Why sales training can benefit ALL of your sales team

Depending on the size of your team there will be a number of different types within your overall team, and it is highly likely that the majority of your sales team will not be made up of ‘Star Performers’,

They probably look something like this:

• Star Performer: Limited in numbers, worth their weight in gold!
• High Pressure Closer: Wins their share of business, – fails to build long lasting relationships.
• Relationship Specialist: Builds good customer relationships, – can fail to spot sales opportunities.
• Sales Scholar: A professional student of sales, NOT a sales professional.
• Systems Specialist: Knows their way around the systems, – doesn’t spend enough time with customers.

So it is important do everything you can to develop your team and create more ‘Star Performers’. Often when a sales training initiative is being considered, reasons for NOT training certain groups are identified, some examples are listed below:

Possible Reasons not to train:

• Star Performer: Too valuable to take off the road!
• High Pressure Closer: Would be offended if they believed we think they need training.
• Relationship Specialist: Will always be a good account manager, but not proactive enough to warrant training.
• Sales Scholar: Has probably heard it all before.
• Systems Specialist: Don’t spend enough time in face to face selling situations to deliver an acceptable ROI.

However, it is not a good idea to exclude these groups from sales training events  here are some reasons why:

• Star Performer: As they do such a good job they will be upset from being excluded from such an event. These people are eager to learn and open to change.High Pressure Closer: Send this group on the pilot programme the more they are involved the more they will tell their peers what a great course it is.
• Relationship Specialist: Managing an account is not enough in today’s business environment. Developing new business from both existing and new accounts is critical.
• Sales Scholar: This group need to understand how to implement their ideas. Behavioural change is the key.
• Systems Specialist: Even utilising today’s technology, salespeople in this group need to develop better influencing skills so they are more confident in the face to face selling situation.

Location, Location, Location, most people understand the significance of this in the property market so why not adopt a Training, Training, Training mentality when considering the ongoing development of your sales team?

The more you train your salespeople, the better they will become. They will be able to adapt their selling style to accommodate different types of buyer. They will be equipped to ask better quality questions and by listening to the answers create more proposals that meet the requirements of your customers. They will be more motivated to make important changes to their everyday routines. They will make more of an effort to differentiate themselves from your competitors’ sales people. The potential benefits are endless.

In order to realise these benefits there are three key elements that need to be in place:

• Pre training communication
• The training event
• Follow up

Pre training Communication:
The more a sales person understands why they are being asked to attend a training event, and more importantly what’s in it for them, the more they can link the corporate benefits to what impact it will have of their personal motivators the more they will want to participate.

The Training Event:
These people are used to being out and about. Make sure the event is interesting, relevant and participative. They will all know what it is like to fight to stay awake as a trainer waffles on for hours demonstrating their new Power Point skills! The more involved they are the more likely they are to discover how new ideas could impact their results.

Follow up:
From action planning to coaching, there are many ways to follow up the training itself. In order to achieve the maximum return on investment you will need to decide how you are going to measure the results. Remember -You can’t manage what you don’t measure!