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Nonetheless, no matter what we did, sales would not pick up. We were making enough to stay in business, but just barely. A few of our best people were tempted to move on to other jobs, and I knew that it was the beginning of a long downhill slide unless I did something to change things. That is why decided to bring in a professional selling skills consultant. Although my employees were initially against sales skills training, they agreed to try it on a trial basis. They thought of themselves as technical professionals, not salesmen, and did not want anything to do with what they saw as a manipulative, backwards profession.
Nonetheless, the selling skills trainers did the job. It took them a long time because my workers tend to be socially awkward people, but in the long run they told them how to make a good sales pitch and close a deal. I did not want to hire sales representatives like most companies do. I have a different philosophy. You see, our companies are for high-end computer users – people who know the product very well. Selling skills is not enough. What I salesman need above all its technical knowledge. Selling skills has to come second, but it is required. By giving our computer builders and designers the selling skills they needed, we were able to allow them to deal with the customers in a professional yet friendly manner.
The solution selling training provided for us cannot be underestimated. Before we got a boost in selling skills, we were a backwater business that no one had heard of. Every sale was crucial for us because if we were short for one month, we would probably be forced to close. Now that we have the selling skills that we need, however, we are truly prospering.
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