The Carew Sales Training Blog

Ken Cherry is Assistant Professor, Marketing and Professional Sales at Central Michigan University.

One of the most exciting parts of my job teaching and advising students in the Professional Sales program at Central Michigan University is preparing them for collegiate sales competitions.  As you may be aware, the CMU Professional Sales program utilizes Carew International’s DPS, APS, PTN and BCE curriculum in our classroom.  Each year our sales program students compete regionally and nationally in Pi Sigma Epsilon (http://www.pse.org/) fraternity sales events, going up against major sales programs, including those at Ohio State, Purdue, Indiana and several MAC schools.

As a sales veteran who is relatively new to academia, I have been struck by the similarities between preparing for real world sales presentations and the preparation by our students for the Pi Sigma Epsilon sales competitions:

1. Practice and Preparation: After students review the case provided them, we quiz them, and then we do a filmed role play of them selling the case to the buyer.  Finally, we critique them for what they did right and what needs improvement (just like Carew does in DPS sales training).  For our most recent competition, the students averaged 15 hours of preparation for their role plays.
2. Active Listening: A majority of the points for these competitions is tied to finding the customer’s GAP.  Our students have to build a question plan, just like DPS, and get to their customer needs (GAPs).  This requires active listening and great exploratory questions so that they understand what their clients need.  We emphasize a talk/listen ratio of 20% talking to 80% listening.
3. Handling Objections: These competitions always include an objection, and our students use the tried and true LAER process to explore and handle these objections.  Along the way, they are asking questions and building their value proposition so that they can eliminate any “Oh by the ways” as we call them in APS.
4. Closing: Not all of these role plays turn into sales, but closing is the key to gaining agreement on next steps.  If students have followed their game plan, prepared, listened, delivered their value proposition and filled their client’s GAP, they either get the next appointment or close the sale.

The CMU Professional Sales Program was created less than four years ago and already we are a major player in collegiate sales competitions.  Using many of the principles taught in Carew’s DPS sales training, the CMU chapter of PSE has now won the last three regional sales competitions for the North Central Region (our students have taken first and second place the last three years, out of three years participating).  At Nationals, one of our students came in fifth place (against schools like Texas A&M, LSU, Florida, California, etc.) and we placed four of our students in the top 12 (out of 200 students who participated nationwide).  The CMU Professional Sales program still has room to improve.  Our goal is be number one nationally, and we will get there using these proven methods and our continued hard work.  The skills and concepts that our students learn through our Carew-based curriculum will be the key to them getting to number one.

The most exciting part of all is realizing that the skills and knowledge we are providing these students will facilitate continued success in the job market upon graduation and later as sales professionals with exceptional selling skills.

As part of our ongoing commitment to professional development, Carew International publishes a regular blog to provide timely insights for optimal sales performance.  To learn more about Carew’s incomparable sales training programs, sales leadership training and customer service training, visit our website at www.carew.com

Are you one of the millions of people using a KEURIG® coffee machine at home or at work?  With its single-cup brewing system and extensive “K-Cup” beverage product offering, KEURIG® has revolutionized the consumer coffee industry.  The sales lessons, however, extend to the entire business world.

First and foremost, consider the customer experience provided by the KEURIG® system:  you get exactly what you want, exactly when you want it.  No compromise over regular vs. decaf coffee or mild vs. bold roast.  No waiting for an entire pot to brew.  No more drinking coffee when you would rather have hot tea, hot chocolate or hot apple cider.

We must all recognize that we are living (and selling) in a KEURIG® world, and as such, we need to up our game to achieve or maintain customer satisfaction.  The Keurig offerings that delight customers today will very soon become customers’ baseline expectation.  From coffee to home entertainment, the “on-demand” era has arrived.  Compromise and patience are disappearing from the customer side of the business landscape.

The good news?  At least in KEURIG®’s case, customers are willing to pay more to get exactly what they want.  The cost per cup for home-brewed coffee has gone from 20-25¢ (traditional brew) to 70-80¢ per cup (KEURIG® K-Cup brew).  That cost doesn’t even include the initial expense of the equipment, which runs from $150 – $300, or increased consumption as a result of greater accessibility and satisfaction.

The KEURIG® phenomenon also brings to mind several concepts taught in Carew’s DPS sales training.  One can’t help but wonder about the consumer exploratory process that preceded their product development.  KEURIG® pursued customer satisfaction in excess of 100%, and in so doing they redefined the home-brewed beverage category.  They are now the provider against which all others are compared.  Talk about preferred position!

Do you have a sales triumph story to share?  Have you ever redefined a customer’s expectation to become the provider against which all others are compared?  Tell us your story @ stories@carew.com.

As part of our ongoing commitment to professional development, Carew International publishes a regular blog to provide timely insights for optimal sales performance.  To learn more about Carew’s incomparable sales training programs, sales leadership training and customer service training, visit our website at www.carew.com.

In recent years, the increasing value and expanding role of inside sales has been widely acknowledged.  As companies seek to improve efficiencies and lower costs, more emphasis is being placed on the inside sales function.  Unfortunately, the added responsibility has not been matched with added development and support.

In 2011 the Aberdeen Group placed the spotlight on inside sales with research and input from over 300 companies.  Their report, Streamlining the Top of the Funnel: How Inside Sales Teams Source, Qualify, and Close Business, defines and compares Best in Class, Industry Average and Laggards relative to their expectations of and approach toward the inside sales function.  The results were fascinating, if not surprising:

• Financial impact:  Inside sales initiates or touches an average of 39% of all revenue.  An average of 27% of total business is closed by inside sales.
• Purpose:  Best-in-Class companies are using their inside sales team for sales funnel management – ensuring quantity and quality of leads and allowing field sales to focus their field sales on closing, not prospecting.
• Skill Development is Key:  Formal sales training for inside reps is deployed by Best-in-Class 30% more frequently than Industry Average and 71% more than Laggards.  The report states, “With skill development representing the most widely cited Best-in-Class strategic action in the context of inside sales enablement, it is clearly a hallmark of top performing sales teams that they emphasize training…”

This Aberdeen Report is filled with compelling data and analysis to drive home this key point: An effective inside sales team benefits the entire organization on a significant scale.  Whether facilitating greater opportunity and efficiency for field sales, cultivating future field sales talent, or driving their own sales, the inside sales team deserves our respect, appreciation and support.

As part of our ongoing commitment to professional development, Carew International publishes a regular blog to provide timely advice for optimal sales performance.  To learn more about Carew’s incomparable sales training programs, sales leadership training and customer service training, visit our website at www.carew.com.

Need Training for Your Inside Sales Team? Carew International’s Excellence in Inside Sales (EIS) addresses the challenges unique to inside sales and provides strategies to increase closing rates, grow margins and build strong customer relationships.  EIS is built upon the skill-based tools found in Carew’s popular Dimensions of Professional Selling (DPS) sales training program, uniquely tailored to the world of inside selling.