The world of sales can be cutthroat, particularly if you go in unprepared. So, any business worth its salt makes sure that their sales team is prepared for anything, especially if they want to stay competitively viable.

However, what is not always clear is the how and the when. Your sales team may be filled with sales executives who have already been effectively trained or have enough experience to be successful. However, you could also be at a stage where it is filled with newcomers struggling to find their way or veterans who are a little too stuck in their ways.

Regardless of where the individual members of your team are in their careers, it is a proven fact that implementing a training program for sales executives can significantly boost your team’s performance. However, that is easier said than done and requires a lot of forethought to know when to implement it. Fortunately, there are many signs you can look out for to determine whether or not it is time to start. Here are a few of the telltale signs that you need a training program for sales executives:

Declining Sales Numbers

One of the most obvious indicators that your company is in need of a training program for sales executives is a decline in sales. There could be a handful of reasons why your sales numbers are declining, including elements that are out of your control such as a changing market or economic downturn. It could also be a problem with company management and a disconnect between branches and teams. Bottom line is if your sales team does not have a firm grasp of the sales process and the skills needed to be effective, it will have a dramatic impact on your revenues.

Thankfully, giving them proper guidance through a quality sales training program can give your sales executives the knowledge and skills they need to boost your company’s sales revenue again. This includes knowing how to make a sales pitch or how to generate leads, so that they can find and connect with potential clients. It also involves teaching them how to do things as efficiently as possible, streamlining and revitalizing the sales pipeline, so that they can generate more leads and connect with more clients.

High Employee Turnover

Having to fire an employee or having one of them quit may seem like a negative, but it is often a necessary evil as not everyone is a good fit for a business, whether it be for the long run or in general. However, if a large number of employees are quitting and you are having to let go of a lot of employees, there is a big issue. Whether or not it is the employers fault is on a case-by-case basis, but for a lot of businesses engaged in sales, one of the reasons could be a lack of trained sales executives. If a sales team does not know what it is doing or screws up a lot, thus not making a lot of money for either themselves (if they are paid by commission) or for the business itself, then they will be more likely to quit or be let go.
However, this cutting of ties can be avoided if the team is, instead, trained properly, in this instance through the use of a sales training program. By going through a sales training program, not only will your sales executives know what they are doing and will make it, so you do not have to let any of them go due to budget cuts, but they will be inclined to stay as they are making the commissions they need and will not lose the motivation to continue working in your business.

Inconsistent Performance

Not everyone in a sales team will always be at a similar level when it comes to sales. Some may be more experienced while others are lagging behind. Additionally, some may be great at some tasks but falter in others. Or for some, an individual sales executive may perform inconsistently, doing great on some days, while struggling on others. Inconsistent performance often indicates gaps in skills or knowledge, in which case it might be time for sales training. Putting your team through a sales training can address these gaps, providing each team member with the tools they need to excel.

Difficulty Adapting to Market Changes

The sales landscape is constantly evolving, with new trends, products, sales strategies, and technologies are constantly being introduced and utilized. While many of these may be seen as and some of them ending up as only fads, being unable to adapt to the changes introduced to the market can be a critical hindrance to a company’s success. Thus if your team is struggling to adapt to these changes, whether it be not knowing or understanding current trends, not using new technologies that are changing the landscape, or not letting go of trends that are not working, having them take a training program for sales executives is essential. Such training can help your sales team stay up to date with industry developments, including implementing innovative changes and moving away from obsolete trends, ensuring they can effectively navigate changes and maintain a competitive edge.

Poor Customer Feedback

Negative feedback from clients about your sales process is a red flag. It suggests that your team might lack essential customer interaction skills. This can include poor communication, being rude or inconsiderate, being unprepared, making promises they cannot keep, or even being outright dishonest. Investing in a training program can improve their communication and relationship-building abilities, leading to better customer satisfaction and loyalty.

In sales, it is important for a salesperson to be properly trained as effective sales training can go a long way towards ensuring long-term success.

