Ten-Minute Sales Skills
Contents
SECTION ONE: THE SALES PROCESS
1. The sales process
Participants think about the key stages in achieving a sale.
2. The buying process
Using personal experience of making a purchase, participants identify the decision-making process that buyers go through.
3. Buying motives
Participants consider what motivates customers to buy.
4. The ideal salesperson
By drawing a picture, groups of participants consider the attributes of good salespeople.
5. Experiencing poor selling
Participants reflect on poor selling and how to avoid the pitfalls.
6. Prospecting
Participants list ways of finding potential new customers.
7. Lead generation
Participants think of ways of finding new business from existing customers.
8. Decision makers
Participants consider the importance of speaking to the people who have the power to make buying decisions.
9. Getting appointments
In groups, participants explore ways of getting prospective customers to agree to an appointment.
10. Getting past the gatekeeper
Participants consider creative and practical ways of getting to speak to the person they want.
11. Prepare yourself
Participants get into the right frame of mind for successful selling.
12. Know your product
In groups, participants establish the need for accurate and in-depth product knowledge.
13. Product comparisons
Participants compare their products and services with those of their competitors.
14. Know your customer
Participants consider the advantages of knowing as much about their customer as possible.
15. Know the enemy
Participants discuss their understanding of what they need to know about their competitors.
16. Features and benefits
Participants learn to differentiate between the features of a product and the benefits that it brings to a customer.
17. Unique selling points
In groups, participants define the unique selling points (USPs) of their products.
18. Diary management
Participants consider the ways of prioritising calls and appointments.
19. Key customers
Participants discuss the concept of key customers and how to keep and develop them.
20. Follow-ups
Participants consider ways and benefits of following up on customer enquiries.
21. Successful outcomes
Participants recognise the different ways of assessing the success of a sales interview.
22. ‘Mystery shop’ ourselves
Participants rate their sales processes against ‘best practice’.
SECTION TWO – SALES SKILLS
23. Rate the skills
Groups of participants consider the skills and competencies of good salespeople.
24. Skill swap
Pairs of participants share sales skills by taking advice from a skilled colleague.
25. Questions, questions
Participants establish the need to ask good questions and the skill of asking them, in a sales conversation.
26. Nothing but questions
Participants practise the skill of asking questions by taking part in conversations of questions only.
27. The killer question
Participants recall or invent powerful questions that will lead to better results.
28. Listen to me
Participants learn to appreciate the need to listen carefully to customers.
29. Active listening
Participants experience the benefits and skills of active listening.
30. Barriers to listening
Participants look at understanding and overcoming the things that get in the way of good listening.
31. Rapport
Working in pairs, participants examine ways of building a positive rapport with their customers.
32. Connect to the customer
Participants are introduced to the concept of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic preferences.
33. Getting visual
Participants learn to identify ‘visual customers’, and how to appeal to them.
34. Getting auditory
Participants learn to identify ‘auditory customers,’ and how to appeal to them.
35. Getting kinaesthetic
Participants consider ways of appealing to customers who have a kinaesthetic preference.
36. Body language
Participants demonstrate an awareness of the need for positive body language.
37. Positive language
Participants consider the effects of using positive language in their dealings with customers.
38. Being ‘bilingual’
Groups of participants discuss the importance of ‘speaking the customer’s language’ (jargon, buzz words, and so on).
39. ‘Yes’ sets
Participants discuss ways of getting the customer into a positive frame of mind.
40. Letters that sell
Participants learn how to write compelling letters or other copy that will help to make a sale.
41. Uncovering needs
Participants explore the skill of asking questions to uncover needs.
42. Applying benefits
Participants learn how to talk about benefits rather than about features, to satisfy customer needs.
43. Buying signals
Participants identify the signals that the customer may be ready to buy.
44. Ask for the business
Participants look at ways of closing the sale and asking customers for their business.
45. Handling objections
Participants practise the skills of overcoming some of the common reasons that customers give for not buying.
46. Cross-selling
Participants identify opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling when making a sale.
47. Package selling
Participants are introduced to the concept of offering a product or service ready packages with other related products.
48. Customers to clients
Participants consider ways of converting one-off customers into lifelong clients.
49. Customer feedback
Participants plan how to get feedback from customers.
50. Observed feedback
Participants consider the benefits of learning from a colleague’s feedback.