Videos on Sales Training with Roger Reece

Selling Styles & DISC Styles
Your selling strategy will vary based on your client's individual DISC style. Of course, you're not likely to be able to determine a new customer's DISC style in the first minute of interaction. But there are a few preliminary signs you can pick up on and respond to right away. The first signal to follow is the pace of the customer. A customer who starts the conversation seeming already to be in a hurry will probably turn out to be a 'D'. A client whose frantic demeanor over a problem that seems to be exaggerated is likely to turn out to be a strong 'I' personality.

Your first order of business as a salesperson is to quickly establish a new customer's pace, and to firmly match your pace to theirs; this is something you should accomplish well within the first minute. Once you've done that, your strategy will be to move slightly ahead of their pace as the interaction continues, in order to lead the conversation - hopefully, to your goal of a successful sale and a happy customer.

Transactional Selling vs. Relationship Selling
Transactional Selling is oriented towards the goal of a one-time exchange for goods or services. Relationship Selling, on the other hand, is focused on fostering a feeling of partnership - a mutually-beneficial relationship between you and the customer, from which you both stand to gain tremendously. Every business has employees on the payroll; so in other words, in order to get value from an employee they usually have to pay them. But as a sales consultant, you're not asking to be paid in order to help them strategise about their business; all you're asking for is some time.

One of the best things a consultative salesperson can do is to ask a business owner or executive a question that causes them to reflect on an aspect of their business that they may never have thought about before. If you can call to the attention of your customer something that makes them say to themselves, "I should have been thinking about this years ago!" you've just gained instant credibility as an associate. As opposed to transactional selling - which is all about the deal, the sale, the push - relationship selling builds a level of trust and rapport that lets the customer, in effect, sell to themselves.

Consultative Selling
It's really important, in sales, that you don't perceive it as rejection when somebody doesn't like what you had to say. Remember: it's about them, it's not about you. Think of a 'no' as a request for more information. A fear of failure or rejection will lead you to begin fearing that fear itself - all of which compounds into a real, physiological reaction in you that may cause you to think an opportunity is over when it's not. When the economic climate gets hard, some small-business owners get scared, and may have an impulse to not want to spend any money whatsoever. But as a consultant, when you see that an investment is good for a business's bottom-line, you have a responsibility to get past that small-business-owner's fears to help them understand the value of what you're offering to them even in a difficult economy. That first knee-jerk refusal is a perfect example of a 'no' that you could take as a rejection... or you could see it as a case of the customer needing to know more in order to make an informed decision.

Selling to Every Buyer Style
Each of the four styles of the DISC Behavioral Model has its own set of limitations when it comes to sales. Some styles are good talkers, but aren't naturally good listeners. Some may have trouble closing when a customer has particularly difficult objections to counter. And some may get so wrapped up in the technical details of their product that they miss the important personal cues altogether. The important thing is to understand what is needed in a given sales situation and be able to do what you need to do to adapt to that person's comfort level. Expect your brain to immediately rationalize not adapting the way you behave (because the brain always resists changing habits). But being an effective communicator - in sales as well as in life - means learning to interact with people on their own terms. You don't blame the customer for not buying - blame your failure to communicate effectively with them. Learn how to talk to them in a way that gets the response you want.

Relationship Selling
Relationship is very important to making a sale. Product knowledge matters, but technical information will only take you so far: no matter how well-designed or useful it is, no product can ever truly 'sell itself.' And remember, what makes you enthusiastic about your product is not necessarily what will motivate them. If you have built a relationship with your customer - if you can connect with them on a personal and professional level - you will earn their trust and credibility. They will be more likely to open up with you about how their business operates and the kind of help they need. And the more you know your customer, the better you can key in to what motivates them and present your service to them in a way they will respond to.

Selling and Pacing
One of the key measurements that defines the DISC Behavioral-Style Model is the spectrum of extroversion to introversion. This characteristic, in DISC, also relates to pace: that is, how quickly a person tends to speak, think or react, and how much time it takes them to make decisions. Differences in pace are frequently to blame for the miscommunications and disconnect we feel when we interact with another person. In sales, understanding these differences is vital to your success. It is particularly important to be aware of how one type tends to react to another. To some extroverts, the reserved, measured tone of an naturally-introverted salesperson can be taken as negative or depressing, and the exchange becomes something to escape as soon as possible. By the same token, the exuberance and outgoing manner of a natural extrovert can come across, to some introverts, like a 'used-car salesman' - they may interpret it as glibness or insincerity and grow suspicious. To a large degree, your sales success depends on your ability to recognize and adjust to the pace of your customer.

Sales: Connecting with Enthusiasm
In sales, you need to be genuinely interested in the other person. To some people, this is easy. Others may find it difficult to take a personal interest in conversing with someone who doesn't share their same interests. They may feel like it's just not in their personality. But 'being interested' is not something that's set in your DNA - like so many other things we do, it's a habit. It is a skill that can be developed by anyone. The reason that it seems to come naturally to some people to pick up on a customer's wavelength and adjust to it, is simply that they've had so many years to practice it. They most likely developed that habit at a very early age. And meanwhile, those who have trouble connecting with people have been practicing just the same: practicing telling themselves they're not good at it, they don't like it, or they just don't care. But anyone can learn to connect with people; all it takes is practice. So just do it. Do 'interested.'

Listening, Selling and Closing
Reflective listening is a technique that works really well in sales. It is a form of active listening: a technique that involves paying close attention to a customer's words as well as their body language, context and other forms of non-verbal communication, and respond with statements that paraphrase or clarify what they have said. In reflective listening, you are restating their words back to them in a way that hopefully leads them in a direction you would like them to go. For example, if a customer says, "We have a lot of expenses and I don't know if we can afford to make any purchases right now," you might come back with a response like, "So what you're saying is that any investment you make right now has to be a really good one for your company." Technically, it isn't actually what they said - but it does bring into focus an element of what is implied by what they have said; and it does so in a way that helps you draw them into a more positive, receptive or focused attitude.