Having watched Gordon Ramsay and restaurateur Allan Love of Ruby Tates (Now known as Love’s Fish Restaurant)at it hammer and tong last night on Kitchen Nightmares I couldn’t help but have a chuckle.

Here was Ramsay trying to help, albeit in his own forceful and “my way or the highway approach”. And then there was Allan Love, desperate to succeed but with his own ideas - which were obviously not working due to the lack of customers and money in the bank.

There were many things covered last night but I want to focus on one thing in-particular and that is the brand.

Love’s restaurant was formerly called Ruby Tates and was selling all kinds of fish from far afield. Problem was, it did not have any identity.

To build a brand you need a “It does what it says on the tin” mentality so Ramsay changed the name to:

Love’s Fish Restaurant

Simply brilliant!

Why is this so?

Well, you know what the restaurant is all about!

You are left in no doubt as to what the restaurant specialises in and then word can spread like wildfire especially as the owner, Allan Love, also has his name as part of the eatery. And Love himself is a big part of the brand too.

Ruby Tates? Sounds like a curry house or some cockney slang! The new name is a lot better.

Having trained hundreds of restaurant managers and other shop owners just like Allan in both sales and marketing, you really do need to appreciate the value of creating a brand and an identity.

What do I mean by this?

Well, with Love’s Fish Restaurant the ultimate aim is for anyone who visits Brighton to take in a meal there because they are “famous for their fish that are all locally caught”

Other restaurants might want to have the “Best Burger In Glasgow” or be known for “The Best Lasagne Outside Of Italy”

It’s always best to have a play on words or be known for a certain speciality that creates a buzz and then watch as word spreads!

Allan - well done for listening to Gordon in the end. I know it wasn’t easy buddy and it took a lot of guts but I think you now have a restaurant to be proud of and one that will make some money.

Rest assured, if I come down to Brighton I’ll look you up and taste the local Pollock!

MTD Sales Training is one of the most visited for sales training on the entire internet so I have great pleasure in providing a link to your web page Allan! I hope it generates a lot of business for you.

Click below:
Love’s Fish Restaurant

Happy Selling!

Sean Mc
PS
For free sales training tips please click here

I’m often asked “What is the best type of sales training?”

My reply is often quite simple!

The best sales training any company can receive is an ongoing programme of some sort.

Here’s why…

The problem with one off sales training courses is that they are good for a shot in the arm but they do not have a long term lasting affect.

You want to keep your sales teams “hot” all of the time and the best vehicle to do this is with an ongoing programme of continued sales development.

The best sales training is modular where your sales people can try out different techniques and strategies and then come back a month later to go through what went well and what didn’t go so well as well as learning new and upto date selling methods.

A lot of what has been taught in the past no longer works in the internet age! Your prospects can find out all about you and your company before you even show for your sales pitch so you need a different angle of attack.

One on one sales coaching is proving to be very popular too. With this, individuals can receive the very best sales training on a personal level with a sales coach. This is also very popular with Sales Directors and Senior Sales People who can at times feel they are all alone in the quest to raise the sales for their company.

So, in closing am I saying that 1 or 2 day sales training courses are a waste of time? Of course not.

They are still a valuable refresher to get your staff back on track and getting them into good selling habits.

But if you are deadly serious about providing your sales teams with the very best sales training, then an ongoing sales development program is something you will definately want to look in to.

Happy Selling!

Sean
PS If you would like to make a sales training enquiry please click here.

Telesales Training Course

Effective Telesales Training

Successful Telephone Selling In The 21st Century

Successful selling over the telephone in the 21st century requires a different set of skills than previously displayed.

Your customers have an expectation of levels of quality and service higher than ever before.

Therefore, your telesales team need to use the right approach and have the relevant skills at each stage of the sales process.

Handling objection skills is not enough. The majority of your success will depend upon speaking to the right person, your opening statements and effective questioning and listening skills.

In order to keep up with the changing market, your sales team need to develop the mind-set of the customers that they are selling to so that they can build long-term profitable relationships.

It is no longer enough just to have the ‘best product’ on the market.

Your customers require that their providers be on their wavelength, to ultimately provide them with the products and services that they want and desire.

MTD have experience in working with companies to provide just that; the vision to provide their clients with the value that goes beyond just the use of the product or service – it is the whole customer experience that counts. Your sales team need to realise that you need to provide your customers with an experience that is way beyond just selling a product.

Our experience has confirmed that, as sales techniques have advanced rapidly, training and development of staff has had to change radically to match these advancements.

MTD have developed a unique offering in the market place – the ability to support the sales person in the short, medium and long-term development of their own skills and attitudes by a mixture of workshop environments and continuous support by email.

Our proposal is based on the assumption that human beings learn best by doing, rather than just seeing and hearing.

From attending this programme and experiencing our new, fresh and innovative approach to sales training, each sales person will go away with a tool kit of effective selling skills that will enable them to improve their own performance and get them into good selling habits.

Telephone Selling Skills Best Practices

This workshop will make all of your outbound sales team into highly motivated, objection handling and closing experts!

