How to choose the RIGHT Business Mentor or Coach using our tips and checklist. Why mentoring and coaching has been SO successful and will help you to stay focused and on track with your goals! A borderless global economy and the advances in eCommerce give companies the ability to trade locally and also globally with far greater ease than ever before! The Internet and the use of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn empower consumers to interact with brands in far different ways. In today’s fast-moving environment, it’s hard enough for a small business to just keep up. In this demand-driven world, as much as we don’t like to admit it, businesses MUST lift their game if they want to compete AND survive. Training simply isn’t enough. Mentoring and Coaching services have been extremely successful and are considered to be the “new normal”. Mentors provide much more value because they understand the goals of the individual and help to build a total solution (as opposed to just some training). They provide advice, guidance, expertise and wisdom to help you make better and more informed choices. Mentors will also identify any skills or knowledge gaps and can introduce expert coaches to provide specialist training. Mentors also become a great sounding board. They are someone who you can bounce ideas and concepts off and can provide you with impartial advice, tips and suggestions. What type of mentoring will you need? Firstly, it’s important that you are aware of the differences between a mentor and a coach. Coaching is more focused on skills development and training e.g. where an individual may need extra help e.g. Public speaking. Mentoring provides the guidance (usually from experienced people) that in turn builds confidence, nurtures ideas, allows for advice and criticism, to help you reach a desired goal. There are different types of mentoring available, so it’s good to think about what type of help you need and what suits you e.g. Executive Leadership Business or Entrepreneur Mentoring Professional Development Think about your goals and also the challenges you’ve been facing. Work out the time period you need a mentor (6-12 Months etc) and the time dedication you will allocate to them. How to choose a Mentor? Here are our best tips for you to use when choosing your mentor. Mentors work best if choose someone you admire or respect. It’s even better when you can see a good track record and credibility – especially in the field of work you are in or planning to be in. Choose a mentor that you can relate to, and has a lot to offer you. A person who enjoys challenges and knows how to challenge you and help you focus your thinking. Choose someone who shows empathy and listens to your needs (and doesn’t judge). Never work with people who are patronising or look down at you in any way. Someone who has a passion to work with people to help them improve themselves and achieve goals. A person who makes commitments and follows through – e.g. a mentor who continuously cancels meetings might be a wrong choice and a waste of time. Find a person with a genuine interest in your career and advancement; someone who will be interested in you and helping you. Someone with whom you can be yourself and feel comfortable around sharing confidential information. A person who has a good network of influencers e.g. is able to pick up the phone and connect you with a possible learning opportunity or will make connections for people you should meet, events to attend. Has a good understanding of you and your organisation, or at least your industry and your future potential. Someone who provides help and guidance BUT not a controller who wants to take over and be your boss.  Probably not too much of a controller, certainly not making decisions for you, so avoid someone who continually offers their own solutions. Someone who listens and engages with you, asks useful and interesting questions and will help to develop your ideas. Has high standards and values – values mistakes for learning, has great interpersonal skills, good listener, open and honest and actually gives you feedback on your communication style. This person should value learning and can stretch higher achievers – and can help you experiment in a safe environment. Someone you trust is absolutely critical Avoid people you feel sexually attracted to (even a bromance), it ALWAYS ends in a mess. Learn more from our article – why people engage a business mentor or coach Looking for a Business Mentor? Speak to Robert Durrant about his mentoring programs that will help you to; Plan your goals Overcome your challenges Stay focused and on track. Learn how to maximise your potential by engaging a mentor for expert support, ensuring success in your business and professional journey. Related links: Robert Durrant Mentoring Professional Development & Mentoring Executive Coaching Services Robert Durrant High-Performance Mentor & Coach #Mentoring #BusinessMentoring #MelbourneMentor #GrowthMentor #ProfessionalDevelopment #BusinessGrowth #BusinessDevelopment #BusinessAdvisor #BusinessConsultant #MarketingCoach #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching

Looking for a winning growth strategy and tactic? Book An Appointment With Robert Durrant Business Mentor who helps businesses with strategy, marketing and sales development. Is your business struggling because you simply don’t have enough time to dedicate the business strategy, marketing and sales development?  Don’t worry, this isn’t unusual, BUT it is important that you do stop and make changes NOW. In such a dynamic world of business, it’s become almost impossible for owners to stay abreast of their business operations, finance, HR, marketing and sales. They spend so much time on day-to-day “non-critical” tasks the important “value-adding” tasks get forgotten about. It’s the old rule of owners doing $25 tasks, rather than focusing on the $1000 tasks which will ultimately grow the business. Engage a Business Mentor… Mentors provide you with that advice, knowledge and support to help you regain focus, set business goals, and stay on track. Great mentors will spend time listening to you in order to understand your goals, your challenges and limitations, and then develop a plan which includes a task list, routine, timeframe and one-on-one meetings. Mentors help you to; Stay focused and remain on track Achieve your goals and milestones Provide support, advice and guidance Build your confidence and motivation Skills and knowledge development Brainstorm ideas and concepts. Where do you start? Robert Durrant is a successful business owner, public speaker, mentor and coach. He has helped many companies to set and achieve their goals using my Steps-to-Success framework. If you feel that your business could benefit from some mentoring, give me a call and let’s talk about your specific needs and challenges. We can package up monthly Mentoring services. Thinking about a Mentor? Learn how to maximise your potential by engaging a mentor for expert support, ensuring success in your business and professional journey. Related links: Robert Durrant Mentoring Professional Development & Mentoring Executive Coaching Services Read our Case Studies Robert Durrant High-Performance Mentor & Coach #Mentoring #BusinessMentoring #MelbourneMentor #GrowthMentor #ProfessionalDevelopment #BusinessGrowth #BusinessDevelopment #BusinessAdvisor #BusinessConsultant #MarketingCoach #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #ProfessionalDevelopment #SalesCoach #SkillsDevelopment #CareerDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoach #ManagementCoach #MarketingCoach #Mentoring #MelbourneBusinessCoach

Robert Durrant’s Start Up Business Accelerator Program is a go-to-market, marketing and sales program with entrepreneur mentoring services. Got a GREAT business idea but you have no idea how to market it? When people hear the word ‘start-up’ used in business, they immediately think of a bunch of twenty-something-year-olds getting together in someone’s garage or café running a business. Let’s be honest, with pretty much any startup business, you also can associate, no funding, no customers, and an overly enthusiastic bunch of entrepreneurs. Are they wrong? Robert Durrant Business and Entrepreneur Mentoring is a program designed specifically to help young entrepreneurs to validate their business idea, commercialise it, and then bring it to market. We know that Start-ups often fail because they simply don’t recognise the importance of business planning and design – specifically around product / market fit.  Even with a perfect product, being able to scale the growth of the business is also a challenge. Start-ups are under extreme resource and financial constraints, and they battle many other small businesses all trying to promote their offer to the same target market. How does a start-up get the chance to explain to prospects that they have a NEW and superior solution to solve their problem? For the past 20-years, Robert Durrant has helped numerous start-up companies with their product development, marketing and sales. Robert Durrant Start-Up Business Acceleration Program: Business Model Validation and Review Company Brand Storyboard and Positioning Review Company Profile and Sales (Elevator) Pitch Design Brand Marketing Review (Logo, Social Media, Google, LinkedIn, Website, Partners etc.) Marketing Strategy and Tactical Plan Development SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Plan Development Target Market Profiling and Audience Segmentation Unique Selling Proposition and Value Positioning Sales Offer Review (Product and/or Service offer) Go-to-Market Campaign Summary Business Development and Lead Generation Plan (MQL and SQL Campaigns) Event Marketing and Lead Management Plan Channel Development Plan Channel and Affiliate Partnering Model Ongoing Business Mentoring and Tutoring. Robert Durrant Start-Up Business Accelerator Programs are great value at just $3,995 +gst. Program deliverables include onsite workshops, research, planning, as well as a documented business sales and marketing program. Every business is a good business, it’s what you say and how you say it is what counts! Related links: Robert Durrant Mentoring Professional Development & Mentoring Executive Coaching Services Robert Durrant High-Performance Mentor & Coach #Mentoring #BusinessMentoring #MelbourneMentor #GrowthMentor #ProfessionalDevelopment #BusinessGrowth #BusinessDevelopment #BusinessAdvisor #BusinessConsultant #MarketingCoach #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #StartUp #NewBusinessConsulting #Entrepreneurs #EntrepreneurCoaching

