Not since the financial crash of 2008 have SMEs faced such a daunting landscape to sell in. With many organisations furloughing staff and shutting up shop, waiting for the worst of the storm to pass, forecasts and plans for 2020 are hastily being re-evaluated. So what does this mean for sales staff and small business owners who are involved with selling their product/service?
Budgets will be adjusted; marketing teams will be demanding increased ROI before committing to any investment; buyers will be less accessible; many owners will be in survival mode. Your sales team will need to be sharper, more flexible and more effective than ever before. They will also need to be empathetic, re-evaluating proposals with prospects that will most likely have changed from 80 per cent chance of success, to 80 per cent chance of failure. The need for highly skilled sales staff is clear.
The need for high quality training has never been more evident.
Worryingly, The Objective Management Group assessed over one million sales professionals worldwide a couple of years ago and released an incredible study. It demonstrated that:
- 74 per cent of all salespeople are weak/ineffective sellers
- Only 7 per cent of sales managers are effective at coaching sales staff
- A third of sales managers are not trainable
It can of course be extremely difficult for SMEs to hire sales staff and managers due to a lack of time/resources/understanding of sales as a domain. When sales staff are hired, they often receive little to no training of core selling skills, merely an overview of the product/service they are expected to sell; this leads to missed forecasts, low morale and rapid turnover of staff.
That’s why Expert Webinars have gathered a specialist panel of sales trainers and keynote speakers to deliver a series of online masterclass talks, between 23–25 June. This three-day event will be free to attend for organisations who want to hit the ground running as soon as they are able to, with top tips and strategies to help your sales teams.
The programme includes talks on:
- High level negotiations
- Growing revenue through consultative key account growth
- The anatomy of a successful sales call
- Remote selling through Zoom
- Using storytelling and video to increase sales
- Managerial skills for sales managers and directors
- Strategic selling & formalisation of a structured sales process
- Using authenticity to boost sales confidence
- Plus talks on communication, confidence and emotional intelligence
As well as these talks on individual aspects of the sales process, we will also be hosting a round-table keynote session with industry leaders specifically to address the question “What does the future of selling in a post-pandemic world look like?”
The B2B Sales Masterclass will include content to help business owners who are not overly confident about selling, through to expert guidance for Sales Directors and top earners.
Our expert panel of speakers includes:
Malcolm Smith – Owner of Mind Training Games & Motivational Speaker at Vistage UK
Chris Dawson FISM – Director, 6th Door Ltd & Host of The Sales Dojo
Stefan Thomas – Founder, The Networking Retreat & Author of ‘Business Networking For Dummies’
Grainne Ridge – Business Coach, Sales Training Consultant & Facilitator
Suzy Couper – Sales Mentor & Trainer at Sales Skills Accelerator
Brian Maleham – Owner, BDM Solutions
Krystyna Petersen & James Perryman – Co-Founders, MyPeopleClub
Each talk will be a bitesize 30 minutes of practical guidance based on sound theory and evidence, with a live Q&A session with the speaker. Registrants will also receive a link to a virtual goody bag containing exclusive discounts and offers, as well as useful sales resources and tools.
To find out more about the event, including full details of the programme, head here.
Expert Webinars exists to bring you the highest quality business and personal development content from industry experts from across the globe. We work with global organisations such as Bayer and Nestle Purina, as well as SMEs focused on demonstrating their expertise and credibility to a highly engaged online audience.
As well as sales content, we have hosted webinars on tax tips and funding options available to small businesses, fostering a positive mental health work environment, unintentional biases in the hiring process, social media management, plus an interview with Bianca Miller-Cole, founder of The Be Group and previous The Apprentice finalist. Head to Expert Webinars to find out more.
