Sales Training:

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Sales Training Tips:

Sales Skills Training: Types of Sales People

The more experienced manger and sales training experts agree that you must understanding people before you can manage them. A particular sort of person who can be difficult to manage is the sales person. Often more outgoing, active, sometimes even stubborn, they can be particularly challenging.

In order to make your management of the sales department easier, renowned sales trainers have tried to develop a typology of personality traits that are common among salespeople. As with all cases of typology, you have to be careful of course: not every sales person will match 100% one of the three types.

Type 1: the egotistical narcissist

This type is a natural fighter. They want to be the best and can motivate themselves. The egotistical narcissistic salesperson is convinced that the client does not want to buy. They therefore have to win over the "enemy" customer by dominating them.

The egotistical narcissist type of sales person blurts things out. Instead of finding out information about the client, asking questions and listening, they go straight into sales mode. They are overbearing in the conversation and the customer barely gets a word in. The client's problems are relegated to the backburner.

The egotistical narcissistic sales person shines when making presentations, which are always a perfectly planned and delivered show. Over-exaggeration is often a part of this and this type of salesperson is not unknown to drop a clanger.

When dealing with objections and concluding business this type of salesperson does not analyze client objections with precision, but reacts aggressively. Instead of taking the customers concerns and reservations seriously and debating these, the egotistical sales person simply repeats their key arguments. For them the end of the sales negotiation signals the end of the hunt and all that matters is win or lose. The client is under massive pressure to buy.

Once the order has been secured, the sales person is no longer interested in the customer. Instead of caring for a new client, they prefer to search for their next conquest. There is no after sales service provided by this type.

They can be very successful. Some customers will buy just to get rid of them. In a market which contains a large number of potential clients, this type of salesperson can be successful for a long period of time. However, if there are only a few potential customers, such as in the capital goods industry, they struggle.

Type 2: the friendly type

They are convinced that sympathy is the sole key to sales success. They are therefore always friendly and endearing; and would not think of exerting any pressure on their customers. When this sales person has been in the job for a few years they will only visit those customers who enjoy seeing them.

With a new customer the primary aim of the friendly sales person is to build a strong personal relationship. The business side of things is pushed into second place. They are pleasant, genial - and at the end of the day tedious! They do not manage to carry out an exact analysis of client requirements, because it is almost embarrassing for them to get round to doing their actual job - selling.

Presentations delivered by this type of sales person are usually long-winded. They incorporate too many personal elements which tend to confuse rather than inform clients.

An excellent listener, the friendly sales person gives the customer much opportunity to object. They find it hard to decide what is a real objection and what is an excuse and cannot deal well with excuses. Instead of showing persistence, they leave with the words: "We can't do anything at the moment. I'll see you again in a few months time." When attempting to close business, this type of sales person has obvious weaknesses: They are embarrassed to ask the customer for an order and hope that the customer will like them enough to buy.

It is in the after-sales phase where this type of salesperson's real strength lies. They really take client satisfaction to heart, so once they have a new client they will really look after that new client very well.

Sales training can help this type of salesperson develop the skills and confidence to deal with objections and excuses and teach them closing techniques. However, this type of sales person is better suited to looking after regular customers. They are a welcome guest and achieve a respectable turnover. It would be a mistake to use this type of salesperson in client acquisition.

Type 3: business-like and authoritarian

This quite seldom found type of salesperson views sales as an intellectual challenge. They reject emotions or pressure, all that matters are the facts and factual arguments. They are certain that the customer buys the product that provides the best answer or solution. The emotional side of the decision to buy simply does not exist for this type of salesperson.

This type of sales person is 100% prepared when they first meet a customer. They take time for the customer and thoroughly analyze the customers’ needs. They remain cool, business-like and impersonal throughout. They would never dream of chatting to the buyer.

Presentations are where they really get started giving the client a long-winded lecture full of specialist language. They sound very much like a university professor because they have mastered their subject. There is no psychological refinement in their presentation.

Where the nature of the customer objection is genuine, this type of sales person copes best - i.e. business-like. They handle these by coming up with every argument and piece of information which defuses the objection. They find stalling tactics and customer excuses difficult. These objections come from the customer’s heart not their head, and this type of sales person cannot understand this.

They can lose many orders that were almost closed. And since to them all sales decisions are strictly logical, they do not like to ask for the order. The customer has to make up his or her mind what is best! A refusal is final, which is why they seldom follow up business.

In the after-sales phase this type of salesperson remains as correct as they do impersonal. All customers placing an order with this type of sales person know the order will be carried out on time and to the letter - nothing more and nothing less. This type of salesperson is not interested in establishing any form of personal relationship with their clients.

Source:Richard Stone link

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