Archive for February, 2007

How to use the six major news angles

1.* The meeting itself. The basic idea that a meeting will be conducted is of some news value. Larger meetings are naturally of greater interest. Don’t tell what the meeting will mean to the minority attending. Explain what it will mean to the majority of readers, the many people who will not attend. Example: “If you’re asked to buy a foreign auto, don’t be surprised. Foreign Cars, Inc., importers of three European automobiles, will conduct a sales rally tomorrow at the Bluebonnet Hotel. Auto dealers will be shown how to contact more prospective buyers. “See the People” is the theme of the meeting. Every resident of the area probably will be seen, too. An all-out sales promotion is planned. “Some 45 dealers are. . . .”

2.* Visiting fireman. An expert is a guy from out of town. His opinion may receive little attention at home. But if he’s a specialist from out of state, he’s “copy.” Your principal speaker should have something newsworthy to say, even if you must put the words in his mouth! He can be pictured and quoted on arrival. Or an account of his speech can be featured.
Example: ” ‘Consumer credit is the backbone of the economy,’ declared Jim Starr, credit specialist from Denver, Colorado. ‘Credit makes sales and keeps employment high.’ “Starr is here for a meeting of . . .” Newspapers sometimes request advance copies of the principal speech. When arranging for the principal speaker, let him know if extra copies of his speech may be needed for publicity purposes.

3.* Local personality. Readers are always interested in local people. First, what local people are sponsoring the meeting? Who’s making arrangements at the local level? What local people will speak? Will the mayor make a welcoming address? What local companies or agencies are involved? Next, will local people receive any awards? Recognition of hometown personalities has general appeal. Example: “Little Town’s own Johnny Jones will be honored at a dinner meeting tomorrow.
“Jones, a life time resident of Little Town, will be recognized as the state’s leading typewriter salesman. He sold more machines last year than any other salesman in Missouri. “The meeting will be held at the offices of Little Town Typewriter Company. More than 30 salesmen . . .”

4.* New models. Improvements of products are news. They denote progress. They show trends. Be sure your copy points up the affect on John Q. Public. Example: “The large, heavy television set will soon be a thing of the past,” according to Irv Levenson, Vice President of T.V. Products, Inc. “Our new set features a large screen with a minimum of mechanical parts. It can be hung on a wall, like a picture. Levenson stated, “This will change the living habits of many families. Instead of one recreational room in each home there will be several. Our low priced set will be placed on the wall of every room in the home. “Levenson is here for a meeting with . . .”

5.* Company growth. Success stories are both interesting and inspiring. The growth of your company could serve as the basis of a news release, the sales meeting mentioned incidentally. News papers continually seek stories related to the American free enterprise system. Corporate growth can easily be woven into such a story. Example: “America is still a land of opportunity. The Foster Tool Company is ample proof. “Foster Tool was founded five years ago on a capital investment of only $2,500. Today the company is grossing $100,000 per month. ” ‘Anything is possible in this wonderful country of ours,’ vowed Jack Foster, company president. ‘We’re really just getting started/”Foster is here for a meeting with distributors of Foster Tools. The meeting will. . . .”

6.* Current news. Some phase of the company operation can be related to current business trends.
Example: “Retail sales are off 15 percent this year. Yet Wesley Manufacturing has had a 20 percent increase in sales.
” ‘Good customer service is our secret of success/ reports Charles Morgan, President of Wesley. ‘Our sales are up because customers like our service.’ “Some 30 employees of the company will convene here tomorrow to learn still more about customer service. The meeting. . . .”

Keywords: Sales, Marketing, Business, Sales Training

Many sales meetings need little publicity. Some need a great deal. An in-store meeting is easily promoted. Employees are paid to attend and have no choice in the matter. “Captive” groups can be assembled readily. Word-of-mouth is usually sufficient. Then there’s the employee bulletin board, the house organ, and the store p.a. system. But attendance at certain sales meetings is optional. Franchised dealers, for example, can often retain their franchises without attending meetings conducted by the wholesaler or the manufacturer. To get their attendance, there must be real promotion.

Trade associations have the same difficulty. Members must want to attend. Sales meetings, therefore, are publicized. Meetings must be sold. There’s often another reason for publicizing a meeting. The product concerned is brought to the attention of the public. This publicity is good public relations. It’s gratis advertising. Promotional Bulletins and Publicity Releases. There are two reasons why certain sales meetings should be publicized. First, to get attendance. Second, to advertise your product. Now let’s discuss how to publicize your meetings.

Keywords: Sales, Marketing, Business, Sales Training

The true-false quiz is an excellent teaching device. It can make the session more interesting, too. Devise an all inclusive quiz. Every important area, then, is certain to be discussed. Also, the quiz serves as a good review of the highlights. Most people think a quiz is for testing the learners. It is not. It’s a test of the instructor. It shows how well he taught.

Sample quiz on approaches

Type of Selling: Over the counter.

