27 Buying courses in Belfast

Some people naturally possess an ability to sell and others over time develop their own style. We have created a highly practical course to give you the confidence and ability to sell over the phone or face to face. We focus the exercises, theory and discussion on your own job role and experiences to ensure you can return to the workplace to deliver tangible results. This 2-day course is designed for individuals who are new to selling, those in a sales role but have not received any formal training, or professionals who would like to brush up and enhance their current selling skills and learn some new techniques. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Course Syllabus The syllabus of the Essential Selling Skills course is comprised of seven modules, covering the following: Module One Understanding the Customer * The importance of good customer care * Selling vs. selling attitude * The reasons people buy * Adopting a positive approach Module Two Self-Awareness * Understanding your selling style * Adapting your selling style to your customer * Understanding your customers buying style Module Three Effective Communication and Rapport Building * Why does communication need to be effective? * Actively listening to your customers' needs * Right question at the right time * The impact of positive and emotive language Module Four Taking a Consultative Approach * Different styles of selling * Taking a consultative approach to selling * Preparation techniques * Buyer behaviour and motivation * A selling approach to match the buyers mind Module Five Presenting the Solution * Selling the benefits * Sales tool kit * Unique sales points * Advanced questioning techniques Module Six Gaining Commitment * Recognising and acting upon buying signals * Dealing with customers concerns * No means no? * How to cope in stressful situations Module Seven Confirming the Sale * Confirming or closing? * Effective confirming techniques * Going the extra mile -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BENEFITS FOR YOU AS AN INDIVIDUAL This course will increase your confidence and ability to sell, having provided you with tools and techniques to achieve maximum results. Delegates always leave with fresh ideas, energy and motivation to succeed. FOR AN EMPLOYER The attitude of the delegates and the results they deliver will speak for themselves. All techniques are easy to apply back into the workplace for an immediate impact. WHAT WILL I LEARN? By the end of the course, participants will be able to: * Appreciate the need for preparation before a sales appointment * Effectively identify and meet needs with advanced questioning techniques * Identify verbal and non-verbal buying signals * Construct professional answers to questions and possible objections * Present your products and/or services with the buyer in mind * Identify and use a selling style appropriate to capture the buyer's attention * Recognise and overcome major objection types * How to apply effective confirmation techniques with the buyer in mind REAL PLAY OPTION We offer an innovative solution to engage the learners and bring real negotiation and closing scenarios to life. We use actors who improvise scenarios which have been specified by the group. * The group is split the group into 2 sub-groups, one with the actor, the other with the trainer. * Each group has a brief and has to instruct their trainer/actor on how to approach the scenario supplied. * The actor and trainer perform the role play(s) as instructed by their respective teams; however during the action they can be paused for further recommendations or direction. * The outcome is the responsibility of the team(s) - not the performers. SCHEDULED COURSES This course is not one that is currently scheduled as an open course, and is only available on an in-house basis. For more information please contact us.

It's a fact of life that costs generally increase and as a result prices must go up too. Implementing an increase without losing customers is challenging. Talking about a price increase with customers never makes for an easy conversation. Your customers will generally decide whether to accept the increase based upon value, as well as the hassle cost of switching and going elsewhere. Even the most experienced salesperson who has implemented price increases before will be fighting back the nerves when faced with the task of 'selling' the increase. In this flexible programme, we will support your internal preparations at whichever stage you and your colleagues are at. From making the decision to increase prices, right through to those on the frontline already dealing with any push-back. This programme will help participants: * Understand the business case for increasing prices * Take steps to research the market * Consider their customers' motivations * Use the six principles of influence * Identify and adapt for different personality styles * Assess their level of trust with customers * Build rapport rapidly with their customers and prospects 1 RAISING PRICES - KEYS TO SUCCESS * Understanding the business case * Researching the market * Assessing the value of your offering 2 UNDERSTANDING YOUR CUSTOMER BASE * Assessing your key accounts * What is your 'target' customer range? * Creating consistency in pricing approach 3 PLANNING THE INCREASE * Timing your implementation * Communication strategy * Elements of a good price increase letter 4 DEVELOPING INFLUENCING SKILLS * The Trust Equation * The six principles of influence * Discovering your customer's buying decisions 5 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND PRICE INCREASES * The part emotion plays * Developing strategies for keeping calm * Handling your customer's responses 6 UNDERSTANDING DIFFERENT CUSTOMER STYLES * Discover your own style * Recognising behaviour traits in others * Adapting your approach to their style 7 PREPARING FOR CUSTOMER CONTACT * Preparing for specific customers * Anticipating their response * Dealing with challenging customers 8 FOLLOWING THROUGH * Maintaining a consistent approach * Resisting requests for discounts * Confirming the increase in writing

