Author: Sienna Anderson

Don’t Waste Time On Sales Training If Your Managers Won’t Coach!

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson
The KONA Group is recognised as Australia’s leading Sales Training, Call Centre Training and Sales Management Training organisation so obviously they will say that Sales Training and Call Centre Training is crucial for your salespeople and sales managers to grow your business in 2018. However, possibly surprisingly, they will also say that training doesn’t work if your managers aren’t going to get out of the office and follow up the training with on-the-job coaching No matter how great sales training courses are, it’s entirely different when your people are out there in the field trying to influence your customers to make a decision about your products or services. The truth is, when they’re face to face with the real scenario, they will remember 20% of what they were trained on. However, through ongoing Sales Management Coaching, they will remember and action up to 80%, which generates a huge ROI from your training investment So, how do you make sure that what your sales team has learned is adopted in their day-to-day selling operations? How do you get them to make your company’s sales training stick?

Drive the Sales Coach in Your Sales Managers

Sales Coaching Is the Key. Developing your sales managers to become effective sales coaches will go a long way towards ensuring your salespeople use and profit from the training programs your company has invested in. Developing your sales managers into effective sales coaches needs more than just applying the training-the-trainer concept. Customers are buying differently to the way they did 2 years ago, definitely 5 years ago, and absolutely 10 years ago, yet so many managers and salespeople are still managing and selling the same way they always have done You’ve got to introduce your sales managers to new attitudes, new ways to get the results they’re looking for, new ways of planning and structuring their weeks and months so that their focus is on developing their people and not writing reports or handling problems. Your Sales Managers need to master the coaching techniques and approaches that will enable them to help their sales teams consistently demonstrate the skills and sales processes learned during the Australian sales training workshops. Then if they may meet initial resistance or reluctance to change old behaviours, don’t let this intimidate you. Show your sales managers ‘Why’ this is the best way for them to make a significant impact on their sales team and on their sales growth.

Sales Coaching Develops Effective Sales Teams

To ensure your salespeople apply the learnings from Australian call centre training and sales training, and put them to good use in the field, your sales managers-turned-coaches must reinforce the specific skills, key approaches and techniques embodied in the training sessions. To do this, your sales managers must:
  1. Have clear plans and actions that are expected of each of their salespeople
  2. Communicate performance expectations that their salespeople will be assessed against
  3. Provide constructive one-on-one feedback, done on an on-going basis.
  4. Provide specific feedback on how the salesperson demonstrated the essential sales techniques in real-life sales situations when in front of customers.
  5. Master themselves, the skills and approaches and use them to get the teams to rally behind major sales initiatives.

Making the Learnings from Sales Training Stick Increases Success.

Typically, your company will invest in call centre training and sales training in Australia because you need to help your sales teams sell more effectively to grow the business. To drive this as a leader, you need to lead them not just with ‘carrots and sticks’ but with an effective sales management coaching system that improves the capability of your sales managers and salespeople. That way both will continue to learn beyond the classroom and adopt the skills and techniques from the sales training workshops into the real world of selling.

KONA Group

1300 611 288

info@hbbausgroup.com.au | www.hbbausgroup.com.au

to discuss how we can help you to improve your organisation’s results.

Get Your Sales Team To Use Only Selling Techniques That Work! (Infographic)

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson
Sales training courses are a dime a dozen. For the most part, they’re good…conceptually. Its execution though, generally sucks. It’s at this stage that the kinks and the glitches almost inevitably appear due to either, the implementing guidelines are too complex and not too specific, or the sales reps aren’t motivated enough, or in some cases, simply don’t care. You can’t have a situation like this and stay in business for long. It’ll cost your company too much.  It’ll also cost you your job. What follows are 5 tried and tested selling techniques. They work. They work because they make sense and are easy to adopt. These are no-fuss, straight-to-the-point selling approaches every salesperson should have as an integral part of his selling arsenal. Get Your Sales Team To Use Only Selling Techniques That Work! (Infographic)

Old School Sales In A Digital World

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

Old school sales vs. new school sales. Traditional selling tactics vs. modern selling techniques. These are the highly-debated arguments that are currently circulating in the field of sales.

