From the perspective of General Manager Marc Lyons and his staff at the Building Leadership Simulation Centre (BLSC), traditional training in the art and practice of selling—sales—is woefully inadequate, focussing on only the basic urgencies—the need to sell, the monetary rewards and the often costly seminars that promise sure-fire methods for success. The rest is left up to the seller to figure out, which, like teaching yourself to drive a car, leaves a lot of room for developing bad habits.

Starting with the launch of the Sales Leadership Series on 22 June 2017, the BLSC will offer immersive sales training as part of the spectrum of their learning courses.

“Salespeople—even the best ones—seldom have the chance to develop good skills from the start of their careers,” Lyons said. “From day one, they are taught to concentrate on making money instead of acquiring sales skills. The training is more academic and stale, often an irrelevant tool for people in sales roles today. And when they realise this, they start looking for the next ‘trick’ or ‘system’ for selling, instead of internalising good habits that will allow them to remain effective at their jobs over the long term.”

The BLSC training focuses first on identifying and deconstructing bad selling habits, paring back behaviour to concentrate on basics of understanding the customer and identifying ways to offer solutions to their needs. Staff looked at their own experiences in filling sales roles as a way to begin indentifying where the trouble starts. They sifted through attitudes toward sales and clients and evaluated what had worked well and what had not. They also held discussions with the sales staff across different businesses including hardware, advertising, telecommunications, retail, services and manufacturing, to understand misconceptions of the role of sales in today’s business environment.

“Today’s customer is informed and empowered,” Lyons said. “They have access to multiple channels of information and opinion. The notion of sales professionals being in control of the process is old and invalid. So rather than trying to bend the clients to our will, problem solving and collaboration have become the new norm.

“Learning the importance of human interaction and a handful of fundamentals in all transactions is essential to stripping back bad habits and reloading your sales force with improved interpersonal and perception skills.”

The elements of the BLSC’s new sales training series is the product of more than 30 years of collective hands-on experience in sales and sales training. The series consists of four modules: ‘Essential Customer Service’, ‘Simplicity in Selling’, ‘Advanced Selling’ and ‘Sales Leadership’ which took shape after pre-testing with a range of clients who had approached the BLSC to help fortify their sales teams with stronger skills.

The BLSC utilises the same tools for sales training that has made them an extraordinary resource for the building and construction industry; what makes the BLSC experience different is a realistic, simulated business environment without the distraction and pressures of actual business consequences. After the exercises, trainers give the clients immediate feedback on what they observed. It’s a nuanced approach to learning.

“The traditional ‘sink-or-swim’ approach to sales has severe limitations—namely the pressure to make a sale and earn a commission,” Lyons says. “We allow our clients to try sales methods on for size to see how well they work; it gives them the freedom to listen and think before acting, which is always beneficial.”

Vesna Brown, People Performance Manager for Bowens Timber & Building Supplies, credits the BLSC for helping her company achieve the best sales year ever.

“It was the best training we’d ever received,” she said. “We have a more engaged workforce that performs at a higher level than it did previously.”

For more information, contact the BLSC on (03) 9411 8000 or contact Business Development and Relationship Executive Alan Odgers.