I once worked with a sales veteran who could show up and sit down in just about any situation and start building relationships and closing sales almost instantly. His secret weapon was that he had worked for a Xerox distributor early in his career and had participated in a lot of Xerox sales training.
This guy had absconded with a copy of this huge binder that he had received as a part of this training. The binder was an excruciatingly detailed sales process for selling copiers. It had detailed step by step instructions for every scenario… if its a referral, do it this way, if its a cold lead, do it that way, etc…. Each individual process was very detailed…
Call and say this.
Send this letter, then wait 7 days.
Call again and say that.
If the prospect responds this way, then send this letter and call again in 10 days, etc.
My associate had figured out that the words in the letters or what the binder said to say in a call where not important. What’s valuable about that binder is the detailed documentation of all the steps, the timing and all the possible branches on the tree of possible outcomes along the way. He could apply it to selling any product or service.
In the 70’s, Xerox was known for having one of the most comprehensive sales training programs ever developed.
So, when I ran across this article by Daniel Sitter, in Idea Sellers, I had to pass it along!
Actual video of Xerox President Joe Wilson from back in the 60’s. The video is of Joe welcoming a group of new reps to their training program.
Its still timely and moving.
I hope you enjoy!