Do you hear yourself saying the same thing over and over again? Do you want to bring some new skills to your role? If you have been in a sales role for some time it is easy to fall into a comfortable pattern. This workshop will help you incorporate advanced techniques drawn from NLP, behavioural science and social psychology into your existing skills. This course will help you: * Use the consultative sales process to achieve more cross-sales * Employ advanced rapport-building skills * Assess the buying preferences of a customer * Articulate the link between customer goals and needs * Identify your customer's needs and wants * Use advanced questioning techniques to gather information * Resist the temptation to tell when it would be better to ask * Identify communication preferences * Given various scenarios, present a product to the explicit need of a customer * Appreciate the impact of the language used during this stage of the sale and decide what language is appropriate with a variety of customers * Handle objections positively * Close the sale or gain commitment to further action 1 INTRODUCTION * Aims and objectives of the training * Personal introductions and objectives * Self-assessment of existing sales skills * Overview of content 2 UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF AND YOUR CUSTOMERS * Personal communication style and what this means in a sales situation * Wants versus needs * What motivates people to buy * Using social media tools such as LinkedIn * Managing your portfolio to maximise sales * Preparing to sell 3 THE SALES PROCESS * Overview of the consultative sales process * Review personal strengths and weaknesses as a salesperson * Habits of top-performing sales people * Common pitfalls * Articulate sales goals 4 BUILDING RAPPORT * 11 decisions that customers make in the first 9 seconds * Spotting buyer communication preferences * Building rapport with a wide variety of customers * Dealing with emotions * Keeping control 5 QUESTIONING AND LISTENING * Assumptions and how they trip us up * Structured questioning * Looking for cross-sales * Honing your listening skills * Identifying buyers' motivation * Using summaries to move the customer forward 6 PRESENTING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO CUSTOMERS * Choosing the right time to present * Using features, advantages and benefits * Tailoring your presentation of products and services to match buyer preferences and motivations 7 GAINING COMMITMENT * When to close * Dealing with difficult customers * 5 things to avoid when handling a customer objection 8 MANAGING YOUR BUSINESS * The link between service and sales * Using customer surveys * Winning back lost business 9 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER * Skills practice * Personal learning summary and action plans

In today's fast-moving competitive environment, sales are often made or lost on the strength of a telephone conversation or a brief email. This means that not only is customer service everyone's responsibility - so is sales. Customer service staff are failing the customer if they don't think about sales. And sales staff are failing customers if they don't think about service. And anyone failing a customer is failing both themselves and their employer. Too often, customer service staff feel neither capable nor empowered to recognise or capitalise upon a sales opportunity. Too often, sales people pursue the short-term opportunity at the expense of the bigger picture. The good news is - it doesn't have to be this way! Sales and customer service skills can be acquired, developed and polished just like any other skill. This tried-and-tested programme shows you how to do it. As a result of this course, participants will be able to: * Take control of a customer conversation, with confidence * Refresh and polish their customer service and sales performance * Recognise and develop a sales opportunity * Engage the customer and build rapport * Identify a customer's needs * Match the customer's needs to the organisation's products or services * Handle objections confidently * Ask for the order At the end of the workshop each participant will have developed their own action plan for developing and using their skills in the workplace. 1 INTRODUCTION * Course overview, objectives and introductions 2 SERVING OR SELLING? * Feelings and attitudes - How we can affect the outcome by our feelings and behaviour * What is selling? - Selling is helping people to buy, identifying the opportunities that exist within the conversation to develop the customer's interest in our products or services 3 DEVELOPING THE RIGHT SKILLS * Communication- The impact of body language, voice tone and words- How to make the best impression on the customer and create a 'buying environment' * Rapport-building- What makes a good working relationship?- What do customers look for when they call us?- How can we match their expectations in terms of our own interpersonal skills? * Relating to different types of people by identifying and matching their communication style on the telephone 4 MAKING IT EASY FOR THE CUSTOMER * Starting it right- Opening the conversation positively- Building rapport- How to develop interest in our products or services * Gaining and clarifying information- Questioning skills and questioning style- What do we need to know from the customer?- How can we use that information in the conversation? * Active listening- The most under-rated skill of all- Picking up on the 'Golden Moments' when a customer shows they may be interested * Presenting information confidently- Knowing the benefits of our products or services- How to tell the customer what they need to know in order to enable them to buy * Closing on a positive note- When and how to ask for commitment * Dealing with the customer's objections and concerns in a positive manner * 5 COURSE SUMMARY AND ACTION PLANS * Review of main learning points * Presentation of personal action plans