How a Business Mentor can help you to achieve your business goals and aspirations by keeping you focused and staying on track! Does running your business sometimes feel like you’re swimming against the tide or running up a steep hill? Like every business, you’ll find that there is a limited amount of hours in the day and these are often consumed within operational tasks rather than marketing, sales, and business development activities. HOWEVER, for any business to succeed today, you MUST dedicate hours for working ‘on the business’ and developing strategic marketing and sales programs. I can hear you already “I really want to be doing this BUT I simply don’t get the time”. You’re correct, out of all the companies we’ve provided business mentoring, the majority either do not get the time OR they don’t have the skills and knowledge in place to do the tasks (because they don’t get the time to learn) The most significant impediment a business faces is ‘time’.  To overcome this, it’s essential that you remove yourself from those non-value adding tasks and get back into the driver’s seat. The following six (6) points explain the most common barriers to growing a business. We’ve also added some great tips and tools to help you resolve them. Why most companies are spinning wheels! (1) Workplace Productivity (stop working on the non-value tasks) A recent survey showed that 1 in 3 business owners believe disorganisation makes them less productive, and also less strategic in the way they grow their business. 53 percent of businesses that were thriving/surviving said their workplaces were organised and took advantage of digital workplace productivity and communication tools. Of the struggling/failing businesses surveyed, ONLY 23 percent said they were organised and knew about such productivity tools. Answer: Work with a digital transformation agency such as rev™ Branding who can show you how to plan and invest in digital improvement solutions.  They’ve helped many companies to identify the inefficient areas of their business and deploy new productivity tools (e.g. software for workflow, collaboration, marketing and comms etc.) and processes that ultimately free you up to work on the more critical business activities.https://revbranding.com.au/digital-customer-experiences/ (2) Knowledge and Skills Gaps The way today’s business needs to brand, market and sell has changed dramatically. The use of social media and digital marketing (more recently digital experiences and journeys) has raced ahead in the last 12-months leaving business marketers scratching their head not knowing where to start. Most companies have a high-level of understanding of how they should be rolling out their brand marketing and sales campaigns, but they lack the intimate knowledge and skills required to do it themselves or to teach their staff. Answer: Work with a Brand Marketing Agency who are efficient and effective at these tasks.  GOOD digital brand agencies will have a solid experience in digital marketing and can provide you with checklists, templates or complete outsourced programs. They will work with you to identify your target audience and create an integrated and connected brand marketing plan, social media and digital marketing program, lead generation campaign, automated sales funnels and email marketing workflow. Visit the self-service digital marketing dashboard:https://revbranding.com.au/digital-marketing-acceleration/ and Check out our range brand and digital marketing programs:https://revbranding.com.au/digital-customer-experiences/ (3) Cash Flow Management Every business struggles with cash flow.Sure, you often start well with a great new concept and brand, but after competitors enter the market, your audience proliferates, and sales and profit margins start to reduce. From online invoice software to better budgeting systems and effective cash flow management, this challenge can be overcome. Good Product Management and Marketing will incorporate an effective procurement and pricing model.  These work together to ensure that your buy and sell price will maximise your margin (profit). Software designed to manage and automate accounts receivable and payable, plus some customer relationship management tools will greatly improve your cash flow. Answer: Ask us for some advice or assistance to help you implement; Procurement process Pricing models Sales and Distribution models Digital invoicing and payment systems. (4) Growing Brand Assets Your business and/or product brand is one of the most valuable entities in the business. DO NOT underestimate its value. In an online digital marketing world, your customers now have easy access to information about your offer. They also have fast access to reviews, examples, and use-cases that when pulled together can create a very powerful sales tool. If the reviews and brand experience is terrible, then it becomes the opposite. Brand and Content Marketing, when done correctly can boost your business online and in some circumstances promote your offer without any advertising investment. It is also one of the best SEO tools available. Brand Marketing will boost your credibility, integrity, and overall trust in the eyes of the customer. Answer: Take advantage of the free online tools and resources available to help you with Brand and Content Marketing. Brand Development and Marketing Guide:https://revbranding.com.au/product/brand-development-guide/Implementing a Content Marketing Program: https://revbranding.com.au/content-marketing/ (5) Stay passionate – use a business mentor or coach Sometimes you are so busy working in the business that you can’t see the wood for the trees right? You can have SO much going on that you forget which bit was most important or even worse, you do a half-hearted job on tasks that you know that you’ll regret later. Mentoring has now become the “new normal” with many more companies now seeing the benefit of having an ‘on-call expert’ to provide valuable business advice or feedback on your ideas. Business mentoring and coaching provides a trusted forum for you to collaborate on business ideas, strategies and tactics. Usually held as a monthly meet-up, your business mentor will help you to stay focused, you’re your business goals, and improve skills or knowledge gaps. Answer: Stay motivated and keep learning.  Ask us about our range of business mentoring and coaching programs. (6) Scaling your business – Growth versus Quality What happens when your business booms?  How do you cope with the sudden increase in demand for your offer PLUS continue the same level of customer experience and satisfaction? At a point in time, after you have a grip on all the above, your business will boom beyond your growth expectations.  Business owners who haven’t planned for this increase in customers and product/service availability are liable to fall by the wayside and die from bad online reviews. As the demands for your business increase, without the proper systems and processes in place, you’re more likely to come up short and fall into trouble. It’s crucial that you plan to scale up your business – without sacrificing the qualities and brand reputation you worked so hard to achieve. Answer: Our business development team can help your business to scale with the following; Planning Use of third party companies Offshore resourcing Digital transformation. Check out the rev™ Sales Development Tools: https://revbranding.com.au/boost-sales-using-training-coaching-mentoring/ Keep inspired and motivated Every business faces the same growing pains! (even your competitors). Regardless of your industry sector or type of business, how you take on and respond to these challenges will ultimately decide the future of your business. As a leading business mentor and coach, Robert Durrant has already helped numerous companies within the IT&T, Trade, Service, Retail, FMCG & CPG, Hospitality, Sports and Lifestyle segments to take on and resolve this issues and grow their business locally and globally. Speak with me on +61 3 9429 2293 or rob@robertdurrant.com.au about how we can help you to resolve any of these challenges or simply just some a bit of advice. Helping someone costs nothing… Learn how to maximise your potential by engaging a mentor for expert support, ensuring success in your business and professional journey. Robert Durrant High Performance Mentor & Coach #Mentoring #BusinessMentoring #MelbourneMentor #GrowthMentor #ProfessionalDevelopment #BusinessGrowth #BusinessDevelopment #BusinessAdvisor #BusinessConsultant #MarketingCoach #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #BusinessMarketing

