There are two types of brochures a salesperson can use to increase their persuasiveness.

The first type is called a SALES AID. A sales aid is used during a call to assist the salesperson in explaining and promoting their message. Effective sales aides have a lot of photos, but few words, allowing the rep to provide their message during a call.

The second type is a LEAVE-BEHIND brochure. Leave-behind brochures are meant to be standalone documents with lots of writing to deliver your complete story without any human input.

The challenge is that most marketing departments don't see the difference between these two brochure types. Most sales literature produced today are leave-behind brochures. Look at the persuasive challenge keeping a buyer’s full attention if the rep is using a leave-behind brochure with lots of writing to distract the buyer while your rep is presenting.

Does your team have both types of brochures currently available? Sales aids to use when in front of a buyer and leave-behind documents to add to your messaging as they leave their call?

Today’s video talks about the two types of sales literature needed and how, with the proper sales tools, your team can sell even more!

Trade show selling is an important way for companies to reach both prospects and existing customers. But too many make the assumption, because they have experienced salespeople, that their reps are also experienced in working trade shows.

Are you, like most, spending more time talking to your reps about when you want them to work your booth than you are telling them what you want them saying when they're in the booth?

Most sales reps come to trade shows uncoached and unprepared, so they have to make up their own selling messaging as the show progresses. What can you do to make sure that your reps understand the goals for being in a trade show of generating more business leads, making new contacts and reinforcing relationships with existing customers?

Today’s video talks about this challenge in reps unprepared for your next trade show booth and how you can help define and practice your messaging so your team can have a successful trade show and sell even more!

The job of sales manager has always been important to a sales team.

But look, fast things have changed and evolved over the last 50 years in selling. Your competition has increased, gotten more competitive, and a lot tougher. Today, we're in a hypercompetitive reality that has meant the job of a sales leader has become even more critical to help salespeople deal with all these aggressive challenges we're facing today.

The problem, though, is most sales managers are still using the old stuff that worked ten or twenty years ago. Most followed a more traditional style of management, which was a very reactive position.

Sales managers would tell their sales team, “My door is always open. Call me when you need me!” But all that meant was they were a reactive problem-solver.

These older-style sales managers actively supported their salespeople, but they weren't really leading them.

The average manager today still only deals with the same four issues, dealing with special pricing, expediting, problem solving, and customer thank you calls. A very reactive support position for the team.

But in today's hypercompetitive world, we need more. Success in leadership today is based on sales managers becoming more selling-process coaches and leaders.

The difference…the old traditional style of management, this reactive style, focused on results only. The only questions these managers traditionally asked were “What?” and “Who?” questions. “What are you going to close this month? Who's it going to be?”

What we need to do today to become stronger coaches and leaders of our team is to shift more of our coaching and leadership to look at the process of “How” they sell and “Why” buyers buy. “How are you going to go after that account? Why aren't you also calling on the owner?”

Today, effective sales leadership has become the most critical variable in the success of a sales team. By helping them improve their messaging, improving their structures, and in getting more help to guide them through this process.

What are you doing as a sales manager about changing the way you coach and lead your team? Because we know you're good. Now the only question is, are you ready to help you and your team to get even better?

If we look at the actual time spent in front of customers, there's a good chance your delivery drivers and service people are spending more time with your customers than your sales reps are.

Do you find it surprising that most organizations don't include their drivers in any kind of training or sales meetings, even though they're the ones spending the most time in front of customers? Your delivery and service team members can be a secret weapon to your team’s selling efforts and customer research.

When drivers are making a delivery, most people working there tend to ignore them because they're in uniforms as support people. And because of this “buyer invisibility,” your drivers and support team members get to see things your sales reps might not be shown or allowed to see.

Your drivers and support people can help improve your awareness of competitive products being used, to hear about challenges buyers are facing and to notice any kinds of waste or excess surplus lying around because of ineffective ordering.

