Buyer?s Savvy Shapes Sales Training Trends

Auto dealers across the country usually don’t have much of a problem deciding whether to pay Russ Mullin of Fayetteville a flat fee or a percentage.
Combined, the auto dealers who used his training methods and Stealth Database Management software saw their sales jump more than $117 million over calendar 2006.
“Once we sit down and start crunching the numbers, they always want to pay the flat fee,” Mullin said. “I’d love to get paid a percentage.”
Mullin, the president and founder of Stealth, took in $1.24 million in revenue during 2006.
Nationwide the sales training industry has grown into a $6 billion business fueled by books, seminars, software and online tools to help companies get the most out of their sales teams.
The hard sell of the 1950s has long gone by the wayside as buyers have grown more sophisticated thanks in part to the wealth of information available on the Internet.
Tapping into the 21st-century buyer’s newfound sense of empowerment — and his or her wallet — entails a combination of perfectly crafted questions, customized solutions and conscientious follow-ups designed to create customer loyalty and referrals.
More streamlined and targeted training has also weeded out bad attitudes and poor work ethics much sooner, leading to less turnover and a narrowing of the gap between the top and bottom rungs of the sales ladder.
The savvy customer has redefined not only the way a salesperson sells, but also the way they think of themselves. New training methods reflect that shift.
“We regard our role as counselors,” said George Faucette, president of Coldwell Banker Faucette Real Estate in Fayetteville. “We enable people to make the right decision for themselves.”
Mullin, who founded his company in 1993 and calls his Stealth database system “a Rolodex on steroids,” also has forgone the use of the term “salespeople.”
“I train problem-solvers,” he said.
According to the H.R. Chally Group, a Dayton, Ohio, sales and management company, more corporate training dollars are spent on sales training than all other areas combined.
Chally’s reporting shows 39 percent of a customer’s choice is based on salesperson effectiveness — a greater factor than price or quality — and raising customer retention by 5 percent increases sales from 25 percent to 85 percent.
When Katie Gambill, director of sales for Clear Channel Communications Inc. in Fayetteville, started in radio in Jonesboro in 1994, the approach was far different than today.
“We didn’t worry as much about demographics,” Gambill said. “It has changed a lot. Now we’re customizing packages for our clients and not just selling 30s and 60s [second commercials].”
Gambill, who has a staff of 12 sales reps, said the personal relationship has always been important, but now businesses are looking for even more.
“Business people in this market are really smart,” she said. “This is a savvy market. We get a lot of consistent advertising.
“They want to be somewhere they can form a relationship with someone who is going to be a resource for you.”
Advances in training have weakened the 80/20 rule, a constant over the years in sales. The rule states 20 percent of a sales staff will get 80 percent of the business and the bottom 20 percent will cost 80 percent of the training and reeducation dollars.
Closing that gap reduces turnover, a bane of the sales workforce.
Gambill said she can divide accounts more evenly with more qualified sales people.
“When 20 percent of your reps get 80 percent of your revenue, that’s what causes turnover,” she said
Faucette said the 80/20 rule is still “pretty much” in effect.
“But we’re able to get people into the next 30 percent a little bit better,” he said. “We’re able to move people — through a good educational process — into the upper half.
“Our training is in message delivery. After we deliver the message, then we deliver the service.”
Businesses looking for sales training can either go the outside consultant route or form in-house training “universities.”
Coldwell Banker Faucette Real Estate, Clear Channel and Tyson Foods Inc. are some of the corporations locally who employ their “universities” nearly exclusively to train their sales teams.
Faucette, who has a full-time sales coach on staff, said his 185 agents in four offices don’t get a repetitive message. Coldwell Banker does use an outside consultant three or four times a year at special training seminars.
Gambill said Clear Channel University is constantly updated through an intranet Web site, accessible only to Clear Channel employees. A new section of the site is dedicated to creative commercial writing. Salespeople can log on and watch a training seminar being held in Houston from anywhere in the country.
Outsourcing
Companies without the resources to create an in-house program have to look for outside help from consultants such as Dale Carnegie Training in Springdale or to industry-specific experts like Mullin.
In the 1980s, 70 percent of Carnegie’s business was from individuals trying to improve their job qualifications. Now its business is 85 percent companies. In Northwest Arkansas, it is closer to 95 percent.
The technology boom has also created a desire among new or struggling sales people for a quick fix.
Carnegie, which charges from $199 for a one-day seminar to $1,395 for an eight-week sales course, quickly sold out a cold-calling class but struggled to fill seats for more advanced sales knowledge.
“Everyone is looking for a magic pill or the easy button,” said Carnegie training consultant Brent Roach. “There isn’t one.”
Bob Oros of Edmond, Okla., said only one will make it of every 31 who try to become a sales trainer.
The more specific the training offered, the more profitable for the trainer, he said.
“I try to be an inch wide and a mile deep,” he said. “Everyone is competing for that basic sales training dollar.”
Oros has trained sales people in wholesale foodservice distribution since 1990 and has served more than 1,500 clients, including Ben E. Keith Arkansas.
Ben E. Keith Arkansas’ sales have grown more than $1 billion since using Oros’ service.
Mullin has worked with boat dealers, furniture stores and even the nation’s largest producer of church bells, but 95 percent of his clients are auto dealers.
Mullin, who has authored three books on sales training techniques, licenses his Windows-based Stealth Database software to more than 200 dealerships across the country. His training and in-house visits for practice and implementation costs $3,500 a month.
He also has flat purchase packages that range from $60,000 to $130,000 based on variables from number of locations and employees as well as return trips to train new salespeople.
Mullin isn’t motivated by money, though, and a successful salesperson can’t be either.
Today’s buyer can see right through them, he said.
“If you get into a business just to make money, you’ll fail,” Mullin said. “But if you get into business to help people and make them better, you’ll make the money.
“You have to love what you’re doing. I love to see people develop and watch them grow.”