Are your sales people too stressed, running on adrenalin, perhaps driving towards burnout, struggling to reach targets? Wouldn't you rather they delivered consistently good performance, sustainable over longer periods of time, with less stress (for both them and you)? This uniquely empowering workshop will help your team develop naturally high levels of focus, energy and motivation. They will attain a sense of grounded euphoria, giving them a very distinct and ethical edge in selling. A one-day programme, it gives salespeople an introduction to the 'Natural Superheroes' concepts and resources, tools and techniques, to help them improve their sales performance - realising greater sales potential, developing deeper and more profitable client relationships, winning more business. Through this experience, sales teams gain: * Information about profiling clients to instantly understand more about their deepest drives and true needs so they can be genuinely met and, where possible, exceeded * Insights into deep, honest and very 'real' reasons for sales procrastination - participants are given specific workable strategies they can easily apply to overcome sales resistance, by tapping their natural motivational styles * An understanding of communicating at the very highest levels with different people so they truly understand your sales message and have a significantly more positive sales experience * A realisation of their very specific natural sales talents as individuals and as a team * A deeper level of experience and understanding of what specifically drives their own behaviour and the behaviour of their clients - these unique insights explain not only how but exactly why people behave the way they do * An experience of what it takes to be unshakeable under pressure and manage the sales processes and relationships to a positive outcome for all * Brand-new insights into working with and handling difficult people across all levels of authority * An understanding of the pitfalls and the psychological traps we set ourselves which cause unnecessary stress, anxiety and frustration on a daily basis and, in turn, limit our sales performance * Access to very simple and practical tools that massively increase self-awareness, engender accountability and responsibility and develop emotional sales mastery 1 INTRODUCING 'NATURAL SUPERHEROES' FOR SALES * What is a 'Natural Superhero'? * Defining emotional intelligence in the context of sales and why it is so important * Knowing yourself - why most people don't know themselves at all and how we can understand exactly what drives our behaviour for the purpose of improving sales performance specifically * Knowing exactly why others, and specifically clients and team members, behave the way they do - understanding the real motives behind people's good and bad behaviour in a sales meeting * Simple steps to freeing yourself of any anxiety, pressure and false sense of limitation when selling * Being yourself in sales - why this is not as easy as it sounds but how you can make it effortless * How to take control of achieving the sales performance you really need and want for yourself and others * Strategies that raise your self-awareness, increase an authentic and sustainable sense of self-confidence, in difficult situations and in moments of crisis 2 UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF, YOUR TEAM MEMBERS AND YOUR CUSTOMERS - USING THE ENNEAGRAM * Introducing the Enneagram and why it is so valuable to sales people and their clients * Exploring the 9 types of motivational drives and why people have different reasons for buying from you * Core types and wings - understanding the influence of other motivations either side of the core Enneagram type * How to confirm the profile of your client - using celebrities from the world of politics, cinema, sports - we explore how to identify each type - what are their core drives, why have they arisen and how can we use these insights to help you in improving your sales performance * The 3 levels of behaviour within your personal profile and that of your clients * Lookalike Enneagram types - mistaken identities - how to avoid these traps when profiling your clients and your team * How to communicate effectively in a sales environment with each of the different Enneagram types - communication strategies for positive impact on morale, performance and, ultimately, sales results * How to interpret and make use of the results of your online personal profile - participants complete an online profile before the event and have the opportunity to analyse their results with a view to improving their sales performance * How sales teams sabotage their own performance and that of other people within the team - and how to stop it * Uncovering your particular edge in a sales role - what unconsciously trips you up as a sales person? * How the Enneagram helps us in sustaining a truly great sales performance over time 3 WHY POSITIVE THINKING ALONE DOESN'T WORK IN SALES * Why 'PMA' does not stand for positive mental attitude when selling - learn its alternative meaning that can serve you even more effectively in a sales role * 3 steps and exercises that naturally increase PMA * The value of making unconscious thinking conscious and how to do this without any pain or discomfort in a sales meeting * Why each Enneagram type has a different experience of PMA in terms of their outward behaviour and how to know when you are maximising your sales performance 4 MEASURING SUCCESS * How to measure the development of your individual profile as a sales person * Development planning and review * Into the future - how to continue your Natural Superhero development

