Drive Sales: Encourage Mentality with Employees (Human Factor by Seth Mohorn)

Now more than ever it becomes important that we become the clearest representation of our companies, that we demonstrate our conviction about the products, services and solutions we provide.

The theory is that everyone, no matter what his or her job, has some role in selling the value of their organization.

Following this theory, organizations would naturally become more involved on the front end of a sale because employees have such close contact with customers on a second-by-second basis.

The challenge is that employees are being asked to do a job for which they weren’t hired.

Outstanding Sales Teams aren’t created by accident. They require leadership.

The ultimate goal is to migrate best practices across all departments within an organization in a consistent, replicable, and ongoing manner, allowing the organization achieve greater success.

In addition, sales has an unfortunate reputation as being a profession for pushy extroverts.

The task becomes one of building their confidence while convincing them that they do not have to change personalities to become solid sales professionals – good sales people are helping people by leading them to the right product or set of solutions.

Try these tactics:

• Show your enthusiasm for the change and your support for their new roles. Enthusiasm is contagious.

Every time the subject comes up, tell your employees how excited you are about it. Emphasize how their skills and knowledge make them perfect.

Tell them you know how well they’ll do because sales are just a small extension of customer support. Leave no doubt in their minds that this is exciting, fun and a chance to grow.

• Use role plays. In the Dale Carnegie Sales Advantage course, role-play exercises are a crucial part of the training.

The participants can practice new skills in a safe, non-threatening setting. They can work together to develop “scripts” for overcoming objections unique to their industry. They naturally begin to support each other and pass along tactics they’ve found successful.

I would encourage you to have weekly role-play meetings where your staff brings in especially sticky problems they’ve had to deal with. See how several people would react to the situation, and then discuss what seemed to work best.

• Coach them carefully. Even with good training, your employees will be nervous when they enter the world of sales.

The best way to help them conquer fear is to work with them side by side for a while. Coach them while they work and give them both the positive feedback as well as, opportunities for growth.

• Keep them focused. All successful salespeople work a plan. They know what their goals are and work backward from them, defining exactly what tactics to pursue to meet the goals.

This includes helping them prioritize accounts and providing tools, such as sales literature and scripts, which can increase efficiency.

• Consider coping skills.

In this role more than any other they will deal with a tremendous amount of rejection. Their ability to handle the persistent rejection from prospective customers in a positive manner becomes paramount.

• People skills, people skills, people skills.

People buy first from whom they like. Trust and respect are later earned. At each opportunity, develop within your people the ability to communicate with others in a sincere and helpful manner while simultaneously building credibility and rapport.

In times like these our task is not easy, yet these tactics are a strong cornerstone for building your sales team and sales management skills.

(Seth Mohorn is the managing partner for Dale Carnegie Training of the Mid-South offered by Howard Mohorn & Associates, which provides Dale Carnegie Training services in Southwest Missouri, Northwest Arkansas, Little Rock and Memphis. You can him at 888-578-7873 or at www.arkansas.dalecarnegie.com.)