New figures show that UK shoppers spent over £26.5 billion online in the first six months of 2008 despite the credit crunch this is up 38% on the £19.2 billion recorded for the first half of 2007*

With 17p in every pound being spent online** online sales opportunities are at an all time high.

Advance Your Sales specialize in helping a wide variety of organizations improve and maximize their sales performance. For years this has primarily been done through a mix of Sales Training, Sales Management Training & sales Outsourcing and we have consistently delivered our clients an ROI that is second to none.

We are now pleased to announce that we have teamed up with one of the UK’s leading SEM & SEO companies in order to enable us to offer search engine marketing and search engine optimization to our clients. These services can dramatically improve the performance of your website and improve the returns you receive from your online investment.

If you would like to find out more about these services and arrange a free no obligation consultation then please contact one of our regional offices:

Bedford: 01234 367525    London: 0208 938 3768    Milton Keynes: 01908 313069

Source*, **:  IMRG Capgemini Leading Industry Body For Global E-Retailing

Advance Your Sales are pleased to announce they have been appointed the exclusive sales partner for the Independence Showers range of special access bathing products.

As an alternative to standard walk in baths and showers the independence showers range is a truly revolutionary product range.

There are 8.6 million registered disabled people in the UK*and 1.6 million registered blind users** and the independence showers range has been designed specifically to meet the individual needs of these groups.

The special access shower range includes a number of both full height and under window height shower units. Doors can be fitted as full height, half height or stable door style making the product suitable for all types of environment as well as the personal needs of the user.

As part of their Sales Outsourcing Solutions program Advance Your Sales are responsible for the initial lead generation and ongoing sales channel management for the Independence Showers range of products.

Advance Your Sales are currently recruiting and expanding the number of authorised retailers and authorised installers for the product range across the UK.

Potential retail partners have been selected from a number of Mobility Retailers and Bathroom Equipment Retailers. Approved installers have been selected from a number of Plumbers and Specialist Bathroom Installers.

If you would like to apply to be one of either of the above please contact us at sales@accessshowersales.com or via one of our regional offices:

Bedford: 01234 367525    London: 0208 938 3768    Milton Keynes: 01908 313069

Sources: *Disability Rights Commission            **Employers’ Forum on Disability

“The best thing I have learnt is, establish needs, meet needs, close deal”

“Always having a solution to an objection, I have now learnt that I can go over our advantages and hopefully set them into the customers mind”

” To be more confident in what I am selling and how to have confidence with the correct tone and manner”

“I found today really helpful and satisfying, I don’t have a sales background so this was my first training and it has really built my confidence”

In a time when businesses are dealing with a constantly changing economic climate companies look to gain improved performance and returns from the assets that they have available to them.

For a lot of companies the sales force is one of their biggest assets and often the one that can be developed to give them a greater return on investment.

Advance Your Sales have been working with our clients throughout the UK to capitalise on the performance of their sales people, sales teams and sales managers during times of economic uncertainty.

This has delivered significant improvements in performance, efficiency and profitability for many of our clients. After implementation a recent client saw a growth in average order values and a 30% rise in sales conversion rates.

If you feel your business could benefit from sales training or maybe you would simply like some assistance with executive coaching or presentation & communication skills then please contact us for a totally free consultation.

We offer our services nationally across the UK. Our main areas of business are based around the following geographies.

Bedford, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridge, Coventry, Hertfordshire, London, Luton, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Oxford, Stevenage, Watford and all surrounding areas.

To find out more please contact one of our regional offices:

Bedford: 01234 367525 London: 0208 938 3768 Milton Keynes: 01908 313069

Have you ever calculated the cost of employment errors within your business? Perhaps you employed the correct person for the job but you did not give them the right level of initial training?

In a recent case study I prepared for a client we discovered that a lack of training had left a revenue gap of £191,000 within their business. That sounds like a huge figure I’m sure you are thinking to yourself, your client must have made some catastrophic mistakes.

Well it may surprise you to learn this was based on just one sales person that had a basic salary of £25,000. Imagine if you had similar figures but for 5 or even 10 sales people, the effect of this upon your business could be unrecoverable.

UK Recruitment is a £26.6 billion industry responsible for placing over 787,000 employees in permanent work each year*. Employment agency fees for placing the above mentioned sales person were £5,000. Imagine the difference that investing a fraction of that amount in the correct levels of training could have made.

