Sales Training 101 [All Beginners MUST Master]

1. Know your first 30 seconds.

This is one of the most fundamental skills in sales training basics. Do you know exactly what’s going to happen in the first 30 seconds of every selling interaction you have? Most salespeople never nail down these all-important first 30 seconds of the sale.

As a result, they end up meandering through sales conversations, never getting into a true flow because they simply don’t have a repeatable system for starting great conversations.

Knowing your first 30 seconds is everything.

2. Get them talking.

You might find this exercise painful at first, but one of the best things you can do to learn sales training basics at the start of your career is to record your sales conversations and then listen back on them afterwards.

This can be painful to listen to, but it’s imperative that you hear what you sound like.

Talking too much is one of the most common mistakes made by beginner salespeople. And in fact, it’s also one of the most common mistakes perpetuated by veteran salespeople who’ve been selling for years.

Advanced salespeople get the prospect talking. That doesn’t mean that you can’t have periods of time where you’re the one doing a bit more of the talking, particularly at the start of the conversation. But whenever you speak, the explicit goal should be to get the prospect to open up and talk more.

3. Have your process.

It’s basically my life's mission to enable salespeople to have a sales process. Whether you use my sales process or someone else's, I don't really care...but you absolutely must have your process.

When I say “have your process,” what I mean is that you should have a systematic process in place that you follow on a step-by-step basis in order to close sales. If you’re just winging the sales process and doing whatever comes to mind, you’re in trouble.

You need to learn how to sell the right way now, or else you’ll be using bad form the rest of the years you sell. Make a commitment to learn a strong sales process now. The process you use at the start of your career will ultimately determine how effective you are for the rest of your time in sales.

4. Don’t go for the close.

This is counterintuitive to what so many salespeople have been taught. We’ve all heard advice like “always be closing” or that the close is the most important part of the sale. But in reality, the close of the sale should just be the summation of everything that’s gone into the sales conversation up until that point.

Now, if you’re strong in sales, you’re going to focus much more on the earlier part of the sales conversation than on the close. If you’re not closing the sale in the 59th minute of the conversation, it’s not because your close wasn’t strong enough. It’s because the 58 minutes leading up to that point weren’t strong enough.

So don’t worry about going for the close. You should never have to verbally arm-wrestle a prospect to get them to buy from you. That’s old-school selling. Instead, you should be using a process from the beginning all the way through the close that leads the prospect to want to do business with you.

5. You’re not a punching bag.

When we first start selling, many of us hear some version of “the customer is always right” or “do anything you can to get them to buy”—but these mindsets are total junk.

In fact, the customer isn't always right...and the prospect is rarely right. And you certainly shouldn’t do whatever you can in order to close every sale. You only want to close sales with the right people.

If someone’s not a fit, don’t waste your time trying to close the deal. You should only be focusing and spending time on the right prospects.

[GrowWithWill]

Get them talking is a great tip -- no better way to close a prospect than to simply let them talk more.

[mprador]

Thank you man! Genuinely lots of value in your videos.

[sheshackservices]

Thank you for the video! I shared this video with my team this morning!

[japlumbingheatingac]

you are my HERO! thank you i needed this!!!

[draculaa]

The last tip is life changing tip. Thank so much!

[jerrycipro]

Awesome info. I really like this guys approach

[kararonin]

Great points as always Marc! Especially liked the punching bag story.

[drwebercoaching]

Enjoyed the video, I wanted to thank you thank you

[zwickzack]

That was a fantastic video, thank you! I've been in sales for six years now, and I really resonated with your final point about how we're not inferior to the customer or there to take punches. You absolutely must change your mindset to that of a valuable professional that only wants to solve problems and do deals that are appropriate. If not, I agree, you should definitely find a different career path.

[TheLavaenygg]

The first half of this clip was same-old, same-old, and I was getting upset BUT... the second half got better. I've been preaching some of those points to my people for years. Not an easy thing to get across to salespeople, because it's contrary to what's been said and taught for so many years. But it's true and it works. Bravo, for having the guts to break away from the pack (still at a safe proximity but hey, it's a start).

[danaarreguin]

Thank you so much for this. Please I'm begging for more beginner guide training stuff if you have anything related to cold calling for a service I would so appreciate it

[ramilaraniel]

Very informative! Could you please upload a video where you talk about getting prospects back that had bad experiences with the same company?

[ryanweaver]

I had an acquaintance refer to what he would do if he couldn’t work in sales… I can, and it’s also true leadership has parts of sales.

[materenemolaoa]

YOU MUST HAVE A SALES PROCESS!!!

No overemphasis of this.

[joeyalfaro]

I went reddit to see what my Peeps had to say about cold calling. One guy had great approach. He would canvas 20 building a day just ask to speak to owner.

[richardnorton]

Good stuff. As I always say, it’s very rare. We miss the sale at the end, it’s in the beginning. We have to set the tone.

[ZeroFlowers]

Starting my first appointments tomorrow 😬

[lawrencedopamino]

I love your chanel!!! I hit like before I ewen saw the deal:)
Mark, can I ask you a question, what is the best email or linked in text script for smma?

[tobisahib]

This is a great video Marc buried need some help with if you have the right prospect and the right person what if it's the company that's hurting your sales?🤔🤔🤔

[frankreiserm.s.]

"Wo, wo, wo, what is the price?" Me: "That depends on your needs, Can you explain your exact needs?" Is that correct? How do I handle a cold or warm call where the person says "We already have an IT/computer service and don't need yours. Good bye?" I got that a few times, where they hesitated at the end for one tenth of a second to see if I was going to say anything?
Frank