It cannot be denied that over the years, sales as a profession and as a business function have dramatically evolved, thanks to advancement in technology, and subsequent development of new sales tools.

However, despite the advances in selling techniques and cries of the post-salesperson age, old-school sales are still driving the energy and soul of the sales industry.

The belief among many sales leaders is that the only way for a sales rep to be successful is to get fully on board with all things new. But in truth, the best things about the new school of sales are truly pages right out of the old-school sales playbook. How so?

What is Old School Sales?

Old fashioned sales are all about meeting with your customers, getting to know and understand them, identifying their pain points and providing solutions to make those pain points go away.

It is about building trust and rapport and getting to the position where you are seen as a valuable partner and not just a vendor from whom a customer occasionally buys from.

This is the very core where all new school sales techniques are founded on, isn’t it?

The lines are separating the old and new school of sales, therefore, are no more than just illusions made by people trying to make money by telling sales reps they need to join the new school of sales.

But we can’t ignore that the world of old-school sales is shrinking, as sales technology grows. We may only be able to see our clients in person a few times a year.  

The majority of the relationships are forged via email, a once-a-year meeting, or small talk at a party. So how do we form the real trust necessary to justify a client being willing to take a risk to work with you? How does old-school sales fit in a digital world?

Old School Sales in Digital World

While there’s no absolute way to ensure the success of old-school sales, it has always been proven that time and effort go a long way. Here are some tips bring that old school sales approach in the age of social media and smartphones:

  1. Respond Quickly


    The digital world is extremely time-sensitive. Get an instant messaging account and give it out. Even if you can’t deal with all requests immediately, just acknowledging you’ve received them and that you’re on top of it goes a long way. Of course, when time gets tight, you need to prioritize, but do your best to avoid letting a client request get buried in your inbox.


  2. Be Proactive


    Own up to problems as soon as you notice them. Never will avoiding a complex client situation pay off. There’s a solution to every problem, and proactively addressing it only puts you in the driver’s seat.


  3. Keep in Touch


    While a monthly update or meeting doesn’t make sense, always try to grab lunch/coffee with your clients every so often. Keep it light, fun, genuine. Customer loyalty rapidly changes every day, and from a prospective employer’s perspective, your network is your true value, so don’t let it slip.


Overall, in the age of the internet, it’s the old school salesperson, with his or her simple techniques and ingrained relationships, that catches the client’s interest and warms their heart, and will make it possible for your business to dive deep into the great digital unknown.

If you need help in strengthening your sales techniques or want to expand your knowledge by undergoing our Corporate Sales and Management Training program, email us today at info@kona.com.au or call us at 1300 611 288.

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Should Business Owners Get a Degree in Sales? (Infographic)

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson
One common question that many aspiring entrepreneurs ask is if they should have a degree in sales in order to run a successful business. The truth is there is no definitive answer for that since it really depends on what stage of your career as an entrepreneur you are at. If you are just starting out in your business, and you are still quite young to have enough time to balance school and business, then a degree in sales can help you equip with the different methodologies which one cannot just immediately pick-up and implement through the day-to-day operations of the business. However, having a degree in sales is not a requirement and does not guarantee that you will be able to run a successful business. Many business owners still fail in their venture despite having multiple degrees in sales, management, and marketing. On the other hand, many notable entrepreneurs that never even earned a college degree have been able to establish successful global brands – just look at Bill Gates and Richard Branson. Should Business Owners Get a Degree in Sales? ( Infographic)

Focus on Who’s Important: Ways to Identify a Prospect from a Suspect

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson
It is true that when you have a high quantity of prospects, you will never run out of people to share your opportunity and your products. However, in today’s increasingly competitive sales landscape, quality beats quantity, and so having a handful of high-quality prospects is preferred than having a bunch of low-quality leads that, at any chance, will never convert into a customer. Read on as we detail in this post what makes a quality prospect, and how to easily identify them from the haystack of low-quality “suspects” that exist in the market. Definition of Prospect: A lead which has a high probability of turning into a customer. A prospect can be an acquisition officer who is genuinely looking for an enterprise platform, or a man looking to buy a gift for his wife. They have real motivation to purchase and want to hear about your offer to make an actual purchase decision. Regardless of their motivation to buy, they still need to be convinced that your product is worth their investment. Definition of Suspect: Any person who shows the same interest as the prospect but does not have any means or intention to buy the products/services you are selling. A suspect can be an office employee who wants to impress their boss by presenting information about your solution, even if their boss does not need the solution in the first place. They can also be a website visitor who only wanted your premium content and are just sticking around to see what else you have for them.

