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How to Raise Your Sales Game via Simon Hazeldine – Professional Speaker, Bestselling Author, Performance Consultant

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4 Oct 2016

How to Raise Your Sales Game via Simon Hazeldine – Professional Speaker, Bestselling Author, Performance Consultant

In the last few years the world has altered dramatically in terms of the economy, society, technology and business. This in turn has lead to significant and continuing changes in the world of sales. To keep using the same techniques that may have been successful decades ago, in today’s reality of different buyer needs, knowledge and expectation, is becoming increasingly ineffective and ultimately bad for business.

Considering all of the changes that have resulted in this challenging new reality that we now live in, you are probably wondering what it takes to achieve exceptional sales performance. At the recent RDO7 Conference 2016, Simon Hazeldine, who is a globally renowned professional speaker, bestselling author and performance consultant delivered a completely fresh take on how your sales team can achieve sales growth.

Simon delivered a highly informative and entertaining presentation which challenged many of the concepts you may have thought you knew about successful selling. Instead of tired all approaches that rarely work these days, Simon shared some cutting edge insights that neuroscience has recently revealed about the way the human brain behaves when making buying decisions, and revealed the five keys to exceptional sales performance.

In the following video Simon speaks to Steve Clarke about how your timeshare resort sales team can successfully adapt their strategy and raise their game which should result in more sales.

Steve: “So Simon, you’ve just finished doing a cracking keynote, talking about how the world of selling has changed. Because we both know the world has changed in terms of the buying cycle and the way buyers buy.”

“You were hitting some really key points about how selling needs to change too and the conference is actually called Taking Ownership. What would you say to the people who have been at the conference and listened to you; what are a couple of things they should be doing differently as a result of hearing you talk today?”

Simon: “In terms of the theme of the conference Taking Ownership, one of the things I talked about, one of my five principles is: get a grip, as in you need to take responsibility for this. So if you’ve got challenges, problems, if your sales team are not functioning as well as they could be, you need to take ownership, you need to take responsibility, to get a grip and do something about it. There’s no point coming to RDO7 and being here for 2-3 days and not taking action.”

“One of my other key principles was to get going. I got someone in the audience to jump up out of their chair to take some action. People need to go back and take some actions. The world of selling has changed, the buyer has changed. My question, my challenge is: is your sales process the same as it was 10, 15, 20 years ago? If it is, it’s out of date and it’s going to become more and more ineffective, so they’ve just got to make those changes.”

“Think about it as a buying process. What’s the buying process the new, more informed, potentially misinformed customer is going to need to go through? Help then make a good buying decision, rather than doing some pre scripted, canned conversation.”

Steve: “So we know that that’s what a lot of people in this industry and others will do, the canned, regular presentation, but you are not talking about a quantum leap, or about massive expense to make these changes. We’re talking all about mindset and the way you approach people right?”

Simon: “Yeah it is. The old-school sales processes, we’re not throwing the whole thing out. We’re just having to adapt it and refine it and make it different. For example you’ve got different personality profiles. That’s what I was talking about in there, you know your analytical, expressive, amiable, driver. You need to alter, adapt and flex, be a little bit of a sales chameleon as I call it. You are going to kind of change the way you do it, to meet the needs of the customer and the buying preferences of the customer. So you need to think about how you can alter and adapt your sales presentation to make the customer feel more comfortable. The more comfortable they are, the more likely they are just to say yes, wow that sounds like a great opportunity, where do I sign?

Steve: “And that will result in the more sales?”

Simon: “Yes, categorically!”

Steve: “The way you were describing it is far more about helping people get to a point where they ask if they can buy, as opposed to strong-arming them with the old ABC of selling: “always be closing”. It should probably be “always be curious” or “always be caring”, because you should really care about the people. Always be chameleons, that’s your ABC now! It’s changed.

Simon:
“I just tend to say, understand what they need, really create it, what’s their buying criteria, what’s important to them? Show them a thing that’s tailored to them, that they’re interested in. Watch them and when they start going wow that sounds amazing, sometimes all you need to do is just say “so would you like to go ahead?” or “shall we try that?” or “what what’s the next step for you?”

Steve: “We’re not doing rocket science there then are we! Simon it was an absolute treat speaking to you again. There’s lots for people to get out there and do, but as you said it’s all about implementation and taking action.”

Simon: “Absolutely!”

Ultimately those working within the timeshare industry, need to update the way that they approach selling in order to thrive in today’s very different environment. Rather than giving pre-scripted sales speeches and talking at the potential client, sales staff should listen to the needs and requirements of those they are talking with instead of at.

Simon has a Masters Degree in Psychology and has extensively studied the way the human mind works which has enabled him to understand which sales tactics work in today’s world. Now that individuals have greater knowledge at their fingertips about products, services and brands, they are often much more sceptical about sales people. Trying to force or manipulate people into buying something they don’t want or need is increasingly ineffective and will likely just push potential clients away. Instead as Simon suggests salespeople should make their clients feel comfortable and build a connection in which they are listening more and speaking less.

The techniques that Simon has suggested in his presentation and various bestselling books are not difficult to learn, but will make the world of difference in terms of raising your sales game by creating a winning performance. So take action and make that change!

Here at RDO we would like to once again thank Simon and Steve for their excellent presentations at RDO7 and for appearing in this video.

To find out more about Simon, including how your organisation can book him for inspirational sales speeches, or staff training, visit his website: http://simonhazeldine.com/
He is also active on social media so connect with him on his channels:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simon.hazeldine
Twitter: https://twitter.com/simonhazeldine
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonhazeldine

To find out more about Steve, including how your organisation can book him for inspirational sales speeches, or staff training, visit his website: http://www.eurekaselling.co.uk/

He is also very active on social media so make sure to follow along for inspirational posts:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/uksalesmentor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/salesmentor
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uksalesmentor
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/eurekasales
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uksalesmentor/

If you would like to discuss anything with RDO regarding this blog post or other relevant topics, then simply add the hashtag #RDO7 or #RDOdigital to your tweet. Alternatively search #RDO7 or #RDOdigital on Twitter to see what else we’ve been discussing and you can easily get involved in the conversation.

The RDO7 conference 2016 was sponsored by CLC World Resorts & Hotels, Diamond Resorts International, Interval International and RCI at the Platinum level, and Dial An Exchange, Generator Systems and Shawbrook Bank at the Gold level. We thank them for their support.

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