Ongoing training can be the cheapest and easiest (yes, easiest) way to improve your team’s peformance. It takes committment and focus, but is always a great investment of your time.
The Best & Cheapest Investment In Your People & Productivity…
…is consistent, regular training and coaching (especially new hires). I see again and again what a difference regular training makes in improving sales skills and results, reducing ramp time and increasing promotability. Simple monitored practice exercises, with feedback, can make a dramatically noticeable difference in performance, whether in public speaking, objection handling, phone skills, demos or personal/career development.
Outside Trainers: Hire To Build On, Not Replace, Internal Training
When you’re training people on core skills, such as customer-handling or sales skills, it’s unrealistic to believe hiring an outside trainer will make a long-term difference. A better investment than a simple, practical internal program. Why would you hire a sales trainer for your team when you have a sales manager? (Unless you have low confidence in the manager or their coaching abilities…and either concern is a big problem with a sales manager). It is extremely challenging to bring someone into an organization for training in a way that actual makes a difference, because new ideas or tools need lasting and constant reinforcement to stick.
There can be exceptions for special situations, such as when a company decides to rally the entire sales organization around a new sales process or program and does need outside consultants for a specific project. Having said that, the company should still implement a training program to constantly reinforce where the consultants left off.
What Works
* A program with an ongoing, regular format
* Includes exercises/role-playing and useful feedback
* Is worth reps’ time
* Follow through on everything: maintain the schedule, check progress, keep it fresh and don’t let things slip…
Another Word on the Importance of Follow-through
“One hit wonder” programs without follow through actually detract from performance: 1) any progress isn’t lasting, 2) you’ve wasted the time and resources invested in the one hit wonder, and 3) your team will see that you or the organization isn’t really committed to training…so why bother?
For an ongoing lasting benefit to your productivity, you MUST follow-through on each aspect of the program and demonstrate by your action management’s commitment to it. If you aren’t committed, your sales reps won’t be committed.
Example: A New Hire Program & Sales Boot Camp
Does your company have any formal initial training for new sales people and hires? For example, a “Sales Bootcamp” ending with a certification exercise in the intial sales presentation and a demo certification? New hires should be initially ranked by performance for sales executives. Over time, salespeople should annually re-certify on product knowledge and competition, two examples of ever-changing areas.
Example: Embedding Training Into Career Paths
Use internal promotion paths for additional opportunities to train people. When a saleperson wants a promotion, put them through a mock sales situation depending on their level of experience. For example, the most junior people can go through a “first call customer pitch” presentation (the first in-person presentation to a prospect company) as their promotion interview. This both gives the interviewing sales executives a chance to assess potential, and incents salepeople to invest in developing the skills they need to get to the next sales level (public speaking, objection handling, etc.).
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