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  

In the marketplace, most salespersons have heard the plethora of sales metaphors. For example many years ago, I heard someone make this statement about my father: "Hoagy could sell ice to an Eskimo." Being under the age of 6, my concrete brain could not figure out this conceptual sales metaphor about why an Eskimo would buy ice, given he probably had all the ice he wanted.

Part of that challenge was I did not understand what a metaphor actually was since this is an abstract way of thinking. This word is Greek in its origin and actually comes from two different words:

Meta meaning over

Pherein meaning to carry

Modern day definition, according to Webster's New World Dictionary, is a figure of speech in which one thing is likened to another.

Now some 30 years later, I realized that this sales metaphor demonstrated that my dad had the ability to give the customer or client what he or she needed. Of course some may argue that the salesperson was so good, he or she sold what was not needed.

Yet the essence is still the same and that is to carry over. In sales this is just as important today, yesterday and tomorrow. Being able to "carry over" is all about these five action verbs:

Knowing

Building

Showing

Doing

Exceeding

To increase sales, top sales performers use metaphors to further "carry over" their message because they:

Know the potential customer and potential needs (a.k.a. prospect)

Build the relationship (a.k.a. marketing and this is not selling)

Show (a.k.a. present the case as to the value of buying this particular product or service)

Do (a.k.a. deliver what was promised)

Exceed (a.k.a. follow-up and ask for referrals)

Since people hear words, but think in pictures, sales metaphors are probably one of the best ways to control the sales process. When the sales person has the ability to use this communication strategy, he or she just might exceed the usual 10% of the words actually heard. This skill set when used well can increase sales. Sales Training Coaching Tip: Many if not most of these pictures have emotions attached to them.

With the bombardment of information streaming into every prospect, being able to differentiate yourself from the competition is critical to sales success. Hence the words you speak or write can provide you with a strategic advantage.

The essence of any sales metaphor is truly about leaving a memorable impression upon the buyer's mind because as written earlier people hear words, but think in pictures. One of the best books I have read about how to do just this was written by Roy H. Williams. His book, The Wizard of Ads, Turning Words into Magic and Dreamers into Millionaires, is a series of 101 short articles. Each article demonstrates the inherent power of well written memorable words.

When it comes to sales metaphors, my sense is this communication strategy works with the "reticular activator" in the mind of the potential customers. Williams discussed this mental trigger in article 16 and shared this scientific piece of information: "Medical science tells us it takes 29% longer to understand written words than spoken words." Further he shared that when we hear words they stay 5 times longer than when we read them.

There is no denying the power of the heard word has more impact in the short term and in the sales process your first goal is to attract attention. Therefore it makes just good sales sense to use sales metaphors to your advantage when communicating.

An article by Mike Jezek, a psychological copywriter, described 4 types of sales metaphors:

Physical

Competition

Familiarity

Others

What is important is for you as a salesperson is to know when to use these. As in any other learned skill, the ability to execute is what demonstrates the successful from the not so successful.

To effectively execute this sales skill may require you to return to your written scripts and determine where you can possibly interject an appropriate sales message that carries over. Depending upon your target market, you may need several different metaphors because someone who is baby boomer will have an entirely different mental trigger than someone who is in their late twenties or early thirties. Using this combined sales skill and communication strategy can truly help you increase sales and be the Red Jacket in the sea of gray suits.

Source: Leanne Hoagland-Smith link

Related: Sales Training Seminar