2010 professional selling pre-work€¦ · 1. what role does question-asking play in successful...

Pre-Work Assignment Professional Selling participants are asked to complete the following pre-work self-study in advance of the 3-day program:

Topic 1: Keys to Sales Success Read entire Topic and complete Study Questions 1-5 and Assignments 1-3

Module 1 Topic 2: The Consultative Selling Approach Read entire Topic and complete Example #1 ExtraBrands Questions 1-5 and Study Questions 1-5.

Module 2 Topic 3: Personality Traits for Sales Success Read pages 2-1 through 2-9 and complete Personality Traits Reflection.

Topic 5: Attitude Maintenance Read 3-3 through 3-7 and complete Attitude Reflection.

Read 3-9 and complete Stress Index Scoring.

Topic 6: Time Management Complete Assessing Your Time Management Obstacles

Module 3

Topic 7: Professional Behaviour and Development Read pages 3-41 through 3-46 and complete Ethics Reflection.

Professional Selling ► ► ► ► ► 1-7 © Canadian Professional Sales Association

Topic 1: The Keys to Sales Success

Study Questions

1. Characterize how the sales profession has evolved from its inception to today:

2. What are the core Keys to Sales Success in today’s marketplace?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

3. In your own words, define “consultative selling” and describe how it’s different from

historical sales approaches.

1 - 8 ◄ ◄ ◄ ◄ ◄ Professional Selling © Canadian Professional Sales Association

Module 1: Introduction to Professional Selling

4. Explain why it is so important to take a more consultative approach to sales today?

5. In this chapter we discussed the importance of possessing significant

product/industry/company knowledge, as well as a great deal of pride for those same things.

(a) What would happen if a sales professional had significant product/industry/company knowledge, but little pride in those same things? Specifically how would it impact sales results…and why?

(b) What would happen if a sales professional was very proud of his or her products,

industry, and company, but was not a very deep expert in these areas? Specifically how would it impact sales results…and why??


Topic 1: The Keys to Sales Success

Assignments

1. Recognizing that you have just begun this program, using the chart below, assess your own knowledge, skills, and abilities on the five core Keys to Sales Success. Be introspective and honest. How would your manager score you on each item? What about your colleagues? How about your customers?

Low High 1. Product/Industry/Company Knowledge and Pride Product/Industry/Company knowledge and expertise 1 2 3 4 5 6

Pride in your Industry, Products/Services, and Company 1 2 3 4 5 6

2. Sales Personality Traits 1 2 3 4 5 6

3. Self-Management Skills 1 2 3 4 5 6

4. Strategic Planning Skills 1 2 3 4 5 6

5. Influential Communication Skills 1 2 3 4 5 6

(a) List the items below on which you scored yourself less than 4 on the scales above. What

does this mean to you as a sales professional?



2. Using the space below, outline your personal development plan to increase your

Product/Industry/Company Knowledge and Pride, recognizing that it is one of the core Keys to Sales Success.

3. Based on your self-assessment in Assignment #1, and referring to the Table of Contents for this

program, list the specific modules and topics that will be very important for your development as a sales professional.



in developing a presentation that would include offering alternative ways of satisfying Bell’s expectations.

They realized that if a substantial portion of these expectations could be met, they would acquire a significant amount of business, and they would be developing an effective method of selling that could be passed on to the entire sales force. In fact, they were able to come up with such a plan, and at the end of a three-hour- plus presentation to Bell, the five regional managers, and one other executive, Lyle asked Bell what he thought the next step should be.

Bell asked how soon they might get together to develop a strategic plan. Over the next 13 months, ExtraBrands sold just under 1,000,000 pounds of coffee to NIB, and the sales force was trained to sell by asking questions to determine customers’ needs. Sales in a little over two years went from 300,000 pounds to well over 10 million. The company’s market position went from sixth to first, and Lyle was promoted to division manager. Example #1 ExtraBrands Questions 1. What was the significance of the fact that ExtraBrands had been in business for 75 years and was

the second biggest food products manufacturer in the world?

