How Telling the Truth Improves Your Sales

By Tony P Phillips

If you were to ask 20 random people in the street about what they thought of sales people what would they say?

A little sample study like this is likely to come up with similar answers in most places with most people. What therefore, would be an important characteristic to develop to break the mould of the 'traditional used-car sales person' persona?

It's something that is really slipped to the side and becoming acceptable not to do these days, and it's a very big problem if you want to be a top performing successful sales person.

If you want to be seen as a trusted advisor as opposed to a con artist, start telling the truth!

Lately, I've been watching a lot of politics, and I just can't stand it, these guys will not answer a question directly no matter what, and it got me thinking how our customers feel when sales people like myself in the past, would re-frame our question to better suit our needs? Probably not so good.

So I've got a question for you, if a customer asked you a direct question about your product and your in your organization, and the answer wasn't going to shine very positive light on you, what would you do?

Would you:

A- not answer the question, but go to another advantageous point for the customer.

B- reframe the question, that is a better one for the customer and gives them more of their needs and answers.

Or C- answer the question directly and then suggest another question that might be more beneficial for the customer.

Well I think C is the answer, that's the answer that's telling the truth. And when it comes to a customer-sales person relationship being very transparent and always telling the truth are two critical aspects of that relationship.

So, these are the two things I want you to remember, be transparent in everything you do and always tell the truth when you're asked a question.

If you always tell the truth it's going to give your character a much stronger foundation and great character leads to great credibility, great credibility leads to high levels of trust between you and the customer and from that point anything is possible.

The next time a customer asks you a question and you automatically think about re-framing the question or answer, think of this firstly, answer honestly. That simple, first honest answer will be noticed by your customer and will more than likely offer a refreshing perspective. This positive emotion in the customer will certainly support your point of view that comes next, and is going to give you a lot of personal branding points really building up your credibility. From here it is certain sales will be a natural result.

Why You Need to Start Sales Training in Medical Sales

By Tony P Phillips

Are you serious about improving the performance of your sales team? When was the last time you looked at your sales team and administered the same level of judgment that you would other departments and other teams with your organisation? If performance is a result of the skillful actions of your staff, which means, the sharper the skills the better the performance, what is the real skill level of your sales teams?

All sales people and all sales managers are looking to increase the numbers of customers and the value of their sales. Getting breakthrough results in our organization is a goal shared by all of us. But how many people look at sales training? For many departments in a company, on-going professional development is a regular and sought after opportunity.

Now I think I've got a reason why sales development in the medical industry is not the norm for small to medium size businesses.

Many years ago when I started selling in the medical industry, sales training was a little bit ho-hum, neither here nor there and that was because what we were doing was getting results.

That was simply turning up, knowing your stuff and being a nice person, that's pretty much all it took. But these days things are much, much more complex. The medical market has changed immensely, different decision makers, pricing pressures, regulation, competition, innovation have all meant that things have got tougher in business.

So what is it about sales training that makes it so important?

With these rapid changes in business conditions comes an imperative to get better at sales, to get better at the skills, the knowledge, the capability, the psychological mindset behind it all. And if you're not improving the skills and ability of your sales team and as a sales person yourself, are not continually improving, you are going to be left behind.

There is a quote I like to use from someone much smarter than me, that says: "The world doesn't pay you for what you know, it pays you for what you can do".

This really ties into your professional development program and your sales training, what can you and your team actually do out there today?

Therefore, the question remains, what are you doing to improve the training, the knowledge and the skill base of your sales team or yourself?

If you are interested in improving the results that you currently have, should you consider what your team can actually "do" as opposed to what your team "knows"?

The complexity of the medical sales market has changed, so should your approach to professional development for your sales team.

http://www.medicalsalestraining.com.au/ Medical Sales Training is a specialised sales performance company helping medical supplies companies in Australia and New Zealand increase sales by building top performing salespeople. Building stronger relationships with customers and high impact selling approaches we use a scientific approach to selling utilising Whole Brain Technology. Lasting behavioural change is created with on-going support and expert sales coaching following all training programmes. Visit our website at http://www.medicalsalestraining.com.au/ for more information and to contact us.