When you think of a natural salesperson, imagine a gentle person who will answer your question quickly, perhaps before you ask. In a few minutes, it will be sold completely to products you will never use.
But the top salesman is not always the most talkative person. It is actually the most effective listener. An effective salesperson is not ignoring the customer and trying to stay ahead, but listening carefully to the customer’s needs and truly agreeing with the customer.
However, like any technology, even a naturally trained salesperson needs to develop skills through ongoing sales training. Here are some tips for salesperson training and development:
1. Training through e-learning.
If your sales team doesn’t know about your product, you won’t even have the best listeners until the end of the sale. Salespeople must understand the product details to increase their confidence, especially when selling new employees. Adequate product training can help you identify specific customer issues and understand product details to become a complete solution.
Of course, if you travel a lot and make frequent calls, it is almost impossible for a full salesperson to be trained in one place. This is where e-learning comes in.
E-Learning enables sales teams to build product knowledge anytime, anywhere. Online videos and modules let you track your progress so everyone can see what you need.
Practical case: L’Oréal realized the differences in product knowledge among all salespeople and implemented an e-learning program to enhance the team’s capabilities. Through structured web-based video, the company provides in-depth product knowledge that all salespeople have access to.
2. Education is short, but it must be consistent with micro-learning.
A report from Sales Performance International warns that sales training may be great. Administrators may be concerned about developing a competent salesperson, but in reality, salespeople cannot have a lot of information at the same time.
The study found that nearly 50% of learning content was forgotten and applied to the sales process in less than five weeks, so many days of sales training activities were essentially a waste of money.
Excessive costs actually hurt the talent of salespeople, breaking their confidence and promoting technology development. Instead, send notifications via email or encourage via smartphone. This can enhance effective habits without overwhelming salespeople.
A real example: TED Talk shows are the best in fine learning. Industry experts and thinkers discuss a variety of educational and inspiring topics in a 15-minute digestive cycle. By introducing this approach to educate salespeople at manageable intervals, you can continue to interact with them and provide new information that they actually have.
3. Specific performance compensation
Salespeople are working on goals (perhaps more than others), making performance-based training programs another great option.
However, the success of the promotion team members does not solve the problem. More effective sales training techniques tell you that you are doing well because you have exceeded your goals at a certain speed or track your performance in a particularly difficult currency. Always use the details to make this success clear and meaningful.
Case Study: Best Buy uses this model in the Road to Excellence program. When using the concepts learned in education, the leader gets the salesman badge. This badge brings four distinct identities, from bronze to platinum. Best Buy found that the recognition rate of stores with the highest recognition rate was lower than 3 to 1.
4. Provide on-site training and detailed feedback
Most talent development is carried out on site. But this is the analysis and feedback that the salesperson received after receiving the call. Supervisors listen and understand customer needs and help salespeople provide feedback directly from actual sales to prevent them from pushing.
In order to conduct effective physical training, capable leaders must listen to sales requirements to review the recordings and analyze the performance of the personnel in order to provide timely and specific feedback. Ideally, this should happen within hours of experience so that feedback is fresh and the salesperson can reflect the experience.
Practical case: Walgreens implements “Well Experience” on-site training to provide practical experience in a simulated pharmacy environment. Using games such as the Product Search window, the team learned about new store layouts, business shadows in these layouts, and “real-time” performance guidance. After 13,000 employees completed the program, confidence levels rose from 42% to 90%.
5. Share success stories
According to the National Institute of Business Research, employee attitudes affect 40% to 80% of customer satisfaction. Research on a retail giant shows that employee engagement increases one point, and each store’s monthly sales increase by $200,000.
High employee engagement and fraud have a direct impact on the final return. Sharing common success also encourages salespeople to work together and work smarter.
Practical example: If the salesperson succeeds in Yesware, it sounds (exactly) around the company. Each salesperson has a “closing song” that plays at the end of the transaction and the rest of the sales team dances during the celebration. When team members achieve their goals, they get a huge Venus on the desktop, focusing on personal achievement and acknowledging what works.
Through recognition, we give the sales team full confidence, instill confidence, and develop natural skills in the sales field. Invite outstanding team members to participate in the sale of superstars through frequent, flexible and manageable product training and on-site training.
