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Ken Thoreson, is a strategic sales skills management author and speaker. As president of Acumen Management Group, he consults and coaches companies and organizations on implementing processes that grow sales and predictability.

In this episode we talk about sales staff.   Ken provides insight on the  strategic sale skills that illuminate, motivate, and rejuvenate revenue performance.

Ken shares practical advice across the entire sales process: A to Z. Well as much as we can do in on podcast.  Ken is a nationally recognized speaker, sales and marketing influencer, and sales coach. It’s an honor to have Ken as a guest.

Strategic Sales Skills List

In this interview I walked Ken through a sales skills list:

1. Persistant
2. Creative
3. Listen Wells
4. Expresses Empathy
5. Builds Trust

Further advice:

1. When trying to land a difficult prospect, build a power network. Consider everyone in their  sphere of influence. Not just LinkedIn but professional organizations, hobbies, philanthropic activities. Leverage your network to get an introduction. Brainstorm five tactical steps.
2. When meeting a client a second time ask “Has anything changed since we last met?”.  This is a great way to find out if the deal is going sideways.
3. Study personality styles and adjust your selling to the context of the prospect your meeting.
4. When selling technology your clients will want to know
   1. Do you have the technical ability
   2. Do you understand their  industry
   3. Do you understand their business processes
   4. Do you have terrific references
5. It’s important to always reflect and avoid selling on autopilot. At the end of any sales call answer the question… “How could I have done that better?”

Ken Thoreson Contact Information

Website: www.AcumenManagement.com Email: Ken@AcumenMgmt.com Blog: www.YourSalesManagementGuru.com

This is the free document Ken mentioned in the  interview:

The Job of Sales Management

Sales Training

I’ve  launched the new Selling With Confidence Academy, a self-paced course that teaches you how to be yourself, add value and make sales.