In fact I’m here on this Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Advanced Selling Techniques training day on a journalistic quest: to find out whether sales can indeed be taught or whether – as Apprentice candidates are rather partial to claiming- people are just ‘born to sell’.
So far – and this statement may well never have been uttered before – the Apprentice candidates seem to have it right.
The exercise I’m taking part in with fellow delegate Joanna Barton-Evans is designed to enhance our listening and question-asking skills. Trainer of 10 years Martin Brooks has introduced the task by outlining the dangers of assuming you know what the customer wants. I’ve started off fine, uncovering the fact that Joanna would like a suitcase-cum-backpack of medium size. It’s her revelation that this also needs to be "stylish" which causes problems.
"I hear what you’re saying about it needing to be ‘stylish’. So I would steer you away from our purely functional, traveller-inspired range and towards this more…um…" I hear the words "ladylike brand" leave my mouth even as they make me feel vaguely nauseous. Why didn’t I get a clearer idea of what exactly ‘stylish’ meant to Joanna, instead of affecting the cooing, mildly brain-dead air of an Apprentice candidate trying to flog a £190 tulip vase? Because, I begin to conclude, I lack any natural sales flair.
The next exercise has me arriving at the same conclusion. Having taken us through the art of building relationships, Brooks’ attention turns to the kind of language needed to convince a customer to buy.
A nice trick he tells us, is the ‘tag question’ –a sentence ending, such as "wouldn’t you agree?" or "don’t you think?". This should be accompanied by a slight Derren Brown-esque head nod. Brooks demonstrates how irresistible agreeing is by challenging another delegate not to also nod her head ("resistance is futile!" he crows).
Unfortunately, leaving it far too late after my tag question to throw in the head nod, my execution is less personable salesperson, effortlessly bringing the customer along with them, more unhinged nodding dog.
Yet there is, it seems, a glimmer of hope for my alternate life as a door-to-door hawker of fine travel-wares. Another attempt and I manage a delivery almost reminiscent of someone who supposedly mastered communication 20 years ago.
And I’m reassured by Brooks that given more time, I’d really get the hang. The key to being an effective salesperson, Brooks points out, is not a natural knack and one day of training, but constant practice. "The more you practice something the easier it gets. Repetition is the mother of skill," he says, advising his sales disciples to practice key phrases when writing emails, so they’re on the tip of the tongue in tricky face-to-face grillings.
Of course this is an advanced selling course. The kinds of blunders I’m making aren’t an issue for the others, much more acquainted with their products than I am with my fictitious suitcase. The key for them, explains Brooks, is to realise what they or others do well and turn this into a formal, scientific process.
"Often people say ‘I’m quite good at X.’ I say ‘oh great, how?’ To which they say ‘I dunno! I just do it’," reports Brooks. "It’s the principle of accidental brilliance. People are brilliant but they have no idea how they did it. That’s fine some of the time but making it conscious will take it to the next level."
So the rest of the day involves analysis of just why certain forms of communication work well. We look at intelligent mimicking of customers’ vocab and body language. We watch an episode of the Dragons’ Den with the sound turned down to appreciate the importance of non-verbal communication. "The point is to stay in the field of play by realising there’s a problem and addressing this to find a better solution," says Brooks, while explaining how to pick up on ‘gestural tells’ that a customer is feigning interest only to get rid of you.
"The difference between first and second is very small, so that one thing you pick up on a course is often worth doing," adds Brooks of why taking time out to formalise what are often pretty instinctive techniques is important even for sales veterans.
And the fact that it’s all fascinating stuff should work wonders in keeping a salesperson motivated and enjoying their job, explains Brooks.
I can certainly see the sense in this. Despite not planning a career in sales any time soon, I’ve had a fascinating day and am keen to try out my newfound skills. Luckily for me, Brooks reckons the art of persuasion can be applied to many scenarios, such as getting a second date.
I can just see it: "I hear what you’re saying about preferring girls who don’t get inappropriately drunk, bang on about exes or tell long-winded stories about childhood pets on dates. So I would suggest a second date where I quash these personality traits, and we talk exclusively of our mutual love of hip hop. Does that sound like a good idea…?" …delayed, manic head nod.
