Beyond Sales Training 101

The Magic of Margin 3 – Create Price Competition
February 9, 2016
Magic of Margin 4: The Customer’s Derived Value
March 1, 2016

Beyond Sales TrainingI have spent many years working in sales organizations and, as a sales operation professional, I have had a lot of responsibilities. Several years ago, I was challenged with creating an on-boarding program that covered all areas impacting the ramping of new sales folks. Of course there were the steps required to get each sales person the company assets they needed as they traveled out into the field (computers, business cards, credit card, territory assignments and so on). I can’t believe I am saying it, but that was the easy part – either they had what they needed, or they did not have what they needed. The tough part was figuring out if the new hire training they received was effective.

Talking about drinking from a fire hose! In new hire training, there is much to cover with folks new to the sales organization. The experienced sales person, those with good sales skills, still needs to learn the new environment that he will need to operate in going forward. She needs to learn new sales policies (discounting, sales credits, …), new sales procedures (forecasting, submitting orders, …), new sales tools (CRM, marketing collateral, …), new products (features, functionality, …) and most likely a new sales process (the steps and language of the sale). My job was to figure out how effective this new hire training was and how well the sales folks performed in their new environment. Working with the Sales Management team, we developed a scoring tool that allowed us to compare subjective observations with objective results. Comparing the “he does great with pipeline management, yet nothing shows in our forecasting tool”, “she can sell value, yet gives the highest discounts”, and “he has great paperwork, yet has the most order re-submits”.

With focus and discipline, we were able to dial in our new hire training, develop on-going training tailored to a sales person’s needs and increased sales person productivity. While this program was effective getting our folks to perform in their new environment, it did not raise the talent level of our skilled sales folks.

An effective Account Management process supports the sales team’s development of an account strategy, which can build strong relationships. A challenge for new sales reps is “What is the conversation”? Are your new reps buying lunch and talking about this season’s league championship? How do you ramp their capabilities and raise the level of that conversation? How does your sales team transform from that friendly, chatty face, to that trusted advisor?

Enter Market-Based Sales Training, a customer-centric sales approach. This is where you increase your sales teams credibility with your customers, by teaching your sales team about the customer’s environment that THEY operate in each day. Once your sales team understands the business terrain that your customers navigate, they will gain confidence in discovering how your products can solve many of the customer’s issues and move away from the feature and functionality conversations that commoditize your products. Don’t leave it up to the salesperson to understand what is happening in the industry or in the customer’s market, provide them with Business Acumen training, and the specific business operations of your customers.

Your development goal should be that your sales reps can engage a customer with planned questions about their business mission. That your sales reps have the ability to discuss the challenges and issues the customer has that affects their ability to attain their mission and business goals.

Market-Based Sales Training is an important, even, critical step in developing a sales team that can measurably perform at higher levels. The payoff is that you are developing a knowledgeable, confident, credible sales team that understand their customer’s challenges in their markets.

By:

Jim Williams, M.B.A.
Total Innovation Group Inc., Associate

and

Sam O’Rear, M.A.
Total Innovation Group Inc., Senior Partner

Published by TIGI