STW Course

Sales Techniques Workshop Course

TVY JR | DISC Course

After I joined Sperry Univac in 1974 as the Director of Sales Education, I began hiring experienced sales people with computer knowledge and people with knowledge of certain industries (banking, government, distribution, and manufacturing). Prior to my arrival, the sales training classes consisted mostly of a series of product presentations by product development people. I wanted us to have a staff of full time instructors with experience that would support a complete training program for aspiring sales reps.

Our staff members were to do the teaching; not just introduce speakers. I wanted them to teach successful sales techniques along with product knowledge and industry knowledge. This would allow us to establish a complete curriculum for the Sperry Univac salesforce to really develop crackerjack (very effective) reps.

One of the first courses I personally developed for this curriculum was a three day course on sales techniques. The topics for this course were based on my eleven years of sales experience, my two years as a management trainer, and my experience of being a data processing department manager. The content of this course was enriched by much brainstorming with my brother Bill who was a very successful sales rep and sales manager.

The topics in this Sales Techniques Workshop were:

Prospect motivation assessment (see form below)
Probing techniques practice (what kind of questions to ask)
Benefits focus (not a product features focus)
Proof statements practice (examples of any benefit claimed by the rep)
Objections management practice (how to shift conversation to highlight positives)
Closing techniques practice (necessity to ask for some kind of action that made productive progress toward a jointly defined goal)

My selling skills had been helped by sales trainers at a pharmaceutical company (Mead Johnson) and sales trainers at a computer company (IBM). I was exposed to rigorous practice assignments in their programs, so this workshop was going to be filled with practice sales calls after each topic’s lesson.

First, I wanted to help a sales rep recognize what motivated the person he was contacting; get to know what primary interest the prospect had.

The rep needed to know what questions to ask and how to ask those questions; he/she had to listen carefully.

Next, I wanted to be sure the relevant benefits of our products were properly expressed to appeal to the basic or primary interest of the person. The prospect’s responses to well planned questions would reveal what would motivate the prospect to make good use of our computer related offerings.

Finally, I wanted to help the rep say something appropriate when offering proof for a benefit claim or addressing a potential objection of the prospect.

On the right is just part of one page from over fifty pages in the student binder used in this workshop.

It is a practice session page that was used after training the rep to be able to recognize a prospect’s basic or primary motivational interest area.

The five possible motivational options are in the left column.

The emphasis in this practice session was on using the most effective words to build rapport with the prospect.

This drill developed the skill of attentive listening and it improved the ability to make relevant comments that supported the prospect's primary motivation to take action.

This was not a drill to memorize certain lines like a parrot. It was a drill to develop good listening skills and develop the ability to respond with benefit expressions that would please the prospect and align best with the prospect’s primary interest.

It was to motivate the prospect to take action. This was revolutionary and very effective when done well.

Before this practice session the reps would complete a survey (in a little booklet) about their own interests to discover what their basic motivation was. They learned what it meant to be considered politically, economically, socially, theoretically, or aesthetically motivated. This special survey provided a ranking of what was most important to them. Some of the reps actually took the survey to their prospects to complete. This was more than I had intended, but it got good results.

As anecdotal proof of the validity of this approach, I was able to win a competitive bid for a computer system that I sold to a mortgage banking company outside of Washington DC. I won because I appealed to the aesthetic interest of the chief financial officer. His primary interest was surprisingly not in an improved workflow or in the cost effectiveness that would also be provided by the proposed computer system. He inquired about colors available on the computer’s panels and the blending of them with the draperies that were planned for the glass windows surrounding the computer room. We focused on the beauty of the installation; the congruity of the color scheme. Of course we discussed the efficiency and the economy of using the new system, but they were available from any sales rep. The décor focus was the winning element.

Most of my sales were based on the economic and political interests of a decision maker. Many of my sales were made also when I appealed to the social and theoretical interests of a decision maker.

The right column above shows what terms were better received by prospects according to their primary or basic interest.

The middle column above was a practice area for reps to employ positive action comments; avoiding negative verbs that criticized something. There was another page for that practice.

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