The reality is your drivers can be a strong set of eyes and ears to your customers, especially when they know what you're doing. What can you do to involve your drivers more in your meetings?

Today’s video talks about the important insights and information you can gain when you include your drivers and technical support team members in your sales planning discussions. When you sell as an entire team that includes your drivers, you’ll tend to sell even more!

1st way to increase your competitive advantage is to have a stronger response to how your entire team is answering a buyer asking; “Why, based on all the competitive options available to me, do I want to buy from you?”

Are your answers clarifying your uniqueness and the services compared to your competitors’ of how you’ll bring value and benefit to that customer?

2nd way to increase your competitive advantage is to improve the quality and effectiveness of your sales calls by following (and coaching to) the selling best practices.

Selling is tougher today. We have less time in front of customers, and customers are harder to reach. We need to maximize that time whenever we do get in front of a customer by becoming more of a “Selling Structuralist,” following the structures and processes of selling so you can still be persuasive, even in a shorter period of time.

3rd way to increase your team’s competitive advantage is by being more proactive as their leader, initiating more future-focused selling process coaching and guidance to help them achieve more than they would have achieved if you just left them alone.

Today’s video discusses these three best ways to help your team increase their competitive advantage. When you can achieve all three, your team tends to sell even more.

The reality of any outside salesperson is they live in their car. It's their mobile office, rest area, and where they usually eat lunch. And because of that, a lot of reps' cars get rather messy.

What happens if your rep has a customer that needs a brochure and walks out to their car, or they have an opportunity to take them to lunch? Look how embarrassing it could be if they came out and the front seat was full of old food bags and other garbage that had to be cleaned up just for the buyer to get in.

Having ridden with a lot of reps in my research, I’ve also realized that a car that’s messy and cluttered doesn't tend to be a very efficient workspace.

Is this a good time to review with your team that they’re representing not just the ideas and products they bring, but the professionalism of how they look and dress, including their car? Think a cleaner, and more organized car could also help increase both their efficiency and effectiveness by presenting a more professional and cleaner image and a better place to work?

Today’s video talks about how your rep’s clothing and car are an extension of your brand. Think they could sell even more if they looked more professional, cleaner and better organized in front of their buyers?

We were helping a friend move into her new apartment. As we were helping her get set up, I commented, “You really ought to have a carbon monoxide detector.”

She asked, “Why?” I didn’t really know, so I went out to buy one while they continued unpacking. When I returned with the carbon monoxide detector, she asked again, “Why do I need it?”

I suggested we look at the box. The box had all of the technical information about how this carbon monoxide detector measured things. The box listed all the rates of when the alarm would go off, telling us how to use it and what it could do, but never explained why we needed it.

How much of your packaging and literature explains why someone would need your products or services and what benefits they can expect? Is this a good time to talk with your reps about focusing their efforts to talk more about why your products or services can help and the benefits they can expect?

Today’s video talks about this lack of “Why I want to buy your product?” descriptions in most product literature and packaging. After all…the more your reps talk about why a buyer wants your stuff…the more likely your team can sell even more!

How are your reps responding to a buyer asking “Why, based on all the competitive options available to me, do I want to buy from you?”

A great test to learn what’s being delivered by your team is to individually ask each rep how they’d answer a prospect asking “Why buy from you?”

Be prepared to hear a different answer/message from each rep. This is not a weakness in your reps, but in your management. When was the last time you discussed with your team what the best answers are to this question?

Most companies assume experienced reps have great messaging answers and don’t need any help. So, receiving no management help, what a surprise each rep then made up their own response. And each response is likely different.

How do you strengthen your brand? By strengthening the consistency of your message. Could this be a good time for you, as their coach and leader, to meet with your team to identify the key attributes and uniqueness they need to be communicating?

Today’s video discusses this problem of each rep having a different “Why buy from you?” response…and what you, as the team leader, can do about it. When you strengthen your team’s messaging of uniqueness, you tend to sell even more!