Guide to Making the Most of Sales Training

Learn strategies for the best results for your business through sales training programs

By Jessica Drew, Freelance Business Writer & Editor

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Hire a sales training provider that has worked within your industry

There are many companies offering sales training who claim they can teach your staff how to sell anything to anybody. However, common sense mandates that if a company has had successful experience teaching sales staff in your specific industry, they will have the best chance at improving your sales staff's performance.

I recommend: Miller Heiman has had extensive experience training sales staff in multiple specific industries, including a lot of experience workign with sales companies who specialize in business to business sales. Huthwaite also boasts extensive sales staff training experience within many specific industries, but focuses more on business to client direct sales.

Consider sales training for managers to keep them in the know

In addition to providing sales training for your staff, consider providing sales training for your sales managers. Making the most of sales training means your sales managers aren't left out of the loop. Sales managers are often in need of training as well, and should be kept informed about what your staff is learning. If your sales managers know how to best effectively manage newly trained staff, you can expect better results overall.

I recommend: The Brooks Group offers sales management training centered on predictable, shorter sales cycles and improved cashflow. The American Management Association (AMA) also offers sales training for managers and works to ensure your managers are ready for the ups and downs of sales cycles.

Check out customized sales training to maximize results

Customized training can assess your company's specific needs, strengths and weaknesses to formulate a training program tailored to fit your company profile. Customized training is often the most expensive form of training, but you can also usually expect the best and quickest improvements, which truly makes the most of your sales training efforts.

I recommend: Action Selling offers customized sales training including a free Sales Performance Analysis to learn the ins and out of your company and maximize success. Contact Prime Resource Group for customized sales training. It even guarantees a certain level of results within a relatively short given time period.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When investigating sales education programs, look to the company's past record of performance. Contact past clients to see if they're satisfied and ask if and by how much their profits have increased since sales training. This is a great way to evaluate the effectiveness of a sales training provider.

Guide to Training your Salespeople

How to educate and train salespeople for optimum results

By LaRita Heet, Freelance Writer, Journalist, IBT Designer, LMH Communications

1. You can train your salespeople in three basic steps:
2. Teach customer-focused sales techniques.
3. Implement a variety of training styles to teach your staff.
4. Continue to evolve your employees' sales training.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Teach customer-focused selling

Train your employees to take the time to get to know the customers, and anticipate their needs. Remember to focus on filling their needs, as opposed to just selling your products.

I recommend: Adopt a customer-focused selling culture for your business. Learn more about it at BusinessTown.

Set the stage for selling

The most important skill for a salesperson is not experience or talent – it's enthusiasm. Whether or not you choose to hire someone with sales experience, make sure you're working with outgoing, personable people who are truly enthusiastic about what they're selling.

I recommend: Check out Streetwise Tips on Face-to-Face Selling to learn how to make the right hiring decisions, and encourage enthusiasm. Go to Sales Idea of the Week List for several awesome approaches to sales.

Use a variety of training styles

Studies have shown that people have different learning styles, so it's up to you to offer different training resources for your staff. Try the DVDs, videos, and/or interactive tools.

I recommend: A great site offering a variety of training resources is Business Training Media. This link takes you directly to the tools designed specifically for the small business training needs – and the small business budget!

Get advice from

Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Red Book of Selling is a great little selling strategies handbook with useful advice for small businesses.

I recommend: Visit the Little Red Book of Selling Web site.

Try something new

Ask your staff for some new, creative ideas in selling, displaying, or marketing – you never know when you'll happen upon something new.

I recommend: Go to Total Selling Systems for 6 basic selling strategies, including appointment-setting, managing objections, and identifying (and then pursuing) prospects. The case studies include tools for you to use in evaluating your company's success with each strategy.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Sharpen your focus: Instead of simply pushing the features of your products, teach your salespeople to focus on the benefits for the customer.
• •  Keep them coming back: Studies show that customers will drive farther and pay more to patronize a business with friendly, welcoming workers, so train your employees to smile and go out of their way to help your customers.
• •  Get a commitment: Getting your customers to commit to buying something is more than half the battle.
• •  Keep hiring: If your business picks up, don't be tempted to cut the quality of service to increase your bottom line. Instead, hire additional salespeople, and watch that bottom line continue to grow.
• •  Teach them to make an effort: You and your employees should get to know your customers by name to show them that you care, which goes a long way toward building customer loyalty.
• •  Hire only people-people: You wouldn't hire a cashier who couldn't count, so don't hire someone who is rude to do your sales. People buy from salespeople they like, period.

