An account manager tasked with generating more business lacked the confidence to start up sales conversations, until one simple realisation changed the way she looked at selling.
As the translation industry reacts to the dual threat of machine translation and new players in the market looking to prise clients away, companies are having to take measures to secure their futures. One result of this is that account managers have seen the account growth aspect of their roles become increasingly important.
One such project manager was a client of ours working for a large, Spain-based translation provider. Her company was looking to expand its contracts in the German market, and as a German speaker who was experienced at dealing with this market, she was tasked with turning the ad-hoc, relatively small scale work they currently received into larger, more permanent contracts.
While she was an experienced account manager, she had never been required to sell as part of her role. By her own admission, she lacked the confidence to contact new prospects directly, and was uncertain how to develop sales conversations in order to leverage current relationships for more business. On a more fundamental level, she felt that sales ‘wasn’t her’ – that in order to sell effectively she would have to play a role she wasn’t comfortable with.
Recognising her need for sales training, her company brought us in to deliver a bespoke training package. After working to understand the company’s goals, as well as the client’s specific needs, we developed a series of 5 customised sessions, which we delivered online over a period of 5 weeks. The training covered:
The above training covered some of the key principles of successful sales, but it was something less tangible that really made the difference in how the client understood sales. During the course of the training she realised that being an effective salesperson wasn’t about putting on an act or learning a script, but having the confidence to be yourself and adapt your process to your own style. This is true sales fluency – knowledge of some key principles combined with the confidence to be natural, honest and flexible in your approach.
This simple realisation led to near immediate results, and a huge increase in confidence. Within just six months of completing the sessions, she had secured 10 new clients and a further 27 new leads in her target market. She had also increased contacts within the various divisions of each of her two major German clients, and had been offered the right to tender for supplier contracts that were previously unavailable to them. What’s more, she started to enjoy selling, gaining a feeling of genuine achievement each time she made a sale or secured a new lead. Receiving an enthusiastic email from her each time she made a new sale or generated a new lead was a rewarding experience for us as well!
“Fluent Sales Training taught me how to sell myself in a short space of time, and not to forget that I am talking to human beings. I feel much more confident to keep a conversation going, and I know how to listen for opportunities when a client is speaking. I’ve also found that I really enjoy sales – and that I’m good at it!”
FluentSales