Advance Your Sales deliver a totally tailored induction program that has been proven to significantly increase the successful recruitment and retention of staff. We will design and deliver an induction program that is based around your organisations own processes, systems and products.

We offer training based around your products and services and regularly asses your new people against agreed targets and performance indicators.

Please contact us today to discuss your organisations individual requirements.

*Source: The Recruitment & Employment Confederation

Advance Your Sales are offering a totally free sales audit & report. The sales audit will examine and score your sales processes, sales people and your sales targets & performance against them.

After an in depth study of the above we will deliver a plan that will achieve agreed targets and objectives. This has delivered significant improvements in performance, efficiency and profitability for many of our clients.

The first part of the process is a totally free consultation with your directors and senior managers to discuss the key issues that face your sales function. We will produce a report, which is of great value and will form the basis of our strategy for the acceleration of your sales team’s performance.

Your sales audit report will identify areas of both strength and weakness and solutions that will make sustained changes within your organisations sales performance. Whether or not you decide to continue with the process and the recommendations that have been made the report is totally free and yours to keep and use.

We only have a limited number of places remaining for June 2008 so please click here to apply for your totally free consultation & report. Or contact one of our regional offices:

Bedford: 01234 367525    London: 0208 938 3768    Milton Keynes: 01908 313069 

Who should do a sales training course?
People of all skill levels can see dramatic and sustained improvements in performance after one of our sales training courses. If you are looking to simply refresh your skills or gain new knowledge and intelligence that will accelerate your performance we have the training in place.

How are you different from everybody else?
Most training providers offer a wide range of courses based on huge number of topics. Advance Your Sales only offer training that is based around improving sales results and performance. All of our methods and process have been proven to increase performance no matter what type of environment you are selling into.

What courses do you offer?
All our courses are based around sales improvement. We have modules that fit into a number of categories but some of the main ones are: in-house sales training, sales leadership training and sales negotiation training.

Which course is best for me?
This question is almost impossible to answer immediately because we don’t know you or your work environment. Please contact us to discuss this further or alternatively apply for a Free Sales Audit within which we will give you a lot more detail.

How much does the training cost?
Costs range from under £100 to seminars that are several thousand pounds. There are a number of factors that can change the price including: number of people, venue, level of customisation, materials (e.g. workbooks) and preparation time. Please call us on 01908 313069 and we will arrange to meet with you and discuss your individual requirements.

Where does the training take place?
We currently conduct training throughout the UK . The training can take place either on-site at your offices or at an off-site location such as a hotel or conference centre. We can book this on your behalf and we pass on all venue charges at cost price.

How do I book?
Please call us on 01908 313069. If you still have questions that are not answered here please contact us and we will be pleased to help you.

All orders are subject to a booking date. Please contact bookings@advanceyoursales.com to confirm a date and location for your sales training course or event.

All cancelations are subject to 28days notice. If for any reason you need to cancel your booking please contact bookings@advanceyoursales.com where we will cancel your order or re-arrange for a more suitable date.

If it is less than 28 days notice but more than 15 days you can re-arrange the date / location of your booking by contacting bookings@advanceyoursales.com

For further information please contact us at bookings@advanceyoursales.com or on 01908 313069.

Do you have a website that contains information regarding in-house sales training courses and programs, sales leadership training, sales negotiation training, Management training or similar?

If so and you would like a link exchange with Advance Your Sales Please submit your details by clicking on the contact Page below. Please note that we only accept links exchanges from websites that contain suitable and relevant content. 

When contacting us please let us know that you have placed the link on your site, the exact location of it and any information you would like us to include when linking back to you.

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Current Links

The success of any businesses can be directly linked to the capabilities, Professionalism and effectiveness of its sales people. In order to maximise this effectiveness it is essential that the sales force have been professionally trained in the art of maximising sales whilst increasing the value your customers see from your product’s or service. To achieve this within your business I would recommend that all of your sales people attend a training program that has been specifically designed around your business plans and future goals. Each of the modules should be designed around and linked to the products that you sell the markets and customers that you sell them to and type of contact that you have with your existing and potential customers. If you have not yet engaged your sales people in this type of training then I’m sure you will find the next 25 tried and tested tips of great value.

