How Important is Sales Training?
During my sales career, I welcomed any training that was offered. I was on a learning journey and remain on that journey today. I love to spend time with people who can share experience and knowledge with me to help improve my skill set. So it’s a big YES from me. So much so that I switched career, after 20 years to become a sales coach.
Sales professionals today need to know and have a deep understanding of:
- Who their customers are & their competitors
- Understand the features & benefits of their product or services that they
represent. - Understand the market in which they operate
- Develop relationships and build trust
- Provide creative solutions
If you consider a day in the life of a sales professional, they have numerous skills to master, in my view, sales people are like all the best sporting athletes, they need to practice to improve their selling skills.
Those that learn and practice more, increase the opportunity to be more effective and sell more.
Do we really need Sales Managers?
If every sales person took full responsibility to be the best they could be every single day, were self managed and motivated, there would be no need for Sales Managers. However that type of person is really unique and hard to find.
That’s why sales managers exist.
As a sales manager, you are responsible for leading, directing, supporting and coaching your team. As a sales manager your job is to get results through the people you manage.
In my career I was lucky to have some amazing managers, they were the ones that encouraged me, supported my decisions, believed in me and were always honest.Think about a manager that sticks in your mind as amazing, and remember all the things they did well. That’s a good starting point at becoming a great leader / manager.
Great sales managers, who learn the principles of effective management through training and coaching, help their sales teams achieve great results and outperform the rest.
How often should you train or coach your team?
Every interaction you have with your team is a learning & coaching experience!
‘’To be a successful manager, trainer or coach, your primary responsibility is to persuade people into using what they already know and to be open-minded about learning what they don’t’’ – Plato
During a training session there are many positive outcomes:
- New Skills will be developed
- Increase in confidence
- A reminder of good skills / habits that may have been forgotten
- Shared learning and experiences
- Increase in motivation and morale
As a manager, how do I know who needs training?
The answer to this question is easy. If you are responsible for a sales team, then everyone regardless of experience or length of service with your company needs training.
Learning is a journey, and anyone on your team who feels they are done with learning, is a great loss to your organization. You need to manage and change that outlook quickly.
As a sales manager, how you behave and respond to training will have an impact on your team’s attitude, so you can make a difference
Your approach, your enthusiasm, your optimism will set the tone in relation to your teams success.
So is training and coaching really necessary, I believe so, do you?