Our GUARANTEED Sales Process and Framework to close more sales and build a healthy sales pipeline that will grow your business. You cannot train someone to be a great salesperson, however, you can teach people the art of selling. This article provides you with our proven and guaranteed sales process framework. When you think of a natural salesperson most times you imagine a smooth talker, someone quick to answer questions before they are even asked. Slick talkers aren’t the best sales people. The BEST salespeople are effective listeners or take the time to carefully understand the client’s needs and identify their problem or challenge. What does makes a great salesperson? It’s their drive to sell well and sell successfully.Salespeople of great value are those who are driven by an inner conviction where their whole identity is defined by selling, and their goal is simply to be the best at sales. How do you teach people to be a great salesperson? You can’t…it has to come from within. You can, however, teach them the art of selling by covering these four areas; • Sales Process • Sales Training & Product Training • Sales Toolkits • Sales Coaching and Mentoring. Research and Planning Your Brand Sales Strategy and Plan would be the most important piece of work you will undertake outside how you manage the financials of your business. Without spending the time to create this, I’ll guarantee that you will NOT have a clear focus, and you will waste a lot of time and money. Your brand (company or product) is, without a doubt, your company’s most valuable asset. It ensures that you continue to build trust and integrity of what you are selling, as well as building value to your customers. BEFORE you begin spending (wasting) money or time on marketing and sales programs, you MUST build your brand sales strategy and plan. It’s crucial to identify at the start: • Who your CUSTOMER or target market is • The PROBLEMS they face • The VALUE you provide by supplying a product or service. Need a Brand Strategy? Download a copy of the rev™ 10-Step Brand Sales Strategy Development Guide. Download Free Guide >>> Prospecting If you’re like most people, the word “prospecting” has a negative feeling about it. In most cases, people who don’t like to prospect is because they do not know the professional way to prospect. In today’s digital world, there are far more effective and accepted ways to prospect. Platforms like LinkedIn allow you to search and network with prospects in a very business-like manner. The key elements to prospecting are; 1. Build a plan that allows you to dedicate time each day to prospecting 2. Use the tools that are available (LinkedIn, Industry Databases, Referrals, etc.) 3. Build a process which includes call scripts and email templates 4. Keep the focus to prospecting, and NOT turn it into a sales call 5. Get great at cold calling6. Build relationships, connections and networks. Improve your prospecting results from LinkedIn!Purchase a copy of our rev™ LinkedIn Business Development Program from Learn More >>> Making Contact The key to making a successful connection while selling is to refine your skills during these initial contacts, so they become memorable to who your meeting, but also to help you remember as much about them as possible. This will allow you to impress them even more on your second meeting. Hopefully, this next meeting will be a selling situation rather than a meet and greet. The elevator pitch is an important tool in any salesperson’s kit. An elevator pitch is the concise, 60-second presentation of what you have to offer. When you need to assess a prospect’s interest level, but you need to do it quickly, the elevator pitch can be essential. Try this methodology; • Build Rapport, Quickly • Make sure the customer wants to be engaged by you • Identify the problem or challenge • Building a solution • Talk about the alternatives; highlight how your solution is different • Ensure that everyone is on the same page • Don’t get bogged down in detail • Be clear on the next steps • Closure. Qualification The single most important part of the sales process! Many salespeople spend most of their time talking to the wrong people. If you do that, it doesn’t matter how eloquently you present your service or product, the chances of making a sale will be extremely low. The following BANT qualifying framework will show you how to correctly qualify your prospect. BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) is used at a variety of companies and in a variety of markets. BANT seeks to uncover the following four pieces of information: Budget – Is the prospect capable of buying? Authority – Does your contact have adequate authority to sign off on a purchase? Need – Does the prospect have a business pain you can solve? Timeline – When is the prospect planning to buy? Build your BANT Sales Qualification Framework BANT provides you with a framework that allows you to develop your one-on-one meeting sales qualification checklist. You will need to tailor the questions around your industry, type of customer and problem/solution. BANT NOTES: How to build your BANT process with detailed information about each step is available within the whitepaper download (too much detail for a blog). Download Whitepaper >>> Initial Meeting After you have qualified the prospect and know that there is an opportunity, the next step is to see if there is a fit for your product or service. Leveraging the connection you made from when you first made contact, this stage is where you get to sit down in a one-on-one situation and find out the following; • Identify the stakeholders and their roles (project manager, sponsor, influencer, etc.) • Understand the purchase and implementation process • Determine the exact problem or challenge (or at least start the steps to find this out) • Understand the goals and objectives of their business • Determine any barriers • Understand which of your competitors are involved • Understand timeframes • Understand budgets • Build their trust with you, your company, products and services • Next steps. Needs Assessment This section is important to really understand what their problems are. In many sales opportunities, just speaking to one person doesn’t give a true reflection to the breadth of the issue across the company and its departments. By determining the “real scope” may change the entire project scope, opportunity and of course budget (perceived value). Needs assessment can look like; • Meetings and information sessions • Workshops (free or paid) • Paid onsite analysis and consulting. Presentation or Demonstration After you have qualified and you know the client has a need for your product or service, it’s now time to move on to the presentation or demonstration stage. You must present your product in such a way that it matches what’s in the client’s mind. Here are some tips to help you build and conduct your presentation. • Show your passion and connect with your audience • Focus on your audience’s needs • Keep it Simple: Focus on your core message • Smile and make eye contact • Start strong, be confident and positive • Comply with the 10-20-30 Rule for Slideshows • Tell stories with use-cases • Use your voice and pauses/silence effectively • Note your body language • Relax, breathe and thoroughly enjoy the moment. NOTE: A detailed breakdown of these points plus an explanation of each is available within the whitepaper download. Download Whitepaper >>> Proposed Solution Buyers are more informed than ever before. They have done more research and are armed with more information than ever (even before you arrived). Today’s buyer is no longer interested in hearing salespeople talk about their products and how great they are. Through a simple Google search, buyers are arming themselves with all the information on your product that they need. Not only is the modern buyer an expert on your product, but they are also fully aware of the benefits and features of your direct rival’s products. As a result, salespeople have had to evolve to satisfy the demands of the modern buyer. Salespeople must now adopt a more consultative approach and sell a solution rather than a product. In order to sell a solution, the salesperson must understand customer pain points and how they can be addressed. Use the following to provide yourself with a solution proposal health check. 1. Do your research 2. Be across your customer’s requirements or need 3. Re-Qualify 4. Educate the buyer with your new ideas and vision for improvement 5. Design the right solution, not just a product that fits 6. Demonstrate the value and ROI7. Follow-up and communicate. Proof of Concept Not a requirement for all sales, but for mission-critical enterprise solution sales, this can be a deciding factor to win you that sale. A Proof of Concept is usually a ‘funded by the customer’ exercise to prove in a very basic capacity that your proposed solution works. Keep it simple. Narrow the scope. Keep the deliverables and objectives clear. Proposal / Price Sales proposals: Love them or hate them, they’re an integral part of any successful deal. While some salespeople might view these documents as unnecessary, or even as a waste of time, they’re one of the most powerful instruments in a salesperson’s arsenal of deal-closing tools. • Understand the customer and their needs • Design the proposal structure or framework first • Build a snazzy executive summary • Mercilessly edit the whole thing • Use before and after scenarios • Offer choices. Prospects don’t like feeling they are backed into a corner • Price higher for room to move (price to value) • Don’t use price ranges – be concise • Remove the buzzwords and exaggerated claims • Personalise with words like “you” • Get a second set of eyes to check, proof it and provide feedback. Objection Handling Learn how to handle objections effectively. There has NEVER been a customer who just takes the proposal and agrees on it without some level of negotiation. The fact is that sales objections are good. Sales objections indicate interest. Successful sales have twice as many objections as unsuccessful sales. To handle sales objections effectively, you should hear them out completely, without interrupting. Remember, listening builds trust, even with objections. Compliment the objection by saying, “That’s a good question, let me see if I can answer it for you.” In the whitepaper download, we provide detailed information on each of the three objection techniques. 