Executive Selling Skills

Audit your entire territory sales operations. Study what “really works” in machinery and product support sales today. Improve your “deal visibility” and “deal closure rate” skills. Learn to handle price objections, improve margins and get commitments. Special “team selling” problem cases. Master “problem diagnostics” in a presentation and case study. See how to avoid the most common sales mistakes. Create an Action Plan to run the territory like a business.

• TOOLS and KNOWLEDGE. Sales Tools Operations Audit. How to create and maintain your own “winning edge.” How to achieve a mental fitness level essential to your sales success. Mental exercises that contribute most to mental fitness. How to build expertise in the nine critical skill areas essential to sales success.

• SALES and RENTAL PROSPECTING. Sales and Rental Prospecting Operations Audit. Identify ALL of the equipment sales prospecting technology tools possible. Evaluate how well you are utilizing each technology. Learn how to overcome obstacles many sales reps throw up against effective prospecting. See how to identify your premiere prospect. How to ask eight strategic prospecting questions. How to keep prospecting pipeline filled. Mental rehearsal tricks that help achieve long-term prospecting success.

• RELATIONSHIP and TRUST. Relationship Building Operations Audit. How to move up the Relationship Hierarchy. How to qualify the prospect. How to remove the greatest obstacles to sales success. How to question and listen for success. What diagnostic questions enable you to deliver real value to the customer. How to apply the seven critical steps to building trust. How to establish genuine credibility. How to understand the prospect’s “profit zones” where you and your dealer are allowed to make long-term profits.

• TIME and TERRITORY MANAGEMENT. Time and Territory Management Operations Audit. How to structure, organize and implement a dynamite territory coverage plan. How to improve “return on energy” with a personal strategic business plan. What selling skills relate most to improved deal “Visibility.” How to significantly shorten the sales development cycle. The five steps of successful territory strategy that pay quick dividends. How to allocate time between prospecting, selling, administration and investment/training.

• PRESENTATIONS and DEMONSTRATIONS. Presentations and Demonstrations Operations Audit. The how and why of mental rehearsals. See what is gained by becoming a “problem detective.” Learn to ask questions that give you control. Examine the kinds of questions too often asked by rookies. Determine best approaches for each prospect. Learn the five rules of power presentations and how to uncover hot buttons. Practice how to confirm customer recognition and acceptance of presentation “value points.” Special case studies.

• SALES PRESENTATION CLINIC. Sales teams prepare a walk-around “features functions benefits” sales presentation the prior evening. Presentations are based on assigned case studies of various prospects featuring capital equipment and product support sales opportunities for your products and services. Presentations are judged based on several criteria. Points are awarded for questions asked as well as “value points” and “confirmation of benefit statements” made during the team’s presentation.

• ROUND TABLE ISSUES AND ANSWERS. Ask questions, express your views, solicit ideas to improve your sales operations in our “no holds barred” round table.

• TEAM SELLING. The concept of collaboration in Key Account development is emerging as one of the most significant new sales tools. Here we will examine practical ways to muster all of the distributor resources available to deliver greater value to your most important customers.

• HANDLING OBJECTIONS and THE CLOSE. Evaluate how you are currently handling objections and getting commitments. What skills contribute most to improved “closure rate.” How to overcome customer skepticism and gain commitment. How objections contribute to sales success. How to eliminate most objections through better diagnostic questions. Why you should make it easy for the prospect to object. How to develop “bullet proof” responses to the six most significant categories of objections heard in your territory. How to best handle the price objection. How to recognize buying signals. How to apply seven alternate closing techniques in your territory.

• KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT. Create a confidential Key Account Strategic Plan for one of your most important accounts. Learn to identify account business trends, strategic concerns, key influencers, chief antagonist, competitive influences and your unique strengths. Master how to look beyond “sales history” to identify long-term potential. Practice establishing qualitative and quantitative goals that exploit your best opportunities. Examine how to focus investments to ensure the success of your plan. Discuss how to sell your account development plan to your dealer management.

• PERSONAL ACTION PLANS. Each participant will develop a set of practical Action Plans to improve sales effectiveness back in the territory: how to run your territory like a highly successful business. Coaching assistance from the instructor will help ensure that the Action Plans are practical and provide measurable results.

Workshop Preparatory Exercises...
In order to get the most out of the program, participants are asked to complete a set of preparatory readings and exercises. A Preparatory Exercise Workbook and Study Guide will be sent immediately upon receiving tuition payment. Your “study guide” reading assignments will be in the following four paperback texts. Students are responsible for purchasing their own texts. You will gain an excellent head start on the workshop discussions by completing these exercises.

• The 25 Sales Habits of Highly Successful Salespeople by Stephan Schiffman
• The 25 Most Common Sales Mistakes and How to Avoid Them by Stephan Schiffman
• Collaborative Selling by Tony Alessandra.
• Winning with People by John C Maxwell.
• How to Build a Key Account Strategic Action Plan by Walter J. McDonald.

In addition, you will complete a self-scoring analysis of your “deal visibility” and “deal closure rate” skills. Then, with your Sales Manager, you will complete a market assessment to identify the most promising customer segments in your sales territory.

Walter McDonald is founder of The McDonald Group, Inc., a private consulting firm focusing on marketing and business strategies, executive education and development. For the past twenty-five years, Walter has been a highly successful material handling, construction and forestry equipment, and, heavy duty truck industry seminar leader. In addition, he has worked on numerous business consulting assignments for equipment manufacturers and distributors.

Walter is a popular guest speaker and specializes in customized in-company training programs. He has published more than 40 articles in the MHEDA Journal, Material Handling Business and Construction Equipment Distribution magazines. Since 1975, Walter has conducted well over 2,600 management seminars and workshops on advanced service and parts management, business strategy, industrial marketing and sales management, aftermarket sales operations, organizational development, industrial product management and, product support.

His adult education clients have included the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association, Caterpillar, Hitachi, Melroe/Bobcat, Melroe Europe, Timberjack, Deere CE, Ingersoll-Rand, Komatsu, Vermeer, Vermeer S.E. Asia, CASE/New Holland, JCB, Ditch Witch, HYSTER, NISSAN Forklift, Toyota Industrial Trucks, TCM, Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift, Volvo Trucks North America, Peterbilt Motors, Mack Trucks, Freightliner, Kenworth and numerous independent industrial equipment distributors in North America, Europe and the Far East. In 1999 Walter founded The Institute for Distributor Development to offer industry-specific public seminars and workshops on a wide variety of distributor development topics.

Prior to his 25-year professional management consulting career, Walter held several sales, marketing and general management positions at the senior level in industry including Vice President and General Manager of a $160 million distribution company. Some of his earliest career experiences were in prospecting, selling and installing business computer systems in major accounts.

Walter received his Management Consultant Certification (CMC) from the Institute of Management Consultants in New York. He graduated Cum Laude from Louisiana State University with a B.A. in Economics, attended M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Mass. and pursued graduate studies in marketing and finance at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business.

“This program really helped me get on top of my territory. I now have the tools I need to find better, more profitable customers and sell them the way they want to be sold.”

“I found the diagnostic questioning approach to relationship selling most beneficial.”

“The Key Account management procedures will definitely help strengthen my position in my most important accounts.”

“This workshop was definitely worth the investment for me. It built my confidence with the tools I needed to be successful in my large new territory.”