1.* There are three types of approaches.* * * * * TRUE FALSE
2.* The salutation approach is always used on friends, * * TRUE FALSE
3.* “May I help you?” is an overworked service approach.* * * TRUE FALSE
4.* “What may I show you?” is a good service approach, * * * TRUE FALSE
5.* A merchandise approach saves time.* * * * * TRUE FALSE
6.* The customer’s name should not be used in the approach.* * * TRUE FALSE
7.* Tell a waiting customer, “I’ll be with you in a moment.” * * TRUE FALSE
8.* You should never have anything in your hands during the approach. * TRUE FALSE

After the quiz has been distributed and scored, discuss each question.

“Who has the answer to the first one . . . False? You’re right- that’s false! But what’s the main idea there? So what should you do as a result?” The important thing is to bring out the underlying teaching point. How the individual answered the question is not significant. What the group finally learned about it-that’s the thing. Multiple choice and completion type questions can also be used. True-false is usually best, however, because it’s so simple.

Don’t grade adults. They resent it. Instead, let each person correct his own paper. They’ll usually want a “yardstick,” so give it to them: “If you missed only three, you did very well. If you missed less than three, you should be the instructor!”

Let them keep their tests. Encourage a review at some future date. But avoid a school room atmosphere. Adults absolutely will not accept it. They left school long ago and they’re not going back!

How to conduct group training sessions?

* Prepare Yourself
* Prepare Your Audience
* Present Your Material
* Have Them Learn by Doing
* Check on Learning
* Appeal to as Many Senses as Possible
* Coat It With Sugar

Keywords: Sales, Marketing, Business, Sales Training

1. The steps in a sale are attention, interest, desire, and action. A Distributive Education instructor in Texas presents this information in an interesting way. He likens the steps to the courses in a meal.
“A colorful fruit cocktail gets your attention the moment you’re seated for dinner. A salad follows. This gets your interest in a big way. It really whets your appetite. Then comes the entree. You look at it and gleefully inhale the aroma. Your desire is at its peak! After the entree, you take final action by eating dessert.” Pictures of the four courses were pasted on flocking material and used with a slap board. It made a very effective presentation. The steps in a sale were more easily learned because they were related to something the learners already knew.

2. A furniture store owner made a list of questions most frequently asked by prospective customers. He put each question on a separate 3″ x 5″ index card.
In a training session, he shuffled the cards and dealt them to his salespeople. “They got a big kick out of trying to answer the questions,” he reported. “Also, a lecture would not have caused half as much learning.”

3. Enthusiasm has been dramatized in many ways. When teaching people to “bubble over,” you can make it interesting by dropping a couple of bromos in a full glass of water. Your audience will remember it. So will the janitor!
This may not prompt enthusiasm before the prospect, however. So give each man a card. The presentation I’m about to make is backed by a twenty-million-dollar organization. Our product line is the finest in the world! When I see my next prospect, I’ll be red hot-sizzling! Do I have enthusiasm? Watch my smoke!!! Ask your men to read this card before each call. While enthusiasm is intangible, it can be taught.

4. A professional sales trainer in Minnesota has a unique method of teaching persistence. He used a jack-in-the-box. “Your prospect doesn’t buy. So what?” The trainer released the jack and said, “You call on him again.” “He still doesn’t buy.” Again he released the jack, stating, “So you turn up at his office again.” “He turns you down another time.” The jack is released. “But you pop up again.”
“One of you finally gives up.” The jack is released. “Let it be the prospect-not you!”
Application of the teaching point is difficult in a meeting. However, it can easily be made in the field. Some firms give a persistence award. It goes to the salesman who makes the greatest number of calls on a single prospect without getting an order. The purpose is not to commend failure, but to commend effort. Without effort there can be no achievement.

5. The motive for buying is a significant part of salesmanship. When a salesman can detect the buying motive, he appeals to it. He magnifies it, elaborates on it. This produces sales-but fast! An appliance dealer determined that his merchandise was purchased for four reasons: pride of ownership, economy, pleasure, and utility. He uses role playing to teach the recognition of these motives. The dealer acts as a prospect. He makes statements and asks questions that are clues to buying motives. Example: “Is this like the one you sold Mrs. Astor on Park Row?” The buying motive is pride of ownership-keeping up with the Joneses. The first salesman to recognize a motive is called upon to explain his opinion. This results in participation, recognition, and solid training.

6. The close of a sale begins at the beginning of a sales presentation. While the first step in a sale is to get attention, this step is also the first part of the close. All steps in a sale must lead toward the close. Unless they do, there will be no close. They so directly lead into the close that they’re actually a part of the closing. An interesting method of presenting this is to hold up a snake. “The close of a sale is like a snake’s tail. It begins at the head.” If a live snake is to be used, salesmen with weak hearts should not be seated in the front row!

