Anyone that has sold for any length of time has developed comfortable sales habits. So, when a trainer or manager comes in and offers a new way to increase sales… well, they may not see the sales training value. They start into a diatribe of exception examples of why the new training idea won’t work for them. Irritating and short sighted.
I was out on a closing appointment with a sales professional that had been in the industry for some time. As we were sitting across from the potential customer I noticed a competitors card sitting on his desk. My immediate gut feeling was that we were not going to win this deal after all. Chit chat and niceties prevailed but no one was getting to the point of this meeting. I couldn’t handle it anymore and simply asked the client if we were going to be awarded the deal. The customer unblinkingly said no. Looking at the salesman I could see shock and disbelief. Definitely an awkward moment.
Have you ever dealt with a salesperson that was less than and pretty sure they were winging it? No real substance and professionalism? Not confidence inspiring and definitely not an evangelist for their offering? Pushy, almost panicked, to make a sale? Maybe you’ve found yourself winging it? How does this happen! Well, there’s actually a good explanation and it has to do with sales training.
Their eyes were rolling and yawns appearing. They were bored. I was getting impatient and could not understand why they weren’t grasping the “pearls” that I was presenting. Their answers were off point and my responses became short and edgy. Each training had less and less impact. My sales training had gone flat.