1. How Do You Mean? 2. Can you explain your reason? 3. The “Feel, Felt Found” Method. Negotiating any contract, whether buying or selling anything, there are some basic negotiating skills that you need to learn in order to get the best deal for yourself and to feel happy about the results. • Choose the right questions to ask • Have patience • Be prepared • Take control and gain self-confidence MOST IMPORTANTLY; Show empathy and ensure the prospect always hold face. Gain Commitment Your ability to ask for the order at the end of the sales process is essential to your success. Don’t be scared to ask for the order. If the customer is truly committed to solving their challenge with your solution, they will be eager to sign off and get started. There are three proven methods you can use when asking for the money. Ensure that before you ask for the sign-off, you have asked the client, “Do you have any questions or concerns that I haven’t covered so far?” If the customer says, “No,” you can then lean forward and confidently ask for the buying decision. Hinted as Preferred Being aware of nonverbal and verbal cues from prospects may help make it easier for sales teams and/or small-business owners to close sales. • They ask clarifying questions • When they talk about the price • When they give you verbal and nonverbal signs • Strong eye contact • They filter out distractions • They are responsive to your questions and contact • They use possessive words in their conversations. Contract Negotiation Salespeople are only facilitators within the contract negotiation process. They are not experts, and they are also not legal people. The key here is to understand that every company you deal with has their own internal contract review and acceptance process. It’s important that you understand this process before you begin (and don’t try to fight it). Having a good attitude is the most important asset you can bring to the table. If you act like you can make it work, you really might be able to. It also pays to hold on to your sense of humour, especially when the going gets tough. You have to keep your relationship positive. These are the people you’re going to be working with if the contract ends up being signed. Sometimes, people lose sight of that. Contract Execution You haven’t got the sale just yet! Understanding how contracts are executed within a company can be important and determine when you make the sale. Understand your own internal process and then match what is required by your client. In most cases, contracts are printed in multiple copies, signed, returned and stored by vendor and client.Ensure you have all documents finished e.g. licence agreements, services agreements, quality assurance documents, statement of work, proposals, etc. Win / Suspend / Cancel If you follow this methodology and do the homework on each opportunity, you are guaranteed to always make the sale. However, the odd times a sale can be suspended or cancelled for various reasons actioned by the client’s management team. An example of this may be a company acquisition or trading policy that suspends company trade. This is very rare, we believe that if you used this sales process correctly, you should have had visibility to this coming. Sell on Referrals After you’ve satisfied the needs of your client and closed the sale, you can now leverage this sale for the next – build case studies, reference sites and referrals. Gaining referral business from each and every client fast-tracks the sale process – they trust you already. Our tip for you is…do your research. More than likely if you sold this solution to one company, there would be more who have the same problem – package and roll it out! Our BEST tips to help you Identify the decision-maker: No matter what industry you are in, knowing the decision-maker is crucial to a quick close. Many times the decision-makers will send someone else into the fire to learn all of the information they can about your company. If this is the case, be sure to put yourself into the head of the decision-maker so that you can customise your sales pitch to that person’s interests, even if they aren’t there. Of course, your best-case scenario is that you sit down with the decision-maker. Do whatever you can to set up a meeting with that person. Be genuine: A client can sense if you are genuine during the sales process. In other words, it’s important to convey to the client that you care about their business and not just the deal. Coming off too calculated can turn people off; however, remember that there is nothing wrong with being prepared. It’s okay to appear like you’re ready for every question that comes your way, just simply don’t act like you don’t care about the customer’s best interests. Create a sense of urgency: Attach a deadline to the deal to help give the client an incentive to commit. Whether it’s a discount or something free, make them feel like they have the upper hand. This does not mean rush the customer; it simply means try to give them a little extra reason why your product or service is the right choice, and the right choice right now. Overcome objections: Preparing the sales presentation to address and overcome potential objections can speed up any deal. If something catches you off-guard, you might need to take some time to think up an answer. By having an outline of anticipated problems and thoughtful analysis of the risks, you can reduce the resistance. We highly recommend sitting down with your entire sales team and having each person come up with objections they might anticipate. Give them your sales pitch and see if there are any objections you may have missed. Know your competition: Competing for business is tough. Knowing the areas that you are more competitive than your competition can lead to that quick close. Again, this is all about preparation. Do your research and make sure that you make a note of something that you are doing that your competition is not. This is often the biggest selling point, so you don’t want to ignore it. Listening more than speaking: Watch what you say! Don’t put your foot in your mouth. Keep it to the point and focus on your areas of expertise. You want to be real and personable, but you have to remain professional. Manage your sales pipeline CORRECTLY! The 80/20 Rule says that 20% of your activities will account for 80% of your results.20% of your prospects will account for 80% of your customers.20% of your customers will account for 80% of your sales.20% of your products and services will account for 80% your sales volume, and so on. In its simplest terms, you must always be focusing your time and energy on the few things, the 20% of things that can make all the difference in your life. Your ability to do this will guarantee that you will be a big success. The inability to focus on the top 20% is the primary reason for failure, frustration and underachievement in the sales profession. Make a list every day, before you begin work. Organise your list on the basis of the 80/20 Rule. Start on your top 20% of tasks and stay with them until they are complete. Managing a Sales Funnel: There are three parts to professional selling. They have been the same throughout all the ages of man. They are to prospect, present and follow up. These three parts constitute the sales funnel. At the top of the sales funnel, you have prospects. Let us say that you have to prospect 20 people to get five presentations. In the middle of the sales funnel you have presented. Let us say that you have to make five presentations to get two follow-ups. At the bottom of the sales funnel, you have the follow-up and closing. Let us say that you have to follow-up with two prospects to get one sale. Spend 80% of your time prospecting and presenting and spend only 20% of your time following up. And don’t mix them up. You should have far more prospects in your funnel than you have time to see if you work all day long. Never allow yourself to run out of prospects. Keep your sales funnel full. Remember, you have to go through a lot of prospects to get very few sales. Make every minute count: Timing is absolutely critical when it comes to closing a sale. The longer you leave it before you follow up, the longer it takes to get a commitment from the prospect, the longer it takes to get feedback from the customer; these are all danger signs to losing the sale.When you see a few signs during your sales pitch that your prospects are ready to close a sale, that’s your cue to wrap things up. Need some training? Check out our Sales Coaching and Mentoring Programs Learn More >>> Use Training, Coaching, and Mentoring like Oxygen • Sales Training – how to sell! • Product Training – your products and services • Systems / Process Training – the tools you use as part of your internal sales process • Sales Coaching & Mentoring – This service, which is usually provided by subject matter experts, extends your product or functional training with advice, guidance, and most importantly, the strategy. It’s this total combination that builds self-confidence within sales staff and turns sales into business development. Sales Coaching and Mentoring – the New Normal!Learn how to design and implement a Sales Coaching and Mentoring Program for your team by reading our website blog article Learn More >>> Download the Whitepaper This subject is very detailed, and there is WAY too much information to have on the blog.We’ve made a comprehensive whitepaper that is available as a download. Download our Free Sales Process and Framework Whitepaper. We packed all this great information PLUS a heap of detailed notes on each section within a free downloadable whitepaper. This is one of the BEST tools that we’ve created for sales-focused companies.(The document gets Emailed RIGHT to your inbox…) Related Content How to Create a Successful Sales Team and Process Learning the Art of Sales Qualification How to Do Business on LinkedIn Robert Durrant High Performance Mentor & Coach #SalesCoach #BusinessDevelopmentCoach #LeadGenerationCoach #SalesDevelopment #SalesProcess #SalesTraining #SalesProcess #SalesQualification #SalesPipeline #SkillsDevelopment #CareerDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoach #ManagementCoach #MarketingCoach #Mentoring #MelbourneBusinessCoach #ProfessionalDevelopment

How to learn the Art of Sales Qualification to improve your sales results and build a healthy accurate sales pipeline. THE MOST important part of the sales process. Any great sales process will incorporate a consistently enforced sales qualification criteria. Learn how to ensure that no sales leads fall out of your sales funnel! Why is qualification so important? Good sales qualification will remove a whole lot of wasted time, effort, money and planning.Sales qualification is not only important to the seller; it’s just as important to the buyer. Value to the buyer: • It optimises the use of the buyer’s time and also their resources • It helps the buyer to define the problem they are trying to solve • It helps the buyer to identify a solution is best for ‘their’ organisation • It helps the buyer secure executive buy-in for funding the solution. Value to the seller: • It optimises the focus and use of your time • It ensures that all of your activities are focused on the sale • It exposes problems within the sales opportunity • It provides clarity for next steps and actions • It eliminates any element of surprise during the sale process • It allows your business to forecast sales and plan resources. Sales Qualification is a series of steps that naturally fall within certain tasks of your sales process or framework. Need a structured Sales Process & Framework? Refer to our article “Creating a Successful Sales Team from Scratch” where we provide a downloadable guide providing detailed steps to creating a powerful sales framework. Download our How-To-Guide Download Guide >>> This “Art of Sales Qualification” document covers the following five steps: • Step One – Understand your brand sales strategy • Step Two – Understand the marketing campaigns which will drive marketing qualified leads • Step Three – Develop your phone qualification checklist (initial qualification stage) • Step Four – Plan your meeting qualification process • Step Five – Training, coaching & mentoring to build a sustainable sales pipeline. DOWNLOAD THE WHITEPAPER: A detailed breakdown of these sales qualification steps plus an explanation of each is available within whitepaper download (too much information for the blog). Download Whitepaper >>> Marketing builds sales leads Your Brand Sales Strategy and Sales Plan would be the most important piece of work you will undertake outside how you manage the financials of your business. Without spending the time to create this, we guarantee that you will waste a LOT of time and money trying to generate very low-quality leads (noise). 1. How to build your Brand Strategy. Download a copy of the rev™ 10-Step Brand Sales Strategy Development Guide.   Download Free Guide >>> 2. How to build a Sales Strategy. Download a copy of the rev™ Killer Sales Strategy Template Download Template >>> Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) v Sales Qualified Leads (SQL) In today’s digital sales environment, we have a bunch of tools that allow us to more easily and efficiently generate leads. But how do you measure the quality of these leads? To be able to measure this, it’s important that you understand the difference between MQL and SQL. The MQL is a lead who likely isn’t ready to buy, but they will respond to being nurtured through a range of educational nurturing programs (your sales funnel). Further into the sales funnel, you will find an SQL, they are naturally more advanced down the educational nurturing process. These “leads” are more acceptable to some one-on-one time with your sales department. Once the SQLs come out of the digital sales funnel, your sales team need to be trained, be armed with the right sales tools, and also have a clear and defined sales engagement process and framework in order to qualify these correctly. Phone qualification (initial contact) The first contact with the prospect is the most important of all sales stages. It’s this contact that leaves the strongest impression on both parties, and can often be the deciding factor on whether you will do business or not (The attitude, skills, connection, and even feel of their offer). Your phone qualification should be taken very seriously as it acts as the gateway to the rest of the sales process. If you feel that the prospect qualifies as a SQL and should be engaged more, you do. If you don’t feel they match your sales qualifying conditions, then they go back into the communications bucket as an MQL for further nurturing. Create a Sales Qualification Questionnaire (or checklist) which can be used by your sales team to help identify the stage of this lead and the size of the opportunity. IMPORTANT: this questionnaire will vary depending on the solution, industry, prospect type, etc. DO NOT build one size to fit all situations – it WILL fail. Questionnaire example questions (A full list is available in the whitepaper download). Setting the scene • What brings your enquiry to use? • Tell me a bit about your company size and operations? • I need to ask a few questions to better understand your needs • We have a few different products, may I get some more information to help me ensure we are choosing the right solution for you? Discovery “What” Questions • What are the main issues you’re facing in order of importance? • What are your goals or requirements? • What is the reason you started to look for a solution? Discovery “Why” Questions • Why is this important to you or the business? • Why are you feeling these issues or problems? • Why did you come to our company for help? Discovery “When” Questions • When did you start seeing these issues? • When did the business say “we need to solve this”? • When was the time that forced you to solve this issue? • When did you start looking for something to help? Discovery “Who” Questions • Who is impacted by this in the business? • Who needs to be involved in the solution design process? • Who is involved in the purchase or decision process? Discovery “How” Questions • How will you see this benefiting the business? • How much do you think this would cost? • How will this change impact the current way you operate? Functionality Questions • What functions do you expect to see in the solutions? • How will these functions benefit the business? • What the must-haves v nice to haves? Purchase Questions • Who makes the decision on the purchase? • What are the timeframes for the decision, purchase and implementation? • What is the purchase process? PLEASE NOTE: We have only included three points for each of the above. For a detailed list of these points and an explanation of each, please download the whitepaper.  Download Whitepaper >>> You won’t answer every question from the one call. The above needs to be built to suit your business sales needs and what you feel are important qualification questions. It’s this final version that you use to gain as much information as possible – perhaps even over a few calls. Use open-ended questions within conversations. Open-ended questions require the customer to think before they respond. This means that you will receive quality information that will help you determine their specific needs and wants. These types of questions also actively engage the customer. They will begin to feel more comfortable with you because they are actually participating in the buying/selling process and feel that you are genuinely interested. Meeting qualification (one-on-one engagement) Qualifying is gathering insights necessary to make a good judgement on the prospect and the opportunity. Should you sell to this prospect? What is the best course of action to close a deal? Is this prospect a good fit for your offer? Is it a viable, ongoing sales relationship? Are they fishing for just price comparison? Only after you’ve qualified someone can you really know whether it’s worth to invest your time and effort into trying to sell to a prospect. The most common mistake in sales is where salespeople spend the majority of their time talking to the wrong people. If you are currently doing that, then you will know that it doesn’t matter how eloquently you present your service or product, the chances of making a sale will be extremely low. There are a number of Sales Frameworks that have been designed by sales professionals over the years. The following version called BANT is a qualifying framework that will show you how to correctly qualify your prospect. BANT is used at a variety of companies and in a variety of markets. BANT seeks to uncover the following four pieces of information: Budget – Is the prospect capable of buying? Authority – Does your contact have adequate authority to sign off on a purchase? Need – Does the prospect have a business pain you can solve? Timeline – When is the prospect planning to buy? Build your BANT Sales Qualification FrameworkBANT provides you with a framework that allows you to develop your one-on-one meeting sales qualification checklist. You will need to tailor the questions around your industry, type of customer and problem/solution. How NOT to qualify • Stop talking and listen to the client • Don’t get over-excited, breathe and relax • Do not rapid-fire questions to the client; it’s not an interrogation session • Don’t speak down about your competitors • Don’t make false or over-exaggerated claims about your offer • Engage professionally. No need to crude remarks and jokes • Sales are based on relationships – learn how to create rapport. Use Training, Coaching, and Mentoring like Oxygen Ensure that you have the best training available to your sales team bit now, and also continued over time. • Sales Training – how to sell! • Product Training – your products and services • Systems / Process Training – the tools you use as part of your internal sales process • Sales Coaching & Mentoring – This service, which is usually provided by subject matter experts, extends your product or functional training with advice, guidance, and most importantly, the strategy. It’s this total combination that builds self-confidence within sales staff and turns sales into business development. Sales Coaching and Mentoring – the New Normal!Learn how to design and implement a Sales Coaching and Mentoring Program for your team by reading our website blog article Learn More >>> Download the Art to Qualification Whitepaper Download the rev™ The Art of Sales Qualification. We packed all this great information PLUS a heap of detailed notes on each section within a free downloadable whitepaper (way too much info for this blog). *Make sure you grab a copy of this document. This is one of the BEST tools we have created for salespeople…(The document gets Emailed RIGHT to your inbox…) This is one of the BEST tools that we’ve created for sales-focused companies.(The document gets Emailed RIGHT to your inbox…) Related Content How to Develop a Sales Process and Framework How to Create a Successful Sales Team and Process How to Do Business on LinkedIn Robert Durrant High Performance Mentor & Coach #SalesCoach #BusinessDevelopmentCoach #LeadGenerationCoach #SalesDevelopment #SalesProcess #SalesTraining #SalesProcess #SalesQualification #SalesPipeline #SkillsDevelopment #CareerDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoach #ManagementCoach #MarketingCoach #Mentoring #MelbourneBusinessCoach #ProfessionalDevelopment

Learn how to build an effective sales team and implement a successful sales process. Building a sales team and process is one of the key tasks to achieve regardless if you’re a start-up or an existing business. It can be very easy to overlook some of the important elements of the ‘sales process’ EVEN when sales are the most important part of your business? To build a successful sales strategy, sales team, sales process, sales training, through to sales coaching and mentoring program takes an enormous amount of time. Experts should be engaged to for help and advice. No single organisation can complete all of the elements required for a successful, effective, and measurable open-to-close sales process. As a leader in business mentoring and sales coaching, Robert Durrant has created this article which covers the essential elements that MUST be addressed to build a successful and sustainable sales program for your business. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Firstly, you cannot possibly be an expert at this, and don’t start pushing the “we can do it all ourselves internally” attitude down onto your sales team at the start or you will never succeed. Work with experienced and reputable agencies who can help you with tools, templates, software vendors, training, and also mentoring services that will ensure that you build a sales process that suits your business type, products, industry, and of course your culture. Understanding your industry and market. Every industry and market segment has its unique ways of conducting business. The sales process for a software development firm WILL NOT work for a plumbing or trade business. It’s important to do your homework and research the industry before you start building your sales program. It’s important to understand your market (especially if you are new to it) before you move into the next section where you begin to build your strategy and plan. Create a sales strategy and plan. Strategy, Strategy, Strategy…This IS the secret of how a successful company trades in today’s competitive environment. A strategy is a growing and evolving element of your business. Before you start employing staff and contract agencies to build your sales toolkits, take the time and get the strategy and plan correctly from the beginning. Deciding your sales process. Building a repeatable, scalable sales process will make such a difference to the long-term viability of your business. There is plenty of great information on the Internet about this, but where should you start? Here are the 7-stages to any successful sales process. Qualification This is the stage where qualitative, quantitative, demographic, and psychographic research is analysed to gain insight into prospect behaviour and buying patterns. It’s where prospect identification, confirmation, and lead generation come in. Inbound marketing, social media, and content marketing efforts help generate qualified leads, greatly reduce cold calling and shorten the sales cycle considerably. Preparation This sales process stage encompasses a variety of diverse sales skills, such as meeting preparation, creating interest, anticipating and overcoming objections, presenting, consulting, and audience engagement techniques, closing gestures, follow-up … and more. Presentation Assuming you’ve got the first 2-steps completed, you now need book a meeting and presentation. The stage following the meeting and/or presentation will be determined by how well you have nailed down the prior steps and how well you perform your presentation. The key is to research, do your homework, practice and learn to improve. Proposal If you are lucky enough to get through to the proposal stage, you now need to put fingers to keyboard and build a ‘solution’ for the client which includes the investment. This is where you’re client requirements, and value benefits need to be clearly laid out and justified. Negotiation and Commitment Time to use your poker face and a bit of sucking up to the client to get the deal. If you’re lucky enough to be awarded the business (and a lot of times, hard work and preparation aside, sales comes down to timing and luck), it becomes your obligation to ensure that what you promised is delivered. Communication Account Management or Customer Relationship Management are usually dedicated roles within a company to keep internal and external contacts involved and communicated.Use your CRM system to store essential information about the client — that’s what it’s for. Continuation Account Management is an often-overlooked and underutilised stage of the process, despite containing hidden revenue-generating up and cross-sell opportunities. Mapping out your sales process. You’re ready to put pen to paper (or, mouse-to-drawing tool) to draw out your sales process. Here is how we recommend, you start this process. Start by observing Look back at the last 5 or 10 deals that closed. What were the major steps in the process? How many touchpoints were made with the customer? Roughly how long did the entire process take, and how much time elapsed between each step? Map your observations to a generic example While every sales process is different, chances are the steps you observed align at least somewhat with the common steps we outlined earlier. Your list of steps may be shorter or may include stages not listed above, but a generic example is often a good starting point. Define the prospect action that moves them to the next stage For each of the stages you define, you’ll want to have a crisp explanation of what causes a prospect to move from one stage to the next. Ideally, that reason or cause will be based upon the actions of the prospect, not the perception of the sales rep. Yes or no questions or questions with quantifiable answers are best. Iterate the process over time Devising your teams’ sales process is a job that never ends. Especially in the weeks and months after your initial research, you’ll want to continue to iterate on your work based on feedback from your team. Over the longer term, it’s likely your sales process will evolve as your team finds ways to work more efficiently and move prospects through your pipeline faster. Measuring Your Sales Process. As you define and evolve your sales process map over time, you’ll want to think about what the key metrics are that you should measure at each stage. Invest in software tools to support your sales team. Build the necessary sales toolkits to support what you are selling and also the sales process you have designed. If you download the whitepaper of this article, we have included details about each of the below • Brochures, Fact Sheets and Whitepapers • Websites • PowerPoint Templates and Demonstration videos and clips • Price Lists • Technical Data Sheets • Proposal boilerplates • Customer references. Here are a bunch of software tools that can help you to support your sales team.