A consistent theme I notice for sales teams is that they simply do not do enough sales training. 

They train new salespeople on their products or services and/or who to call for specific functions within the company.  Sometimes they have these wonderful annual or biannual sales meetings and the focus is not on sales training as much as numbers/revenue goals, a motivational speaker or two, and company information they feel the sales team needs to know. 

My belief is that even seasoned sales professionals benefit from sales training and there simply is not enough focus on sales training and development.

Sales Training Isn’t Just For Newbies

When I got into sales I knew nothing about how to sell and I was fortunate enough to work for a company that invested a lot of time and money in sales training. 

They were good and I believe that my success today is in large part due to the training they gave me.  And we had sales training for everyone, newbies and seasoned sales folks 3 – 5 times a week.  When I had my recruiting firm I adopted the same process.

What do you do 3 – 5 times a week in sales training?  Here is just a partial list of ideas:

#1: Planning:  Successful salespeople plan every day, week, and month. 

What needs to be included in the plan?

#2: Objections: Every sales process includes objections.  I used to spend a week, sometimes more on one objection till it became so familiar and comfortable for them that they knew how to handle it. 

We’d role play and role play some more.  Then we’d move to another objection.

#3: Dealing with the sales process:  There is a ton of rejection in sales so how do you manage through this? 

How do pump yourself up every day, just to name a few?

Cold calling techniques

Techniques for contacting someone you met at a networking or other event

Uncovering customer’s needs

Managing client expectations

Closing techniques

Upselling techniques

And the list goes on.  There is always something for sales people to learn to do better, more effectively or simply more elegantly.  Don’t think that you only need to spend time with your new sales people.

Why Do So Few Companies Invest in Ongoing Training?

When I ask sales leaders this question I hear: ‘my team is scattered all over the country so getting together is impossible’ or ‘I can’t do training that fits the needs of all of my team as they have such diverse skills’ or ‘I spend all my time helping them with deals or running interference for them or…I don’t have time. 

There is always a reason and even good reasons and the bottom line is very few companies, large or small, have ongoing sales training for their teams. 

And this is such a mistake.

My first boss in sales told me about the 20/20/60 rule.  This rule says that there are 20% of the deals you couldn’t get if you were the messiah of sales in your industry. 

They will simply never buy from you. 

There are 20% that you will close just because you happen to be in the right place at the right time…they will happen almost in spite of your skills. 

The real goal is to take that 60% in the middle and turn them from a no to a maybe or a maybe to a yes…to get them further along in the sales process.

This is where sales training can be incredibly valuable. 

Let’s say your average sale is $5K (the actual number is not important I’m just demonstrating) and you close 2 deals a month.  

What if by improving your sales skills you could close even one more deal a quarter, four more a year? That’s another $20K not because you worked harder but simply because you turned some of that 60% in the middle to yeses.  

I have a client whose sales team closing ratio was 30%.  One day I talked to him about improving the closing ratio to 40%…not a huge jump but that number produced another $550K to his bottom line.  He didn’t have to hire more salespeople or get more clients.  They simply needed to be more effective at closing.  He agreed we should do regular and ongoing sales training.  Within six months his closing ratio improved to 35% with having 45-minute training three times a week.

If you are a sales manager don’t assume your sales team knows everything they need to about sales. 

If you’re a salesperson show this article to your manager and ask for sales training.  Sales training isn’t a one-time thing.  Nor is it going to a workshop or sale meeting once a year. 

To get better at anything you have to practice and have someone work with you.  It’s true for sports, it’s true for artists and it’s true for sales professionals.