Sales Training for Engineers_uacct = "UA-1921199-1";urchinTracker(); Sales Training for Engineers Sales-training courses and manuals for professional sales engineers, sales managers of technology companies and business owners. The Selling for Engineers manual and seminar teach sales skills specific to engineering and technical products and professional services. You will learn; Effective ways to locate new clients Convert more enquiries into profitable orders The best ways to get through to the right person How to make appointments What to focus on in a 'sales interview' A good way to handle difficult prospects. The formula for writing a convincing proposal A structure for persuasive presentations Good answers to hard objections The best ways to close the sale To develop a Sales Process. The course covers the complete range of competences you need to successfully develop sales for technical products and services. Whether you are a one-man-band or a multi-national corporation, you will find this information helpful. The seminar and manuals are intended for: New RecruitsPeople converting from other jobs into salesExternal Sales RepresentativesSales EngineersTechnicians who visit customersBusiness OwnersExperienced sales people who need a refresherSales Managers If your job title includes such terms as Business Development, Applications Engineer, Account Manager, Product Manager, Account Executive, Product Sales Engineer, Technical Sales Manager (or any of the other variations usually employed to disguise the fact that you have a sales role), you'll find this an interesting, dare I say, fascinating course and/or manual. It's particularly useful if you are a small, specialised company and you have received little or no formal sales training. Links technology and sales 'Selling for Engineers' bridges the gap between technology and sales, making sales easy to grasp for people with a scientific mind. The course and books are meant for people whose primary role is scientific or technical but who want to win new clients and contracts. There are two further, related titles. 'Prospecting for Engineers' explains step-by-step how to find new clients. 'How to Hire a Good Technical Salesman' helps sales managers with the difficult job of selecting suitable people; ones who bring in good orders instead of disappointing you and wasting your time, money and opportunites. Do you face the task of turning technical people into sales people? (Perhaps that is a bit strong for what you want and what is realistically possible.J How about, 'You'd like them to have more commercial awareness' ?) Many sales managers and company owners have said to me, 'When our guys are at a client's site they have a good opportunity to find out if there is more work that we could do, but somehow they don't ask'. The problem, as many of you will be aware, is that techie-type people may not be comfortable with putting such questions as, 'What other projects have you got in the pipeline?' or telling the client, 'We could help you with another aspect of your business'. Sales Engineer Personality Traits The underlying issue is, of course, that the personality type which is appropriate for sales is poles away from that which you find as the standard for an engineer. (Try a psychometric test if you have any doubt about this.) There are some people who have a bit of both traits, I'm one of them. And in a group of 15 or so people that I normally get on my events, there will be perhaps 3 or 4 such hybrids. Typically, they quickly demonstrate that they have got the point and intend to use the approach I have taught them. Small Business Owners A lot of small business owners are in this category too. The guys who pay for the event themselves are always the keenest. But there's usually one or two individuals, sitting at the back of the room with folded arms, who have been 'sent on a course' and who demonstrate by their body language that, 'There's nothing you can teach me. I've been on the road for 20 years'. J So don't assume that you can convert all techie people; some will get the message straight away but there's usually a few who don't and perhaps never will. But I can't see how a bit of sales training can do any one harm. I particularly enjoy working with young people, either ones who have previously been technicians or graduates fresh from university. My hope is to be able to show them good sales methods before they are exposed to the bad habits old-timers can be prone to. 'One-Man-Bands' (sole traders) Another category I feel affinity with is one-man-bands. Been there and done a lot of that myself. When you are a professional engineer with a small practice, sales is important but hard to focus on when you are under pressure to get existing jobs completed. Here is a comment emailed to me one such consulting engineer who came to an event. 'You will be pleased to hear that using the Seviour method I had a selling success within 72 hours that can solely be put down to your methods!" Ken Wright, Wright Associates, Aberdeen, Scotland Others say, 'I was pleased to find out that what I have been doing for years is the right approach'. That translates to having more confidence and conviction in doing the sales part of the job. And confidence and enthusiasm engender the same in clients. A common remark at the end of the day is, 'I enjoyed that and it's directly relevant to my job'. The sales approach taught in Selling for Engineers What I have tried to do, and I believe have often succeeded at, is to get my seminar delegates to see that not only is winning orders necessary, but that it doesn't take a 'born salesman' to do it. I don't try to get course participants to parrot slick, 'salesy' phrases. That would be pointless, because the type of people I work with don't want to be slick. Personally I can't stand it if a salesperson opens up with a cheesey line such as, 'How many of these items are you ordering today?' What Buyers Want What serious buyers are looking for is someone who knows his stuff, listens actively, can give an intelligent answer to questions, and who genuinely tries to offer a suitable product or service. Not someone full of glib phrases, fresh off a training course. What I teach could be summarised in a few words as, 'Find out what the customer wants and help him/her get it'. (Don't worry, sales managers; I also make sure students know what a buying signal is and how to close when they get one). Nor is the course a 'Ra-Ra' motivational event. More than anything what results from the seminar or reading the books, is that it opens peoples' eyes to many simple ways to pick up 'sales intelligence' and then make sure that potential opportunities aren't wasted. But increased motivation definitely is a by-product. I get letters with phrases such as, 'I don't know what you did to them, I've never seen them so keen'. The original letters, blu-tacked to the office wall. 'Techie' sales faults An essential is to tackle the typical mistakes that techies are prone to. For example, the serious problem of talking too much about your own products and company and not finding out what the clients
