Synopsis

All Business and Sales professionals recognise that the only way to grow the business is to be able to secure new customers while retaining or expanding the existing ones. And therein lies the dilemma.

Business and Sales professionals have on average about three to four hours of ACTUAL SELLING TIME DAILY. This is definitely very little and it implies that they must be able to CLOSE A SALE OR ADVANCE A SALE after every sales visit.

The reality is that many business and sales professionals invest and waste time chasing after “suspects” who are not genuine prospects. Worse still, these “suspects” give us the impression that there is hope in securing the business but ultimately remain with the current supplier and enjoy the benefits of what we have offered. Or, sometimes the “suspect” switches but at a package which is not commercially viable to us.

The above happens because many business and sales professionals are often told to go out for new businesses but have never been taught on the “how-to” of doing so.

This programme is targeted for the sales professional or entrepreneur who is keen to grow his client base, and enhance sales revenue and profitability. Participants can expect to have the competencies to establish a reliable and replicable pattern of sales prospecting activity that will ensure consistent results in identifying and securing new businesses.

Benefits to You

• Recognise the common pitfalls business and sales professionals make when prospecting for new businesses
• Develop strategies and action plans to avoid these common pitfalls
• Use a template that guarantees a continuous stream of prospects
• Acquire a process that helps identify and cherry-pick prospects that are both attractive and vulnerable
• Know the different types of competitors market segments and customers to prospect for
• Generate sales activity plans based on the prospects to enhance business
• Develop a “profile of the genuine prospects” using a check list of criteria
• Detect the tell-tale signs of whether the prospect is genuine or not
• Employ proven strategies to advance every sale if we are not able to close it
• Know when and how to write prospecting letters or emails to reinforce your presence in the prospect’s mind
• Be able to effectively qualify (and disqualify) the prospects from the suspects
• Identify the common patterns that influence the success of a sales call
• Appreciate the conditions that must exist before the sale can be closed
• Ask the correct questions to determine how committed the prospect is
• Prioritize selling efforts to maximize results
• Recognize the main reasons why customers switch
• Secure competitors’ customers while avoiding a price war
• Learn from real-life examples of how successful business and sales professionals conduct prospecting

Programme Outline

• Assessing current prospecting competencies
• The business case for prospecting and why it is the life-line of selling
• The two extremes—everyone is a PROSPECT or everyone is a SUSPECT
• Common pitfalls when prospecting for customers
• The five step process to conduct prospecting effectively
• What is involved in each of the steps and who needs to be involved?
• Selecting the market segments and customers to prospect
• Which market segments are we strong and weak in?
• The how-to of building a continuous pipeline of leads
• Platform thinking—what it is and why it is so important
• Getting the fundamentals right
• Why am I choosing this prospect and what would motivate the customer to switch to us (not just because of price alone)?
• What value do I bring to this customer that the competitor cannot bring?
• Developing the sales objective and strategy for this customer
• List of things and do and things to avoid when meeting the prospect
• Connecting before selling—you fail to connect, you fail to sell
• Filtering what the customer tells you
• Go for the response you want, not what you want to communicate
• Avoid asking questions that benefits you—rather ask questions that benefits customer
• Dumb and difficult questions—what they are and why they work
• Identifying the objections we can manage and those we are not able to
• Avoiding getting caught into working out a proposal/quotation too early
• Knowing when the person you are seeing will not or is not able to help you and knowing when to leverage to a higher level
• Ensuring you do not end-up following all the customers’ demands
• The four different stages that prospects evolve over time and how to deal with them at each of the stages

Who Will Benefit by Attending

1. Sales & Marketing Vice-Presidents/Directors
2. National/Regional Sales & Marketing Managers
3. Sales & Marketing Executives
4. Business Development Managers and Executives
5. Entrepreneurs
6. Anyone who needs to grow the business

Programme Leader

This programme will be conducted by:

Mr. Patrick Ng is a highly acclaimed international Sales and Marketing cum Management trainer/consultant who will use his 21 years of corporate experience and fourteen years’ training/consulting to help you achieve the desired results. The corporate experience garnered from the ranks of sales/marketing executive, Sales Manager, Head of Strategic Business Unit and then to Chief Executive Officer of a multinational in different industries ensures that participants learn practical tools that can be implemented. Participants have consistently commented that his training is effective because they are able to relate to what they are actually facing.

He is an associate of the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia which allows him to keep abreast with the latest developments from the Harvard Business. In addition, he is the external Sales/Marketing trainer for the Europe, Asia and Middle East Region for a leading U.S. based medical device company with annual turnover of US$9 billion. This allows him to share global best practices.

Patrick will challenge and change your perspectives, delight and entertain you and impart essential competencies and the appropriate mind-set to enhance your effectiveness.  His greatest satisfaction are seeing his participants become more productive and enjoy what they are doing and coaching his two children to graduate as medical doctors from the University of Cambridge.