1. Always Plan & Prepare before you contact your customer.
2. Believe in yourself and your products.
3. What is the USP (Unique Selling Point) of your product or Service?
4. Before any contact always decide what is your goal or objective.
5. Manage your time effectively. What can you do to be more efficient each day and create more time?
6. Ask yourself who is the best performer in your sales team/company and how can you imitate what they are doing?
7. Make sure you are talking to the decision maker.
8. Make sure you begin with an open/killer question – One that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no.
9. Take a consultative approach and try to help your customer rather than just sell to them.
10. When in initial discussions with the customer you should be doing round 30% of the talking with them doing the other 70%.
11. Ask the customer to clarify and commit to the statements they are making. I.e. so are you saying that your current supplier struggles to deliver in the timeframes that they initially promised?
12. Listen to the customer and do not interrupt them.
13. Learn to read body language and take notice of your own. What are you saying to the customer without even speaking?
14. Propose your product or service to the customer in a clear and concise manner.
15. Make sure your customer understands the Features, Advantages and Benefits of your product or service and how it will be suitable for their need.
16. Have you created enough desire to buy? The customer may understand that they have a need but do they feel you have the solution?
17. As your customer considers the cost ask yourself what added value can I offer this customer?
18. If your customer has an objection, test it and then question them in order to refine it and totally understand it.
19. Reassure the customer and answer the objection highlighting the relevant benefits of your product or service.
20. Ask for the order
21. Confirm and close the sale making sure the customers expectations can and will be met.
22. Keep up to date with the latest industry trends and technology developments.
23. Set yourself achievable but challenging targets and understand what you need to do in order to hit them.
24. Ask yourself what can I do to make buying from me easier?
25. When was the last time you refreshed your skills? Book yourself on a sales training course today.

Please subscribe to our regular news letter for further tried and tested sales tips.

We all know the importance of making a great first impression. How much easier a sales call becomes when this is achieved, whether face to face or telephone based.

There are a number of elements required in order for a First Impression to be weighted in your favour. You will require many skills that you will already possess, that is why, you have your position in sales. The hard part is being aware of them and putting them into practice on a regular basis.

Ask any top performer how to make a great first impression and there will be 1 common denominator. Consistency, they will be aware of the elements required and will put these into practice for every customer.

As you will be all too aware with Practice comes Improvement and Experience and this will ensure that the majority of your customers will have a good First Impression of you. Let’s be honest there will be some of your calls that you get wrong and some that you simply cannot influence.

The Elements

Plan your sales call

Say What? Say How?

Appeal, Intrigue, Require

Understanding & Expectation

Relationship Building

Interestingly the first and last parts of the element should be used in conjunction with all the other elements during the whole call. When planning your sales all you are looking for opportunities to build the best rapport possible with your client.

A top performer’s success will be underpinned by their ability to relate every part of the call back to the client ensuring that the First Impression they are looking for is achieved.

They will also have planned What & How to question their client. They will deal only in:

Open Questions

Penetrating Questions

Funnelling Questions

You will be aware of the need for Open Questions I am sure, now take the next 15 minutes listening to your colleagues on their sales calls or appointment calls and wonder in amazement at how many closed questions you hear… Surprising yes………. and no because there will be 1 simple factor that is causing this; your colleagues have not planned the call.

Whether you have 30 seconds or 30 minutes planning time, you will find that within this a top performer will know their opening question. It will be Relevant & it will be Open. Relevant to their business and Open to avoid that dead end Yes/No answer.

Open Questions start with:

When

Where

Who

What

Why

How

Examples of a Good opening question would be:

If the phone was to ring right now, WHAT sort of enquiry would you really like it to be?
How would you like to decrease the monthly expenditure to your business/ home?

The third element will be achieved a lot easier if the above has been followed. With the additional penetrating and funnelling questions the customer will be creating their own appeal and intrigue they will also start to appreciate the need that you have created.

You and your customer now have an understanding, interest and expectation of what will be achieved from your sales call.

All sounds so simple on paper but the classroom is different to a real customer. Of course they are and so are you different to the classroom - that is the ability that you have - and that is why you are in sales.Apply this consistently and your performance will improve, after all it is an improved performance that sets the Performers apart from the rest. For Training on Making A Great First Impression, Sales Negotiating, Sales Leadership and much more please contact us today.