Ways to Differentiate Prospects from Suspects

  1. Prospects Share Critical Information

On the other hand, a suspect is not looking to buy from you, which means they do not have to give you proprietary or personal information about them. If someone is genuinely looking for a solution, he or she will be willing to provide you with the details.

  1. Prospects Tell What They Need

Prospects have the genuine need for your help and will waste no time to get more information about the product/service you are selling just to address the issue at hand. Depending on the immediate nature of their need, they may even clear the schedule to set a sales demo.

  1. Prospects Have a Specific Acquisition Timeline

Another significant differentiator between a prospect and a suspect is their timeline. Prospects generally look to buy sooner rather than later. A suspect cannot tell when they will be ready to buy, and as such spending time working on that suspect can be a very expensive mistake. It is important to ask for your prospects early on and move them back to marketing if they need more time deciding.

  1. Prospects Know When to Make a Decision

Prospects know exactly what their need is all about, and the features to look for to satisfy that need. By asking the question “Have you made a purchase decision like this in the past and how did you go about it?”, you will be able to uncover better insights about them that will allow you to create a more effective sales proposal.

  1. Prospects Are the Decision Maker

If your contact keeps on referring to other people when talking about their company’s past purchase decisions, then there is a good chance that you are just talking to a suspect. As such, it is wise not to structure a good deal for a person if they are not in the position to make the final decision. If your potential customer ticks all of these boxes, then chances are they are a prospect. Now that you know how to differentiate prospects from suspects, you will now be able to increase your sales team’s productivity and improve your sales performance. If you need help in honing your salesforce’s prospecting skills or want to expand your knowledge by undergoing our Corporate Sales and Management Training program, email us today at info@kona.com.au or call us at 1300 611 288.

The What, Why and How of Sales Performance Analysis (Infographic)

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson
Analysing sales data is one of the most important yet often undervalued sales functions. By continually monitoring your sales performance in terms of what you are achieving vs what you are intended to realise, you will be able to keep your business stay on its financial track. If you are not measuring your sales performance yet, then you are missing the opportunity to identify where your strengths lie within your product, and which sales activities require more support, and which ones provides the greatest potential for future profitable growth. The What, Why and How of Sales Performance Analysis

6 Benefits of CRM Software

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is THE critical tool that any business organisation must have. It is one of the most popular sales tools used by most sales professionals – with 91% of companies with more than 11 employees now using CRM software.

As the name implies, it is a tool that helps salespeople to better facilitate a working relationship with their prospective and existing customers.

It can make a difference between a relationship that benefits both business and customer, and one that leaves everyone feeling unsatisfied.

CRM is a Major Competitive Weapon

With virtually every company having a CRM software to streamline their sales operations, it is safe to say that it is a major competitive weapon that a business cannot afford to ignore.

The ROI of CRM Systems

However, if knowing its pervasiveness in today’s sales landscape is not enough to convince you to invest in one, then let us break down its ROI for you. According to IBM, the ROI for CRM is substantial; when fully integrated, a company can achieve the following benefits:

  • 50% improvement in team productivity.
  • 65% boost in sales quotas.
  • 50% reduction in labour cost.
  • 74% of businesses improve customer relationships.

To break down these statistics, we detail in this post the top six benefits of CRM software in business.

  1. Manage Leads and Customers in One Place

As you collect more information about your leads and customers, the more capable you become in providing them with a personalised experience. However, to maximise that information, you need to store them in one centralised database – and not just jot them down on sticky notes or file them in disorganised cabinets.

A CRM software serves as a one-stop-shop where you can access and share leads, and customers record much more effectively to a relevant sales representative. So, regardless of whom the customer is interacting with, they will have the same information instantly available. This leads to a reduced time spent on the sales process both by the clients and of the employees.

