Sales Training that Really Works
Sales Training that Really Works
There are well researched explanations about why this situation occurs, and the most important are:
1. Sales talent can be sharpened but not created. “You can't train somebody for a job they can’t do!” This home truth is frequently forgotten or ignored in the rush to fill open territories or cover critical positions. The key is distinguishing between “talent-based” roles and those that can be learned. Examples of talent based jobs or professions include sports, military leadership, art, graphic design, entrepreneurship, computer programming, and most sales roles. After 30 years of research and assessing hundreds of thousands of sales people we know that sales is primarily a talent based profession and that sales talent can't be improved by more than 20% by training. Consequently a sales person who 5% effective can only become 6% effective – not a great training investment. However an 80% can become a 96% - a far more attractive proposition. Now, this does not mean that you can't teach anybody how to write programs or play golf, but all the training in the world won’t turn the average hacker into an Ernie Els or Tiger Woods.
2. Teaching sales people the “right” things is critical and most sales training falls short in this regard, because it is focuses primarily on the needs of the seller and not the needs of the customer. Basic skills such as time and territory management, telephone skills, overcoming objections and closing skills are necessary, but they have limited impact on the customer’s decision to buy. Research, which involved interviews with over 100 000 executives responsible for making purchasing decisions, gave fascinating insights into why B-to-B customers buy from a particular supplier. This research, which involved the rating of sales people against the volume, margin and repeat purchases they made, revealed that only three sales skills really made a difference:-
• Competence at “personally” managing the customer relationship
• Developing a deep understanding of the customer’s business
• Acting as a customer advocate to correct any and all problems
The most effective training focuses on learning the customer’s business and being able to manipulate your own company’s systems efficiently to serve the customer’s business priorities. Of course these skills need to be married with face-to-face selling and other skills, but they are the competencies that ultimately make the difference between success and failure.
3. Using the “right” training approach is the third key. Salespeople are a special breed. They possess unique talents and values that allow them to succeed in a challenging and highly competitive business environment. Those unique talents and values also make them unique learners. Selling is, after all, a contact sport and typical classroom training is not hugely effective.
The very best sales training is largely based on realistic simulations that mimic the situations and environment that salespeople encounter on a daily basis.
Research suggests that salespeople share a particular set of attributes:
• Urgency: Salespeople love fast-paced action. They want results, and they want them quickly.
• Risk-taking: Salespeople take risks. They know there are no certainties in selling. They have the talent to step out of their comfort zones, experiment, and learn quickly from their mistakes.
• Competition: Anyone who has spent time with salespeople knows how competitive they are. They need to win. They are always being measured and they personally keep score.
• Empathy: Salespeople often have an uncanny ability to sense the reactions of others. They relate well to a wide variety of people and thrive on face-to-face interaction.
• Persuasion: Salespeople derive enormous satisfaction from persuading others, including their managers, coaches and, of course, customers.
• Resilience: Because salespeople frequently face rejection, they must be able to bounce back quickly. Their resilience enables them to restore their motivation for their next call.
These attributes reflect a particular type of learner who responds to a specific kind of learning:
• Fast-paced: The learning programs should mimic the dynamic pace of the real-world selling environment.
• Feedback-rich: The programs should give salespeople the opportunity to make mistakes and get quick feedback.
• Challenging and competitive: Learning activities must leverage the types of experiences that get salespeople interested and engaged. They present challenging, competitive situations that dare the salespeople to fight for a win.
• Face-to-face and team-based: The programs must respond to salespeople's needs for face-to-face interaction.
• Relevant: Learning activities reproduce real-world situations in which salespeople must repeatedly persuade customers as they move through their multi-stage, multi-party decision-making process.
• Fun: The learning event should be entertaining, enjoyable, and amusing. Salespeople bounce back from difficult challenges and stay engaged in the activities.
Salespeople learn best from fast-paced, customised simulations. What is a simulation?
Simulations are representations of real-life situations. Simulations permit people to confront the same sorts of challenges and opportunities as in real life, yet in a safe environment where they can experiment and learn. They process information, set priorities, make decisions, take action, and learn from their successes and mistakes. The best simulations utilise professional actors and trainers and becomes a model reality that provides a safe environment for experimentation and learning. Simulations allow professionals to learn and embrace a model for the sales process. Well crafted and executed simulations are totally different to the tired old role plays that have bored generations of salespeople witless. During the learning process, salespeople externalise assumptions, get feedback, and actually practice the use of sales strategies and skills. Team discussions and full group debriefs allow participants to absorb, contextualise, and expand their knowledge and skills, making them their own. Most importantly, simulations that are fun engage people, and engaged people learn faster.
Sales Training that Really Works - To learn more about this author, visit Peter Gilbert's Website.
