WE TRANSFORM SALES POTENTIAL INTO SALES PERFORMANCE
Laser™ selling system
Large | Account | Strategies | Engagement | Retention
It takes more than training to build a high performing sales organization. At Top Gun Sales Performance, we have found that it takes a complete system of training, tools, technology, and operations support to produce sustainable improvement in revenue, profitability, and overall company performance.
Our approach is simple and straightforward. We apply our areas of expertise, content, and technologies to help you build your own Top Gun School of Sales Excellence.
Our LASER Selling System. LASER™ stands for Large Account Strategies, Engagement, Retention, and is designed for sales organizations that encounter more complex B2B selling or need to move their selling from transactional to a higher level consultative style.
LASER is designed to align the development of your sales managers and salespeople with your defined sales process in order to produce continuous development of your team and improve sales results.
It takes more than training to build a high performing sales organization. At Top Gun Sales Performance, we have found that it takes a complete system of training, tools, technology, and operations support to produce sustainable improvement in revenue, profitability, and overall company performance.
Our approach is simple and straightforward. We apply our areas of expertise, content, and technologies to help you build your own Top Gun School of Sales Excellence.
Our LASER Selling System. LASER™ stands for Large Account Strategies, Engagement, Retention, and is designed for sales organizations that encounter more complex B2B selling or need to move their selling from transactional to a higher level consultative style.
LASER is designed to align the development of your sales managers and salespeople with your defined sales process in order to produce continuous development of your team and improve sales results.
THE PERFORMANCE PYRAMID
The Top Gun Performance Pyramid™ is our foundational model that explains how we build and drive performance proficiency in any organization. It is the roadmap for identifying the set of fundamental elements (knowledge, skills, attributes) of the competencies required to perform at a high level.
The foundational level of the pyramid is what we call attributes. Attributes are the qualities, features, or characteristics that are inherent inside of someone. These are things like resilience, drive, and empathy. Many of these characteristics are nearly impossible to change. Therefore, organizations must hire people with the desired attributes.
The second level of the pyramid is knowledge. Knowledge happens to be the easiest thing to build. So we tend to transfer knowledge through various training methods such as books, whitepapers, on-demand videos, and online learning lessons.
The third level is skill. Skills are things like account planning, questioning, and objection handling. Skills are built by doing them. Skill building is accomplished through practice, observation, and consistent field coaching.
Last is proficiency. Proficiency is the ability to do something well on demand. We drive proficiency by coaching, which is why the development of the sales managers is vitally important. Without consistent and ongoing coaching, training is just a one-time event and the retention of what was learned is too low to impact behavior
change.
This Top Gun Performance Pyramid model, combined with our systematic approach, ensures that we deliver high-impact training programs that transform sales potential into sales performance.
OUR SYSTEMATIC APPROACH INCLUDES:
WEBINARS
Engaging online learning sessions designed to transfer knowledge before and after training workshops. These establish the foundation for continuous reinforcement of key concepts and skills.
WORKSHOPS
Instructor-led classroom sessions that emphasize live practice, observation, and improvement of specific skills (i.e. presenting, conducting a discovery sales call,
sales coaching, etc.).
SALES TOOLS
Practical tools to help salespeople effectively perform key sales activities such as account planning, account mapping, call planning, presentation planning, opportunity analysis, and more.
COACHING TOOLS
Practical tools to help Sales Managers effectively coach their employees and continuously reinforce, retrain, and drive proficiency of their salespeople.
Each of the following modules can be used as part of a blended learning approach that builds a high level of sustainable sales performance.
STRATEGIES
Let’s face it, many salespeople struggle with strategy. They wind up spending countless hours chasing accounts and opportunities that offer little potential. They go into each day without a tactical plan that focuses on a high level of those sales activities that will move them closer to their goals.
Top Gun developed the LASER selling program to provide salespeople with the tools, training, and technologies needed to be laser focused on doing the right things, each day, that will drive them to a high level of sales performance.
THIS LEARNING PATH OF MODULES INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING
LASER™ ACCOUNT PLANNING
In the complex selling environment, infiltrating your accounts and prospects is challenging, navigating their organization is more complex, and keeping focused on your biggest and best opportunities with the account is difficult. Therefore, having a laser-like focus on executing the key sales activities in your sales process is critical. A key first step is developing and executing a strategic plan for your major accounts and prospects. This module covers the most important elements of an account plan, provides a tool that guides you through the process, and the tactics you must take to execute the plan each day.
