling.  May I also ask you why you have chosen to get your floors refinished?”

What makes it so important to ask the customer WHY?  It may give you vital information for increased sales opportunities.  It turns out that Mrs. Jones has a visit from the top brass at her corporate office and she wants the offices in top notch shape.

In this example, the salesperson servicing Mrs. Jones’ account also sold her a deluxe carpet cleaning and deodorization package, a window and blind cleaning package as well upgrading her contract service from a bi-monthly plan to a weekly service plan -- and all because of a simple 3 letter word.

Want to learn more sales training techniques?

Check out the Start-Up Business Survival Guide: 101 FREE Products and Services to Help Finance Your Dream of Successful Business Ownership.  Chapter 5  entitled: “Converting Contacts to Customers” provides a comprehensive section on some of the best sales techniques to help you close more sales.

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