TEACHING COUNSELOR SELLING TECHNIQUES Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 17, 1990 227 TEACHING COUNSELOR SELLING TECHNIQUES Ray A. DeCormier, Ph.D. Central Connecticut State University Assistance: F.U. DeCormier, M.D. Wright & J.W. Focht ABSTRACT Last year, effort was spent introducing microskills. Due to the interest, this paper was written to describe how this material is taught. To be an effective salesperson, one must internalize certain skills through repetition so that one can immediately react to a prospect’s response. To do this, one needs knowledge in the areas of microskills, applied psychology, and sales process. MICROSKILLS “A microskill is an identifiable, discrete, behavioral unit which includes verbal and/or bodily gestures that facilitate interpersonal communication.” The first one taught to students is called Reversing “…the skill of answering a question with a question.” For most people, Reversing is unnatural and sounds obnoxious if not done correctly. To overcome this problem, one would use the microskill of Acknowledging. These are phrases, which warmly and politely respond to a prospects statement or question, not in an agreeing or disagreeing fashion, but in an understanding and attending manner. For example: “I can appreciate your question, are there any other points you’d like me to consider?” Also, by adroitly using acknowledging and reversing in concert, students learn to control the conversation. This is so because it gives them the ability to control the questioning process and “...s/he who controls the question, controls the conversation.” APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY Prospect’s Personality: Students learn to categorize a prospect into one of four personality types, Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. This, in conjunction with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory, helps the student understand the connection between personality types and psychological needs. This allows the student to identify and tactfully tailor the sales presentation to each prospect. Ideal Sales Persona: A salesperson should be aware of, and utilize, four different personas. According to Dr. Eric Berne’s Transactional Analysis Theory, at any one time a person is in one of three potential ego states: Parent, Adult, or Child. The first component of the Ideal Sales Persona consists of the nurturing side of the Parent ego state in which a person communicates to others in a warm, understanding, and empathic way. The second component encompasses the actions of the Adult ego state, whereby a person appears unemotional when inputting and outputting information. The third component of the Ideal Sales Persona is Dominance Adjustment Control which states that a matching at the dominance level must first take place before negotiations can begin. This is done by adjusting (raising or lowering) one’s dominance level to that of the prospect’s. The Last component is called Tyrodramatic Behavior, which means to “act naive”. If the salesperson performs this properly, prospects will not only volunteer more information about their needs, they will also begin to actually sell to themselves as well as to the salesperson. This is a form of Reverse Selling. THE SALES PROCESS Once familiar with microskills and armed with psychological knowledge, students are next introduced to the five stages of the sales process: 1. Introduction, 2. Qualification, 3. Presentation, 4. Close, S. Post-Close Introduction: The salesperson’s responsibility is to introduce himself, assess the prospect’s environment and personality, and attempt to get on a first name basis, Thereafter, the Salesperson explains his/her philosophy of business (serve first and win/win relationship), how s/he gets paid (money and referrals), and requests permission to ask questions. Finally, the student is shown how to nullify physical barriers. Qualification: This is where the real selling is done. Here, the salesperson assesses the prospect’s status quo, and discovers, or creates, a need. Also, s/he is taught how to convey information, through questioning, in such a way that the prospect intuitively recognizes this need. Next, the salesperson helps the prospect decide on his/her ideal solution, investment requirements and implementation schedule, Presentation: The objective is to explain the options, and help the prospect choose from among three or four alternatives. When explaining the options, the salesperson must describe the benefits, advantages, and disadvantages of each alternative solution in an Adult, objective, manner. The salesperson then asks the prospect to choose the alternative which makes most sense to him. If the salesperson did a good job, the prospect should choose his/her ideal solution. The actual choice, resolution of final details, and ultimately the paperwork (the signing of the sales agreement), is executed during the Closing stage. During the Post-Close, the salesperson must reinforce the prospect’s faith with his/her selection to reduce cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is that uncomfortable feeling one gets after making a decision. The following tactics help in this matter. 1) Give the prospect a chance to renege on the sale. 2) Get the new customer to give referrals. CONCLUSION Role-playing, coaching, and feedback is used to help students integrate microskills and personas into the Sales Process. This consists mostly of giving specific suggestions on how to personify microskills properly. Sales is a unique business study in that its purpose is to synchronize the mind and mouth to quickly produce persuasive and influencing messages. This requires countless hours of repetitive role-playing of certain microskills, personas and strategies. This author refutes the statement that salesmanship is a natural skill (salesman are born, not made), and argues vehemently that it can be taught. Although proof is beyond the scope of this paper, this author’s research has uncovered enough evidence to make the previous statement. This is an exciting development, and a major break through, for the selling field. Table of Contents Volume 17, 1990 The Impact of Decision Support Systems on the Effectiveness of Small Group Decisions - Revisited The Relationship Between Financial Performance and Other Measures of Learning on a Simulation Exercise Use and Effectiveness of an Analogy-Based Expert System Suggestions for Computerized Business Authors Dealing with Power: An Experiential Exercise Using Movie and Personal Diary Analysis Techniques A Model for Developing Student Skills and Assessing Outcomes Through Outdoor Training Computer-Aided Exercises Versus Workbook Exercises as Learning Facilitator in the Principles of Marketing Course An Exposition of Guilford's Si Model as a Means of Diagnosing and Generating Pedagogical Strategies in Collegiate Business Education Formal Planning and Simulation Team Performance: A Cross Sectional Approach Cases: Real Organizations in Real Time in the Classroom An Empirical Investigation of the Internal Validity of Marketing Simulation Game An Empirical Evaluation of the Pedagogical Value of Playing a Simulation Game in a Principles of Marketing Course Factors Affecting Effective Teaching of Strategic Planning: Some Preliminary Evidence An Experiential Exercise for Learning About the Relationship Between Organizational Form & the Project Management Process Accounting Communication Skills can be Taught in the Auditing Course Modeling Cost Functions in Computerized Business Simulation: An Application of Duality Theory and Sheppard's Lemma A Life Cycle Analysis of Decision Making for a Strategic Management Team What's the Problem? A Dynamic Model for Teaching Problem Solving Skills Experientially International Currency Fluctuations: Money$im, A Simulation Superstores: A Specialized Retailing Simulation Within a Specialized Marketing Curriculum Factors Affecting Student Perceptions of Learning in a Business Policy Game VC + EL = VL The Name Game: An Experiential Exercise in Intergroup Relations The Effects of Experiential Accounting Work Experience on Student Performance in Intermediate Accounting Courses The Results of Using the Experiential Activity Group Performance Evaluation in a Business Policy Setting Using a Legal Database to Describe the Legal Environment of Marketing (and Business) Matching Environmental Uncertainty and Organizational Configuration An Instructional Computer Simulation of Tampering in QC Executive Evaluation of Student Learning in the Looking Glass Simulation Group Personality Composition and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance An Expert System for Selecting Analytical Techniques for Analyzing Marketing Research Data Effects of Cognitive Styles on Responses in an In-Basket Simulation A Psychometric Analysis of Kolb's Revised Learning Style-Inventory Selecting and Developing Experiential Exercises Using Movies Application of a Real-World Strategic Management Model in the Classroom Demand Equations which Include Product Attributes Consumption as the Objective in Computer-Scored Total Enterprise Simulations The Effects of Decision Format and Evaluation on Simulation Performance, Decision Time, and Team Cohesion The Effects of Computer Related Assignments on Student Performance in Business Administration The Money Game: A Dynamic Simulation Including Random Shocks for Money and Banking Courses Methods for Evaluating Performance on Business Simulations: A Survey The Effects of Synergogy on the Policy Course: Significant Improvements in Student Learning and Teacher Evaluation Conditions and Outcomes of Trust in a Two-Person Bargaining Exercise Bankgame Enhancing Computer Business Simulation with the Use of VGA Graphics An Experiential Approach to Entrepreneurship An Advanced Simulation Method (ASM) for Multiple Objective Problems The Influence of Experiential learning Techniques on Student Recognition of Non-Primary Learning Styles Negotiating Mergers and Acquisitions: A Cocktail Napkin Approach Identification of Unintended Effects in Experiential Laboratory Exercises An Experimental Comparison of Paper and Pencil and Computer Aided Decision Support Tools Porting a Simulation from the IBM World to the Macintosh World A Transaction Cost Analysis of Experiential Learning The Development of Experiential Exercises for Courses in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management The Assessment Center as and Experiential Classroom Exercise Pricing Strategy Algorithms for Playing Business Simulations Organizational Structures for International Operations: An Experiential Activity Simulation Emphasis in the Business School Capstone Course An Integrated Approach to Computerizing the Business Curriculum Cross-Cultural Business Negotiations Exercise Organizational Socialization and Gender Differences in Students at Work Understanding Student Work Experience: A Content-Analytic Approach Introducing Executive MBA Programs with Management Games An Analysis of Improvement in Business Decision Outcome with Sequential Use of Two Simulation Games Teaching Business Policy Utilizing Mass Lecture and Individual Case Labs Potholes Along the Road to Evaluating Learning Outcomes: The Case of Outdoor Management Training Experiential Learning for Interior Design Students: Using CADD, Lotus 1-2-3, and Wordperfect Cognitive Learning Using a Computer-Based, Qualitative Interactive Business Simulation Sex Discrimination: Does the Woman get the Job or Does the Best Man Win? A Search for Visual Aids to Support Experiential Learning Through the 1990's An Experimental Analysis fo the Effectiveness of Student Role-Playing in Sales Training How to Have Students Learn from their Term Projects Self-Evaluation Exercise (SEE): An Assessment of Class Contribution A Study of the Influence of Team Formation on Attitudes and Performance in Management Games A Hardware Based CIM Simulation Laboratory Model Test Substance Abuse in Organizations Micro Computer Training Models Teaching Forecasting, Cash Budgeting and Inventory Model Building Using SBTools A Comparison of the Effects of Experiential Learning Activities and Traditional Lecture Classes An Adjunct Writing Instruction Assistant, The Computer; With an Illustration Classroom Software for ABC Analysis Utilizing Information Processing Technology to Enhance the Business Policy Simulation Experience Progressive Cases Realistic Job Previews Vs. Traditional Job Previews: Experiencing the Differences and Understanding the Consequences Investment Analysis Using the Pragmatic Multiplier Approach A Computer Simulation Interface for Competitive and Firm Analysis Self-Assessment of Ethical Decision Making Predispositions Preparing Managers for Overseas Assignments An Inquiry into Japanese Marketing: Workshop on Teaching Japanese Marketing The Performance Appraisal Feedback Interview: A Role Play for Human Resources Management Teaching Counselor Selling techniques Using Experiential Techniques to Teach International Topics International Management Simulation Gaming: Current Status and Future Developments A Realism Comparison of Simulation Technologies/Methodologies A Time-Efficient Game to Illustrate Concepts Taught in Management Courses and Management Development Programs Teaching the Management of Technology The Concept of Face and the Applicability of Experiential Exercises in an Oriental Culture's