Students of the Sales Training Institute will learn to:

• Generate increased top line sales training revenue through sales skills development
• Learn to close more sales in a sales consultative approach by becoming business consultants
• Create better margins for sales training efforts while learning effective probing, supporting and closing skills
• Lower sales operating costs by increasing effective sales interviewing skills by quickly following up on sales leads
• Develop stronger telephone and face to face selling skills through high impact sales training seminars based on extensive in class practice
• Strengthen company’s identification of their strategic sales opportunities
• Design and optimize sales strategies for selling and winning business
• Become more productive at their sales jobs through pre-call planning and better handling
• Implement more effective sales communication skills through effective and efficient time usage in our sales training seminars
• Generate and practice more powerful customer sales presentations training
• Increase sales force training skills and become immediately more productive on their sales jobs
• Be more effective in their sales communications with their internal and external customers
• Apply the skills learned in our sales training seminars while energizing their fellow sales force members  

Times like these can bring out the best or the worst in people. Tough economic times certainly have a way of showing which salespeople really have what it takes. At the same time, sales managers reveal a lot about themselves and how they react to a challenging environment.

Don't Micro Manage Your Way to Short-Term Results and Long-Term Morale Problems

When facing difficult selling conditions, some managers begin to use fear and micro management techniques to squeeze results out of their sales staff. This creates bad morale for the sales team and causes workers to go into a protective mode. The problem is that if these methods work, they only work for short-term results. Everyone scrambles initially and morale begins to sink in the workplace. Salespeople become defensive and communication breaks down within the team and between the team and the manager. Good sales managers encourage their people during hard times; ineffective ones create threatening environments.

Keep a Smart Sales Team

Monetary incentives and recognition are effective tools for motivating sales staff, but managers shouldn't rely on them entirely. Ongoing sales training and education plays an important role as well. Unfortunately, many companies cut these funds during a recession, but as a sales manager you should look for ways to continually educate and motivate your staff. Your sales team should always be learning, even in small ways. Reading sales publications, watching online training web casts, and learning from each other are some ways to continue education without spending much money.

Motivation: It's all about You

It's important for a sales manager to take the right steps to create a positive and rewarding environment, but when it comes to motivation, that's really up to you as the salesperson, right? The only person who can truly motivate you, is you. So how can you stay motivated in today's climate? If you're already in a slump, what can you do to light your own fire?

You Can't Change the World, but You Can Change Yourself

One place to start is to focus on your job and clients and stop focusing on negative economic reports from the media. Focusing on this bad news can do nothing but help you support your excuses for lack of motivation or poor performance. After all, the news is telling you it can't be done. For the media, bad news is good news. As a salesperson are you going to solve the economic woes of the country? No. You can, however, focus on what you can do -- and that's your own job. Focus on the can do and you'll find the motivation to do more.

Today's Small Goals May Motivate You More than Tomorrow's Big Ones

Smart salespeople set goals, not only month-end goals and quotas, but daily goals, even hourly goals for themselves. Set goals to talk to a certain number of clients a day. Accomplishing small goals may work better for you than focusing on those that may seem too far off and too big to reach. Writing down your goals and successes, no matter how small they may be, will help to keep you motivated.

The More You Do it, The More You are Motivated to Do it

Take a look at your how you spend your time. With good time management you will achieve your best results. In sales, most of your time should be spent conversing with clients and potential clients. The best way to stay motivated is stay in the game and be in constant communication with those who have the power to help you achieve your goals -- the customer. DOING is a motivator. Just as a writer can't accomplish anything without actually WRITING, salespeople have to ALWAYS BE SELLING. It's the Nike theory: "Just Do it."

Routines Can Lead to Ruts, Risks Can Lead to Rewards

Force yourself to take a risk today. What is motivation? Motivation is making yourself do things when it would be easier not to do them. Take a risk and see where it leads you. You may find it really kick starts your attitude and opens doors you didn't know existed. Repeating a routine that is not working, or not working as well as it once did when your product was easier to sell, will only help you dig a rut. With fewer successes, you'll become less motivated. Those willing to take risks often reap great rewards and find that success builds on success. When you're successful, "how do I become motivated?" becomes an irrelevant topic for discussion.

Source: Lynn Mattoon link