Does Your Sales Force Need Training?
Does Your Sales Force Need Training?
First of all, what type of training does a sales force need? It falls into three broad categories.
• Product Knowledge: Salespeople need to be knowledgeable of the products and services they sell. They need to understand those products’ applications, both their benefits and drawbacks, what unique features they offer, what they can and cannot do for those who purchase them, and how they rank against competing products. Salespeople do not need to know how to disassemble, repair and re-assemble the products they sell the way a soldier needs to know how to disassemble, clean and re-assemble his gun in a foxhole in the dark, but they should be able to talk about them intelligently to customers and prospects. I remember meeting with a sales manager to put together a sales training program, and I asked him how the products he sold ranked against the competition, and is response was that they were “the best”. What unique features do they have? He could not tell me. How do they rate in terms of performance and durability? He had no idea. He just knew that they were “the best” and he kept making that point. That’s not much for a salesperson to go out into the world and try to sell. It was no surprise that the company’s sales were dropping and they had high sales force turnover. Had the sales manager not been the company owner’s son, he would never have gotten or kept his job!
• Selling Skills: In addition to knowing what they are selling, salespeople need to learn (and, very often, re-learn) selling skills. Many people come to selling with misconceptions, and even experienced salespeople get into bad habits or forget to go back to the basics when they are in trouble. Also, selling to consumers who purchase a product or service for their own use is much different from selling to employees who are buying products and services for the business, government agency or not-for-profit group that employs them. For example, selling carpeting and floor coverings to homeowners is an entirely different process from selling carpeting and floor coverings to a business, store, school or church!
• Industry and Technology Knowledge: Salespeople cannot sell in a void. They need to be aware of what their customers do with the products they buy, especially if their customers are industrial. One can easily imagine what a homeowner does with new flooring, but what are the concerns of a business that is purchasing carpet? That insight is invaluable to successfully selling carpeting to businesses and other industrial users. Also, salespeople need to be aware of the technology that is out there. For example, does a business care for carpeting the same way a homeowner would? How do hospitals, nursing homes and day care centers keep their carpet from transmitting diseases? If a salesperson does not understand what a customer does with the products he is selling, and how his customers use, maintain and care for those products, he is totally unequipped to talk intelligently about them!
Red Flags that Indicate Problems: There are numerous early indicators that your salespeople lack the skills they need to sell efficiently, productivity and in the best interests of their employer.
• Sales Force Turnover: Successful businesses have stable sales forces. Over time, salespeople should become increasingly more and more effective, more skilled, more knowledgeable and a more valuable asset to your business. A salesperson leaving (whether he quits or is fired) is rarely the fault of the salesperson, and almost always the fault of his employer, specifically the sales manager. I recall a sales manager telling me he was not upset about a salesperson who had recently left because he “was a colossal jerk” “Then why did you hire him,” I asked. Some businesses still use the practice of hiring essentially anyone for a sales position and figuring that he will sink or swim. If a sales hire does not work out, they will just hire some more sales force tryouts, and if they hire enough experimental-salesperson-maybes, then maybe, just maybe, some of them will work out. Research has shown this practice to be very time consuming, extremely expensive, disruptive to the rest of the organization, poor for employee morale, and it dramatically reduces repeat business from the existing customer base. If sales force turnover is increasing, or it is too high, providing effective sales training is one way to bring it down. A sales manager that is managing and leading the sales force, and not constantly replacing salespeople who have left, is far more productive and effective.
• Increased Returns, Credits and Adjustments: Trained and competent salespeople sell the appropriate product or product configuration to each customer and prospect, and they make sure that all customers understand what they are purchasing, the terms of the sale, and what the obligations of both parties are. A sign of a competent and properly trained sales force is problem-free sales that are completed professionally, smoothly and effortlessly. The customer takes delivery of the product, or it is shipped or delivered to the customer, and the invoice is paid. If products are coming back, orders are being cancelled, customers are refusing to pay, and/or credits must be issued to account for misunderstandings or adjustments, the sales force is in need of serious and immediate training!
• There Are Disputes Between Salespeople and Other Department Personnel: Whenever a salesperson gets into a dispute–or, worse yet, an argument or screaming match–with a company employee, all kinds of red flags should go up. First of all, everyone who works for your business, from the receptionist and loading dock personnel, to the sales reps and the CEO, are supposed to be on the same team! Any argument between two employees within a business is bad news, but when a salesperson–your front line infantryman who has to go out and battle against your competitors on a regular basis–gets into an altercation with another company employee, forget about any threat from the competition. You have met the enemy, and he is you! This is a serious indicator that the sales force needs training, as do those employees who engaged in the other half of the argument.
