I received a call last week where the prospect was enquiring about our services. He asked “what training courses do you offer”?

Now which answer do you think sounds better:

Answer A:

“Thanks for the call, just to make you aware we run eight courses at Positive Approach:

1.       Telephone sales training

2.       Field sales training

3.       Presentation training

4.       Management and Leadership training

5.       Exhibition training

6.       Train the trainer

7.       Customer service training

8.       Appointment generation training

Does any of those sound of interest to you?”

Answer B:

“Thank you so much for our enquiry. Let me just take your details down (contact name, company name, phone number etc).

At Positive Approach we offer a wide range of courses, however more importantly let me find exactly what you are looking for so I can suggest the most appropriate course for you”.

Which answer sounds more consultative and stops you talking about products or services that could be completely irrelevant to the prospect? I hope it’s obvious that by using answer B it will allow you to tailor your answer towards the prospect’s exact requirements and build the value in your offering.

The same concept can be used here. I have had prospects calling me saying “I have spoken to four other sales training companies, why should I use Positive Approach over any of them?”

Now if you answered A for the last question you would probably answer this question as follows:

“Well all Positive Approach’s sales training is 100% tailored to your business, we work in over fifty different industries and we don’t train the theory, we train real life situations”.

Now what if the prospect is looking for an off the shelf training package that focuses heavily on core sales principles and theory and is delivered by a training company that specialises in finance.

By feature bashing in response to the prospects question I have immediately shot myself in the foot and talked myself out of a deal.

Those of you who answered B for the first question would hopefully answer as follows:

“There are many reasons clients have chosen Positive Approach over all our competition, however more importantly, what are you looking for from your sales training provider?”

This question allows me to tailor my feature/ benefit bash around the prospects exact requirements and gives me the best chance of success.

Go and have a great sales week

Tony