5 Keys to A Successful Company Sales Training Seminar Sales down?

It might be time for a boost through a sales training seminar. These short, often one- or two-day sessions, can keep the saw sharp and correct many weaknesses in your salespeople.

Here are 5 key ingredients to keep in mind when you decide to invest in a program for your company.

Executive Participation

If upper management does not attend the sales training seminar and is forcing everyone else to, it might fall out of alignment with what its sales force is learning.
Furthermore, it sends the wrong message to trainees: if the top brass can’t be bothered to learn this stuff, why should we?

The Right Trainees

Apart from a bad curriculum or trainer, the biggest culprit which wastes valuable company training dollars is the tendency to train the wrong people.
Too often, the worst salespeople are sent off to sales training seminars in the hopes they can be salvaged. In most cases they cannot. Poor performers are the exact wrong people to train.

Aptitude testing helps find the right people to train. Tests such as the Craft Personality Questionnaire filter out those who do not possess the natural talent for sales. This will save you money while enhancing the esprit de corps of your salespeople. Poor salespeople tend to bring the rest of the team down with their glum attitudes and complaints about how tough is it to make any money. So get rid of them and fill your sales ranks with winners.

Realistic Content

Forget about the pie in the sky fancy ideas — what trainees need is practical information to help them improve their day-to-day selling.
I’ve seen trainers deliver too many corny motivational speeches instead of teaching how to move from point A to point B in the sales cycle. Likewise, while I am a fan of complex subjects such as Neurolinguistics Programming as it relates to sales, delving too much into this type of material will cause trainees to tune out.
Sales training seminars should help salespeople solve real situations using the tools they have at their disposal. Let them explore the big theory stuff on their own.

Role Play

Good training is a blend of theory and practice. Bombarding trainees with hour upon hour of information without allowing them to practice will affect retention and effectiveness negatively.

The most important things to role play:

• 30 second elevator pitches
• Overcoming the most common objections
• Closing techniques (the ACTUAL WORDS they must say to ask for the order and get the sale)
• Asking for referrals

Follow-up Coaching

Most people forget the majority of what they learn at sales training seminars within three short months. This is money down the drain when it comes to sales training.
Spend a little more and invest in some one-on-one coaching for the staff for a few months after they come back from training. Salespeople can review the role playing exercises and put to use their training much more effectively this way.

Ready to look into sales training seminars for your firm? Call us toll-free at (877) 238-3386.