• Problems Have to Be Resolved by Managers: Let’s say that your Parts Manager and one of your salespeople have a dispute–not an argument or shouting match–they just have a serious disagreement that they cannot resolve. They keep it professional and civil, but the only way they can resolve the dispute is to take it to a manager. Both the sales force and the personnel of the department involved need training. Such events are an indication of a much deeper cultural issue, a broad misunderstanding of each department’s responsibilities and authority, and it needs to be addressed immediately!
• Salespeople Are Complaining: It does not make any difference what they are complaining about. What is important is that they are not out making sales calls, they are making excuses for not making sales and sales calls! First, however, let’s define “complaining”. There is nothing wrong–in fact, it should be encouraged–for salespeople to bring field intelligence back to their sales manager and other managers in the business. When a competitor introduces a new product, adds features to a product, raises or lowers prices, closes or opens a facility, has products on backorder, or does anything else that the sales force and management need to know about, bringing that intelligence back to the sales manager is appropriate and should be acknowledged. However, when a salesperson complains about the weather, the economy, phases of the moon and uses terms such as “bad luck” and “bad break”, this is a salesperson who lacks the selling skills he should have!
• Re-Orders Are Down: If your business relies are re-orders from existing accounts, and re-orders begin to flatten out or decline, that is an immediate indication that your salespeople are not managing their accounts! And account management is a key selling skill that every sales force needs to have.
• The Account Base Is Not Growing: If one of your corporate objectives is expanding your customer base, and its rate of growth is slowing or it is not growing at all, that is also an early indicator of a sales force in need of new skills or that needs to re-learn skills they are no longer using.
• Decreased Order Frequency: A key measurement of sales force effectiveness and productivity is how often the salespeople write orders. When the number of sales being closed (not the dollar volume of sales, but the number or orders) begins to drop, that is also an early indicator of a need for new and better selling skills for your sales force.
But What about Sales Itself? When we meet with a client, and start to talk about whether or not their sales force needs sales training, the company president or the controller or the sales manager will often jump in and tell us that declining sales is an indicator that the sales force needs sales training, right? That’s like saying after your house has burned to the ground that it’s time to go out and buy a smoke detector, isn’t it? When sales start to decline, it is, in fact, way past the time you need sales training! Yes, if sales are declining, get sales training for your sales force, but we do not recommend waiting until you are at that point. Look for the early indicators, and you can avoid having to turn around declining sales!
Does Your Sales Force Need Training - To learn more about this author, visit Alec Schibanoff's Website.
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For any business, its sales force is one of its greatest assets. Now “asset” is not a term usually associated with a sales force, since the pay, benefits and expenses of a sales force appear on your books as operating expenses. But forget what the accountants say. A sales force is a business’s window to the world, and the effectiveness, morale, preparedness and general well-being of your sales force will have a direct affect on the future of your business!
First of all, what type of training does a sales force need? It falls into three broad categories.
• Product Knowledge: Salespeople need to be knowledgeable of the products and services they sell. They need to understand those products’ applications, both their benefits and drawbacks, what unique features they offer, what they can and cannot do for those who purchase them, and how they rank against competing products. Salespeople do not need to know how to disassemble, repair and re-assemble the products they sell the way a soldier needs to know how to disassemble, clean and re-assemble his gun in a foxhole in the dark, but they should be able to talk about them intelligently to customers and prospects. I remember meeting with a sales manager to put together a sales training program, and I asked him how the products he sold ranked against the competition, and is response was that they were “the best”. What unique features do they have? He could not tell me. How do they rate in terms of performance and durability? He had no idea. He just knew that they were “the best” and he kept making that point. That’s not much for a salesperson to go out into the world and try to sell. It was no surprise that the company’s sales were dropping and they had high sales force turnover. Had the sales manager not been the company owner’s son, he would never have gotten or kept his job!
• Selling Skills: In addition to knowing what they are selling, salespeople need to learn (and, very often, re-learn) selling skills. Many people come to selling with misconceptions, and even experienced salespeople get into bad habits or forget to go back to the basics when they are in trouble. Also, selling to consumers who purchase a product or service for their own use is much different from selling to employees who are buying products and services for the business, government agency or not-for-profit group that employs them. For example, selling carpeting and floor coverings to homeowners is an entirely different process from selling carpeting and floor coverings to a business, store, school or church!
• Industry and Technology Knowledge: Salespeople cannot sell in a void. They need to be aware of what their customers do with the products they buy, especially if their customers are industrial. One can easily imagine what a homeowner does with new flooring, but what are the concerns of a business that is purchasing carpet? That insight is invaluable to successfully selling carpeting to businesses and other industrial users. Also, salespeople need to be aware of the technology that is out there. For example, does a business care for carpeting the same way a homeowner would? How do hospitals, nursing homes and day care centers keep their carpet from transmitting diseases? If a salesperson does not understand what a customer does with the products he is selling, and how his customers use, maintain and care for those products, he is totally unequipped to talk intelligently about them!
Red Flags that Indicate Problems: There are numerous early indicators that your salespeople lack the skills they need to sell efficiently, productivity and in the best interests of their employer.