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The 2003 research by CSO Insight spanned 2000 sales forces across Europe and North America, and revealed the disturbing fact that 55% of salespeople fail to hit their quotas. Given the fact that 45% of the business training spend in the USA is directed at sales training, this raises serious question about whether sales training efforts are delivering any significant return on this investment.
There are well researched explanations about why this situation occurs, and the most important are:
1. Sales talent can be sharpened but not created. “You can't train somebody for a job they can’t do!” This home truth is frequently forgotten or ignored in the rush to fill open territories or cover critical positions. The key is distinguishing between “talent-based” roles and those that can be learned. Examples of talent based jobs or professions include sports, military leadership, art, graphic design, entrepreneurship, computer programming, and most sales roles. After 30 years of research and assessing hundreds of thousands of sales people we know that sales is primarily a talent based profession and that sales talent can't be improved by more than 20% by training. Consequently a sales person who 5% effective can only become 6% effective – not a great training investment. However an 80% can become a 96% - a far more attractive proposition. Now, this does not mean that you can't teach anybody how to write programs or play golf, but all the training in the world won’t turn the average hacker into an Ernie Els or Tiger Woods.
2. Teaching sales people the “right” things is critical and most sales training falls short in this regard, because it is focuses primarily on the needs of the seller and not the needs of the customer. Basic skills such as time and territory management, telephone skills, overcoming objections and closing skills are necessary, but they have limited impact on the customer’s decision to buy. Research, which involved interviews with over 100 000 executives responsible for making purchasing decisions, gave fascinating insights into why B-to-B customers buy from a particular supplier. This research, which involved the rating of sales people against the volume, margin and repeat purchases they made, revealed that only three sales skills really made a difference:-
• Competence at “personally” managing the customer relationship
• Developing a deep understanding of the customer’s business
• Acting as a customer advocate to correct any and all problems
The most effective training focuses on learning the customer’s business and being able to manipulate your own company’s systems efficiently to serve the customer’s business priorities. Of course these skills need to be married with face-to-face selling and other skills, but they are the competencies that ultimately make the difference between success and failure.
3. Using the “right” training approach is the third key. Salespeople are a special breed. They possess unique talents and values that allow them to succeed in a challenging and highly competitive business environment. Those unique talents and values also make them unique learners. Selling is, after all, a contact sport and typical classroom training is not hugely effective.
The very best sales training is largely based on realistic simulations that mimic the situations and environment that salespeople encounter on a daily basis.
Research suggests that salespeople share a particular set of attributes:
• Urgency: Salespeople love fast-paced action. They want results, and they want them quickly.
• Risk-taking: Salespeople take risks. They know there are no certainties in selling. They have the talent to step out of their comfort zones, experiment, and learn quickly from their mistakes.
• Competition: Anyone who has spent time with salespeople knows how competitive they are. They need to win. They are always being measured and they personally keep score.
• Empathy: Salespeople often have an uncanny ability to sense the reactions of others. They relate well to a wide variety of people and thrive on face-to-face interaction.
• Persuasion: Salespeople derive enormous satisfaction from persuading others, including their managers, coaches and, of course, customers.
• Resilience: Because salespeople frequently face rejection, they must be able to bounce back quickly. Their resilience enables them to restore their motivation for their next call.
These attributes reflect a particular type of learner who responds to a specific kind of learning:
• Fast-paced: The learning programs should mimic the dynamic pace of the real-world selling environment.
• Feedback-rich: The programs should give salespeople the opportunity to make mistakes and get quick feedback.
• Challenging and competitive: Learning activities must leverage the types of experiences that get salespeople interested and engaged. They present challenging, competitive situations that dare the salespeople to fight for a win.
• Face-to-face and team-based: The programs must respond to salespeople's needs for face-to-face interaction.
• Relevant: Learning activities reproduce real-world situations in which salespeople must repeatedly persuade customers as they move through their multi-stage, multi-party decision-making process.
• Fun: The learning event should be entertaining, enjoyable, and amusing. Salespeople bounce back from difficult challenges and stay engaged in the activities.
Salespeople learn best from fast-paced, customised simulations. What is a simulation?
Simulations are representations of real-life situations. Simulations permit people to confront the same sorts of challenges and opportunities as in real life, yet in a safe environment where they can experiment and learn. They process information, set priorities, make decisions, take action, and learn from their successes and mistakes. The best simulations utilise professional actors and trainers and becomes a model reality that provides a safe environment for experimentation and learning. Simulations allow professionals to learn and embrace a model for the sales process. Well crafted and executed simulations are totally different to the tired old role plays that have bored generations of salespeople witless. During the learning process, salespeople externalise assumptions, get feedback, and actually practice the use of sales strategies and skills. Team discussions and full group debriefs allow participants to absorb, contextualise, and expand their knowledge and skills, making them their own. Most importantly, simulations that are fun engage people, and engaged people learn faster.
Sales Training that Really Works - To learn more about this author, visit Peter Gilbert's Website.
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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