However, when it comes to designing and operating a sales training program, it is not enough to simply list out the basics and lecture about what a sales professional is supposed to do on a daily basis.

There are some key principles that must be followed for a sales training program to be effective. By following these principles, a trainee will understand the skills they are being taught and how to use them to the best of their ability in their professional lives. Here are the key principles of effective sales training:

Teaching and Retainment of the Fundamentals

The fundamental skills of sales are often the first and primary thing learned in most sales training programs. Many average programs simply teach the skills needed to be a salesperson and leave it at that. While there are other aspects of sales that effective training should focus on, the fundamentals of sales are still incredibly important.

This primarily includes the basics, including product knowledge, knowing how to give a pitch, problem solving, time management skills, negotiation skills, proper presentation, and client prospecting. These basics are foundational for a sales person’s career as they are the skills they will be consistently drawing from, especially during a sales pitch. Any sales training program worth its salt will be teaching these fundamental skills, else it would be a complete waste of time.

However, a truly effective sales training program will not only teach sales people these skills but will make sure they retain these fundamental skills. Throughout the course, they will encourage you to practice and to make use of these skills, giving you proper feedback on how to properly teach these skills. They will also continuously reinforce these skills and may dive deeper into them in order for you to have a solid grasp on them, through a variety of methods such as roleplaying, gamification, and even in-person pitches. Eventually, an effective sales training program will ensure that these skills are second nature for a salesperson. Their methods of reinforcement and retainment not only apply to the basics, but to every skill that a salesperson develops throughout their time in the program, including proper communication and relationship building skills.

 

Developing Relationship Building and Communication Skills

According to Lori Richardson, founder of Score More Sales: “Selling is really about having conversations with people and helping improve their company or their life.” During a sales pitch, the primary goal is not to advertise a service, but to have a conversation with a client in order to find out their problem and how your service may be a solution to their problem. The most critical aspect of sales and the difference maker between a good and a bad salesperson is their ability to communicate with their clients and build relationships with them. Thus, what makes a sales training program great, one that will create other great salespeople, is their ability to develop their communication and relationship building skills.

There are many skills and techniques included in this, such as verbal and written communication, emotional intelligence, active listening, doing research beforehand, storytelling, and so much more. What techniques a person uses can depend on both the client and the salesperson themself as they are more effective with one style or another.

However, the individual skills and techniques learned are not quite as important as the intangible elements of a sales pitch, which cannot be laid out on a check list. Rather they are intuited through experience. Effective sales training will be able to give you this experience by either going through simulated sales pitches with fellow students and teachers or by giving you hands-on experience with clients. This includes being able to manage a conversation, build rapport with a client, using the aforementioned skills seamlessly in a conversation, and being adaptable enough to go wherever the conversation takes you.

Doing this will not only help you to be more likable and approachable to a potential client but may be the starting point to building a business relationship with them. Effective sales training will also teach you how to build and maintain these relationships through follow-up, proper communication, feedback, and ensuring they know they are appreciated. These are what makes a client want to stay with a business and will ensure the success of a sales person.

Adaptability to Others

An additional layer of what will make an effective sales training program is their ability to adapt to the businesses they are catering to and the students they are teaching. Being able to implement the specific services, pain points, and goals of a business into their program in order to suit the needs of a sales team, will go a long way in making it easier for the students to implement the program’s lessons in their work. Furthermore, being able to adapt to the needs of a student through direct feedback, working one on one, and sometimes even customized curriculums may also push a great sales training program into an amazing one.

 

When it comes to any profession, there will always be new up and comers, fired up just to be in the industry. Despite their enthusiasm, those newcomers will be sure to face many challenges and make many mistakes.

Making mistakes is nothing to be ashamed of as it is a part of the learning process and it is something that happens to everyone, even those on a significantly higher skill level. That said, it is still better to know what mistakes to look out for and to be mindful of the challenges you may face, than going in blindly and learning to resolve these mistakes the hard way.