The Sales Accelerator programme is a fresh approach to improving business development productivity. It focuses on identifying and using a series of business productivity metrics in order to build a clear action plan for improving sales results - typically within 90 days. The metrics are grouped under three headings: The basic principle is that a small improvement in each area can lead to a significant increase in sales results and productivity. And the object of the programme is to show how best to achieve that. The programme therefore looks at each of these three areas in turn, spending a day on each. Suitable for any and all businesses and all levels of experience and expertise, this is a remarkably practical and hands-on programme. During the workshop, participants discuss, review and apply many proven sales and marketing techniques and personal selling ideas. The goal is to generate and commit to changes and actions that can lead to a 10-30% increase in the next three to six months. There's also a consultancy option, rather than the workshop-based programme. See below for details. DAY ONE - ACTIVITY Key objective This first module introduces the Sales Accelerator model. The goal here is to show participants how to increase their pro-active activity levels by around 10%. It covers all aspects of creating new business opportunities, from existing customers and non-customers alike, and is linked to personal activity improvement goals. Main elements * Improve the productivity, accuracy and effectiveness of your business approach by using new and unique models and techniques. * Different methods of creating and generating new business opportunities in the short, medium and long term. This includes sourcing new business, up-selling, cross-selling, warm calling and gaining referrals. * Using organised persistence to track and build new customer revenue. * Managing your sales time effectively. Key learning points * Sales productivity - understand the dynamics of increasing the combination of activity levels, deal value and conversion rate of proposals/quotations to orders and implement an improvement plan. * Sales goal setting: setting business development objectives for quantity and quality - plus tips and tricks of top performers. * Maintain a peak activity level, on a consistent basis using 'organised persistence' and structured business development tracking methodology. * How to prioritise opportunities and manage your time when sourcing new business. * Identify potential new customers - and particularly the decision-makers and influencers - with greater accuracy. * Make outbound business or appointment calls with improved confidence, control and results. DAY TWO - VALUE Key objective To be able to better anticipate, identify, create, and develop business opportunities using a customer / client-focused communication-based business model and consultative skills. Main elements * How to develop sales more effectively from new and existing customers; and managing the first appointment with a new customer. * Use structured and assertive drawing-out skills to identify, develop and formalise business opportunities and to gain commitment. * How to better position your company and your products and services against your main competitors. * Create and deliver persuasive business messages based on specific need areas, criteria and value. Key learning points * Advanced consultative selling - use a variety of structured and advanced questioning techniques to confidently and efficiently uncover opportunities, need areas and business criteria - confidently and efficiently. * Involve the customer/client at all times, and to a far greater degree, and keep better control of business development process. * Value message - differentiate your solutions clearly and accurately with customer/client-matched value statements. * Presenting the right USPs, features and benefits and making them relevant and real to the customer. Qualification and reading buying signals. DAY THREE (HELD AROUND FOUR WEEKS AFTER THE FIRST MODULE) - CONVERSION Key objective This module looks at how to improve the final qualification, progression and conversion of opportunities in your sales pipeline. Also includes price negotiation, overcoming objections and obstacles to gaining agreement. The module begins with a learning review, sharing participants' experiences over the last four weeks in applying the new techniques and skills acquired during the first two modules. This is an opportunity to revisit particularly challenging areas as well as to share and celebrate successes. Main elements * Structuring and preparing for negotiating a deal and knowing when and how to move into the 'end-game' mode. * Anticipate and answer customer objections and questions more confidently. * Build more credibility and proof into your business process to reduce 'buyer's remorse' and speed-up decision-making. * Being more assertive and developing better instincts and strategic thinking in progressing quotations and proposals. Key learning points * Smart ways to position price, emphasise value and be a strong player without being the cheapest. * Becoming more assertive in closing deals, and the importance of organised follow-up on the telephone. * Qualify pipeline opportunities with more accuracy, using a proven check-list. * Use an 'option generator' to simplify complex proposals, increase business value and close business faster. * Writing more effective sales proposal documents and quotations. * How best to draw-out, understand, isolate and answer customer objections, negotiate points and concerns. * Practical methods of asking for agreement and closing a sale

