One of the most important elements of a successful sales training program is the effectiveness of its deployment to your sales team.

Our trainers not only present the Action Selling process in an engaging and highly customized format, they are also salespeople who use the Action Selling process to build their own book of business.

PROFILE: Tony Martin

Job: Senior Sales Trainer

Years as a Trainer at The Sales Board: 11

Quantity of Action Selling programs: 10,000 sales people, 1,000 managers in 200 organizations

Locations where he has trained: U.S., Canada, Mexico, China, Spain

Schooling: St. Cloud State in television journalism and acting

Home: Blaine, Minnesota

Family: Married, 4 children, 2 dogs

What you wouldn't know about me: "I'm a marathon runner."

WHY TONY IS COMMITTED TO ACTION SELLING
"Better than any other sales training program, Action Selling matches the consultative sales process with the buyer's decision-making process. Action Selling is a process that sales people can use over their entire career, and always keep improving. Because it is a procedure for improving communications, it not only makes you a better salesperson, it makes you a better person. "

A Q&A WITH TONY MARTIN
How did you get into sales training and selling as a profession?
"I started selling copy machines. At the time, I knew nothing about selling, so I took a Dale Carnegie course! Then I went to another company and was doing a little training and some organizational development. I learned about this "Fish" training program, based on the Pike Place Market. Be present. Make people's day. Play. Choose your attitude. That led to becoming a motivational speaker and a sales manager. But it wasn't until I read the Action Selling book that I felt like I found the Holy Grail. I just had to work for that company."

What is the most common mistake you see sales people making?
"They fail to have a commitment objective (a goal for customer commitment that moves the sales process forward). Most salespeople go into a sales call shooting from the hip. Their sales technique is, 'I want to kick over as many rocks as I can, and see where the call takes me.' They're usually good at the human interaction, but they accomplish nothing."

What is the hardest concept for a sales people to "get"?
"We teach the '5 Buying Decisions' and the '9 Acts of the Sale.' Sometimes sales people have difficulty understanding how to use these concepts during every customer contact. I tell them that every time they interact with the buyer, the buyer becomes either more sold on you or less sold on you. There's no neutral. Don't think a sale is only when you get a signed contract. Getting a second meeting is a sale. You make a sale when you gain agreement to have a lunch. You make a sale if the buyer brings in someone else into the process. You make a sale if the buyer watches a demo. The 5 buying decisions and the 9 acts of the sale should be accomplished even in a short 10 minute phone call."

What makes a great sales manager?
"The great ones are the ones who kick up their sales coaching efforts. You must continually develop your people. The laggards spend their time updating corporate communications, reviewing reports, or going over administrative processes. They forget that developing sales talent is their number one job if they want to stay competitive in the marketplace. 90 percent of sales people who leave their jobs do so because they feel they aren't being helped and supported by their manager!"

What words describe a person who will be successful in sales?

• Organized
• Likeable
• Customer-focused
• Helps the customer be more competitive
• Confident
• Focused
• Competitive
• Positive
• Enthusiastic
• The person you want on your team
• Trained in Action Selling

What is your "most satisfying" moment when you train?
At one company, they told me they had a 77-year-old sales person, but they weren't planning to invite him to be trained. But somehow, he showed up. He was super involved. He talked to me at every break. He got more out of the training than the 20 to 40 year olds. After training, this guy went out and signed a 20-year deal, a record for his company, for 320 million gallons of fuel, to a customer who had been stalling for months. Action Selling helped close the deal. This 77-year old called me and said, 'I can't wait to sell this guy again, after the 20-year-deal is finished!' I'm thinking, by then this guy will be 97 years old. Now that's a passionate sales person!"

How do you apply the principles of Action Selling to other parts of your life?
"I realize how it applies to other parts of life, and so do my students when I'm training. At some point in the workshop, someone usually says, 'Hey, I can use this with the people I live with!" Maybe the program should be called Action Living. It's more fun to talk to someone who is interested in you. That's what Action Selling is all about."