How often have you gotten into trouble because the timing of your sales process was off? Bad timing can ruin a golf swing, a game plan, a great kitchen recipeā€”or a big sale.

Timing is a vital sales skill and a key factor in any good sales process. You must maintain the timing of the process you learn in sales training, even if customers try to throw you off.

Consider a dilemma faced by Ross Chandler. An account representative for waste-management company Veolia Environmental Services of Milwaukee, Chandler had to decide which to follow: a customerā€™s urging or the process he learned in sales training programs based on the Action Selling ® system. A major deal was at stake.

ā€œIt was a Friday afternoon,ā€Chandlersays. ā€œI was talking to executives of a large veal-producing company. I was selling a waste compactor that would give them significant cost savings over the long term. I had done all my research. I was presenting my solution.ā€

In Action Selling ® terms, that meant Chandler was in Act 6. In sales training and sales coaching sessions, he had learned that he should always base a product presentation on at least three TFBRs:

  • Tie-Back to a need the customer already has agreed onā€¦
  • Feature of your solution that meets the needā€¦
  • Benefit to the customer of meeting the needā€¦
  • Reaction from the customer.

ā€œI was on my second TFBR,ā€ Chandler continues, ā€œtalking about efficient hauling and cleanliness, when the president of the company said, ā€˜Ross, itā€™s obvious youā€™ve done your homework. Letā€™s skip to the price.ā€™

Get the timing right, you win.Ā Get it wrong, you lose.

ā€œI just wasnā€™t sure if that was a genuine buying signal and if I should skip a step in the process. I chose to stick with the process I learned in the sales training course and my sales coaching sessions. So I did one more TFBR before I presented my price and asked for commitment.

ā€œThe president and the chief financial officer sat there crunching numbers while I discussed details with the general manager and the plant manager. The president and CFO were especially interested in that third TFBRā€”the one I had almost skipped.

ā€œWhen I was done, the president exchanged nods with the CFO and said, ā€˜It looks good to us. What do you guys think?ā€™

ā€œI had a dealā€”and a huge win for Veolia.ā€

Chandler now realizes that one of the most important sales skills he learned in the sales training program was to ā€œchange the way I manage the timing of my sales process.ā€

For information about how to improve sales skills and make sales training pay huge dividends, contact Action Selling ® at (800) 232-3485.