  1. Improve Communication with Clients

By having a central repository of all customer interactions, it will be much easier for your employees to understand the unique preferences and needs of the customer even though it is their first time meeting/speaking with them. With most CRM software being cloud-based, sales representatives can quickly pull customer data while away from their office desk. This means they can discuss details of the deal with clients with accuracy and precision – whenever and wherever they are.

  1. Provide Excellent Customer Service

With a CRM software, your customer’s issues can be resolved much quicker and more efficiently. Since sales representatives can retrieve all customer’s past purchases, preferences, and interactions, they will be able to come up with a solution much faster. If the sales representative in question cannot determine a solution, they can tag other representatives to the deal, or even crowdsource for answers through customer portals.

  1. Spend Less Time on Menial Tasks

Sales activities are considered as the most critical sales metric because they are the only ones that can be directly controlled and influenced. So, if your sales representatives spend more time on menial tasks rather than on more important activities, it means that you are wasting the opportunity to influence your profits directly.

Instead of doing all things manually – from filling out reports to sending follow-up emails – a CRM software allows you to leverage automation so that you can take the burden of many of these routine tasks off your employees’ shoulders. This means that your salespeople can focus more of their time and efforts towards closing leads and resolving customer issues, while the CRM software takes care of the rest.

  1. Increase Transparency

Transparency is crucial to ensure that a sales organisation functions efficiently and without any internal conflicts. One of the ways CRM software improves team transparency is by automating the assignment of leads. By automating this process, your team is less likely to think that they are being treated unfairly and that the process has been impartial.

A CRM software also shows who has achieved the most sales and why their output is being commended. By making this information accessible to all team members, internal clashes can be avoided, and the team would be much more open to working with each other – which then leads to better productivity and improved sales.

  1. Get Detailed Sales Analytics

Lastly, a CRM software enables you to leverage more powerful analytics features which can help you analyse sales data and get deep insights with ease and efficiency. With a CRM software such as Pipedrive, you can determine which channel provides the highest quality leads, where your customers live, and demography that most of your leads and customer belong to.

Additionally, you can also identify which customers bring in the most money to your business, and even gauge the performance of each of your sales representatives. With this data at hand, you can make better business decisions, and help your sales team achieve the established targets.

Through a smarter and more systematic sales processes, better teamwork, and new insights gained from sales data, a CRM helps companies to adopt customer-centric business models that enable them to achieve long-term growth.

To learn more contact KONA Group today on 1300 611 288 or send an email to info@kona.com.au.

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Call Centre Training Program in Australia

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson
An effective customer service team is the key to a successful business so many organisations introduce Call Centre Training Program in Australia when their customer service executives are:
  • inconsistent at achieving their KPIs
  • not effective in communication
  • will escalate their calls too soon and too often
  • not good at conflict resolution with customers
  • worried more about keeping their average call handling times rather than helping customers
Call Centre Training Program in Sydney If any of these situations rings true for your customer service team, KONA’s customer service training program will truly transform the behaviour, performance and results of your customer service executives.

Call Centre Training in Sydney and Melbourne – How We Do It

KONA Group’s customer service training program has been created with the goal of helping our client organisations become much more effective at handling customers, delivering better experiences and increase customer satisfaction. We do this by customising our Call Centre Sales Training program to suit the needs of your organisation. Whether you have a team of 2 or 200 executives, we can create a customised solution that’s right for you and your team. Your executives will be better equipped to handle calls, customer queries and even difficult customers. They will have the skills to handle a call proactively rather than escalating them quickly. They will become better at what they do by becoming more aware, better listeners, better communicators and better team players.

