FAQ: Is it a problem that my team don’t consider themselves salespeople?

The word “sales” has earned itself somewhat of a bad reputation over the years but this is usually due to a misconception about what good salespeople do.

The big secret here is that we’re mainly teaching people how to connect emotionally with other people – some people have decided to call that “sales”, but it’s mainly better communication aimed at a goal.

Our training is helpful to anyone who sells as part of their job and non-salespeople can benefit just as much as those people who would call themselves a salesperson or say that they work in sales. Most people within your organisation who deal with customers and potential prospects are part of the sales process, from the staff who answer telephone enquiries to those who offer customer service and follow-up after a sale.

What does my team learn at sales training?

We teach your team members how to:

• Receive people
• Make people feel welcome
• Guide them
• Prepare them
• Help clients feel less tension
• Make them feel comfortable
• Establish rapport with clients and potential clients
• Understand what is important to your customers
• Help people feel like they’ve been heard
• Make needs-based recommendations
• Appreciate and clarify the concerns of your clients
• Clarify misunderstandings
• Remove obstacles
• Help people make good decisions
• Facilitate them getting what they want.

What have those skills to do with sales training?

These skills do not match with most people’s idea of what “sales” is. In fact, in many ways, these things are human social skills that we tend to perform naturally with friends and those close to us. When it comes to a commercial environment however, sometimes we fail to perform these basic steps to build trust.

It’s not important what people call themselves before training. If your team members do not consider themselves salespeople, that is perfectly okay. Our aim is to help them to do their job more effectively, in a way that better serves the customer – not to turn them into sales people.

There is a lot of overlap between customer service and what we call sales at LiveseySolar. We believe that the best salespeople always have customer interests at heart and aim to provide the best possible service and build trust into a long-term relationship, rather than getting the most people possible to say “yes”.