Guide to Sales Training Basics

Sales training programs can give a substantial boost to your company's profits

By Jessica Drew, Freelance Business Writer & Editor

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Take advantage of free kits, materials and samples to find the best sales training provider

Procuring sales training for your company is an investment, and an investment only makes sense if you have a high probability of making gains or returns. In the case of basic sales training, this means finding trainers that will help your staff increase sales by substantial amounts. Free kits, materials and samples can provide very good insight into what a sales training company has to offer, so you can best evaluate if their services are a logical investment.

I recommend: Encore Consulting Group offers an extensive kit of information and samples about their sales training services free of charge. Wynn Solutions has a sample lesson plan posted on their website.

Consider on-site or in-person sales training

There are several benefits to having on-site training, such as giving your staff the opportunity to ask questions, receive feedback and interact with trainers and experts on a face to face basis. This sort of active communication is very important in selling and salespersons often respond well to it.

I recommend: Dale Carnegie Training has locations in all 50 states as well as all over the world, where your staff can receive in-person training. Waterhouse Group offers expert consulting services at your company's location to either provide stand-alone activities or use it in conjunction with it’s sales training or sales coaching services.

Consider online sales training services

Today there are more sales training services that provide online learning than ever before. Online sales training is a great option if you're seeking training at a low cost or need the flexibility that online programs offer. Employees can easily pick up sales training basics without ever leaving their office via these convenient programs.

I recommend: Perpetual Development offers online learning through its web-based training modules, webinars and salescasts. Apex Performance Systems also offers comprehensive web-based sales training that’s interactive and geared to salespeople at varying stages of their careers.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Try and find companies offering sales training that award certificates once the training is completed. This way you'll ensure your sales staff has been paying attention, as certificates usually require an exam to be successfully completed, and your staff will feel a sense of accomplishment.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Sales cycle

The sales cycle is the time from connecting with a sales prospect to closing the sale. In the retail world, this term also may be used to refer to the year-round cycle of ups and downs in buying activity, i.e. increased buying just before the holidays. One potential focus for sales training is teaching your agents to shorten the sales cycle, thus securing more sales, faster.

I recommend: Nigel Edelshain with Sales 2.0 explains two different ways of viewing the sales cycle and how to shorten it.

Strategic account management

Sales isn't only about getting new clients; an effective sales agent or manager also will oversee continuing accounts in a strategic manner, ensuring that the client remains satisfied and stays with the company. Training not just managers, but sales agents as well, in strategic account management will help increase the success of every sales account your company manages.

I recommend: The Strategic Account Management Association gives a detailed explanation of strategic account management.

Selling skills

Effective sales, and sales training, involves more than just schmoozing. Skills like sales call planning and presentation and how to maintain the customer/client relationship can, and should, be taught. These selling skills should be the core of your evaluation and training program for sales representatives.

I recommend: Action Selling defines five critical selling skills that can be trained, measured and mastered--in other words, they're skills that you can expect your salespeople to improve if you give them the right tools to do so.

Industry segmentation

Industry segmentation is a method of dividing an entire competitive playing field into relevant groupings of product or service types and potential buyers using a matrix of horizontal and vertical columns. The term 'industry verticals' usually refers to the vertical columns of the matrix, which represent buyer types and potential focus areas for sales training.

I recommend: e-competitors explains how to develop an industry segmentation matrix to help you identify where you should focus your training and sales efforts.

Retention

Once you have customers or contracts, you want to keep them, which is the essence of customer retention. Return customers are also prime targets for new products and services, and often help with your marketing by providing positive word-of-mouth advertising at no charge. Training your agents in how to increase customer retention and satisfaction will increase your sales overall.

I recommend: Entrepreneur provides eight key ways of increasing your customer retention.

Internal vs. external motivation

Internal motivation is when our desire to do something or to succeed comes from inside ourselves: We're doing something because it's actually what we want. External motivation is when a need to do something is imposed by someone else, whether through threats or promises of rewards. Train your sales managers to foster internal motivation on the part of their employees.

I recommend: Shamus Brown, Industrial EGO Sales contrasts how those with internal and external motivators tend to fare in the sales world.