I participated in The Corporate Sales Challenge in

Calgary today. Being one of ten leading sales trainers, each covering an area of expertise around the sales process, things like qualifying, negotiating, closing, using e-mail as a prospecting tool among others, my area was cold calling. The challenge involved ten teams each sponsored by a company looking for fresh ways to sell their product. The teams spend ten minutes with each trainer, they then spend another ten minutes putting what they learned into practice.

What was great for me about the experience, was not just seeing some great sales people in practice, and exchanging views with some very talented peers. More interestingly, was having to focus the key aspects of my topic cold calling, in to a crisp 10 minutes, that lets people get the core concepts, give them a practical means of doing it, and then applying it to a real product in a real way.

Wow, having to focus your thoughts, engage a group of people and impart practical knowledge that helps people make money. I was worried about how I was going to be able to condense everything down and still deliver value, but as always it is incredible what you can do if set a goal, and work to it. It’s easy when you have a gun to your head, not so easy if you have to set the limits yourself. What I noticed is that as the day went along I got better, more content in a more concise way, with greater impact.

So I am thinking, how do I apply this to the way I sell, what if I can take down a sales meeting to such a net net experience. Not just the way I eventually present Renbor, but come up with those key focused questions that would crystallize things for the prospects, and elicit the information that will make the sale make sense to the prospect and facilitate a shorter cycle with a happier customer. So it’s a project, I’ll keep you posted.

Sell well,

The Pipeline