Skip to content
  • What We Do
    Leadership Skills
    Leading with Presence
    Leading Authentically – Building Trusting Relationships
    Storytelling with Presence
    Virtual Presence
    Executive Presence for Women
    Feedback & Coaching
    Leading and Engaging Remote Teams
    Executive Coaching
    Executive Coaching
    Program Reinforcement Coaching
    Communication Skills
    Elevating Your Professional Presence
    Presenting with Presence
    Communicating Your Value
    Virtual Presence Fundamentals
    Presence Essentials
    Professional Presence for Women
    Working in an Engaging Remote Environment
    Strategic Writing Skills
    Business Writing Essentials
    Writing for Results
    Energise Your Email
    Sales Skills
    Storytelling for Sales Professionals
    Selling with Presence
    Virtual Selling
    Communicating Your Value (for Sales Professionals)
    Consultative Selling Skills
    Conference & Keynotes
    Keynote Speech on Executive Presence or Personal Presence
    Large Group: Storytelling with Presence
    Large Group: Presence Fundamentals
    Large Group: Communicating Your Value
  • Who We Help
    Audiences
    High Potential Employees
    Women and Minority Groups
    Graduates (Early Professionals)
    Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
    Technical Professionals
    Managers
    Senior Leaders
    Sales Managers and Sales People
    Case Studies

    Commonwealth Bank

    The Client The Commonwealth Bank is one of the big four Australian Banks that provides the full suite of financial products and services, that includes

    Read More »
  • Who We Are
    About Us
    • Our Team
    • Our Facilitators
    Menu
    • Our Team
    • Our Facilitators
    Ariel group

    “…[The Ariel Group’s] Presence workshop opened my eyes, ears and heart to the things in need to do to show up with presence when I'm with my colleagues, my bosses, or clients.”

    COMMONWEALTH BANK COMPANY
    Click Here
  • Resources
    Resources
    • eBook
    • Podcast
    • Video
    Menu
    • eBook
    • Podcast
    • Video
    Latest EBook
    High Performing Sales team
    Sales Team Guide: A High Performing Sales Team is Right in Front of You
    A High-Performing Sales Team Is Right In Front of You. Download the free Ariel Group Australia eBook to arm your team with the essentials to sales success.
    Free Download
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • What We Do
    Leadership Skills
    Leading and Engaging Remote Teams
    Feedback & Coaching
    Executive Presence for Women
    Virtual Presence
    Leading Authentically – Building Trusting Relationships
    Storytelling with Presence
    Sales Training
    Large Group: Presence Fundamentals
    Professional Presence for Women
    Virtual Selling
    Writing for Results
    Working in an Engaging Remote Environment
    Virtual Selling
    Communication Skills
    Professional Presence for Women
    Working in an Engaging Remote Environment
    Virtual Presence Fundamentals
    Presenting with Presence
    Communicating Your Value
    Elevating Your Professional Presence
    Executive Coaching
    Executive Coaching
    Program Reinforcement Coaching
    Business Writing Skills
    Writing for Results
    Energise Your Email
    Business Writing Essentials
    Conference & Keynotes
    Large Group: Presence Fundamentals
    Keynote Speech on Executive Presence or Personal Presence
    Large Group: Storytelling with Presence
    Large Group: Communicating Your Value
  • Who We Help
  • Who We Are
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
1300 784 233

Why doesn’t traditional sales training work anymore?

  • Sales Training

Why doesn’t traditional sales training work anymore?

  • March 11, 2019
  • by Andre Alphonso
Share

 

I have been training salespeople for over 25 years. I have carried a sales bag for around 30 years.

The first sales training program I attended was called Counsellor Selling by Wilson Learning in the 1980’s. I learnt a lot about “Discovery Agreements” which was the output of good questioning.

In the early 1990’s I became accredited in Professional Selling Skills (Learning International/Achieve Global) and was excited to learn about the “Need behind the Need” by asking “probing questions”.

Then when I joined The Forum Corporation in 1995 I became a master trainer of the classic Face-to-Face Selling Skills and Consultative Selling Skills programs. I fell in love with “High Gain Questions” and use them to this day.

Later I went through SPIN Selling from Huthwaite and in the last 5 years I have also facilitated Consultative Selling Skills form The Baron Group.

