The view from the sales trainer from TheSalesPro

Sales training is a vital part of ensuring not only continued development in sales teams but also a continued increase in sales revenue. Sales trainers also have a uniquely broad perspective on the industry. So, we (TheSalesPro) contacted several leading sales trainers to get their views on new approaches to sales training, the direction of the industry, how it is responding to the recession and other questions. Their responses make fascinating reading.

Should companies be investing in sales training during a recession?

Without a doubt sales trainers agree that the recession makes sales training, more not less important. Gavin Ingham of Gavin Ingham Training asks the question: “The development of the sales team is critical in any market, Is it more important or less important today?”

As Mark Jacobs, Director at Mdina Sales Training puts it: “There are very few companies with a unique product, so there is always a second supplier, therefore the salesman could be the key differentiator between the companies.”

What approaches to sales training are currently popular?

For Tony Bulleid at ProAct Business Development the focus is very much on the buyers themselves and the motivating factors to buy. He explains:”50% of a decision to sell depends upon the buyer’s motivation to ‘do something’, 40% depends on whether that person has confidence that you and your company can deliver a solution, and the remaining 10% is around product and price.”

He continues, “Traditionally sales people have spent most of their efforts around that 10%, however, if we can truly understand the customer’s situation and articulate how doing nothing actually weakens the potential for him or his company to grow, we may be able to influence his or her motivation to change”.

In regards to sales direction, Bulleid comments that in over 25 years in B2B sales he has seen how for every five days of formal technical or product training salespeople are lucky to have half a day on how to sell. This despite the fact that the product accounts for only 10% of the decision to buy.

And what new techniques are sales trainers using?

ProAct BD is also pushing the boundaries by creating a sales simulation, taking the need for senior management buy-in to the highest level. ProAct BD creates a sales simulation environment that allows the management to act as buyers and create simulated scenarios for the sales team. This can range from cold calling into the company, arranging meetings with all the different stakeholders (played by the management team), to presenting the solution, leaving voicemails and even allowing a 90 second ‘elevator pitch’ simulating a conversation with a stakeholder in the elevator on the way out of the building.

This idea is popular with the sales team as well as the management team who can see their staff in action. It also creates a real life scenario that allows all parties to understand the sales cycle, and to ensure all parts of the cycle are addressed, analysed and improved as part of the training course, “It’s like having a full practice round of golf rather than being at the driving range,” states Bulleid.

Gavin Ingham describes the importance of contextualisation, “the material needs to be addressing real problems and real needs that sales professionals need solving… the material creates the environment to make the session sing for the trainee’s”

Shelley Gallagher, Head of Training at Pareto Law, talks about using ‘live training’ as a training method: “Trainees come back from a training session with added skills as well as having made appointments or developed leads,” she says. ”It allows the trainer to give immediate feedback in a real environment as a method of testing and implementing theories. This is not common in the world of training but is something Pareto Law has always done.”

How can companies build a strong relationship with their sales training providers?

Sales training companies believe that genuine ROI only comes from a prolonged relationship. Ingham talks about how sales training courses are better designed and have better impact when the goals of the organisation are understood from the top down and the course is representative and apparent to these goals.

He says: “It’s imperative to have understood the desired outcomes of the company before designing a training course. Preparation should always involve consulting with management about what they want to get out of the training, what problems is it going to solve, and how does it tie into their own aspirations”.

Gallagher agrees with Ingham’s views. “You need to understand what or who is influencing and driving the programme forward and what they are looking to achieve, before designing the solution,” she says.

How can a buyer know whether or not a training programme is working?

Jacobs at Mdina describes a process where key performance indicators are agreed before the training course and are then tracked through an online system called DART. He explains: “DART structures and organises reviews and actions between managers and their teams. This means that we are not only able to monitor the sales professional but also ensure that sales management is following up with the individual as well”.

These online progress reports can be viewed by business owners to ensure that the skills learnt are being put into practice and the management team is continually evaluating the implementation across the sales team.

At Pareto, Gallagher also talks about the wide range of different reporting options that are discussed before the training course to ensure outcomes are understood. She says that Pareto uses learning contracts to ensure implementation and evaluation workshops take place after training.

What sort of return should be expected on investment in sales training?

So what sort of ROI should sales management see from its training budget? Jacobs boldly suggests “You should be looking at ten times the investment level for training.” Again the KPI’s need to be agreed on, but the thought of turning 100,000 of sales into one million through this investment should certainly appeal.

Sales managers and directors would agree that the notion of investing in their staff is a necessary part of their sales strategy, but the most important part of this investment is to ensure skills are transferred into the day to day routine of the team. It’s massively encouraging to see that the sales training industry is looking at new innovative methods and arrangements to help build confidence in the investment, and genuinely change and influence the sales environment.

How strong is the UK’s sales profession at the moment?

Interacting on a daily basis with so many sales professionals allows the sales trainer to see the quality of our profession. So what is the quality like? Bulleid comments that the quality is good, but there are still basic mistakes that are always worth improving on. He outlines what these are: “Engaging too late in the buying process, companies focusing on product training, sales people reverting to product specifications with little regard for customers’ real needs.”

Gavin Ingham talks very frankly around some sales professionals who may rest on their laurels: “They say they have twenty years experience, but have one year repeated twenty times over. Sales professionals need to keep learning, to keep looking for new ways to progress and be better, not just look to management as the instigator of improvement.”

Gallagher comments: “A common aspect of today’s selling is the comfort zone of account management. We need to encourage people to seek out new business. We need to introduce skills that complement and can help account management performance.” She also mentions the age-old problems of making too many assumptions and getting complacent with the sales process, backing Bulleid’s comments of needing to understand the business of the buyer.
Gavin Ingham describes the current environment as being key to the improvement of quality sales professionals: “In the current market many of the hangers-on will be washed away, leaving the best staff.” He concludes: “Like any other resource or capital, the sales professional needs to be showing genuine added value to the organisation.”

Copyright Ben Turner, TheSalesPro

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