(Dropbox, LinkedIn, Text Expander, ToutApp, Pipedrive, and WebEx.) Have a good hiring process. Everyone is always perfect for the role, and everyone is always so keen – at the start!When it comes to hiring salespeople, be tough and don’t settle for less than what you expect. Our biggest tip is to have a good, clear job description and vision for that role for say 2-5 years maximum. It’s important that they have some knowledge of the product/service as well. However, you can teach people product and industry knowledge, but you cannot buy contacts and networks, nor teach them the art of customer service, negotiation, thinking on their feet during a sales demonstration. Keep your firing gun at the ready in your halter. Not a chance that every salesperson you hire will make it. Possibly not their fault either, not all business processes suit all individuals. Your sales process doesn’t guarantee that every hire you make will be successful. In the sales world, time is a deal killer. This applies to having a low performer on the team as well. If they are dragging along and just don’t seem like the right fit, you need to be quick to pull the trigger on letting them go. Have metrics to hold people accountable. Establishing a set of KPI’s from the beginning ensures that every member of the sales team understands their role and what they are accountable for. Just as important as the KPI’s are the reports and measurement factors.Ensure that you have regular meetings and well-designed reports (preferably from automated sales systems and not spreadsheets) that provide detailed summaries of their sales results and provide feedback, help and advice. Allow for the ramp-up period. It’s almost impossible for your sales team to meet their sales targets in the first few months. Introduce a ramp-up program that allows them to measure their progress – have them decide what these values should be (not you). I would limit this to 3-4 months, larger enterprise sales maybe can be pushed out to 6-months. Pay people right, and look after them. Commission only doesn’t work so well – it’s been proven many a time.We work on the ‘risk principle’ e.g. we invest in you with base salary and training, plus all the marketing for you to make sales. You need to invest within this same risk by taking a lower base salary and a higher commission. Over time as the business matures, this can be re-negotiated. Ensure that salespeople are focused on sales rather than paying their house mortgage.Oh! and PAY THEM THE COMMISSION THEY DESERVE – if you don’t pay, they won’t sell. Communicate like it’s your first relationship. We support the idea of working remotely, and flexible working hour principles.However, this does require a lot of communications, discipline and trust.There are tools such as email, live chat, Google Hangouts, etc. that allow you to interact wherever you are and within any time zone. Our advice is to set this scene early and avoid a mess. Try some of these techniques: • Daily e-mail wrap-ups • Morning sales huddles • Weekly 1-on-1’s • Weekly/monthly sales summaries Use Sales Training, Coaching, and Mentoring like Oxygen. Sales Training • Sales methodology • Psychology of sales • Objection handling • Pre-call planning • Meeting and Demo best practices • Target customer profile. Product Training • The origin story of the product • Functionality, including features and benefits • The target market • The product value for customers • The key business cases • Competitor landscape. Systems / Process Training • Sales process through the funnel • CRM data entry • Use of the technology stack • Executing a proof of concept • Onboarding a new customer • A central repository for sales enablement. Sales Skill Coaching & Sales Mentoring Programs Sales Coaching & Mentoring is usually provided by subject matter experts, extends your product or functional training with advice, guidance, and most importantly, the strategy. It’s this total combination that builds self-confidence within sales staff and turns sales into business development. Digital Marketing drives Sales Leads. Don’t forget that it’s an effective marketing program that will drive sales enquiries and leads. Without this, your sales team will be wasting a lot of time educating the market on who they are and what they do. WITHOUT a focused sales and marketing strategy, it doesn’t matter how much you spend on lead generation, over the long-term, you WILL NOT have a sustainable sales pipeline, and your sales team WILL waste a lot of time re-qualifying leads. Recommendations and Advice. While you can’t predict the future, we are confident that whatever vision or plan you start out with, will not be the same as you have after trading for 12-months (and that’s ok). Dynamic and successful organisations are all about adapting to this change, and meeting opportunity as it arises head-on. This characteristic also needs to reflect within the people you employ. Our best advice is to continually update your strategy and plan as your business grows and matures. However, do not lose sight of your business message, its position, and what you believe in. You also need to surround yourself with experienced people who can mentor you with advice that will build your confidence and help you to grow the business by making focused and informed decisions. Ask for our Comprehensive How-To Whitepaper Need some help to pull all of this together?We’ve packed the above, plus heaps more detailed ‘how-to’ information into a free guide available as a free download. Download our 'Creating a Successful Sales Team Guide'. This is your step-by-step document to building your company-specific sales team and sales development program. *MAKE SURE you grab a copy of this free guide. We honestly think it’s the MOST important sales development tool. (The document immediately gets e-mailed RIGHT to your inbox…) Related Content How to Develop a Sales Process and Framework Learning the Art of Sales Qualification How to Do Business on LinkedIn Robert Durrant High Performance Mentor & Coach #SalesCoach #BusinessDevelopmentCoach #LeadGenerationCoach #SalesDevelopment #SalesProcess #SalesTraining #SalesProcess #SalesQualification #SalesPipeline #SkillsDevelopment #CareerDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoach #ManagementCoach #MarketingCoach #Mentoring #MelbourneBusinessCoach #ProfessionalDevelopment

Learn why engaging a Business Mentor or a Leadership Coach is so important for your business. Did you ever feel like every decision you make is the wrong one? When you have the support of a mentor or coach, plans and decisions start to become MUCH easier. There ARE days, when business owners and entrepreneurs can feel like every decision they make, are the WRONG ones. It’s not unusual to feel lonely or to question yourself, but it does make things easier if you can rely on a supportive network or professionals for advice and guidance. It’s these times where it’s become SO IMPORTANT to make contact with your support network. By engaging with the people who you respect or provide inspiration will enable you to bounce around some ideas or concepts and restart some of those creative entrepreneurial juices. Having peaks and troughs in your feelings and emotions are not sustainable, and they can cause you to make erratic decisions. Business Owners and Entrepreneurs are BEST advantaged by engaging a Business Mentor or Coach. Ideally, your Business Mentor would be someone who has walked a similar path, to allow you to benefit from their experience and wisdom. Mentors are business experts who have a passion for sharing their experience and skills to help people just like you to realise their entrepreneurial dream. Have you ever felt like? You have a great idea, but struggle to commercialise it? The decisions you’ve made are not correct? The results you expected did not eventuate? The market around you is moving faster than your business? You’re falling behind in the adoption of marketing and sales tools? You are tired, it’s too hard, and you wish someone would help? Make the decision to engage a business mentor or coach! The GOOD NEWS is that in today’s business world we are fortunate to have successful business people who are happy to share their knowledge and wisdom in order to help others avoid the pitfalls and common mistakes associated with starting a new business. Business mentors help you to achieve the following: Help you to see the big picture again – new opportunities! Ensure that you have the right strategy and plan in place Keep you focused on the end goal Ensure that your marketing and sales plans are working Validate your thoughts and ideas Help with problem-solving Improve your networking Keep you motivated and excited! Need some advice? Learn more about Business Mentoring or simply give me a call on +61 3 9429 2293 to chat about what a mentor could do for you… Thinking about a Mentor? Learn how to maximise your potential by engaging a mentor for expert support, ensuring success in your business and professional journey. Related links: Robert Durrant Mentoring Professional Development & Mentoring Executive Coaching Services Robert Durrant High Performance Mentor & Coach #Mentoring #BusinessMentoring #MelbourneMentor #GrowthMentor #ProfessionalDevelopment #BusinessGrowth #BusinessDevelopment #BusinessAdvisor #BusinessConsultant #MarketingCoach #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching

