FAQ

Every company, sales team, sales force, and organization is unique and there is no one size fits all. We always start with a deep dive and a Sales Force Analysis. (Hot link the Sales force analysis to Sales Force Analysis page) This gives us and you, the intelligence you need to make the best decisions to grow revenue.

Becoming a Sales Training Manager requires many versatile skills. First, there is no replacement for experience, but everyone has to start somewhere. The skills are somewhat obvious. First you need a commanding knowledge of the business vision, goals and objectives. Next you need to understand what is keeping the Sales Team from performing at a higher level. Then you need to be able to transfer the skill sets through a Blended Learning approach. Finally, you must be able to effectively coach to the hidden and invisible weaknesses that neutralize their strengths and be able to hold them accountable through on-going effective coaching.

Simple, to increase sales, profit and top line growth.

The benefits of Sales Training are increase revenue, company growth, personal and professional development. You can’t grow professionally and not grow personally.

Identifying the right areas of focus, is primary. Providing a safe environment for people to try new things and learn from their lack of success in role plays is extremely important and of course you must be able to provide the fundamentals, the principles, the concepts in an entertaining way that promotes acceptance for change internally. In other words you first have to teach one to think differently then the rest will happen with greater ease.

There are so many different varieties and types of sales models it is difficult to put into one answer. However, let’s start with: nothing happens without a sale. We are not talking about taking orders. Sales people should be great at listening and asking the right questions to help the prospect discover the value of the products or services offered. Trust is foremost. Sales people need to position themselves as the trusted advisor and that is followed by a milestone centric sales process with a vary detailed DISQUALIFICATION process., forcing the salesperson to not waste time and effort with SUSPECTS. With all the available information and ability for the prospect to educate themselves through the internet, research, and volumes of easy to attain information, the buyer today shows up much further down the road than they did even just a few years ago. Many times the differentiating value is the sales person and the ability of the salesperson to follow the above guidance consistently.

Sales management is one of the most difficult positions in any organization. Many times it like being stuck between a rock and a hard spot. Sales managers are task with driving revenue through the team. This CAN NOT be accomplished without strong Coaching Skills, Accountability Skills, and the ability to grow the team a little every day. Sales Management training is no different than any other kind of training except for the curriculum.

We believe the top 4 Sales Management Functions are: Coaching, Motivating, Growing the Team and Recruiting.

The best sales process is one that works. It should take into account a milestone centric process that can be transferred to everyone on the team. It should naturally disqualify the prospects from the suspects. It should be specific to the service offerings of the seller. And finally it should produce reliable pipelines.

Simplistically, the role of sales training is to educate the sales team on how to perform at a higher level. Many times it becomes the trap to cause the right conversations on a more regular basis. Training is a process and not an event. We believe many small changes over a long period of time is more effective and produces more equity from training.

We’d suggest sustainable sales growth is calculated by continued increase in revenue. In our pre-training assessments we are able to calculate ROI based on a complex formula that includes but is not limited to: The Sales Staff Growth Potential, last years sales, percentage of new business, and the identified hidden and or invisible weaknesses for each sales person and sales manager. Based on this complex formula we can very accurately predict expectations and increased revenue over and above the normal growth pattern.

First you have to know what you are training for. Not everyone shows up with the same strengths or weaknesses and canned off the shelf programs don’t have equity. We find most organizations are working on the wrong end of the problem. You can teach and train all day long but if you don’t teach them how to think first, the rest is just words. Scripts, techniques and false enthusiasm don’t work. An effective Sales Training program consist of teaching the way salespeople learn. There should be a strong element of concept, foundation principles, and fundamentals that can be modified based on the individual style. Of course there should be a lot of role play and practical application. Change is hard and there should be a safe environment to practice, learn and practice some more. It should be fun, entertaining and educational.

We know for a fact 78% of all salespeople should not be in sales. That doesn’t change the need to train, but training should come with a strong element of accountability. Only 6% of salespeople are elite and the remainder are pretty good. Sales Management should focus on systems and processes that produce results.

Give us a call 518-378-8456 or send us an e-mail rocky@salesdevelopmentexpert.com