In-Home Demonstration Sales Skills and Training

Even experienced closers in the sales industry sharpen their basic sales skills with continuous role playing, practice, and ongoing training in their field of expertise.

Training for experienced sales people does not just involve advanced closing skills and negotiating skills. These are important, but many closers request a review of the basics.

Neil Rackham, pioneer in sales force effectiveness and creator of the SPIN Selling method, insists that experienced salespeople and top performers continuously return to the fundamental skills of selling.

While conducting sales training classes at Xerox Corporation, Rackham found that "there was an opportunity for participants to choose any skill they wanted to practice further... less tenured Xerox people.. usually chose to practice one of the 'advanced' skills taught.. such as price negotiation... most of the top performers instead chose 'basic' skills, like questioning." (SPIN Selling Fieldbook by Neil Rackham, McGraw Hill, 1996)

Basic Sales Skills

Basic sales skills are specific steps every sales person needs to complete in order to make a sale. Great sales departments for home improvement products have a clearly defined sales process. The process is a set of steps each sales person completes in a logical order that lead to closing the sale and obtaining a contract.

Staying sharp includes honing basic skills that can become weak with inattention, complacency and even ego. Experienced sales people often develop bad habits, and that is the main reason why many sales managers today look for people with no sales experience. The sales managers prefer to train their sales staff from scratch, teaching sales techniques that are unique to their industry.

Role Playing as a Sales Training Tool

Why practice role playing for sales situations when the closers get lots of practice already while out in the field? Practice is beneficial in the sales office because typically, fellow closers and sales managers will be tougher than actual situations out in the field. If a closer can keep composure and overcome the toughest objections in the office while role playing, then it is much easier in the field.

Practice Basic Elements of the In-Home Demonstration

The need for experienced sales people to practice the basics may seem unnecessary at first glance. However, many seasoned sales people can begin to skip basic steps with impatience to get to the close. The close is where the "real" skill comes in to play, that's where the excitement is in the appointment, so that's where many like to jump to. Common sense dictates that skipping any of the steps to the sale, skipping any of the building blocks that lead to a close will result in disaster- no sale.

Some sales staff managers conduct competitions and tournaments for the sales staff. Contests include "best book presentation," "best product demo" and "best overcoming objections."

Ongoing Sales Training

Staying abreast of current issues in the industry may seem obvious to some, but not all closers and salespeople devote time to reading and researching. Sales training can take the form of guest speakers and trainers, videos, books, classes and more. the ongoing training efforts do not need to be costly to be effective.

Attitude plays a large part in the effectiveness of any sales training. Make sure the salespeople agree to training so that they actively hone their skills- both basic and advanced closing skills. It is also important to be consistent in offering training opportunities, even for the most seasoned and experienced top performers.