Through accelerated learning techniques, persuasive and hypnotic language and the very latest techniques in sales psychology, your sales staff will go away from the course ready for action.

Content that will be covered:

Call Structure

How to formulate a winning script that works
Getting through the gatekeeper and talking to the decision maker
The introduction and hook
Making effective benefit statements
Handling objections
How to respond over the telephone to responses like:
- “I haven’t got the time”
- “Call me back later”
- “I am happy with what I have got”
- “I don’t have the money”
- “I’m not interested”
- “Just send me some information”
Closing the sale

Included Within The Telesales Training:

Self-Motivation & “Keeping Up” even when you feel down
First impressions
Telephone personality
Using a script effectively
Asking the right questions & listening
Spotting the buying signals
Closing the sale and all of the different ways to do this
Effective follow up strategies when the sale is not made

This can be a 1-day or 2-day telesales training course. Please call us on 0800 849 6732 or make a sales training enquiry

Having been brought up in the industrial city of Coventry, the football team has always held a soft spot in my heart, even though there are times when I delve into the deepest of despair with their performances. Living many miles away from the city means my visits are most infrequent, but when I do make it back there, I sometimes catch a game.

And so it was that on one chilly October evening, I happened to find myself ensconced in a blue plastic seat, watching my ‘heroes’ take on Watford, a team 14 places above them in the league table. Of course, that wasn’t going to put us off, and, like all supporters of a team, I started with hope in the heart and wishes in my head. Alas, one of the poorest performances of the season saw my beloved team succumb by three goals to nil. At home. On a cold night. With only one shot at goal that could be remembered. Oh, well, I thought, better luck next time.

Then a very enthusiastic stadium announcer clicked on his microphone just as 17,000 disgruntled fans were milling their way sadly home. The irony of his comments were noted by fans surrounding me…”Don’t forget” he said, without a hint of sarcasm, “we will no doubt be seeing you all for our next home game on Saturday. Remember, it’s only £10 a ticket to see YOUR team!”

The sarcastic laughs around me made it obvious that those comments were not the most welcome. The general mood was pessimistic and unforgiving of a particularly poor performance by THEIR team.

I wondered what the response would be just four days later when the same team played again. I read the score and the report on the Saturday evening. Should I have been surprised to see that the attendance was over 23,000? Perhaps not. No doubt the discounted price had something to do with the increased crowd numbers.

But I also can’t help thinking that thousands of supporters who had been moaning, groaning and booing their team just four days earlier had also turned up at the next game. What is interesting is how our allegiances and loyalties rarely die, even though the embarrassment of a defeat lives long in the memory (well, at least 24 hours, anyway!)

It makes me think that, in business, some of the things we say and do stick in the memory for a long time, and many other things just fade and die away. Our loyalty to a company may not be very high these days, but we still stick with them, for a myriad of reasons. We have so many choices these days that it is difficult to stay loyal to a company for long before you see or hear of something better with someone else.

If you have customers, do you know what keeps them loyal? Have you asked them? What would make them walk away from you? Or are they fickle enough to leave for a small reason like ‘lower price’? My friend knows someone who drives more than 6 miles to a petrol station so he can save 1p per litre on fuel. That ‘duh’ type of loyalty doesn’t make sense to most people, but it would make sense to the person who drives that distance. We can always rationalise our emotional decisions, but when was the last time you found out specifically what makes your customers loyal?

Try asking them. And then do your best to meet and exceed those expectations.

There are some people, like die-hard footy fans, who would NEVER give up their allegiance, no matter how they felt about their team. Would you be able to buy that kind of loyalty? No, but you could find out what makes them choose to be loyal. Don’t let them walk away without you knowing why.

And, by the way, the next time I’m in the Midlands, I might just slide along to the Ricoh and see how the lads are doing. It’s in the blood, you know!

Thanks awfully,

Mark Williams

I believe that the standards of customer service in the UK are awful.

Here are a couple of examples from my weekend…

1. Left Hanging With The Hanging Baskets

I visited BLOOMS GARDEN CENTRE in Rugby with my wife and 15 month old daughter to purchase some hanging baskets for the front of our house and also for our back garden. It was 4:30 on Sunday and it was almost empty with about 20 staff on show as I stood behind someone in the queue with my trolley loaded with hanging baskets and plants. She had a lot of queries and took 9 minutes while I just stood there like a lemon while staff (7 of them in my view) gossiped and were obviously “closing down” for the night. Still I waited until I had enought - I said in a raised voice “Is anyone going to serve me here or shall I just put the goods back?”. All of a sudden someone who was sweeping up just 2 feet away from me and another till said “Come over to this till” and she processed my order. No sorry, no nothing. It was awful.

They were just jobsworth people and after my outburst a couple of them smirked and commented on what I had said. Appalling.

2. We went for Sunday Dinner at our local pub. The menu said “Sunday dinner is a special time for friends and family to spend together with our traditional roast” Obviously not special enough as they had run out of the Sunday Roast come 4pm! This is the 5th time this has happened too. Do you think they know about the problem? Thing is, the roast is £9.99 each and everything else on the menu is around 5 or 6 quid so they are losing a lot of turnover!