2. Why was “sounding like a product brochure” not getting business?

3. What kind of questions did Lyle ask? Why?

4. What commitment did Lyle get from Bell and how did he get it?

5. What was the “Business Case” Lyle built in this discussion?



Study Questions 1. What role does question-asking play in successful consultative selling?

2. What is ROI Selling, and why is it important to present your solutions in Business Case format?

3. What is a Unique Value Proposition (UVP)? Describe the potential UVP offered by a chosen generic, recognized consumer product.

4. Even though trends have shifted between soft and hard selling over the years, why is it said that consultative selling is here to stay?

5. Are there any sales situations for which the consultative selling technique is not appropriate? Why?


Module 2: Understanding Yourself and Others

Personality Traits Reflection Evaluate your personality… Take the time to look inward. Evaluate your personality in light of each of the areas discussed on pages 2-3 to 2-9, then decide which traits you need to develop and which ones represent strengths so they can be used to your advantage. Develop a list of things you plan to do over the next year regarding your personality.

As you accomplish each objective (or feel you have), cross it off the list and start on the next one. Keep in mind that changing certain aspects of your personality takes time, and you shouldn’t try to address too many at once. Therefore, set priorities in your list and take things one step at a time.

1. Which of the personality traits do you feel currently contributes the most to your sales success? Why?

2. Which personality trait do you feel you would benefit the most from improving? Why?

3. Think about times in your past when you were feeling optimistic or pessimistic. What where

some of your thoughts and actions during those times?

Optimistic Pessimistic

4. Note times in your past when you displayed agent behaviour and victim behaviour. Agent Behaviour Victim Behaviour


Module 3: Managing Yourself

1. How has your attitude influenced your life in the past?

2. How does your attitude impact the people around you?

3. Notice the types of things you say to yourself when you are engaging in self-talk. List some

examples of your positive self-talk and your negative self-talk.

Positive Negative

4. Note the circumstances or situations in the past that resulted in positive and negative self-talk. Positive Situations Negative Situations

Attitude Reflection



STRESS INDEX SCORING Score 1 for each “yes” answer, and 0 for each “no” answer. Your total score can be interpreted as follows:

Under 7 There are few hassles in your life. Make sure that you are not trying so hard to avoid problems that you shy away from challenges.

7 to 13 You have your life pretty much in control. Work on the choices and habits that could still be causing some unnecessary stress in your life.

14 to 20 You are approaching the danger zone. You may well be suffering stress-related symptoms, and your relationships could be strained. Think carefully about choices you’ve made and take relaxation breaks every day.

Over 20 Emergency! You must stop now, rethink how you are living, change your attitudes, and pay very careful attention to your diet, exercise, and relaxation programs.

Do you frequently ... YES NO Neglect your diet? Try to do everything? Blow up easily? Seek unrealistic goals? Fail to see the humour in situations others find funny? Act rudely? Make a “big deal” of everything? Look to other people to make things happen? Have difficulty making decisions? Complain you are disorganized? Avoid people whose ideas are different from your own? Keep everything inside? Neglect exercise? Lack supportive relationships? Use psychoactive drugs, like sleeping pills or tranquilizers, without a physician’s approval?

Get too little rest? Get angry when you are kept waiting? Ignore stress symptoms? Procrastinate? Think there is only one right way to do something? Fail to allot yourself relaxation time? Gossip? Race through the day? Spend a lot of time feeling bad about the past? Fail to get a break from noise and crowds? Index adapted from 60 Ways to Make Stress Work for You by Andrew F. Slavy, PIA Press (1988).


Topic 6: Time Management

Assessing Your Time Management Obstacles

Part 1: Organizing Yourself Strongly Disagree

Mildly Disagree

Mildly Agree

Strongly Agree

I often take work home.

I tend to underestimate the time it will take to do something.

Because I am a bit of a perfectionist, I get too bogged down in detail.

My work area is usually cluttered and disorganized.

I do not have clearly defined career or personal goals.

I am not a morning person. It takes me some time to get operational.

I tend to put off unpleasant work.

Approaching a deadline makes me work a lot harder.

I often find myself shuffling paper, accomplishing little.

I tend to do easy or fun things first.

I have trouble getting started on some tasks or projects.

I do not work effectively when I have a lot of different things to do.

I work more overtime hours than I think is reasonable.

I can never catch up on the reading I need to do.

I spend too little time devising better or faster ways of doing things.




Part 2: Organizing Your Job Strongly Disagree

Mildly Disagree

Mildly Agree

Strongly Agree

I do not have clear, written job objectives that define the results I am expected to achieve.

I do not really know or understand the criteria on which my performance is measured.

Many of my tasks or projects don’t have expected completion dates.

I am involved in a lot of crisis management and fire fighting.

I do not have a clearly defined development plan for myself.

I do not keep a list of things to do.

I rarely take time to review critically my progress towards my objectives.

Constantly changing priorities make it difficult to plan my work.

I spend less than 10% of my time planning.

I have no specific process for establishing priorities.

Some of my important responsibilities do not get the time and attention they deserve.

Much of my time is spent reacting to the needs and demands of others.

I do not have a clear picture of my boss’s objectives and priorities.

I tend not to schedule my work. I schedule only meetings and appointments.

I miss deadlines too often.


Topic 6: Time Management


Part 3: Organizing Yours Relationships Strongly Disagree

Mildly Disagree

Mildly Agree

Strongly Agree

Interruptions make it difficult for me to work efficiently.

I am always accessible to those who need my help or advice.

I find it difficult to say no to people who want my help.

I probably spend too much time socializing with my co-workers.

Some people seem to take up an inordinate amount of my time.

Not much of the time I spend with my boss is on a regular, scheduled basis.

I spend too much time in meetings.

Most meetings I attend are too long and inefficient.

I rarely worry about interrupting or wasting the time of others.

I believe in always having an open-door policy.

Others I work with do not understand my objectives or priorities.

I spend too much time involved in interdepartmental or interpersonal conflicts.

I do not spend enough uninterrupted time with my boss.

I do not spend enough uninterrupted time with co-workers, customers, etc.




Part 4: Organizing Your Systems Strongly Disagree

Mildly Disagree

Mildly Agree

Strongly Agree

My job requires me to do too much paperwork.

I hate writing reports.

Many reports around here are never read or acted upon.

I have to spend too much time getting the information I need.

I have not used a time log in the past year.

My telephone is a constant source of interruptions.

A lot of time is wasted on telephone tag.

Our telecommunications system is not efficient.

Our communications systems (mail, email, switchboard, etc.) need improvement.

Many of our policies, rules, and procedures are bureaucratic.

I do not have a good follow-up system.

My personal files are not well organized.

I spend a lot of time getting information for other people.

I do not know enough about how our systems work.

I wish someone would help me organize how to do some things.

HOW DID YOU SCORE ON EACH CHART?

Any statement with which you strongly agree indicates a specific problem you need to work on.

For each chart, if you strongly agree with four or more statements, or if you strongly agree or mildly agree with more than eight statements, you have a serious problem that is having a negative impact on your performance and job satisfaction. Make a note of these time-management strengths and weaknesses.


Topic 7: Professional Behaviour and Development

Ethics Reflection

1. What do you feel is the benefit to you of following the CPSA Sales Institute Code of Ethics?

2. Think about a situation in your past that challenged your own Code of Ethics. What happened?

What did you do?

3. Which ethical standard on page 3-42 do you find the most challenging to follow? Why?

4. Note one thing you can do to improve your ethical standards.

2010 professional selling pre-work€¦ · 1. what role does question-asking play in successful...

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