WHY has Sales Coaching & Mentoring become SO important? Learn how to accelerate your sales performance with Sales Training, Coaching and Mentoring. Sales coaching and programs are becoming high-demand items for professional development in sales, business development, and key account management roles. Traditionally, a company would invest in pure sales training programs for new or existing staff who are outselling or promoting their product or service. This sales training is essential for your team to understand the sales offer in order to complete their day-to-day sales functions. During this locally run sales training, undoubtedly you will hear the line “This is how we sell our products, we’ve always done it this way.” Sales Coaching and Mentoring DOES NOT replace the need for sales training.This service, which is usually provided by subject matter experts, extends your functional training with advice, guidance, and most importantly, the strategy. It’s this total combination that builds self-confidence within sales staff and turns sales into business development. Today, sales coaching and mentoring is often used to identify a positive change in individuals (the ones you know have a gift for sales), and encourages their development. It is also used to encourage the transfer and sharing of knowledge across the organisation. Sales coaching and mentoring is also used when the management team recognises that there are individuals who with some proper and structured guidance, have the potential to by far exceed anything derived from basic sales training. Know the difference between Sales Coaching and Mentoring? Sales Mentoring provides the guidance (usually from experienced people) that in turn builds their confidence, nurtures ideas, allows for advice and criticism, and helps with their enthusiasm (strategy and planning). Sales Coaching is where you may identify an area of the sales methodology where the individual may need extra help e.g. Public speaking (Training and skill development). Different ways to execute a Sales Coaching and Mentoring program Individual Development: Acknowledging a specific employee who shows potential to develop themselves far more than a basic sales executive. Sales Team Executive Leadership: Where you nominate an employee to be the sales coach and mentor for your group. They, in turn, are mentored and then relay what they have learned back to your sales group (train-the-trainer style) Regardless of your approach, sales coaching and mentoring is now fast becoming industry best practice for any employees who are involved in sales, business development, and account management. What’s the value of Sales Coaching and Mentoring? Benefits to the Learner (recipient) • Increases self-confidence and self-esteem to make more informed decisions • Promotes professional career growth and job promotions • Enhances sales skills and knowledge • Identifies weaknesses in a positive way and works into potential successes • Creates a dynamic and open relationship with the mentor • Allows employees to become problem solvers • Reduces the feeling of low self-worth and frustration • Opens the possibility of career paths and role development • It extends the outcomes and the investment of your internal sales training programs. Benefits to Coach or Mentor (applicable to Sales Team Leadership model) Some people excel when they are given the scope to lead others. If you plan to use the internal Sales Team Leadership model, the coach or mentor can play an important role in the knowledge transfer and also the leadership aspects of your sales team. NOTE that it can also be very high-risk when you are transferring bad skills to other staff potentially polluting your sales programs. • Increased job satisfaction • Enhancement of their sales skills to include leadership and training • Group respect, someone internally showing others in real-time • Internal visibility to any underlying employee or department issues • Develops a competitive nature to ensure what they say is also what they do. Benefits to the Organisation • Higher employee retention and satisfaction • Improved team sales performance • Enhanced skills and knowledge levels of sales staff • Greater chances of attaining goals and meeting sales milestones (KPI targets) • Succession planning and the transfer/sharing of knowledge • Better value and utilisation of staff training • Enhancement of collaboration across the business • Strengthening of company culture, ethics, AND values. Do I NEED Sales Coaching and Mentoring? Easy answer. Everyone who shows potential in sales SHOULD have a Mentor! Quick Self-assessment Is there an employee that shows sales potential more than others in the team? Is it their charisma, style, energy, vision, passion, or just how they have adopted and use the learnings from internal sales training? Is there an employee who has the respect of others, seems to be the “go-to-person” for sales related questions? Does this employee develop great ideas BUT lacks the experience and sales experience to see the longer-term business goal? Is this employee a ‘knowledge sponge’ and continually asks for more training, and to be included in strategic planning type functions of the business? Lastly and MOST IMPORTANTLY, do you want to invest in the development of this person for their self-good, and also for the benefit of your organisation? By answering these questions truthfully and honestly, you will easily see that any organisation who have sales, business development, and account management teams have employees who would benefit from sales coaching and mentoring services. (Or you seriously need to re-think your sales recruitment process). Fundamentals of GREAT Sales Coaching and Mentoring Get the positioning of your program correct at the start.Make sure everyone within your sales team who is involved in this program understands how the mentoring program will work, why, and also what the value is. Laying the groundwork for a successful sales coaching and mentoring program not only communicates the right information to the team, it builds the initial support and results in faster adoption. Don’t forget the change management aspect. As a part of this initial program positioning, management and team leaders should reinforce the message that mentoring is worthwhile and the value it brings. Sharing positive mentoring experiences will reinforce your program and provides a powerful message. Set the expectations for the program’s outcomes.Setting expectations includes what employees will gain from the program, as well as what their responsibilities will be (over and above their daily work tasks). If employees are concerned about the “additional time”, then you may have selected the wrong employee for such a program, OR you may not have been successful at the change management phase. Work with a mentor to develop a plan.Mentoring programs can quickly become lip-service style initiates (junkets).The mentor you choose should lead the development of this plan and customise the sessions and content to suit your business/employee needs. Choose the right mentor.Not every mentor is right for every employee. It’s important that you meet and greet, get the feeling about how the mentor operates. It’s ok to assess their capabilities e.g. level of sales skills, product knowledge, industry knowledge, etc. Don’t forget program closure.Mentor programs don’t go on forever. You may also have numerous mentors throughout your career. The closure is an opportunity for all parties to celebrate their success as well as to reflect on what they’ve learned through the process.Sometimes the program can lead to the creation of new KPI targets, role development, promotion, the next wave of mentoring or simply coaching on a specific skill-set. Don’t forget that sometimes a mentor from an industry segment different to your own can bring a wealth of knowledge and tips. They can look at things a bit differently, and prevent you from doing the same sales programs as your competitors (think outside the box). AND Sales Mentors ARE NOT Sales Coaches, make sure this is clear! Mentors will often introduce you to coaches for specific skill development areas as the need arises (refer to our article the difference better sales coaching and mentoring). Need to Change? Want some help to boost your sales results? Robert Durrant Sales Coaching Programs provides sales executives and managers with a structured sales training, coaching and mentoring service.  Our programs have everything you will need to immediately improve your sales results and begin to smash sales targets. Elevate sales success for executives and managers. Refine skills, hone processes, ensuring success across every facet of sales expertise Related Content How to Develop a Sales Process and Framework How to Create a Successful Sales Team and Process Learning the Art of Sales Qualification How to Do Business on LinkedIn Robert Durrant High Performance Mentor & Coach #SalesCoach #BusinessDevelopmentCoach #LeadGenerationCoach #SalesDevelopment #SalesProcess #SalesTraining  #SalesProcess #SalesQualification #SalesPipeline #SkillsDevelopment #CareerDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoach #ManagementCoach #MarketingCoach #Mentoring #MelbourneBusinessCoach #ProfessionalDevelopment