Salespeople are in the business of asking questions. The first two they’re likely to ask are existential. They are “How did I get here?” and “How do I stay?”
The first question is trickier than it looks, as many salespeople arrive in the sales organization without knowing quite how, and perhaps even why. As college students, few plot a career trajectory by aiming for sales, though a whopping fraction of graduates land there—some after eliminating other options, some by rotational assignment, and many seemingly by serendipity alone. Sales managers’ career paths aren’t much more carefully chosen. Most are promoted for being a good salesperson, a qualification which, to the unfortunate surprise of many new managers, proves a fickle predictor of success.
These accidental salespeople and sales managers evoke Dirk Gently, the quirky investigator from Douglas Adams’ comic detective novels. His “Zen” navigation technique involved simply finding “any car that looked like it knew where it was going and follow(ing) it.” Dirk, like many salespeople and sales managers, discovers this technique results in outcomes more oft en surprising than successful, but is “worth it for the sake of the few occasions when it is both.”
However drawn to sales, whether through happy accident or some more purposeful route, many talented salespeople and sales managers find they want to stay. How they’ll do so is a critical concern for them, and for their firms, who hope they’ll not only stay but continue to thrive in the sales force. Staying requires finding a way to develop knowledge, skills, and ability in a field not well known for codifying its principles, or mapping the milestones for those traveling its route. There is no qualifying exam, no certification. Many will work for firms without meaningful training programs or with haphazard commitments to employee (let alone salesperson) development. And as if that weren’t enough, they’ll need to stay current in a field changing with breathless rapidity, adapting to the new models of buying and selling emerging in every industry.
This text is for them. Joe Amlin has assembled in this impressive book a sound foundation for professional sales development and an invaluable reference work useful to salespeople and sales managers at all career stages. It offers theory, processes, and specific applications of how professional salespeople manage their responsibilities. Practitioners will appreciate its focus on actionable techniques, including exercises that allow salespeople to apply concepts immediately after reading each chapter.
Joe’s career in the oilfield services gives him unmatched experience in some of the most complex, challenging sales environments in any industry. That experience is evident in this text, with its focus on large opportunity management, competitive bidding and procurement, strategic sales messaging, and collaborative negotiation. Equally valuable for his readers is Joe’s experience operating in seemingly every corner of the globe.
A Canadian educated in Alaska (among other places), Joe is a long-time resident of Bali and spent much of his career traveling the world for a firm headquartered in Paris. His global citizenship and easy fluency in many cultures stand apart from others in our field, who mistake their own parochial success for a license to assume what works for everyone else.
Joe’s commitment to sales education represents another happy accident for our profession; his contributions are, in true Dirk Gently fashion, equal parts surpris- ing and successful. I met Joe through my efforts to start the Sales Management Association seven years ago. His interest, energy, and support of our fledgling enterprise—as a founding board member, advisor, and frequent contributor were in no small way responsible for its success (the Sales Management Associaion now has more than 10,000 enrolled members in 40 countries).
I continue to be astonished by Joe’s enthusiasm for the sales and sales management professions, and, like many others who’ve benefitted from Joe’s work, remain immensely grateful for it. This text is an artifact of Joe’s commitment, energy, and industriousness in developing our profession and offers ample evidence that as a sales effectiveness “thought leader,” Joe’s willing to do what so many others eager to claim that title ignore carefully assess the best ideas, craft actionable insights, and present ideas focused on helping others improve.
In your own pursuits, whether those involve beginning or advancing a sales career, expanding your sales leadership ability, or simply developing a better understanding of the sales organization, I believe you’ll benefit from the insights cataloged in this text. I wish you a journey full of as much success as surprise.
Robert J. Kelly 
JP is a Senior Sales Consultant with extensive experience in the energy and technology fields working with clients who sell complex solutions to large corporate clients. JP delivers fundamental and advanced sales programs globally and is the author of several publications relating to marketing and complex sales.
JP is currently a freelance Senior Training Consultant and Executive Business Coach delivering programs for BGP CNPC, Task Frontera Geoscience, Archer, OiLSERV, Schlumberger, HSBC, Lasalle Management, GE, Baker Hughes, Nucleus Software, Cummins, and Richardson.