All of this has taught me a significant amount about how to engage with a customer or prospect.

In the last couple of years I have come to the shocking realisation that these skills were no longer enough in this digitally transforming world.

The common model of sales training over the last 40 years has been around a question based approach to selling. The question based approach is a rational left brain model which assumed that if you asked great questions than the customer would tell you everything they know so that you could put together a proposal. It works sometimes at the Order Taker and Solution Provide Level (see previous blog post (insert hyperlink)).  It is not enough at the Needs Developer or Advisor level. At these levels trust is the essential ingredient. The question based approach does not correlate with building trust. It provides valuable information for us to develop a solution and meet a customer’s needs, but does not necessarily build trust.

Neuroscience has turned the question based approach to selling on its head. The advances in brain imaging technology (FMRI – functional magnetic resonance imaging) allows us to now look into the brain and better understand how decisions are made and what factors form trust.

The Trust Formula

In Ariel we use the Trust Formula developed by John Phillips of SYNECTICS in our sales training as it breaks it down into a simple and easy to understand concept. It simply shows that trust is an outcome of:

  • Credibility (Demonstrating Character and Competence) plus
  • Intimacy (Emotional Understanding between Salesperson and Buyer) over
  • Risk (the perceived uncertainty).

We increase trust by increasing our credibility, increasing our Intimacy and reducing risk.

Without going into the intricacies of neuroscience, we are uncovering a fascinating enhancement to this skill of salespeople who now need to operate at higher levels of trust. One that we believe provides a more effective way of not only understanding customers more intimately, but also building trust between salesperson and customer. That skill is selling through the skillful use of stories.

When we look into the brain we see that stories build relationships. A story is the shortest distance between being a stranger and a friend.  We believe that a salesperson’s skillful use of storytelling will do three things:

  1. Enhance their Credibility with the buyer
  2. Increase the Intimacy between the buyer and salesperson
  3. Reduce perceived Risks by the Buyer

Neuroscience now shows us that receiving data and opinions are not our minds natural language and is difficult to assimilate. A salesperson speaking in data and opinion is causing the buyer to put in a lot of unnatural effort to understand. If the salesperson switched to skillful storytelling we now know that it is a natural, low-effort way for a buyer to take on new information. Moreover, stories can also inoculate objections if delivered well. Stories will persuade better than any pitch ever.

This is why stories will turbocharge the sales process and why the question-based approach which got us here is no longer enough to take us where we need to be in this digitally disrupted world.

To learn more about the impact of neuroscience of sales training.

Are you ready to increase your sales? Sign up to one of our sales training courses:

Sales Presence course

Building Relationships course

  • March 11, 2019
  • by Andre Alphonso
Share

Related Posts

  • Leadership

Why Leadership Presence Is An Essential Leadership Skill

  You may have heard the terms leadership presence and executive presence being mentioned more and more these days, however, there are different interpretations…
  • October 30, 2020
Read post
  • Virtual and Remote Work

How to Stay Engaged When Working Virtually

If you are among the estimated 4.3 million Australian workers who have been working remotely due to COVID-19 restrictions, you may be struggling with…
  • October 12, 2020
Read post
  • Virtual and Remote Work

7 Tips to Keep Virtual Teams Engaged

One of the greatest challenges faced by those managing staff in the current remote work environment, is how to keep virtual teams engaged and…
  • September 2, 2020
Read post

eBook

Virtual Presence Guide: How to Help Virtual Teams Create Authentic Connections

Download this guide to discover tips and best practices to help your teams be productive and engaged when working virtually.

View Resources
  • Courses & Programs
Menu
  • Courses & Programs
  • Leadership Skills
  • Communication Skills
  • Strategic Writing Skills
  • Sales Skills
  • Executive Coaching
  • Conference & Keynotes
Menu
  • Leadership Skills
  • Communication Skills
  • Strategic Writing Skills
  • Sales Skills
  • Executive Coaching
  • Conference & Keynotes
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • About us
  • Case Studies
  • Resources
Menu
  • About us
  • Case Studies
  • Resources

Subscribe for News and Updates

Follow us on:

Copyright © 2020 All Rights Reserved.

Privacy Policy

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn