Does Your Company Make These 4 Sales Training Mistakes?

In a cut-throat business environment, garnering new business and maintaining repeat sales can be the difference between just making it and breaking your sales records.

Having an A-team sales department is an effective tool to set your business apart from the stifling crowd of competitors. A tried and tested method of achieving a powerful sales team is to engage them in relevant and hard-hitting sales training.

Has your team been getting coaching but is still not hitting the mark in achieving tangible results? You may be making some faux pas in planning your training programs. So, why not learn from the following common mistakes.

Playing it safe

Often, people tend to be comfortable with the familiar. You might have a formula you have been using since time immemorial. Probably handed down to you by your manager when you first joined the company, and you may be motivated to pass it down to the new members of your team.

Although your “formula” has carried you thus far, have you ever considered its limitations? Global trends are evolving, and technologies are changing constantly. Your sales training should incorporate innovative ways to stay relevant in the business arena.

Consider reviewing your courses on a regular basis and updating with the latest in sales best practices. Also, revisit old methods and drop any outdated ways every so often to ramp up your training.

Not factoring in different skills needs

With professional development courses, there can never be a one size fits all approach. A recruit to the team will likely have different training needs to those of an experienced salesperson, for instance.

To adequately equip your sales team with the right tools for the trade, reflect on:

• where they are currently in terms of performance and experience
• their strengths and weaknesses
• specific developmental needs such as technology gaps

Once you have identified your team’s needs, consider creating a program that addresses them as much as possible.

Adopting this inclusive method can save you time and money in the long run while sharpening your team’s skills to hit all the right notes with the customers.

Monotonous coaching methodologies

Using the same methods to teach all salespeople will often result in unassimilated content. Your company’s training should also consider the fact that people respond to different styles of learning.

Aim to create a teaching plan that incorporates different learning styles and formats, such as:

• group sessions
• one-on-one consults
• in-house and outsourced training

In addition, while facts and data are an important part of skills development, they tend to get overwhelming leading to participants forgetting most of what they learned. Consider balancing out the coaching by including other stimulating elements like discussions, polls, games, simulations, and role-play. If learning is fun and not tedious, your sales team has a higher chance of grasping the information and implementing it in the real world.

Not putting the training to the test

Without trying out the sales techniques and strategies learned during coaching in the field, it will be difficult to evaluate how successful the course was. So, it’s important to put the skills into practice to help your team retain the information learned.

If you feel anxious about the first test of how much your reps have grasped being on customers, consider evaluating in a controlled environment. For instance, on other employees of the company.

Once tested, you can then be able to gauge whether the program cut the mustard, or it’s time to return to the drawing board.

Go for continuous development

To keep your team at the top of their game, regular sales training should be prioritized. Consider nurturing a culture of continuous and varied self-development. In this way, your salespeople can become confident in any sales scenario that comes their way.