With 2017 now well and truly upon us (we are finally confident that we know what day of the week it is), many businesses have moved from reflecting on the past year towards planning world domination for the year ahead.

As professional sales people, it’s an important time to really look to understand the needs of your clients, especially those you have been working with for a number of years, as it is easy to become complacent and assume we really understand what our clients are looking for.

Meaningful questions will provoke thought and help to engage your clients in a conversation that is relevant to them and their business.  Here are five questioning techniques to help improve your selling technique and structure these conversations.

As we all know, successful businesses are built around solid relationships and therefore your approach to good customer relationships is key in having an edge over your competitors. When was the last time you received service that was so mind blowing that you felt compelled to put pen to paper and write a letter of thanks?  

After the initial euphoria of that well deserved promotion, one of the few first questions team leaders or managers can be forgiven for asking themselves is how am I going to manage my team and what approach to management should I take?  

There are of course so many different ways of managing people. Different leadership styles will vary in terms of decision making, empowerment and the level of responsibility given to employees, before even taking into account the culture of the organisation. Certain leadership styles work better than others and are more successful when attention is given to individuals, some of whom may benefit more from one style of management than another.

The ability to communicate and get our message across is one of the most critical business communication skills any of us can have. The way in which we communicate with others forms the basis of people’s opinions on who we are and what we stand for, and in a business sense can have a significant impact on our relationships with colleagues and clients alike. 

Obviously we are all individuals, and behave in varying ways when we are communicating, depending on our personality types. It is however, interesting and important to realise that there are ways to adapt our communication styles, changing our behaviour as opposed to our personality, in order to improve our influencing skills and achieve our goals in terms of interaction, persuasion and effective communication.

Any experienced facilitators reading this article will be more than familiar with the story of delegates attending workshops without really understanding what it is about, why they have been asked to attend or how they will be expected to apply the learning back in the workplace.  

“I’m here with an open mind” or “I have been told that this will be good for my development… apparently” are all too familiar reasons for attending when asked.  Be honest, we’ve all said it.

Delivering a presentation can be enough to drive fear into even the most rational and positive thinking people, yet it need not be the terrifying ordeal we often make it out to be.  Here are some tips that will improve your presentation skills, enabling you to prepare and deliver your presentation with confidence: