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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Leanne Hoagland Smith
Are your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales success or one of the many who have failed to change? So what are you doing to change those results? Let’s be honest, with companies moving globally and at lightening speeds, the traditional business solutions are outdated and dead. My approach moves your business out of its comfort zone and secures your competitive advantage now. If you are seeking to increase sales, build customer loyalty, create a culture of great attitudes or just achieve some sleep filled nights, then we should talk because my clients have experienced exactly those types of results. Learn more about customer loyalty at http://www.processspecialist.com/customer-loyalty.htm Give me a call at 219.759.5601 for a free strategy session. P.S. If you are seeking a motivational speaker, sales trainer or small business expert that will leave your audience smiling and remembering, please feel free to contact me at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland Smith's Website |
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Alec Schibanoff
(Visit Alec's Website)
Alec Schibanoff is managing director of
AAS Associates, a management consulting
firm specializing in business-to-business
marketing, sales, training and strategic
planning. AAS Associates offers a
comprehensive package of affordable and
effective services for companies that sell
their products and services to or through
other businesses.
These services include sales and customer
service training, sales force recruitment
and deployment, lead generation programs,
industrial public relations, new product
and new channel development, marketing and
business planning, technology transfer and
concentric diversification.
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