• Sales Force Turnover: Successful businesses have stable sales forces. Over time, salespeople should become increasingly more and more effective, more skilled, more knowledgeable and a more valuable asset to your business. A salesperson leaving (whether he quits or is fired) is rarely the fault of the salesperson, and almost always the fault of his employer, specifically the sales manager. I recall a sales manager telling me he was not upset about a salesperson who had recently left because he “was a colossal jerk” “Then why did you hire him,” I asked. Some businesses still use the practice of hiring essentially anyone for a sales position and figuring that he will sink or swim. If a sales hire does not work out, they will just hire some more sales force tryouts, and if they hire enough experimental-salesperson-maybes, then maybe, just maybe, some of them will work out. Research has shown this practice to be very time consuming, extremely expensive, disruptive to the rest of the organization, poor for employee morale, and it dramatically reduces repeat business from the existing customer base. If sales force turnover is increasing, or it is too high, providing effective sales training is one way to bring it down. A sales manager that is managing and leading the sales force, and not constantly replacing salespeople who have left, is far more productive and effective.
• Increased Returns, Credits and Adjustments: Trained and competent salespeople sell the appropriate product or product configuration to each customer and prospect, and they make sure that all customers understand what they are purchasing, the terms of the sale, and what the obligations of both parties are. A sign of a competent and properly trained sales force is problem-free sales that are completed professionally, smoothly and effortlessly. The customer takes delivery of the product, or it is shipped or delivered to the customer, and the invoice is paid. If products are coming back, orders are being cancelled, customers are refusing to pay, and/or credits must be issued to account for misunderstandings or adjustments, the sales force is in need of serious and immediate training!
• There Are Disputes Between Salespeople and Other Department Personnel: Whenever a salesperson gets into a dispute–or, worse yet, an argument or screaming match–with a company employee, all kinds of red flags should go up. First of all, everyone who works for your business, from the receptionist and loading dock personnel, to the sales reps and the CEO, are supposed to be on the same team! Any argument between two employees within a business is bad news, but when a salesperson–your front line infantryman who has to go out and battle against your competitors on a regular basis–gets into an altercation with another company employee, forget about any threat from the competition. You have met the enemy, and he is you! This is a serious indicator that the sales force needs training, as do those employees who engaged in the other half of the argument.
• Problems Have to Be Resolved by Managers: Let’s say that your Parts Manager and one of your salespeople have a dispute–not an argument or shouting match–they just have a serious disagreement that they cannot resolve. They keep it professional and civil, but the only way they can resolve the dispute is to take it to a manager. Both the sales force and the personnel of the department involved need training. Such events are an indication of a much deeper cultural issue, a broad misunderstanding of each department’s responsibilities and authority, and it needs to be addressed immediately!
• Salespeople Are Complaining: It does not make any difference what they are complaining about. What is important is that they are not out making sales calls, they are making excuses for not making sales and sales calls! First, however, let’s define “complaining”. There is nothing wrong–in fact, it should be encouraged–for salespeople to bring field intelligence back to their sales manager and other managers in the business. When a competitor introduces a new product, adds features to a product, raises or lowers prices, closes or opens a facility, has products on backorder, or does anything else that the sales force and management need to know about, bringing that intelligence back to the sales manager is appropriate and should be acknowledged. However, when a salesperson complains about the weather, the economy, phases of the moon and uses terms such as “bad luck” and “bad break”, this is a salesperson who lacks the selling skills he should have!
• Re-Orders Are Down: If your business relies are re-orders from existing accounts, and re-orders begin to flatten out or decline, that is an immediate indication that your salespeople are not managing their accounts! And account management is a key selling skill that every sales force needs to have.
• The Account Base Is Not Growing: If one of your corporate objectives is expanding your customer base, and its rate of growth is slowing or it is not growing at all, that is also an early indicator of a sales force in need of new skills or that needs to re-learn skills they are no longer using.
• Decreased Order Frequency: A key measurement of sales force effectiveness and productivity is how often the salespeople write orders. When the number of sales being closed (not the dollar volume of sales, but the number or orders) begins to drop, that is also an early indicator of a need for new and better selling skills for your sales force.
But What about Sales Itself? When we meet with a client, and start to talk about whether or not their sales force needs sales training, the company president or the controller or the sales manager will often jump in and tell us that declining sales is an indicator that the sales force needs sales training, right? That’s like saying after your house has burned to the ground that it’s time to go out and buy a smoke detector, isn’t it? When sales start to decline, it is, in fact, way past the time you need sales training! Yes, if sales are declining, get sales training for your sales force, but we do not recommend waiting until you are at that point. Look for the early indicators, and you can avoid having to turn around declining sales!
Does Your Sales Force Need Training - To learn more about this author, visit Alec Schibanoff'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 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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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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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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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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