Tag Archive sales coaching
Using Improv to Improve Your Sales Training
When AE’s hear “sales training” they think … boring! Been there. Done that. I have found great success in using improvisational comedy as a way to train and increase retention during the sales training session.
As we all know, selling is an act of improvisation. Many times selling is more like comedy than many of us might ever think. The problem is most sales people are not ready to react on the fly and thus they rely on old, bad or untested sales habits from days gone by. The end result is a client that “needs to think about it” or “doesn’t have any budget.”
When sales professionals begin to embrace the basics of improv, they begin to align their brains with a higher level of thinking. Improv is not just about making people laugh. Lets be honest, some people are just not funny. And, in some cases being funny is not appropriate. The idea behind improvisation comedy based sales training is to set up an account executive for success when in the field or on the phone. I want them to embrace an idea and create a winning solution to that idea quickly. This is about training the brain to react. Improvisation is also about listening and responding positively, thereby, moving the process forward. Additionally, these skills translate not only between an account executive and an external customer, but, also, between ‘internal customers’ (within/between your company’s departments).
So, how does this work at your company? You can either hire a pro to facilitate or do-it-yourself.
Thoughts on DIY:
- Create games and carefully think through how the game is won.
- Watch Youtube or TV replays of shows like Who’s Line Is It Anyway for creative inspiration. Be sure to adapt those ideas to the sales world you live in.
- Don’t focus on being funny. That is something that is natural not fake.
- Use props where appropriate to create stimuli.
- Focus on creating fast paced scenarios that are based on real world sales objections.
- Participation is key. Asking for volunteers will not produce results. A random draw or forcing all is the way to go.
Want to hire a pro comedy legend and veteran sales rep to facilitate? We offer a 9am-4pm day long workshop that is 50% improv sales training and 50% standard, “what you would expect”, core sales training. We have found that this approach increases retention and results!
At Sales Training World we believe in this approach so much that we have aligned ourselves with improv comedy expert and 25 year sales veteran Clay Sander.
Reach out to us for a no-obligation quote on this unique corporate sales training service for your sales organization.
Ryan@BrainSwellMedia.com
803-634-3886
Selling Santa? A Fun Sales Tale.
Is Santa Claus real? I say yes. But, I have been “sold” on Santa for many years. 44 years to be exact. But, I was not always so convinced. Perhaps, the greatest “sales job” of them all just might be the never-ending quest my Mother placed on “selling Santa” to my two brothers and I for over 40 years. The “Santa Sell” is still alive today in homes around the world.
My Mom believes in Santa Claus. Period. She will undoubtedly ask what Santa brought me this year on Christmas day. For as long as I can remember my Mom would purposely wrap gifts in different wrapping paper with bright labels that proclaimed they were To: Ryan, From: Santa. She was very quick to point out that the wrapping paper was so unique and pretty. Such great wrapping paper they have at the North Pole she would say. As a young boy, there were many unique occurrences that made me question my ever-growing doubt about the legitimacy of Santa. One Christmas eve we had returned home from my Grandpa Dohrn’s house when a most authentic Ho, Ho, Ho was heard from the family room one story below. I quickly looked down the stairs and saw no one. Almost as quickly my father appeared next to me on the second floor as it to quietly proclaim his innocence as the “Sales Assistant” to this “sales plan”. There is no way that he could have played the role of Santa and then appeared right next to me. He clearly saw the question forming in my mind. Like many of my sales clients I needed to “think about it” overnight.
Is the selling of Santa to our children perhaps the greatest sales job of all time? Lets compare the “Santa sell” to what we sell every day.
Step #1: Pre-sales marketing is critical to your success as a sales professional: Maybe you remember the days as a kid of circling toys in the Sears catalog? My Mom would often put the catalog in our little hands months in advance. Coincidence? I think not. (I was born in 1972. I’m not that old. Lol.)
Step #2: Persistence pays off when selling anything: There was of course the constant reminder of the Naughty and Nice List. I was the oldest of three boys. This reminder happened every day. Mom used persistence to keep the sales message alive. Coincidence? I think not.
Step #3: Sales marketing reinforcement is critical during all phases of the sales process: What about the visit to sit on Santa’s lap? Was it a coincidence that you were taken to the mall by your Mother to have your photo taken with Santa in a massive retail establishment? Wait, what about Santa reinforcing the sales message while you sat on his lap? Coincidence? I think not.
Step #4: The negotiation of the deal: As a young child I did not know our financial status, nor did I care, because I felt rich every Christmas morning. But, prior to that big reveal my Mom would begin the process of “gift negotiation”. She would remind me that Santa wants to bring me all I request, but his elves can only make so many toys each year. She was managing my expectations too. Well-done Mom. Coincidence? I think not.
Step #5: Closing the deal: The night before Christmas the tradition of cookies and milk for Santa was my Moms way of brining the deal to the table. The Santa Sell rested on her ability to convince three boys that some fat dude was coming down the chimney bringing us gifts from a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer. You know the story. Huge sell! Coincidence? I think not.
Step #6: Delivering on what you sold: A ton of preamble goes into Christmas morning for many families. My mother has ten boxes of “stuff” that needed to come up from the basement for the big morning. My father also worked hard on clues for a treasure hunt. We had to solve clues to find our last gift which was usually something that cost way more than we could afford, but they some how bought it. Pure joy is how I describe Christmas morning at the Dohrn house. Coincidence? I think not.
If you factor in all of the above, you will see that my Mother is the best sales person ever. If you ever question your ability to sell think about this… thousands of loving adults sell the idea of Santa to millions of children each year. If they can pull off that sales miracle year in and year out… your sales job should be a piece of cake, or Christmas pie.
No matter how you celebrate this holiday season I hope that you will find the humor and love in this blog post.
Merry Christmas to you all and thank you for allowing me to be a part of your sales training life in 2016.
About this blogger:
Ryan Dohrn is an award winning sales coach and offers sales training to thousands of sales executives each year. He is also an international motivational speaker and the author of the best selling sales book, Selling Backwards. Ryan is the President and founder of Brain Swell Media, a boutique sales training and sales coaching firm with a detailed focus on sales training and coaching for media and technology companies. He is also the owner and Publisher of SalesTrainingWorld.com an online portal for sales training success.
Contact information:
Ryan R. Dohrn
President/Founder, Brain Swell Media LLC
Publisher, SalesTrainingWorld.com
Ryan@BrainSwellMedia.com
http://www.BrainSwellMedia.com
Follow him on Twitter.com/ryandohrn for daily tips and advice.
