When your reps are under pressure, do they just collapse into “Presentation mode?”

Are your reps talking too much? Do your reps automatically go into “Presentation mode” when a buyer says they only have a few minutes to talk? Join me as I offer ideas to help your reps improve their persuasive skills even when they only have a few minutes to sell. Because after all, you can always sell more. 

Transcript

When your sales reps are under pressure from your customers, do they just go into presentation mode? Hi, I'm Jim Pancero, helping you become a stronger leader of your sales team. This is the reality of selling. Salespeople under pressure just go into presentation mode. You see this at trade shows. Somebody walks into the booth and only has to ask the question like what's up or what's new, and then they get a 5 to 10 minute routine from the sales rep. If a customer says, "You got five minutes, what do you want?" most salespeople just dump into presentation mode. The reality is untrained and undisciplined salespeople, when they are put under pressure by a customer, all they do is talk.

You can make your team a lot more persuasive if you follow the steps of a sales call. Remember the steps of a sales call are first lower resistance. Then you ask questions. Then you present. Then you have some kind of closure and then you agree and set up your next contact. So even if a sales rep only has five minutes, they need to spend three minutes of that time asking questions, probing deeper, finding out and establishing where the customer is, to make sure they could earn the right to continue the conversation later.

This is a great time to talk to your team about what are they doing with this. How interactive are their sales calls? How interactive are their work at a trade show booth or a tabletop display? How interactive are they on the telephone of asking questions and listening to the customer, not just doing an information dump on them like most do. This is a reality that selling is changing and customers don't have the patience today for ineffective salespeople. So a great way to increase your competitive edge is to make sure your salespeople follow the steps of a sales call. Spend more time asking questions than they do presenting and not just go to presenting as the defense solution anytime they're backed into a corner.

Would love to know how your sales reps are dealing with all of this. Would love to know how it's going for you and your team. Thanks for checking out my podcast. I'm posting two new podcasts each week, all aimed at helping you and your team increase your selling competitive advantage.