We deliver consultative sales coaching programmes for sales people operating in complex B2B environments.
We work with experienced sales people and people new to sales roles.
We offer a range of online and resources and off line services.
Sales Manual: You can purchase our extremely popular eBook, "The Consultative Sales Professional" from our web site here.
On-line resources:
- An active forum
- Free access to an online database of IT and Telco sales professionals.
These can be accessed by the links on the left hand side of this page.
Off-line services: Sales team development, one on one sales mentoring, Consultative Sales Professional training workshops, sales team assessments, sales performance forensics and analysis and the development of step x step sales processes tailored to your business.
Sales support collateral: We can help you create customised sales support collateral including: lead generation material, reference documents, client research and analysis sheet templates, structured consultative sales meeting templates, product specific value proposition resource sheets, etc.
We particularly enjoy assisting new sales people to get quickly on the right track.
To compliment our training we have written a sales manual specific focused on consultative selling in B2B environments: The Consultative Sales Professional. This manual is availabe for sale independently of our training programmes here.
Over many years of working as a salesman, sales manager and company director I noticed that in every sales team I worked in, there was typically one sales person who outperformed everyone else in the team by a factor of 150% to 300%. No doubt you have witnessed this as well?
Seventeen years ago I began studying and documenting what made these 'champions' different (and so much more successful than the 'journeymen', so that I could better analyse and replicate their success for myself and others. During this time I also attended numerous sales training courses and seminars (some very bad and some extremely good) and of course I learnt many lessons from first-hand trial and error experience. I also sought out and read books on selling skills, strategies and methodologies. It was always my plan to one day gather together all of my disparate notes and files and compile them into a single coherent sales program. The Consultative Sales Professional manual and workshops are the result of this work.
"Best course I've been on, It targeted exactly what I needed. The workshops were great. Both for seeing examples in action of how to apply the training, and for catching things I needed to change." - Carol Hawksworth, Director, Accounting Essentials Ltd.
The competitive edge in selling is usually very small. Thus an incremental improvement in a single capability can lead to noticeable gains in success, however small gains across a number of areas can quickly multiply into very significant financial results.
By providing you with incremental advances in each of the capabilities listed below and a structured, professional, flexible methodology the results can be much greater than the sum of the parts.
Your levels of proficiency in each key sales capability has a direct impact on your current sales revenues.
Here's a simple test. Rate yourself or your sales team on a scale of 1-10 for each of the following key capabilities and add the total.
1. Creating and using profiles to identify and locate ideal clients (1-10)
2. Inquiry & lead generation processes (1-10)
3. Creating effective personal sales collateral that gets results (1-10)
4. Creating and leveraging effective reference stories (1-10)
5. Effective client prospecting skills and strategies (1-10)
6. Sales qualification skills (1-10)
7. Selling (time) efficiency (1-10)
8. Creating purchasing motivation (1-10)
9. Maintaining control and purchase momentum throughout the sales process (1-10)
10. Customer service issue management (1-10)
11. Strategies for dealing with competitors proposals (1-10)
12. Conducting professionally structured client meetings (1-10)
13. Building the value of your solutions through the sales process (1-10)
14. Establishing clear and compelling ROI strategies for your clients (1-10)
15. Margin/price negotiation skills and strategies (1-10)
If you scored less than 125 points in the above appraisal, you have excellent scope for substantial increases in your current sales revenues.
At the start of each workshop we ask attendees to write on the last page of the training manual manual, the percentage gain in sales that they think effective sales coaching might help them achieve. Typically they tentatively choose a figure of between 10% and 20%. At the end of the two day workshops we ask them to review this figure, most attendees typically upgrade their previous estimate by between 5% and 10%.
"I found the structured approach to the selling process very helpful. The CSP methodology and training will definitely help improve my sales performance. I am confident that it will assist me in growing my sales revenues by as much as 25%. A key part of the value, was a positive reinforcement of many of the things I have been doing thus far with my clients. The role playing in the workshops took me out of my comfort zone and I found this extremely satisfying in the end. Overall I give the CSP training a rating of 9 out of 10. I have no hesitation in recommending this course.” - David Sherriff, Brimble Sherriff Young Limited, Nelson. www.multi-swac.co.uk.
There are no magic bullets, secret tricks, or hype. The Consultative Sales Professional programme advocates a simple straight forward methodical approach.
When I went to school I could take History, Geography, Maths, English, Physics, Typing, and something called Home Economics (which I think was something to do with being a good house-wife or house-husband) but regrettably I couldn't take Property Investment 101, or Sales 101. They don't teach you how to sell at school, yet it is one of the most important life skills.
Most of the sales courses that have been traditionally available in Australia and New Zealand have been based on retail selling courses developed in America during the period from 1950 to the 1990. Some of these sales training programs focused on controlling and modifying the customers behaviour, i.e. turning wants into needs rather than helping people and organisations meet their goals. In addition, incredibly many of these training courses made no distinction between the very different consumer retail, and business to business selling environments and consequently do not recognise the very different skills and processes that these differing environments require. The Consultative Sales Professional coaching is aimed at the professional sales person selling high value products and services to business clients. CSP training will not serve the very different requirements of sales people operating in consumer retail environments.
New Zealanders and Australians do not like be controlled or manipulated. Our business culture tends to value creative thinking and a collaborative team approach. As soon as a buyer senses a controlling technique being applied they understandably get irritated and resist. This is why there are lots of skills and processes but few 'techniques' in the Consultative Selling Programme. The Consultative Selling Process recognises that there needs to be a continual value exchange throughout the sales process. CSP training focuses more on smart things to do, rather than smart things to say.
CSP training gathers together the very best of what I have learnt from many sources, (and practised first hand) into a single cohesive sales processes. For more detailed information on CSP training visit the FAQ page.
The Consultative Sales Process can provide significant increases in sales revenues within a few weeks. This is the sales programme that I wish I could have had access to when I started out in sales.
Thank you for investing the time to appraise SalesFish CSP coaching.
Liam Venter
