Do you come from selling nobility?

I checked into the hotel late Sunday afternoon, along with several other new sales people coming to work for Combined Insurance Company.

This new agent sales school was scheduled as a two-week class. We were scheduled to have class every day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and we were told these would be fully interactive days.

The manual we were given had the philosophy of W. C. Stone, the founder of the company, the sales scripts, rebuttals and how they expected their agents to work the book of business they were allotted.

The first day we were given W.C. Stones book “The Success System That Never Fails”, with the expectation that we would read the book, in full, that first week. The book had sayings, cadences and philosophies from W. C. Stone that we were quizzed on throughout the school.

These days were full of role playing, you were given the policy roll you would use in the field, at that time agents “field underwrote” policies, it was expected that you memorized the sales scripts, exactly as they were written, along with the standard rebuttals you were expected to respond with.

You would get up in front of the room with another student, one the prospect, the other the salesperson.

You began with the approach, then the standard opening, progressing into the presentation script and ending with the “writing close”.

The instructor would stop you with every mistake, mispronouncing of a word or phrase or not utilizing the prescribed body language, voice inflection or modulation.

The instructor reinforced the principle that “perfect practice makes perfect presentations.”

The training’s core method was to correct at the point of deviation, bringing you back on track, keeping you in the cadence of the sales presentation, exactly as you were expected to perform them.

The idea that you knew what objections would come up, that in the knowing of these most common objections you could deliver your presentation in a way that reduced the chances of these objections occuring wasn’t just an objective, it was a determining factor for graduating from the class and starting to work in the field.

You were taught the body language concepts like:

→ Place all the forms and material you will use on the table when you first sit down

→ Powerful directing force of the eyes

→ Point where you want the prospect to look

→ Make sure your words and actions were congruent

→ Speak with voice modulation, emphases on key words and use humor.

Each of these body language concepts were expected to be used in our role playing, perfectly, every time.

When you made a mistake or ill-timed movement or failed to perform a movement as taught the role play was stopped, you were asked what you did wrong, you were instructed on the correct words, action or method and you had to start over from the beginning.

Finally, the class was a full two weeks, no going home, we practiced in the field with real prospects, going business to business, door to door then coming back and debriefing how we felt, what we experienced, what worked, what didn’t work and what we needed to do different.

Each person stood and told about their day, identifying what specific, word, action or rebuttal helped close a sale or how you thought you lost a sale.

Every time you were brought up in front of the class you had to do the approach script before you talked, asked any questions or proceeded.

If you didn’t do the approach script right, exactly as trained you had to keep doing it, with eye contact, body language and words that were congruent until it was done perfect.

Everyone was always nervous when it was your turn to get in front of the group, but as the days went by, we all got more confident, less intimidated, gained more belief in our self and supported others better.

Now, when you felt like you had gotten pretty good with your approach and presentation, when you finally felt you got it, you would role play with the instructor.

This is when you became a professional, why, because he didn’t just object, he objected with words, voice affect and dismissive body language.

He threw everything at you, words you did not expect, with questions you hadn’t thought of, voice modulation from monotone to disgust and body language that spanned the gamut from no interest to total attention then non-verbal no’s such as shaking his head no and walking away, not saying anything, just walking away.

You were expected to respond, as trained and without having your demeanor or attitude ruffled.

When the two weeks were completed you felt as if you came from selling nobility!

You felt like a Saleshero!

This was the best dam training I ever had or have ever gone through, except my own, of course! (Ha! Ha!)

Thanks for stopping by, check out my latest book "The Saleshero's Guide to Handling Objections" get your free Kindle version here https://go.lloydlofton.com/salesheros-guide-book - share your comments or experience, I love hearing how others learned and developed.