Sometimes we forget the basics, what are we really trying to achieve by training the sales force? What are the issues we are trying to address, and how do we see sales training bridging the gap between where we are now and where we want to be?
We believe there are probably four main stakeholders involved in sales training:
For the company executves - listed below are some of the common issues we hear from executives regarding the issues they see with managing the sales team
* Business predictability - how can we improve the accuracy of forecasts for orders, revenue and margin.
* Higher level customer engagement - why can't we get higher to the customer's executives, and focus on value not price.
* Consistent performance - how do we reduce the variance at both team and individual level.
* Product and services mix - how can we get the sales team to sell the optimum product and services mix.
* Raising the amount of customer selling time by reducing the time taken on administration and emails.
* Consistent customer experience - how do we get this across the team.
* Winning of new customers and getting existing customers to take a wider range of products and services.
For the customer - have you ever put yourself in your customers' shoes? What attributes would you like to see in people you do business with? Again, the ideas below is based on our experience, and they happen to form a memorable acronym IKEA
* Integrity - does this sales person display the level of honesty and reliability that gives me confidence to buy from them.
* Knowledge - do they possess the knowledge expected of them in the following areas:
o Their company - history, philosophy, culture, strategy, processes, people.
o The market - general market and business drivers, my company's specific vertical market issues.
o Their products/services - high level benefits linked to my own company's business drivers and issues.
o The competitive landscape.
o My company - see empathy.
o Technology - not at a detailed technical level, but a broad understanding of technologies from a business perspective.
* Empathy - "before I care how much you know, I want to know how much you care." Does this sales person see me as unique, and have they taken the time to do the research
* Authority - when things go wrong with the project, since they normally do, will this person have the authority within their company to get the problems sorted out quickly.
For the sales people - having looked at the company's and customer's perspective on sales training, what about the sales people themselves? Try answering these questions
* Who decides what training the sales person needs?
* Is the training part of a long term, structured individual development plan?
* Has the need for the training been explained together with the expected outcomes?
* Are similar courses repeated year after year that everyone attends?
* What are the expected outcomes and changes in behaviour? * Who measures the success of the program?
Key reasons for training from a sales person's perspective should be:
* Professional improvement, looking as sales as a worthwhile career.
* The training will help meet my objectives/targets and hence earn me money.
* All training looks good on a CV.
* Its interesting to have time to reflect and gain a different perspective.
Too often sales training seems to be undertaken with little communication with the sales force to explain why they are there, what the benefit of being there will be and what is expected to change after the training.
For the sales managers - most sales managers have between 6 and 12 sales people working for them. How do they know what they are saying to customers, and how they are positioning the company? They cannot be at every face to face call or on the phone at each customer contact. We recommend the introduction of a structured sales process that is repeatable, and can be analysed and individual performance measured at each step.
By being able to use the same structure for each sales person, the sales manager will be able to identify areas that individuals need help in, and coach them accordingly. Conversely, if everyone is using there own system, it is very difficult to analyse where a person is in the sale, and what measures they need to take to get back on course.
You can find out more about sales training at sales-training-consultants.co.uk
About the Author - John Fowler is a sales and management trainer designing and delivering workshops across the world specifically for the IT industry. John can be contacted on his website at Sales Training Consultants.
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