This class is designed for those who have already attended Value-Based Selling or for those who already understand how to sell the value of service.  It takes many of the activities in Value-Based Selling, such as building relationships, diagnosing, and proposing to a deeper level.  It also introduces new topics, such as time and account management, using a customer as a coach, trial closes, pricing objections, competitive selling, influencing the product sales team, and global accounts.  It is taught in an interactive workshop style, with considerable classroom discussion of specific attendee issues with the various topics.  Following is a topic-by-topic discussion.

Order-Taking Versus Persuasive Selling 

Many sellers believe that you simply give the customer exactly what they ask for.  This would be wonderful if it worked. Unfortunately, most customers do not really know what they need when it comes to services, and they certainly do not understand how most company’s services are priced and what features their offerings contain.  To be successful in selling services that will ensure high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, service sellers must work to help the customer understand their needs better.  This also arms the seller with the knowledge of what the customer needs.  Then persuasive selling can be accomplished, with outstanding results.  This section discusses some of the research, revealing that many customers do not regard their sellers as more than order-takers, and discusses how to change that impression with many tools and processes.

Time and Account Management 

All sellers must practice Time and Account management.  There are simply too many people to talk to and email, too many meetings to attend, and too much paperwork to fill out.  Good sellers choose who and where to spend their time very carefully. This section addresses all of the relevant issues deeply, including prospecting, calling higher, and using a customer as a coach.  It discusses how to choose accounts and the people in those accounts to spend time with.

Using the Trial Close 

Trial closes are useful tools to check to see where the customer is in the sales process.  Sometimes they are ready to close before the seller realizes it, and sometimes they are not ready when the seller thinks that they are.  Experienced sellers use trial closes often to continually check their progress.  Timing is very important in selling, and the trial close is one of the best tools for keeping on track and getting your timing right.

Pricing Questions 

Unless you are using a really good process well and carefully controlling the sales process, customers can wreak havoc with your sales process.  Even if you are using one, an early question about pricing can at least sidetrack you and, at worst, seriously derail you, or set you up poorly for an upcoming negotiation.  This part of the class discusses those dreaded pricing questions, analyzes how you might respond, and details what are the best and worst ways to respond.

Competitive Selling 

A sellers dream is to have the best offering at the lowest price. Unfortunately that is just a dream that is seldom a reality.  What is realistic and how do you sell in the real world when you do not enjoy obvious advantages over your competition?  This tough topic is discussed at length in this section of the training.  We present the one approach that you can always count on to help you win.  During this discussion we also work more deeply with shifting the customer from price to value, and from features and benefits to value.

Deeper Diagnosis and Better Proposing 

This short section analyzes how many things that have been discussed in the class so far can result in deeper diagnosis and better proposing.  It also offers some additional tips for experienced value sellers.  These two steps are the most critical in selling services, so small improvement can produce profound benefits

Influencing the Product Sales Team 

Most product sellers don’t have a lot of respect for service sellers and are reluctant to allow them into their accounts.  The result is that we are most often allowed in at the last moment, given strict instruction not to mess up the product sale, and severely hamstringed from doing our job.  This discussion reveals ways to gain more respect and be allowed into accounts much earlier. Global accounts are also discussed in this section of the class, with all the particulars that are attendant in trying to rein in an account that knows how to use its leverage.

Self Development 

The last topic of this class is an important one:  how to become a self-developer.  We certainly believe that sales training is an excellent way to improve, but improvement is not restricted to infrequent training events.  This presentation reveals sources of information and ways to continue the improvement process on a daily basis as a lifelong process.  There are a few people who were born to sell.  Most of us have to work at it.  This discussion is for that majority of sellers who need a continual improvement path.

Schedule and Agenda 

The schedule and agenda for this 2-day class will be posted on our website soon. 

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