All Top Sales Training Programs Excel With These Three Ingredients

Top sales training programs do more than just present information once and let salespeople loose without further guidance. The majority of your training investment is wasted if you buy a program which does this, as very few people can absorb and apply information the first time they hear it. In fact, most of us forget just about everything we hear if there is no repetition!
In contrast, the top sales training programs consistently include a few important elements to stack the odds that salespeople actually retain and use their training to close deals faster and in volume.

Role play

Most salespeople enjoy and benefit from practicing sales skills using realistic scenarios. Role play takes the abstract and places it in concrete form, making it real and relatable. In fact, for new salespeople, role playing might be the first time they ever verbalize closes and objection handlers with another human being. Needless to say, doing so increases confidence and encourages application with live deals and real buyers.
Top sales training programs set aside time at each session for trainees to practice a few techniques, or at the very least bring a few students up to demonstrate how the techniques can be used. Practicing sales techniques builds a type of muscle memory and smoothness in delivery which buyers like.

Reinforcement/follow up

Studies show that we forget 90 percent of what we study mere weeks after learning it – unless we reinforce. Reinforcement is necessary for everyone except the rare few that possess photographic memories. For the rest of us, we need to go over the material several times in order to retain it – just like studying for a test in school.
Top sales training programs offer follow-up reinforcement. This could be in the form of personal coaching, group phone calls, video conferencing, newsletters, private Facebook groups with Q&As for members, or advanced training which dives deeper into the material.

Reference material

Last, top sales training programs all have some kind of reference material you can go back to and review the most important concepts. For example, at ASHER we provide video lessons which cover things like the Top Ten Selling Skills and the Six Primary Stimuli of the Old Brain. These are accessible from our website any time.
Reference material can range from YouTube videos, to PDF cheat sheets, and/or podcasts. They should be available online 24/7 as part of your training package or for a small additional fee, depending on the training firm.
The above are elements you should look for when hiring top sales training programs. They should also form part of your own internal training repertoire. For example, add some role play to weekly sales meetings. Or, spend one month repeatedly covering one important topic or technique, such as breaking the ice at networking events. Finally, provide some sort of reference library which salespeople can peruse at their leisure to brush up their knowledge.
Role play, repetition, and a reference library will increase training results. I highly encourage you to use them and only hire training firms that do as well.