The most important initiative for a sales organisation today is to develop their sales people so that they can create enough value inside the sales conversation that they create and win new opportunities. If you are an individual salesperson, growth here should dominate your personal and professional development as a consultative salesperson. This vignette from Anthony Innarino’s blog make me stop and think. In particular the, ‘create enough value inside a sales conversation’, bit. If you are in sales, this is a vast topic.

Own the Conversation

With the goal of being more articulate so you create value in your sales conversation, over the next seven days:

• Audio-record or video record yourself speaking for the first 21 seconds of a mock One-on-One prospect interaction.
• As you play back and listen to/watch the clip, consider these questions – with the view that people size you up quickly and change their mind, slowly:

>What rating would you give yourself on a 1-10 rating scale (1 low, 10 high) against the benchmark of a warm, calm, inspiring, knowledgeable, authoritative professional? >What were your facial expression, body language and gesture, speaking cadence and vocal tone signalling? >Did your words make the prospect consider something they hadn’t considered before? >Did you sound like your competitors? After answering these questions, consider one area to refine and practice, first in a safe interaction. Small changes in speaking can have a large effect on creating new opportunities. ++++ p.s.  In a recent Australian Financial Review article, Lisa Claes, CEO of Core Logic made this comment that’s worth reflecting on: ‘It sounds elementary, but you’ve got to do a great job in what you’re doing, before you’ll be considered for something else’.