Sales training for your staff isn’t just about teaching them how to make a financial transaction or use a till.

At its core, it’s about how fundamentally humans think and feel when they’re considering a purchase of any kind – and how they should or shouldn’t be treated during the process.

We all have our favourite restaurants or cafes that we frequent because of their delicious food – but when we look deeper it is in fact the service that has us returning on a regular basis.

You could have the most deliciously prepared meal you’ve ever seen or eaten served to you, but if the server doesn’t engage you or make you feel like a priority, chances are you’ll rate the place based on their poor service rather than the great food.

All of us, as potential customers, want to know that sales staff in whatever industry understand our needs and wants, and this starts with a core appreciation that sales-people know we are parting with hard-earnt dollars to potentially purchase from you.

Your respect for us as potential buyers solely for this reason is an excellent way to begin a sales conversation.

Here’s a recent example of a lack of respect (and sales training!) that cost one brand a lot of money:

A very wealthy but unassuming couple of farmers approached a well-known vehicle brand at Fieldays this year. They were, like a lot of Fieldays visitors, dressed down wearing practical farm-centric clothing and gumboots.

They were looking to purchase 2 brand new vehicles on the spot. Multiple sales-people were hovering around at the stand and didn’t approach the couple at all.

Knowing they had the money to buy these vehicles on the spot, there was an expectation on their part that a sales-person would approach them.

They asked a couple of the sales people a few questions about the cars, but the sales-people didn’t engage and just assumed the couple were simply browsing and seemingly, based on the way the couple were dressed, surely wouldn’t be able to afford these new vehicles anyway.

After waiting far too long for someone to engage them and help them with the purchase process, they left the stand and went to another where they made their purchase.

(Note here too, they vowed to never support the first stand’s brand of the cars they wanted again, and posted their negative experience on all social media platforms.)

Had the salespeople had sales training and an understanding of the importance of never assuming a customer might not have money, they would have quickly and easily secured a $250000 purchase that day.

No company in this day and age can afford such an enormous financial loss that could have been so easily avoided had the team had quality sales training.