Screen capture from Top Gun Opportunity Influence Map
LASER™ OPPORTUNITY MAPPING
In today’s selling, there are more buyers involved in the decision making process than ever before. This module covers the five buyer types and the roles that they can play in the decision. Our Opportunity Mapping tool will be used to assess your position in a sales opportunity and create strategies for leveraging your knowledge of the role each buyer plays to ensure that you are positioned favorably with each.
LASER™ CALL PLANNING
Salespeople can be notorious for going on a sales call and “winging it”. But, the sales call is the mecca of all sales activity and requires diligent planning. This module covers the LASER Call Planning process, the key elements of the plan, and how you turn an aimless sales call into one that accomplishes your call objectives and drives the sale forward.
TARGET ACCOUNT IDENTIFICATION
Whether we want to admit it or not, prospecting for new business is critical to our success. This module takes the pain and avoidance out of prospecting and replaces it with clarity about what criteria define your best potential prospects. You’ll learn what types of prospecting activities work the best and how to avoid the anxiety associated with hunting for new business.
NUMERAL™ OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS
How often does one of your high potential sales opportunities come to a screeching halt in the process? Never happens, right? This module introduces the NUMERAL concept that will give you an easy way to assess each of your opportunities based on 7 key areas, and either dis-qualify them or take action to uncover unknown information that you must know in order to win the deal.
CLIENT ENGAGEMENT SKILLS
How you engage contacts and buyers throughout the sales process makes the difference between having a small pipeline of stalled opportunities and a robust pipeline of opportunities that move rapidly through the sales process. These modules cover the most important consultative selling skills necessary to turn an average salesperson into a sales superhero.
THIS LEARNING PATH OF MODULES INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING
COMPLEX BUYING PROCESSES
The days of dealing with only one or two decision makers are gone. Working with multi-phase, complex buying processes that include a slew of people involved in the decision is now the norm. This module will provide you with all the ammunition you need to flush out all the key players, steps, dependencies, and timelines of the process. You’ll practice asking the tough questions that will allow you to tailor your approach to the process and each buyer.
OPENING AND CLOSING THE ROOM
The first few seconds of a sales call or sales presentation can make or break the outcome. This module covers Top Gun’s tried and true method for consultatively beginning and ending each meeting. You’ll learn what to say, how to say it, and why it is so powerful in helping you win deals in the most competitive situations. In addition, you will practice the skill in a fun environment in order to achieve mastery and hit the field armed with this new technique.
HANDLING OBJECTIONS
“I’m happy with my current supplier.” “Your price is too high.” “We’re under contract with someone else.” Sometimes, it seems as if our prospects have been trained on how to avoid us. This module exposes the objections or stalls that you hear every day and will show you the process, communication style, and method for getting to the true objection and involving the prospect in the resolution. You’ll see some great examples and learn some specific words and phrases that will lower sales resistance immediately. You’ll be able to practice resolving some real objections that you hear by working with other salespeople, just like you.
COMPELLING INTRODUCTORY MESSAGES
Long, boring introductory messages that extol the virtues of your company, its rich history, and award-winning products are completely ineffective, at best. This module demystifies the simple, yet effective way to build, tailor, and deliver introductory messages, emails, and voicemails, that are compelling and engaging. You’ll use this method to build messages tailored to your own prospects and will practice delivering your message in order to get more interest and secure more appointments.
CONVERSATIONAL INTERROGATION™
Telling ain’t selling. Asking great questions that expose the value of your solutions and offer key insights about their business is imperative to your sales success. You see, questions are actually the answer. In this module, you’ll watch examples of the difference between interrogating your prospect and having a simple conversation. You’ll apply the concepts that lower sales resistance and you will build a list of great questions, tailored to your industry and your buyers, that can be used immediately in your selling.
SELLING AT A HIGH ALTITUDE
Planes fly more efficiently at higher altitudes. The air is not as dense, the drag not as great, and there aren’t as many other planes to deal with in that space. The same
holds true for selling. It’s easy for salespeople to call at a lower altitude in a company. But calling on lower level buyers is far less efficient in the long run. This module provides the knowledge, practice, and skill development exercises needed to rise above the low fliers and produce great results calling on C-level executives. You’ll learn what is important to executives, how to gain access to them, how to speak their language, and how to communicate value.
PRESENTATION CONCEPTS AND SKILLS
Everyone in sales needs to (or should) deliver a presentation at some point in time. For a select few, it almost comes naturally. For others, it’s a fearful experience of sweat-producing anxiety. This module will dispel the myths and cover the key elements of how to prepare, plan, tailor, and conduct sales presentations in a way that engages the audience and compels them to take action. You’ll learn techniques that reduce anxiety and improve confidence, and you’ll see examples of different styles and presenter traits
that you can practice and emulate for your own presentations.