7. Trial closes must be taught. Most companies have standard trial closes, such as. “Does this look like the one you want?” Or, “We can install that for you tomorrow.” Balloons filled with natural gas have been used as “trial balloons.” A marketing firm executive released a balloon each time he demonstrated a trial close. “When the prospect appears ready to buy, you send up a trial balloon. For instance, you could ask if the prospect wants his purchase gift wrapped.” At this point the executive released a balloon which floated to the ceiling. He continued with additional trial closes, each time lofting a “trial balloon.” This made the trial closes stand out. During the application part of the training session, each salesman was given an opportunity to send up “trial balloons.”

8. A personnel trainer was teaching the various methods of closing a sale. He made his presentation more effective by using a clothes line, strung across the front of the room. Using clothes pins, he attached placards to the line, each with a word printed on it. One contained the word “ASK,” representing always ask for the order. “ALTERNATIVE” covered a choice between something and something, not between something and nothing.

“MINOR” stood for closing on a minor issue. In all, there were seven placards as visuals. More was accomplished here: After the placards were explained, they were distributed to seven of the salesmen. Demonstrations were then conducted. When one of the closing techniques was demonstrated, the salesman holding the pertinent placard pinned it to the clothes line. The cards were frequently redistributed, keeping everyone on his toes.

9. It’s difficult to teach salespeople when to stop talking. Some supervisors say, “Get the order and get out.” Others say, “Leave within two minutes after the order is signed.” But there’s usually more to it than that. The purchase of additional items usually should be suggested. Then too, every sales situation is different. So it’s difficult to apply rigid rules. But a general warning is certainly in order. A manufacturer in Virginia begins his warning with a casket. The salesmen are asked to guess the identity of the corpse. “The casket contains the corpse of a sale. It’s a sale that was killed by a man who couldn’t stop talking!” This bizarre method of getting across the point has been remembered by all who have seen it. Men have commented on it ten years later. But that isn’t all. Transcripts of actual closes are distributed and read. Each is discussed. Questions are asked. “Did the salesman in this script know when to stop talking? If he talked too much, where did the surplus yakking begin? What can each of you do to avoid the same mistake?”

10. People selling over the counter must continuously be trained in suggestion selling. Any clerk can sell what the customer wants. A good salesperson suggests the purchase of additional items.

Here’s how a department store buyer demonstrated the power of suggestion . . . She obtained a new perfume atomizer and filled it with colored water. In a training session she gingerly sprayed the room. The spray had absolutely no scent. “That’s a delicate scent. What is it? Can anyone say? I’ll give you a clue. It’s either lilac or rose. Which is it?” The audience of 22 people sniffed for several seconds. Someone voiced his decision. Then others. There was divided opinion. Nine decided on lilac, another nine on rose. Only four could not smell anything! Having proved that suggestion is powerful, the buyer then conducted an effective training session on suggestion selling.

Keywords: Sales, Marketing, Business, Sales Training

Hold yourself responsible. Whether your salesmen are smart enough to learn is not open to question. The question is whether you’re smart enough to teach! If they haven’t learned, it’s because you haven’t taught. Check their understanding. There are two ways to check. First, ask questions. “What should be done next? Why? Is that the best way of doing it? How do we know?”

A second means of checking is by observing performance. Can they perform the task in the meeting? Has every person demonstrated his ability to perform? Once they’ve mastered it in the classroom, have them apply the lesson in the field. The sooner they apply it, the better they will remember it. Besides, practical application is the ultimate objective ofi all group training.

Appeal to as Many Senses as Possible

There are five senses-sight, touch, smell, taste, and hearing. We learn through all five. You should appeal to as many senses as possible. Let the group learn all they’re willing to learn through the sense of hearing. Then go to work on the other four. Let ‘em see it, touch it, smell it, and taste it. Many subjects cannot be directed toward all of the five senses. But every subject can be aimed toward two or more of the senses. Most things can be beamed toward at least three senses.

How could your audience hear the durability of wallpaper? Pull the ends apart suddenly. It will pop the paper like a shine-boy cracking a shoe rag! The audience actually hears the strength of the paper.
How can your audience be convinced that shoes are well made? Pass them around. Let everyone take a sniff. Good leather smells like good leather!

How to Sugarcoat Your Training

Salesmen want training. Why not? It saves time for them, makes their work easier, increases their earning power, and prepares them for bigger jobs. They want training. But they don’t want it called “training.” There’s something about the word that depreciates the people being taught. It makes them feel subordinated. Thus many companies hold sales meetings instead of training meetings. They offer executive development programs not courses. They conduct sessions rather than classes.

A company engaged in direct to consumer sales has discontinued training meetings. Instead, information meetings are conducted. Their salespeople don’t like the thought of being trained. They do want information, however. Result: attendance, which is voluntary, is up 17 percent. Each presentation should be interesting. Inject humor and animation. Merchandise your training. Sell it. Training can be enjoyable. Make it that way!

Keywords: Sales, Marketing, Business, Sales Training