The 'golden rule' of negotiation is simple - don't! But life's rarely that simple and very often we do have to negotiate, particularly if we want to win the business and especially if we want to win it on our terms. Such negotiations are crucial. We need to prepare for them. We need a strategy, and the skills to execute it. Does your team have a structured approach? Is it flawlessly executed, every time? Or is there room for improvement? This programme will help them master the six fundamentals of closing better business: Manage all these elements well and you will win more business, more profitably. This course will help participants: * Negotiate from a position of partnership, not competition * Deal more effectively and profitably with price objections * Identify and practise successful sales negotiating skills * Identify strengths and weaknesses as a sales negotiator * Understand different types of buyer behaviour * Learn to recognise negotiating tactics and stances * Apply a new and proven structure to their business negotiations * Identify and adapt for different behavioural styles * Be alert to unconscious (non-verbal) communication * Prepare and present a proposal at a final business negotiation stage * Project confidence and exercise assertiveness in all sales negotiations 1 PLANNING FOR SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS NEGOTIATIONS This session introduces the concept of business negotiation and looks at its importance in the context of the participants' roles and activities. It briefly examines why we negotiate and the dynamics involved. Session highlights: * What kind of a negotiator are you? * Negotiation skills self-assessment and best practice * How to establish roles and responsibilities for both parties * How to identify and set objectives for both buyer and seller * How to research and establish the other person's position (business negotiation stance) 2 HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR NEGOTIATIONS This module presents an eight-step framework or structure for use in negotiations and considers how best to prepare and plan your negotiations within the context of a supplier/customer relationship or business cycle. It also includes a brief review of legal responsibilities and what constitutes a 'deal'. Session highlights: * Learn and apply a formal structure to use when negotiating * How to establish short- and longer-term objectives and opportunities * How best to plan, prepare and co-ordinate a major business negotiation meeting, or on-going negotiations * Understanding of basic legal and organisational requirements 3 VERBAL NEGOTIATION SKILLS This session examines the human and communication dynamics inherent in any negotiation situation. It emphasises the importance of professional skills in preparing for a negotiation by identifying needs, wants and requirements accurately and by qualifying the competitive and organisational influences present. Session highlights: * How to fully 'qualify' the other party's needs, requirements and constraints during the negotiation process by using advanced questioning and listening skills * How to pre-empt negotiation objections by promoting and gaining commitment to options, benefits, value and solutions * How best to propose and suggest ideas, using drawing-out skills 4 NON-VERBAL NEGOTIATION SKILLS This module highlights how different personal styles, corporate cultures and organisation positions can influence events, and demonstrates practical methods for dealing with and controlling these factors. It also examines key principles of body language and non-verbal communication in a practical way. Session highlights: * Gaining rapport and influencing unconsciously * Understanding the importance of non-verbal communication; reading other people's meaning and communicating effectively as a result * Ensure that non-verbal behaviour is fully utilised and observed to create maximum impact and monitor progress (eg, buying signals) * Recognising that business negotiations are precisely structured and agreements gained incrementally 5 PROPOSING AND 'PACKAGING' This session highlights how best to present and package your proposal. It looks at how to pre-empt the need for negotiating by creating minor-options and 'bargaining' points, as well as how to manage the expectations and perceptions of the customer or buyer. Session highlights: * How to identify the key variables that can be negotiated * The power and use of 'authority' within your negotiations * How to structure and present your proposal, ideas or quotation to best effect * The importance of when and how to identify and influence buyer's objections 6 DEALING WITH PRICE This module highlights how to best present and package price within your proposal or negotiation. In most cases, price has more to do with psychology than affordability and preparation and careful handling are essential. Session highlights: * The three reasons that people will pay your asking price * How to set price in a competitive market * The key differences between selling and negotiating * Ten ways to present price more effectively and persuasively 7 GETTING TO 'YES': TACTICS AND STRATEGIES There are many different tactics and strategies common to successful negotiators. This session looks at those that are most appropriate to the participants' own personal styles and situations. The importance of 'follow-through' is also explained and how to deal with protracted or 'stale-mate' business negotiations. Session highlights: * How to negotiate price and reduce discounting early in the process * How to recognise negotiating tactics and strategies in your customer or supplier * Key strategies, techniques and tactics to use in negotiation * The importance of follow-through and watching the details * How to deal with stalled business negotiations or competitor 'lock-out' 8 CASE STUDIES AND REVIEW This session examines a number of different situations and participants discuss ways to approach each. This will allow learning to be consolidated and applied in a very practical way. There will also be a chance to have individual points raised in a question and answer session. Session highlights: * Case studies * Question and answer * Planning worksheet * Negotiation 'toolkit' and check-list 9 PERSONAL ACTION PLANS Session highlights: * Identify the most important personal learning points from the programme * Highlight specific actions and goals * Flag topics for future personal development and improvement