sales training can you teach old dogs

Most people suggest you can't teach an old dog new tricks, especially when it comes to selling, but is that true? There are enough reasons not to learn how to sell properly, "I'm too old", "I can't sell", "My business doesn't need to sell" etc.We've heard them all before but businesses need to make money and selling is part of that process. We will evaluate what selling is, how important it is overall and discuss the finer points of sales training.What is selling?For many, sales conjures up horrific connotations of door-to-door pushy salesmen with the 'gift of the gab' trying to sell you something you don't want. These days it's also become associated with cold calling and foreign telephoe call centres, against trying to push products.It may surprise you but selling isn't about pushing products, instead it's actually about pulling clients. Modern day sales and marketing is about taking your range of products to a target market and telling the customer about the benefits associated for them. The client will then buy into the product or service and hopefully become a life long customer with favourable feelings towards your product or service and company.One definition of sales taken from thefreedictionary.com is"The exchange of goods or services for an amount of money or its equivalent; the act of selling."This definition excludes any reference to the buyer / seller relationship or that it should be a mutually beneficial process.Why is selling and continuing to tune your selling skills important?Let's deal with the obvious - if a business doesn't sell its product or service then it can't make money and continue to trade.Competitors are constantly adapting and hiring the best skilled professionals to build their business. If your business is not supporting the selling process by constantly improving your face to face communication with potential buyers then you run the risk of remaining static in an ever changing business environment.Through improving your sales skills you can also retain existing customers. You'll be able to effectively meet their needs and in turn keep them satisfied for longer.Sales trainingWe originally asked, can you teach old dogs new tricks? It's not a case of 'can you' but 'you must' to keep your business current and "recessionary-proof".Sales training and support comes in a variety of different forms and can range from consultancy help to one-on-one advice.Sales training will be tailored to each individual company and industry, but regardless of the situation your business faces, selling in a must.Imagine your business managed to sell 10% more products over the course of a year, simply by changing the focus of selling. The training and support would be cost effective and enable you to re-position your business as a market leading, customer focussed and efficient company.

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