Prior to becoming a consultant, JP was Manager of Worldwide Sales Training for Schlumberger for 13 years. In this role he developed the content of Schlumberger’s sales training program, consisting of 15 different programs covering basic, intermediate and advanced training in selling skills, strategic sales plan development and execution, account management, sales management, negotiations, and demand generation.
Prior to leading the sales training organization, JP was Vice President of Information Technology for Schlumberger’s Asia and Middle East regions. JP was also President of Schlumberger Indonesia and has lived in Indonesia for 17 years, Prior to his roles in APAC JP led the Schlumberger sales force in Canada and Alaska and brings a wealth of real-world experience in executive level operations management, sales and sales management.
Complete the information below and download a zipped file with all the support materials referenced in the textbook. This includes the PDF files of the appendixes, profiling worksheets, strategic sales plan template and much more. Included in the zipped file is a navigation page. Unzip all the files into the same folder and click on the “01 Click Here First” file to open the navigation page.
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Customized sales training is available to any company wanting to sponsor sales training for their sales teams. Customized sales training is also a good option for companies wanting to develop a corporate sales training program. Typical customizes sales training programs can be designed using one or more formats described below.
All training sessions use the B2B Professional Sales textbook as the main reference document for the training.
All workshops, exercises, assignments and case studies are customized for the client’s sales environment.
Testing for understanding and retrieval skills is conducted online after each training.
The content for each training session is dependent on the client’s sales force needs and goals.
All training content is printed in English and can be delivered by a sales training professional in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic, or Indonesian language.
Costs (all costs are in US Dollars)
All training venue costs are the responsibility of the sponsor. All trainer travel, hotel and other out of pocket expenses directly related to the preparation and delivery of the training.
Customization of training materials is charged at $1,500 per day (normally 1-day for level 1, 4 and 5 training sessions, 3-days for level 2, 5-days for level 3 training sessions). Non-training days such as travel, weekends between multiple week training events are charged at $1,500 per day.
Training days are charged at $4,000 per day. Training per day charge includes one copy of B2B Professional Sales: Theory, Process, Applications and Tools textbook per student, one printed copy and electronic files of participant training materials.
To set-up a teleconference to discuss your specific sales training needs contact :jpamlin@b2bprofessionalsales.com
Target audience: Entry-level sales training for new sales staff with no previous sales training who are selling outside of a competitive bidding environment such as field or product sales. The Fundamental Sales Skills seminar covers “in-the-customer’s-office sales skills” and includes sales call skills, handling customers’ negative reactions, and writing and submitting proposals as per basic sales skill levels. Four days; maximum number of participants: 12
Target audience: Staff entering the sales team in either a direct sales position or a sales or account management position, and who have either more than 10 years of industry experience or previous sales training. This is an accelerated program covering the standard sales processes, and familiarizing participants with key sales tools such as account plans and strategic sales plans. Upon successful completion of this program, attendees earn an equivalent credit for the Sales Fundamentals, Bidding Workshop, Negotiations Workshop, Complex Sales, and Strategic Sales Plan seminars. Four days; maximum number of participants: 12
Target audience: For staff members who are in non-sales positions but require sales training, the entry point is the two-day Sales for Non-Sales Positions seminar, which familiarizes non-sales people with sales processes, and illustrates when and how they can contribute to sales processes. Three days; maximum number of participants: 12
Target audience: This workshop is for all sales personnel. The workshop focuses on basic and intermediate sales communication skills. The first two days consist of multiple recorded exercises that allow learners to practice their new skills. The third day consists of a one-on-one two-hour coaching session on a 30-minute presentation made by the participant to the instructor. Three days; maximum number of participants: 6
Target audience: All sales and support staff who participate in the preparation or review of proposals and bid documents. This seminar focuses on the basic proposal, and bidding skills for development, pricing, and management. Two days; maximum number of participants: 9
Two days; maximum number of participants: 9 Target audience: All sales and support staff who negotiate with our customers or participate in the preparation or review of negotiation strategies. This seminar introduces the fundamental negotiation concepts and tools for the basic skills level. The workshop consists of multiple exercises and role-plays to allow learners to practice the skills they learn.
