As people think, sales is not an easy job. About salespeople, the very first thing that comes to mind is they explain their product to clients (sales pitch), try to close deals faster, and achieve their periodic targets. But if you view the salesperson from the management perspective, there is a whole new picture. Like any other employee, salespeople too need to be trained often to keep them updated with the latest tools, technologies, and processes in sales. There are different types of sales training available based on the team size, budget, requirements, and so on. But the bottom line is sales training programs are an inevitable part of a salesperson’s journey.
Factors to consider while designing a salesman training program
- Identify the needs and areas to be improved by your sales team
- Set clearly defined objectives for the training based on them
- Choose the appropriate training method, whether it is online or at the office and recorded or live, etc
- Select the trainers, whether the sales managers within the company or sales trainers from outside
- Curate the training resources (videos, presentations, manuals, etc.)
- Plan interactive activities (quiz, Q&A sessions, etc)
- End with evaluation and feedback sessions
These are the most important factors to be taken into account while planning sales training. Once you are confident with these factors, decide the best sales training for your sales team based on your available budget and time. Here is a list of the 10 most effective sales training for every team and budget:
1. Sales Communication
Communication is crucial in sales. Many factors contribute to a sales pitch like the tone, attitude with which you speak, body language, smile, etc. For example, as a B2B sales person sometimes you need to talk to a CEO of a company about your product. So you need to present in a professional manner with confidence. Also, aggressive sale is a big no-no. You need to be both polite as well as compelling. There are some corporate training companies that provide exclusive B2B sales training programs to help sales professionals in the process.
2. Product / Service knowledge
The basic qualification to be a successful sales professional starts with the depth of knowledge about the product/service he is selling. Only when you know the product well, you can present it to the clients with confidence. Also, you know how to highlight the features and benefits of using the product properly. This enables your clients to build trust in you and your product. Once you gain their trust, the process becomes easy for both. In case you don’t know about your product in detail, even if you say something the client ends up suspecting it. Hence it is important to give product-based training during the onboarding of new salespeople and about the new features and updates to the existing sales team too.
3. Sales tools and techniques
There are a number of sales tools available in the market. Selecting the right tool that suits your team size, budget and needs will help you to save the time and efforts of your sales team. For example, Calendly can be used for scheduling client meetings at the convenience of the client’s calendar, and Lystloc can be used for location-based attendance, task management, automated reports, etc. which increases your sales employees’ productivity and so on. Frequent training sessions on the currently used tools are much needed for salespeople to stay updated in the business arena.
4. Targeting the right buyers
Every salesperson can get leads, but the quality of leads is a significant factor in deciding the win rate. Every business is unique. Who is the potential buyer for your product or service and how will the buyer persona, how your product differs from the competitors in solving their pain points? Your sales team must know the answers to all these questions beforehand. Plan the training sessions accordingly. Based on the buyer persona, customize your sales pitch and highlight your product features that help your client’s business. This will increase the conversion rate and revenue eventually.
5. Sales strategies
Based on the business type (B2B, B2C) and the product, sales strategies may vary from cold calling, email marketing, content marketing, Google or social media ads, etc. Providing limited period offers, referral programs, freebies, reward points, festival discounts, etc are also some of the successfully used sales strategies in the business. Brand awareness, creating an image, positioning your product and other sales nuances can be taught to your sales employees to keep them going in the right direction.
6. Competitor analysis
There is a saying, “Never stop learning from your competitors” which is absolutely true in the case of business. Competitor analysis is the process of finding out your competitor’s marketing strategies and the type of industries they focus on to get their clients in the case of B2B sales. Identifying your potential competitors, on-page analysis, backlinks and PR analysis, product rankings and traffic analysis are some of the most used methods to watch the competitors closely. Competitor analysis should be a part of salesman training programs which helps in enhancing the company strategies too.
7. Time management
Time is gold, this saying may be old but it is true forever. Especially, for a salesperson, every single day consists of multiple tasks like client meetings, report preparation, devising sales strategies, daily standup meetings, etc. So it is important to improve their time management skills by including them in the sales training programs. Also as we already said, the Lystloc app has features that save salespeople time to a greater extent.
8. Pipeline analysis
A sales pipeline is the number of stages every customer goes through before they purchase a product. It is necessary to check your sales pipeline health by measuring the key metrics like conversion rate, no.of leads, pipeline velocity, average deal value, etc. To know all these KPIs and metrics clearly, sales training helps your sales team. Not only that, based on the findings, mistakes in the process can also be corrected. For example, if a salesperson gets a large number of leads periodically but the conversion rate is low, he should be trained in such a way to get high-quality leads. This can be achieved through sales training programs.
9. Sales reports and analysis
Sales reports can be prepared manually or automatically, but the way they are interpreted to give meaningful sales insights depends on the skills of your sales team. Sales training programs develop their sales analytical skills which make them forecast your product’s future sales statistics more accurately. Also if the sales are particularly going down in the given period, the company can alter the strategies accordingly to boost the sales.
10. The X factor
How does your product/service differ from that of your competitors? – the answer to this question gives your product the opportunity to stand out in the market. This is also known as competitive advantage alias the X factor. Train your sales employees on how to attract customers by highlighting the X factor of your product. Explain to them the uniqueness and value your product possesses.
Endnotes
Training for sales teams is a basic necessity without which their knowledge of sales will stay stagnant with outdated methods and tools. Apart from the sales training provided by the company, the salespeople can come forward to learn on their own too. There are many best sales training courses available online, for example, “The Art Of Sales” course by Coursera is a popular free course with a 4.8 rating taken by many salespeople. Based on the budget and team size, the management should plan training methods, frequency, duration, etc. To motivate and upskill the salespeople, the companies should consider allocating a sufficient budget for sales training programs because learning is never wasted.