Customer Service Training – What To Expect

After completing our customer service training program, your customer service executives will:
  • Be able to increase first call resolutions
  • Improve customer satisfaction
  • Resolve conflicts effectively and efficiently
  • Handle difficult customers effectively
  • Improve their key KPIs
  • Reduce average call handling rate while improving the quality of customer satisfaction
  • Be better equipped to cross sell and up-sell
Contact KONA Group today for a free consultation on 1300 611 288; text 0425200883;  or email Glenn@KONA.com.au

Sales Training in Sydney & Melbourne Australia that Delivers Lasting Results

KONA’s experienced coaches will create a customised call centre training program for your organisation to deliver highly effective results. Our Sales Management Training programs are perfect to develop your Team Leader Training and are highly interactive, engaging and fun and ensure that the participants are truly transformed and ready to make a difference. If you need to improve the performance of your call centre executives and team leaders, KONA’s Customised Call Centre Training, Sales Training in Sydney and Customer Service Training and Coaching will increase your team’s performance and results Generic, ‘off the shelf’, by the book, Call Centre Training Courses do not deliver effective results and they are not the best use of your investment if you are looking to develop a highly effective team that deliver the results you need. So if you are looking to increase the effectiveness and results of your Call Centre and Customer Service team, contact KONA today on 1300 611 288 or text 0425200883 or email info@kona.com.au to discuss how we can help you to improve your organisation’s results. The KONA Group is Australia’s Leading Call Centre Training,  Sales Training and Sales Management Training and Coaching company and provide Customised Training programs that include:  Sales Training & Coaching, Sales Pipeline Training, Key Account Management Training, Call Centre Training & coaching, Customer Service Training, Team Leader Training, Negotiation Skills Training & Coaching, Motivational Speakers, HR Consulting; DISC and MBTI, and more.

Call Centre Sales Training Australia

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

Call Centre Sales Training in Australia

Making outbound telephone calls and handling customer inbound queries over the phone requires multiple skills including communication skills, phone skills, problem resolution skills and active listening skills.

Call Centre Sales Training in Sydney Australia

Whether you are looking to train your new call centre operatives effectively or are looking to improve the performance of your existing call centre team, KONA’s customised Call Centre Training program in Sydney and Melbourne is tailored to you and your team.

With over 17 years of experience in Sales Training in Sydney, Australia, KONA is a trusted partner for Call Centre Training, Team Leader Training and Sales Training. With a proven track record of delivering successful results for call centre teams, both big and small, we will transform your good call centre executives into call centre champions.

Call Centre Training Australia – Skills You Will Learn

  • Verbal communication techniques
  • Phone etiquette and phone skills
  • Cold calling techniques
  • Up selling and cross selling techniques
  • Active listening skills
  • Building relationships with customers
  • Probing techniques
  • Handling inbound calls and customer complaints
  • Handling difficult customers
  • Negotiation skills
  • Handling objections effectively

Call Centre Training – How You Will Benefit

  • After completing our Melbourne and Sydney call centre sales training courses, your executives will be able to:
  • Improve their KPIs
  • Reduce average call handling time
  • Increase their sales figures
  • Reduce escalations
  • Increase first call resolutions
  • Connect with customers on an emotional level
  • Close sales effectively
  • Negotiate and handle objections effectively

Call Centre Training in Sydney Australia that Delivers Lasting Results

KONA’s experienced coaches will create a customised call centre training program for your organisation to deliver highly effective results. Our Sales Management Training programs are perfect to develop your Team Leader Training and are highly interactive, engaging and fun and ensure that the participants are truly transformed and ready to make a difference.

If you need to improve the performance of your call centre executives and team leaders, KONA’s Customised Call Centre Training, Sales Training in Sydney and Customer Service Training and Coaching will increase your team’s performance and results

Generic, ‘off the shelf’, by the book, Call Centre Training Courses do not deliver effective results and they are not the best use of your investment if you are looking to develop a highly effective team that deliver the results you need.

So if you are looking to increase the effectiveness and results of your Call Centre and Customer Service team, contact KONA today on 1300 611 288 or text 0425200883 or email info@kona.com.au to discuss how we can help you to improve your organisation’s results.

The KONA Group is Australia’s Leading Call Centre Training,  Sales Training and Sales Management Training and Coaching company and provide Customised Training programs that include:  Sales Training & Coaching, Sales Pipeline Training, Key Account Management Training, Call Centre Training & coaching, Customer Service Training, Team Leader Training, Negotiation Skills Training & Coaching, Motivational Speakers, HR Consulting; DISC and MBTI, and more.