Please please please take notice of the poor service I received. In your business, do you know what is going on? Do you have high standards? Do you actually give a toss about the customer? I mean, truly, madly care about the customer?

Make sure your systems are set up to deliver excellent customer service at all times and get rid of everything or anyone who does not contribute to this.

Like I say to everyone I meet “You are either part of the solution or part of the problem”

Sean Mc

It’s really going to help you to close more deals if you can get your prospect to know, like and trust you.

So how exactly can you build up trust?

Here are a few pointers…

1. Become an adviser

If you know your product knowledge inside out and lose the “salesmans patter” you will come across as a trusted source of information rather than someone just after their money.

THIS WILL BUILD TRUST

2. Step into their shoes

If you know your clients problems inside out and what they are facing then you will build rapport and likeability with your prospect. You will both be coming from the same angle.

THIS WILL BUILD TRUST

3. Previous experience

What you have done, how you have done it and who for will all build your credibility with your prospects. Make sure that you demonstrate this during your meetings.

THIS WILL BUILD TRUST

4. Be wary of your body language

The one thing that can destroy your credibility is the way that you carry yourself and the unconscious signals that your body language gives out. Read up on physiology and the impact that it has on whether someone likes you or not.

THIS WILL BUILD UP TRUST

5. Your appearance

Dress to impress the people you are meeting not your work colleagues. Having a designer suit, spikey hair and a tie knot the size of London may impress the guys in the office but it will not impress the “50 something” Director you are about to pitch to for 10 grand. Same for the girls, tone down the power dressing especially if you are meeting with another woman.

THIS WILL BUILD TRUST

Pay attention the detail and watch your sales soar!

Until the next time, take care of yourself and happy selling!

Sean

Retail sales training is a real joy because of the nature of the sale. There you have people coming in to your store and if someone doesn’t buy, another prospect comes along very quickly!

Do you work in retail sales?

If you do then the “Oh, I’m just looking response” must frustrate the hell out of you.

But let me tell you this - it’s all your fault!

You allow your browsers to come back with that line because of the question you ask them!

Now you know that 80% of people will say “Oh, I’m just looking” to your opening question of “Can I help you?” so guess what you should do?

You should just help them to look!

You should say:

“Hi there, is there anything I can help you get a look at? “

Or

“Hi there, is there anything in particular that you wanted to look at?”

Can they come back and say, NO, I’m just looking?

Acknowledge the fact that they may want to look and help them do it.

Happy selling

Sean Mc

PS
We train, consult and advise many retail stores on how to improve their sales through effective retail sales training and sales consulting. Often after we have conducted some sales training, we will get members of staff to mystery shop the store! We have even got a dedicated MTD Mystery Shopping team in place to ensure that the standards of selling are top notch!

PPS
Have you got any retail sales training requirements in mind? If so, please make an enquiry at: http://www.mtdsalestraining.com/enquiry.html

We complete a lot of in-house sales training courses in the Midlands but especially within Birmingham.

These consist of a wide range of different courses including: telesales, consultative selling, account management, retail sales training - you name it!

B2B and B2C companies are now acknowledging that training their sales teams is a MUST HAVE not a NICE TO HAVE.

The impact of a sales training course are for all to see because they have an immediate on the bottom line which is easier to measure than say management training.

Also, a lot of Birmingham companies are attending our sales training courses in Coventry because of our central location which ensures they do not have to fork out for hotel fees!

Sean Mc

If I were to ask you "What do you sell?" what would you say?

Software? Products? Holidays? Make Up?

You see, you don’t really sell anything!

I know that sounds weird but think about this for a moment…

What do WONDERBRA sell? They actually sell SELF CONFIDENCE for women (and also pleasure for men!)

What do BLACK AND DECKER sell? Well, if you want a drill THEY sell you a HOLE! (The drill is just the vehicle!)

And what do DUREX sell you? Well they probably save you £300,000 in costs over an 18 year period!!!!

Think about that you REALLY sell. Think about what the customer is buying.

Think benefits. Think what the buyer wants the product or service for - it will be different to what you sell!

Write now right down what you REALLY sell? Quantify it from the buyers point of view. If you think you are selling holidays you are wrong - you are in fact selling an experience, relaxation, time away with the family.

Think of it in this way and watch your sales soar!

Sean Mc

A lot is made about sales models and having a framework from which to sell from.

But not a lot of sales people know their own buyers model for purchasing which is crazy when you think about it.

You should be able to overlay your sales model with your buyers purchasing model and they should complement each other very well.

So my question to you is this:

Do you know how your prospects make their purchasing decision?

How do they make their mind up?

Who else is involved?

Who is the ultimate decision maker?

What role does your "buyer" have?

Do they influence the decision or are they the main decision maker?

How long does the decision take to make?

What are the steps they need to take to progress the sale?

When meeting with your prospect you should unearth the answers to these questions and then position your sales model in line with your prospect’s model of purchasing. Ensure your sales training material covers this because it is very important.

Happy Selling

Sean Mc