Ten Essential Ingredients To Sales Training Success

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So how do we get it right? How do we make sales training a meaningful learning experience for all levels of sales performers, yet adaptable to a wide variety of job descriptions and local needs?

Think of the following elements as building blocks: the ten keys to sales training success. They should be kept uppermost in mind when planning and implementing any sales training program.

Key #1

Sales training should be comprehensive. It should provide, to the greatest extent possible, a total solution encompassing not only specific sales-related courses, but also:

An overall plan, based on broad, fundamental, and explicitly stated goals. For example, ‘‘There will be greater uniformity in our overall approach to selling. This should help reduce the length of the total sales cycle by at least 10%’’ or ‘‘Our salesperson will assume a more professional demeanor when addressing customer needs, thus creating higher levels of customer trust and confidence. The impact of this effort will be measured and monitored through our customer satisfaction surveys.’’
An assessment tool to ensure that salespeople who are enrolled in the program are properly placed. While company recruiting procedures are the first (and a necessary) screening process for bringing people into sales, closer and more accurate evaluation provided within the sales training system may also reveal that an individual is better suited to be in sales support, service, or another staff position.
A tracking system to monitor progress and measure post-training increases.
A follow-up agenda to provide reinforcement, plus additional counseling and coaching, as needed.
An ongoing plan for course maintenance, ensuring that all relevant additional or revised information (product, marketplace, competitive, etc.) is quickly assimilated into the sales training courseware.
A Train-the-Trainer program, to ensure that all instructors are trained in a standard fashion.

Key #2

Sales training should be customized. It should develop logically out of the dynamics of the specific sales environment for which it is intended. To accomplish this, it should be designed to meet the unique requirements of the target audience, that is, be carefully matched to individual needs, limitations, and prerequisites.

This is true whether you’re training a relatively homogeneous group of people (similar skill and experience levels) or a heterogeneous group. A sales training program should not, indeed cannot, be a generic one-size-fits-all endeavor.

Key #3

Sales training should be relevant. It should introduce opportunities for salespeople to acquire and practice skills in a protected and supportive atmosphere that parallels their real world job responsibilities. This means that case studies (customer scenarios) should be used extensively. Case studies should, of course, reflect realistic customer environments and interactions, including both successes and failures.

Key #4

Sales training should be performance-oriented. It should build bridges and connect to the real world.

Before training, job-related performance objectives dictate the appropriateness of sales training content, learning activities, and instructional methodology.
During training, structured techniques for applying knowledge through the use of skill-based practice activities are employed, such as group discussions, planning exercises, and role plays.
After training, salespeople are put in touch with relevant information sources, given job aids, provided with structured coaching/mentoring, taken on joint sales calls with more experienced personnel, etc. This assures the application and transfer of knowledge and skills to the job.

Key #5

Sales training should be motivational. It should inspire enthusiasm by focusing on need-to-know information, presented in sufficient depth to impart both confidence and competence to the learner.

When presented in a workshop format, sales training should be conducted by dynamic, experienced facilitators who possess a dependable knowledge of the products or services being sold, a realistic and up-to-date understanding of the selling environment, and expertise in moderating learning sessions for adults. In other words, good sales training recognizes that time spent in training is time away from direct sales activities.

Key #6

Sales training should be modular. It should be composed of stand-alone (although related) instructional segments. These allow learners to complete only those portions of sales training which are most closely connected to their own specific requirements.

To decrease the time that learners will have to remain out of the field, individual sales training components should be designed to be as concise as realistically feasible. An added benefit of a modular design is that it allows for selective updates to the sales training program at a relatively inexpensive cost, thereby extending the useful life of the training.

Key #7

Sales training should be easy to test and measure. It should allow learners to test-out of training segments which target information or skills they already have mastered. It should also require them to complete only those portions of sales training related to their most pressing areas of need.

Key #8

Sales training should be interactive. It should be oriented around workshops, seminars, peer discussion groups, and similar types of interactive encounters which allow for the maximum exchange of ideas and sharing of experiences among the participants. Sales training should also be interactive in the sense of making the maximum use of hands-on contact with whatever product (merchandise, equipment, etc.) is being sold.

Key #9

Sales training should be cost effective. It should be designed to maximize the organization’s investment in training, enabling the accomplishment of key goals for lowest possible cost per participant. There are many ways to make this a reality.

For example, some sales training programs can be designed to take advantage of both self-paced study and administrator-led workshops; in other instances, travel and per diem expenses can be minimized by involving the trainees’ local manager as a coach/mentor.

Key #10

Sales training should be embraced by top management. It should have solid management backing in order to ensure that pre- and post-training events are adequately supported.

These keys hold true regardless of who is providing sales training, whether in-house staff, outside suppliers, or both.

For a broader/deeper perspective on these and related topics, check out:

	Using Sales Training Best Practices To Increase Sales
	Developing Performance-Based Sales Training To Increase Sales