Target audience: All sales and support staff who participate in managing or securing large complex opportunities. This workshop focuses on basic and intermediate sales skills for large complex sales opportunities. Three days; maximum number of participants: 12
Target audience: All sales staff, and staff with similar responsibilities who participate in building or executing a sales plan. This seminar covers how to build and test a strategic sales plan, focusing on intermediate sales skills. Three days; maximum number of participants: 12
Target audience: Staff who have attended either the Fundamental Bidding Skills Seminar or Sales for Experienced Professionals or Sales School. The first three days of this seminar focus on advanced proposal/bid development, pricing, and management skills, applied to a case study the participant has selected to work on during the workshop. The participants will learn how to model uncertainty using Monte Carlo analysis and build a bid review presentation. The afternoon of the fourth day is reserved for the sponsor to present to the participants their company regional contracting issues and best practice. Four days; maximum number of participants: 12
Target audience: Sales staff who have attended either the Fundamentals Negotiation Skills Seminar or Sales for Experienced Professionals or Sales School. This workshop focusing on advanced sales negotiation skills. During the first three days, the participants apply the concepts and tools they have learned to the case study they have selected to work on during the workshop. The fourth day includes recording a two-part role-play of the participant’s negotiation. Four days; maximum number of participants: 12
Target audience: Sales staff who have attended the Fundamental Presentation Skills seminar. This seminar focuses on sales intermediate and advanced communication skill levels. The first two days consist of multiple recorded exercises that allow learners to practice their new skills. The third day consists of a one-on-one two-hour coaching session of a 30-minute presentation made by the participant to the instructor. Three days; maximum number of participants: 6
Target audience: All non-sales managers who have sales staff reporting to them. The seminar focuses on fundamental sales management skills, tools, and sales staff deliverables, all of which help non-sales managers to manage their sales staff expertly. Three days; maximum number of participants: 12
Target audience: All managers who participate in field opportunity reviews This seminar teaches the skills to enable managers to review a strategic sales plan thoroughly, after which they can determine the critical next steps. Two days; maximum number of participants: 12
Target audience: This workshop is intended to be held in conjunction with new product and services introductions. This workshop focuses on how to sell added-value services to existing customers. Two days; maximum number of participants: 12
Target audience: All sales staff involved in or responsible for increasing prices on existing contracts. This workshop focuses on how to increase prices on existing contracts. Two days; maximum number of participants: 12
Target audience: To be determined by sponsor. This workshop is scheduled when a sales trainer is requested to facilitate a workshop such as a sales team’s strategic sales plan creation, multi-business line account plan, large bid strategy, or key opportunity negotiation strategy. In this format the first part of the workshop reviews the relevant sales theory, process and tools that will be used in the second half of the workshop when the participants will apply the tools to the specific activity as identified by the sponsor. The sponsor and sales trainer determine the workshop’s length and content.
Target audience: Those entering the sales function are required to engage with customers immediately covering all aspects of the sales activities but not directly responsible for the pricing decision, bidding, negotiations or executive level account management. The goal of the sales school is enable the sales person to manage their customer relationships and secure sales opportunities that create value for your company and your customers in a competitive market place. The sales school will provide the fundamental sales theory, processes, and tools used by sales professionals and apply these to their case study materials. The participants create strategic sales plans for current opportunities from their pipeline creating actionable items to secure the opportunity.
The two-week school is an intense 10-day session consisting of classroom presentations and lectures, discussions, exercises, competitions, workshops using case study materials, and individual coaching session between student and instructor. Students will be required to spend approximately one hour after class each day reviewing and preparing for the next day's class. Two weeks; maximum number of participants: 12
Target audience: Those entering the sales function are required to engage with customers immediately covering all aspects of the supplier customer relationship including sales, bidding, negotiations, and account management.
