The B2B Sales Specialist

Students are introduced to the B2B selling landscape and current trends. We’ll dig into statistics and insights into the Canadian sales job market with data provided by the Canadian Professional Sales Association. The future of selling is both human-centric and technology-driven and will require both skill sets. So here is your roadmap for the sales skills required to succeed over the long term as a B2B Sales Professional.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand the impact of digital platforms and technology on the sales profession

• Have a clear understanding of the new B2B Sales Competency Map

• The top 10 “Right Brained” sales skills that you need to succeed

• The best practices, habits, and mindsets of top sales performers of the present and future

• What it takes to move from being a frontline seller to a top performer and sales leader

This is the foundation of effective time and territory management. Using sales skills and knowledge is vital, although, if the salesperson is focused on the wrong people and wrong organizations, their success will be limited. This module provides a proven methodology and process to help salespeople manage their time effectively by targeting the right clients.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand to categorize present, past and potential clients, prospects and referral sources into Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze categories

• Implement Retain, Develop, Regain and Gain sales strategies with prospects and clients

• Develop a territory strategy to provide the highest possible ROI for your efforts

This fast-paced training module is designed to give salespeople and their teams the tools, insights and sales processes to attract and grow client bases. This module focuses on the importance of living in the “A” zone and how to develop a sense of curiosity and opportunity thinking mentality. The ideal sales process is about focusing on the right customers and prospects, with the right frequency, timing, and media/messaging. We’ll also cover tips and principles related to effective social selling, LinkedIn and email prospecting.

Learning Outcomes:

• Develop a Prospecting Plan and utilize your own Prospecting Pool to build a Prospect List

• Identify 10 excellent Referral Sources that could provide valuable leads and referrals

• Apply the “Targeting the Right Clients Process” to identify the best prospects, clients, referral sources, and partners

• Use situational targeting to find more opportunities

• Use offline and in-person networking strategies

This module is about setting up and utilizing a process to manage and control the activities needed to Gain, Regain, Develop and Retain clients. Consistent value-added contact and engagement is required to convert prospects into clients. Salespeople will learn to use the primary, secondary, and other tools to maximize their frequency of contact with the client. In addition, a key account method called “The Most Wanted” approach will be explained for salespeople to implement.

Learning Outcomes:

• Create a lead nurturing campaign with clients utilizing the primary, secondary and other Sales Enablement Tools

• Convert prospects into clients through systematic follow-up

• Grow and retain existing clients through systematic follow-up

Having high-impact conversations with clients is vital to our success. It’s not just about having an agenda or list of questions to ask, it’s about how, when and why we ask the questions and how to dig deeper and discover the client’s core motives, challenges, and context. It’s also about knowing when to offer insights that help the client look at the big picture and buy into needs they may not know they had. In many cases, we are also dealing with multiple decision-makers, in fact, the bigger the opportunity the more people we often need to get on the side and collaborate with.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand the value of an ‘ask and listen’ approach to selling

• Understand how to improve their capacity to listen and connect

• Design a Needs Analysis Questionnaire

• Uncover clients’ core motivations, business drivers, product usage potential and challenges

Enterprise and B2B selling tend to involve a longer sales cycle, and multiple decision-makers or buyer influencers. In most cases with large projects and solutions, it’s not about getting someone to buy from the salesperson, it’s about getting “buy-in” and establishing credible business relationships. This module will help the sales team become better at managing long sales cycles and engaging multiple senior stakeholders.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand the Five Stages of Relationship Development, and how to accelerate them

• Map out and communicate with the six major types of buyers that influence a complex sale (including key decision-makers and C-level Executives)

• Understand how to move a mindset from “salesperson” or “technician” to “business person/expert that sells”

• Understand and put to work the key principles that are important in long-term business relationships

• Create a plan of action to improve skills and knowledge, and be more effective with long-term client relationships

This module looks at each Power Player’s Personality Profile, Thinker Profile and the group’s Decision-Making Profile. This information provides more insight into how the salesperson can more effectively interact and influence each of the Power Players. Includes a personal SSI or Sales Style Indicator Assessment.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand the various personality profiles and thinker profiles and how they can be influenced and how the different profiles make decisions

• Plot each of the Power Player’s profiles

• Understand their own Profile and how they can sell more effectively

• Utilize the Group Decision Making Profile Tool

There are two major factors that help us maximize sales opportunities. The first is the ability to sell value over price and the second is the ability to add-on, up-sell and cross-sell during the sales process. Often, we don’t need more customers; we just need more from each customer. In other words, we want a “bigger share of the customer’s wallet”. This module is about the many ways to maximize additional sales opportunities.

Learning Outcomes:

• Convert data on client needs into value-focused benefits and customer-centric outcomes

• Understand the power of storytelling in building-value in the eyes of the client

• Identify up-sell, cross-sell, and add-on opportunities with clients

• Know when to down-sell to build long-term trust and credibility

All objections, questions, awkward situations, and hurdles for moving the sales process forward are easy to handle providing you are prepared in advance for them. This module helps categorize the different types of objections and how to handle each of them in a calm but effective manner. Bonus content for this module includes a generic objection handling guide with 100 of the top objections salespeople hear and various ways to handle each one.

Learning Outcomes:

• Utilize the ‘7 Winning Objection Handling Strategies’

• Understand and answer the most common types of objections

• Respond with ease to price objections

• Utilize ‘soft openers’ when responding to objections, questions and challenges

Salespeople will learn the 7 Basic Rules of Negotiating and the qualities of being a good negotiator. Just like negotiations, closing happens at almost any step in the sales process. Salespeople aren’t always closing the deal but they are closing the next step. Salespeople will also learn how to recognize verbal and non-verbal closing signals, know when to close and utilize different ways to close the sale.

Learning Outcomes:

• Measure themselves against the qualities of a good negotiator and implement a plan of action to improve these qualities within themselves.

• Integrate the “how-to’s” of the 7 basic rules of negotiations.

• Understand how to prepare for a negotiation

• Recognize verbal and non-verbal buying signals with a buyer and when to close

• Create win/win outcomes that protect margins and secure client relationships

This module covers the core principles of successful social selling. This module will walk salespeople through the online sales funnel and learn how content and conversation can attract business and differentiate them from their competitors.

Learning Outcomes:

• Apply “The Rules of Engagement” in social media

• Understand how to become thought leaders through content marketing and online engagement and how to build an online tribe or referral network

• Map out a content plan for sales, branding and storytelling

• Utilize “social proximity” to generate warm referrals

• Gather valuable customer and competitive intelligence using social media

This module covers all of the core functionality for salespeople that LinkedIn has to offer. It addresses the attributes of a well-developed LinkedIn profile and presence and how LinkedIn sales influencers establish and maintain a successful presence on the network.

Learning Outcomes:

• Develop an effective LinkedIn profile using the ‘12 Point LinkedIn Profile Checklist’

• Understand how to grow an online network and find qualified prospects.

• Leverage content marketing on the LinkedIn platform to attract and retain customers.

• Use LinkedIn for cold prospecting and generating referrals.

• Understand how take a connection and move it into their sales funnel

Strategic sales planning helps salespeople understand how to develop a strategic account and/or territory plan. This plan integrates most of the key concepts taught in the program thus far into a single personal sales playbook or strategic plan.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand and develop a strategic sales plan and personal sales playbook

• Map out personal sales funnel steps and determine conversion rates

• Develop a lead nurturing map and process

• Forecasting, sales quotas and sales finance basics

• Work backwards from sales quotas or goals to establish daily, weekly and monthly KPI’s