PRESENTING YOUR CORPORATE CAPABILITIES
How good are you, or your salespeople at delivering your value proposition? How many different versions of your company’s Corporate Capabilities presentation are
floating around the field? In this module, you’ll learn the key elements of an effective presentation, the power of using stories, how to turn any presentation into an engaging dialogue with the audience, and how to deliver your company’s Corporate Capabilities
presentation with style and confidence. You’ll use a real-life scenario to tailor, practice, and present your presentation, and will receive a video of it for observation and continued improvement.
MAKING THE CASE
Performing a simple needs assessment is a basic fundamental skill in selling. However, the top sellers go beyond a simple needs assessment to produce what is most important to the ultimate decision making executive, which is the return on investment (ROI) they can expected to receive and the total cost of ownership (TCO) of buying your solution. In this module you will learn the tough questions that need to be asked and use tactical scenarios to build your case using ROI and TCO.
EFFECTIVE NEGOTIATING
In sales, how often are we caught in situations where we give up something for nothing? How many times do we cave on price, terms, or contract length? This module explores the concept of Quid Pro Quo and how to prepare in advance for concessions you’ll be asked to make. We will demonstrate some effective negotiations skills and how to recognize when you’re being “played” by the prospect, and what to do when it happens.
SALES COACHING
Effective sales coaching has been proven to produce superior results for both the salesperson and the team. This series of modules is for sales managers of all levels and those aspiring to be a sales manager. They will learn the fundamentals of great sales coaching, how to overcome the barriers to coaching consistently, who to coach in order to get the most bang for the investment, and when to coach.
THIS LEARNING PATH OF MODULES INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING
COACHING SKILLS AND TACTICS
You have a team of salespeople performing at various levels of quota attainment. Some have been under performing so long that you don’t know if they’ll ever improve. Great sales coaches understand that they are a “force multiplier.” More will get achieved by the power of a high performing team than by just one manager. This module will provide insights, practical demonstrations and challenging exercises on who to coach, when to coach, why to coach, and how to coach.
THE ROLE OF A COACH
Just ask ten managers to describe what they believe is sales coaching and you’ll probably get ten different answers. Coaching effectively is not easy. Coaching
effectively is not something everyone can do naturally. In professional football, the NFL, there’s a reason why the most highly skilled athletes on the planet can’t be
successful without coaches. The same holds true in sales and Top Gun plays in the Sales Performance League where coaching is not just part of a sales manager’s job. Rather, it IS their job. This module covers the five most important roles of any sales coach and the benefits to mastering each one. You’ll also learn some things you can do immediately to improve your approach and ability to coach, as well as the results you can expect by coaching consistently.
THE PERFORMANCE PYRAMID
The Top Gun Performance Pyramid™ is our foundational model that explains how we build and drive performance proficiency in any organization. It is the road-map for identifying the set of fundamental elements (knowledge, skills, attributes) of the competencies required to perform at a high level. This micro-lesson will provide you with a clear understanding of the systematic approach needed to drive performance
proficiency in any organization.
THE TOP GUN PERIODIC TABLE OF PERFORMANCE™
Most sales manager know performance when they see it but they don’t often know how to build it. They lack a formula. The Top Gun Periodic Table of Performance™ is a visual metaphor to chemistry’s periodic table of elements. In chemistry, all things
complex are composed of elements that are simple. If complex chemical compounds are a combination of more basic elements, then complex professional competencies must also be composed of a set of fundamental performance elements (Knowledge,
Skills, and Attributes) which can be combined in different ways to create every aspect of performance in an organization. This module will introduce the tool and use it to give you a deep understanding of what performance is, how it works, and how to improve it through coaching. You will learn how to consult with employees, diagnose performance, and prescribe actionable remedies to affect change at the fundamental (elemental) level.
about Top Gun Sales Performance and the Author
Top Gun Sales Performance
Based in Mason (Cincinnati), Ohio, is focused on helping medium and large companies increase their sales capabilities without increasing their headcount. Top Gun provides tools, training, technology, and outsourced resources needed to build a best-in-class selling organization. These services include training for your selling professionals, inbound and outbound call center for lead generation and customer support, sales specific IT support (CRM, customer facing applications), and media and event production services.
J Steven Osborne
Founder and CEO of Top Gun Sales Performance. Early in his career he served as a team leader for GE in their IT and Customer Support Center. As CEO of Top Gun, Steve works directly with top executives to help them solve their pressing issues. Top Gun Sales Performance provides lead generation services and inside sales support to some of the world’s best-known companies.