The Sales University is a high intensity four week training program, designed to accelerate learning of core sales competencies - including sales skills, presentation skills, opportunities management, pipeline management, negotiation, bidding and account management. The learning experience is augmented by the participant interaction, role plays and the peer reviews. Participants leave the program equipped with the confidence, knowledge and skills to get the most out of all interactions with customers and deliver profitable long term business returns. Four weeks; maximum number of participants: 9
Target audience: Account managers given the responsibility to manage the relationship between your company and an account’s executive management, and who are a resource of account knowledge for sales personnel. Attendees should have completed either the Sales for Experienced Professionals, or Fundamental Sales Skills workshops.
This seminar covers account management skills such as understanding customers’ business processes, building an account plan, and managing customer relationships. Five days; maximum number of participants: 12
Target audience: All sales managers.This seminar covers the sales manager’s role, coaching and counseling skills, and specific coaching techniques for pipeline management, opportunities management, and sales call skills per the intermediate and advanced skill levels. Five days; maximum number of participants: 12
Public seminars are held in various cities and open to the general public. Seats are limited and made available on a first-come first-serve basis. Public seminars are perfect for companies that do not have large sales teams and want to avoid the costs of developing a best-in-class B2B sales program. The B2B Professional Sales training offerings are organized into modules that can be scheduled into the salesperson’s training and development plan. The offers are shown in the table below. For currently schedule public seminars click here. To download a public seminar catalog in PDF format click here. The catalog includes for each seminar: an overview, daily agenda, seminar materials, and logistics.
Each sales training delivery uses a combination of learning activities such as instructor-led lectures, individual and team exercises, workshops, case studies, team competitions, realtime audience polling feedback and quizzes, and online seminar feedback, a copy of which all students will receive after the completion of the seminar. The instructor is also available for individual coaching and discussions after the seminar each day and via e-mail after the seminar.
B2B Professional Sales teaches salespeople the 15 skills they need to have to be successful in today’s competitive B2B sales environment. The B2B Professional Sales training methodology follows the widely accepted 70:20:10 Model for Learning and Development. The model states individuals obtain 70 percent of their knowledge from job related experiences (JRE), 20 percent from interactions with others, and 10 percent from formal educational events. The B2B sales training seminars are the formal educational events where the salesperson learns the critical B2B sales skills, processes, and tools. They will start using their sales skills and tools in the seminar in a variety of learning activities. This practice in the seminar environment prepares the salesperson in applying the concepts back in their sales environment, thereby maximizing the effectiveness of their JRE and interactions with others and improving their sales success. The B2B Professional Sales is the only sales training that has a reference sales textbook. Students of a B2B Professional Sales training event are given a copy of the textbook, and they will become familiar with the content because many references to the textbook will be made during the seminar. The textbook is 687 pages covering all the critical B2B sales skills taught in the seminars shown in the box to the left.
For each sales skill the relevant theory or research is reviewed, the various processes that have been developed for applying the skill and descriptions of specific real sales applications of the sales skill are described. Students also receive the editable electronic versions of the tools discussed and used in the seminar. The combination of the formal training event, a complete reference textbook, practice during the training, and electronic versions of the tools makes it easy for the students to customize the tools for their JRE learning. The tools also facilitate interactions with others, specifically other sales team members, sales managers, coaches, or mentors. The level of detail covered in each sales skill component (theory, process, applications, and tools) is dependent on the level of competency the salesperson requires for the specific skill. The level of competency, basic or advanced, is dependent on their sales responsibilities, experience, and market conditions in which they sell. In most cases, the participants should attend Basic Competency Level seminars before attending the Advanced Level seminars.
To book your seat email jpamlin@b2bprofessionalsales.com
Coaching is available in two forms executive coaching and sales person or sales team coaching.
Executive coaching can be provided in four ways:
Individual sales person or sales team coaching can be provided in two formats in-house and observation:
TGT Sales Fundamentals Seminar April 2017
Guest Lecturer Emory MBA Program Sales and Business Development
Dubai - Sales University
Stavanger - Sales Fundamentals
Dubai - Selling in Competitive Markets
Denver - Sales University
Tianjin - Sales University
Dubai Sales University
Sakhalin Oblast - Negotiations Workshop
Kuala Lumpur - Sales Presentation Skills