Training The Sales Force – Avoiding Pitfalls

Every year, companies invest millions of pounds in the training and development of their salespeople, and with good reason, 74 - 84% of company revenue came directly from salesforce activity. 

The total number of employed salespeople in the UK is in the area of 400,000.  Any resource that produces three quarters of organisational revenue, and with the attendant costs, must be cared for and nurtured.

The starting point when considering a sales training event has to be the people involved. Training which is suitable for a twenty two year old graduate should differ considerably from that provided for a fifty five year old with many years experience.

In the instance of the former, training should be geared to the mechanics of the sales process. Traditionally, this has based on the AIDA approach:  Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. However, there is a shortfall here, in that it is assumed the salesperson has already found someone to sell to, and also set up a meeting with them so that a quality call could be executed.

The experience of prospecting can be daunting to anyone. If you’re considering a sales training course that looks at the total process, from start to finish, make doubly sure that it covers the areas of prospecting and appointment making, if it applies to your business. It is these two skill areas which prove to be the graveyard of more sales careers than any others, assuming that there is no lack of purposeful effort on the individual’s part.

Training experienced salespeople requires special care and attention. Many have gone through the early learning stages, and have now reverted to the state often referred to as unconscious incompetence, they are incompetent, but are not aware of it. Somebody at this stage of development does not take kindly to going over the basics, they need something more sophisticated to capture their imagination. Personality styles, Transactional Analysis, and even basic business finance are more likely to produce an improvement in performance.  

One thing must be stressed, however, if the trainer adopts too strident an approach, the experienced professional may react against it. Flexibility is the key: if a delegate insists that they have tried the approach being advocated, and it did not work, the trainer should point out that there is always someone with a different experience. At the end of the day, even the most hard hearted cynic can be won over with some patience and persistence.

There are two training techniques, which are particularly suitable when training salespeople. Firstly, role-play is an excellent opportunity to practice skills development, and to do so in an atmosphere where mistakes do not mean lost business. 

Many salespeople recoil at the word, some say  it is not realistic, people are merely play acting. This can occur if the activity is not introduced properly.  Delegates should be told to stay in character, to be natural, and to regard the whole thing as practice. Perhaps a better word to use than role-play. An excellent variation is the silent role-play. This is especially useful when concentrating on questioning technique. Instead of speaking, participants write down a question on a flipchart. The customer does the same with their replies, thus forcing the  salesperson  to think about the nature and construction of each question. This activity is best used with experienced salespeople, as those with little experience may be fazed by the public nature of the event.

Secondly, case studies are extremely beneficial, especially when a company wants to concentrate on a specific issue such as a price change.  Delegates are provided with information pertinent to the topic, together with some instructions that constitute a learning activity.  Frequently used in combination with role -play, it provides various answers and results if syndicated among a number of groups. This in itself can be useful to a company, as it generates ideas, which may challenge the way certain things are done. 

Perhaps more so than in any other form of management training, the credibility of the trainer is crucial in sales training. The nature of the sales job can produce a certain macho dynamic among salespeople.  They feel that they’ve gone out there, taken the world on, and succeeded.   Any trainer that stands in front of such a group must, therefore, have been through the same experience, as much for their own benefit as the participants.  Being faced with a question such as, What do you say when a customer says that they’re happy with their present supplier?  demands a speed of thought and commercial acumen that can only really be gained from having done the job.  If the trainer can’t answer such a question, then their credibility is immediately called into question.

The measure of sales training transfer to the workplace is not easy.  There are so many variables that enter into the scenario. The most important of these is the willingness of the delegates to change the way they do things as a result of the course. The saying goes that if you do what you always did, you’ll get what you always got.   Participants can leave a sales training event highly motivated, and determined to apply their new found knowledge and skill, but this is soon forgotten when they hit the first problem of the week. It is here that the role of the Sales Manager can be seen to be of paramount importance.  If the new found skills are not managed into place, there is a possibility that they will get lost in the chaos of the marketplace.  A programme of regular field visits should be planned, when progress can be checked and the application of techniques monitored.

Training for salespeople is essential if a company wants to stay ahead of the game.  Products and services are similar if not identical, real growth is slow, and customer loyalty is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

More than ever, the ability to persuade a prospect or customer to go with a particular proposal is vital. That is the role of the sales team today - creating orders and wealth. The payback from effective sales training can be quick, and manifold.  Ignore it at your peril!