Sales Training Resources

Who requires sales training?

Any organisation or salespersons that have responsibility in selling business to existing clients or must acquire new clients, requires the knowledge of sales training methods. It can be other members of staff, not necessarily within a sales role who can help an organisation succeed. For example, a member of the accounts department took a call from an unhappy customer regarding an invoice. If the accountant handled the call in the best possible way, the company may not only receive payment sooner, but the overall relationship with the client will be stronger too. Anyone who works in customer services is technically a salesperson. Research has shown that the existing clients supply the most new business for a firm, rather than prospected clients. It is highly beneficial for an organisation to receive sales training from experts who can teach modern selling techniques to everyone.

What are the basics required for sales training?

Building instant rapport with the customer. It is also important to make a good first impression;
The influence perspectives should be high;
Gain an advantage by using emotion as a sales tool;
Speak the language of the customer

How can the basic qualities help to create instant rapport with others?

Ask questions that influence their answers in a positive way;
Handle upset customers and employers easily;
Gain control over negotiations;
Maintain an optimal state of mind;
Engage in a win-win conversation for optimum results.

There are a large number of effective salespersons who are flexible and who change their presentation style to match those needs of the prospects, which influence them. Selling is not only the ability to positively influence others, but also to assist others to reach those depths that they emotionally desire. If a salesperson has the ability to influence anyone, at any time, the sales training would be worth the expense.

Isn’t selling obvious to the client? And is a person either a born salesman or not?

Some of the best sales techniques are not at all obvious. The way people purchase products and services has changed over the years, so the way that items are sold has had to change too. While a lot of effective sales approaches that are in use today may seem obvious, there are a lot of other techniques to sales that are actually no longer effective. There are so many techniques that are used in sales, and research into sales has shown that there are certain ways to sell and much easier ways, such as telling a company what to say and what not to say when a product or service is offered to a client. If those techniques are learned well, research has shown that a salesperson will be able to work much more effectively. Clinging to sales training that was undertook years ago or the stereotypes of salespeople is a bad idea, because some of the actual old approaches to sales have proven to be effective in the marketplace today, although some still prove to be ineffective. It is useful to know, when working in sales, which techniques work for a variety of situations, and the tools that are used give the company the best chance of sales success.

The born salesman stereotype stems from someone to smiles and talks a lot and is one of the most least effective personality styles that are used by salespeople in the business world today. Most customers do not want to be talked at. The effective salespeople understand the 90-10-90 rules. When it comes to selling, the salesperson should be letting the client talk for 90% of the time. For the other 10% the salesperson is speaking and asking questions. The most successful salespeople are a lot less talkative, pose the correct questions and focus more on listening to their clients.

How does a company choose the best sales training consultant?

It is helpful to perform a little research and find those training consultants who impress and have excellent portfolios that can show that evidence. It is best to choose a company who has experience with sales and who has an excellent track record, and most importantly, has the ability to teach their techniques to others. Ask for references and for the telephone numbers of people who have worked with the individual sales training consultants, and speak to them to gain feedback. Ask them some key questions like:

Did your company receive the results you were seeking?
Would you hire the sales consultant again?
What were your first impressions of the sales consultant?
What would you say were the sales consultant’s strengths?

Consider the returns on investment when the cost is weighed against the sales training programme. Sales training can be costly, not just because of the training programmes but also because all colleagues have to literally step out of their roles and learn new techniques. A lot of training can be performed in-house, when the training consultants visits a company and delivers the training package, or some companies use off-site training, which usually requires a room hire elsewhere. These can add to the overall cost of the training programme. Everything must be considered in the training budget. It is better to look at the training as an investment and how it is going to have an impact on the company’s profile and sales. If an organisation’s sales were to increase by only a small percentage, the increase would pay for the sales training many times over. The training will also pay dividends for a company’s future, therefore improving the value of the investment.

What kind of background should an effective sales consultant have?

They should have a proven track record of successful selling. They should also have a respectful educational background. They should understand their clients’ business and how the context of sales fits into their clients company. Try to look for a series of impressive and serious accomplishments to their background that assisted sales companies to improve on their results, and take notice of their personality, because that is very important. If an organisation does not like a sales consultant, it highly likely that their company will get much enjoyment out of the training experience, so make sure that all staff are comfortable with their presence and find someone that they do like.