With all that said, there are many common mistakes salespeople will make at one time or another early in their careers. Knowing what they are and knowing what steps to take to prevent them can grant you an edge in becoming a better salesperson. Below are some of the biggest mistakes made by new salespeople:

Lack of Communication and Relationship Building

A common mistake made by a lot of amateur salespeople is sounding robotic and disinterested. A lot of new salespeople will try to copy the talking points and the style of the classes they took or the books they read. While those are great for understanding the basics, they should not be followed one to one when it comes to the moment-to-moment discussion with a client.

One of the major elements of selling is having a conversation with a client and with any form of communication, it is not something you handle like it is a bullet-point checklist. In conversation, there needs to be a sense of flow with both parties going back and forth. It is important to be able to speak at the same wavelength as your client. This could include avoiding using jargon and talking in a more relaxed fashion or talking in a more professional and formal manner.

But one of the most critical elements of communication is that you listen. A lot of new salespeople will talk too much and try to just sell the product to them. In a lot of cases, potential clients will be put off if it sounds like someone is trying to sell them something. Instead of trying to focus on the sale, focus on the client and their needs.

Ultimately, the most important part of being a salesperson is understanding that it is not about you or the company, it is all about the client. Instead of trying to get them to buy as much as they can, it is important to build a relationship with them. Yes, it may not get the big sale that you want right away, but over time your clients will want to come back and buy from you because you respect them and their time.

Being Ill-Prepared

The next important thing about being a salesperson is to be prepared, but a lot of new salespeople do not know what to be prepared for. There are many general ways that a person can be prepared for a sales pitch. Having a full understanding of what your service is and what it can do can make it easier to answer most questions that come your way. It also helps to have an understanding of the common or even obscure problems that your product or service can help solve. Even if you are not able to answer every question, knowing where to look for those answers and knowing where to direct your clients will make the process run smoother for everyone and make your client more inclined to invest.

But being prepared does not end at knowing everything that you have to offer, but also the problems they may be facing. While it is important to know the possible problems, doing research on who your client is and what specific problems they are facing can give you an edge during a sales pitch. It shows you care about their needs and that you are able to provide them the solution to their specific problems. This also includes knowing their history, staff, and everything that could be helpful to tailoring your pitch to them.

Finally, it is important to be prepared to give a sales pitch in the first place. It is important for a salesperson to be properly dressed, groomed, and on time. While not quite as common as a mistake, it is tempting for those with less experience to be more laisse faire than they ought to be. Know what kind of people you are going to be meeting and dress accordingly with all of the equipment you will need for your sales pitch.

Giving and Promising Too Much

Finally, it is important not to give too much information too soon or to promise more than you can offer. When giving a sales pitch, it can be tempting to tell them everything about your product or service and sometimes about the industry. The logic those who do this follow would be that they want to make their client make an informed decision. However, it can often overwhelm the client and make them feel less interested. Additionally, you might give them advice that makes your deal less appealing. Do not overwhelm your client or act as a sales consultant, tell them the fundamentals in your pitch and answer whatever questions they may have.

Promising too much or upselling your client can also make you and your company look bad. This includes making deals you are not qualified to give, trying to convince them to buy something they do not need, saying your service will do something it cannot, or even lying to them about a deal that does not exist. Stick to what you know your service can do and what you know your client wants.

One of the most important skills in business – but particularly in sales – is time management. After all, there is only so much time and it is important to use it wisely if you hope to be successful.

A common practice among business and sales professionals is time blocking, a time management strategy wherein you schedule your whole day and week into time slots, each one corresponding to a specific task.

There are many different benefits of time blocking, benefits that can make employees and managers more productive with the time they have. It is especially beneficial in sales, where time sensitivity is key from getting a product out on time to when to make a sales call. If you are considering using time blocking as a time management strategy, read on to learn the benefits of time blocking in sales:

Better Organized

The most readily apparent benefit of time blocking is that you will have a much cleaner schedule. Because you organize your day based on designating certain tasks into time slots, you are better able to see what you have to do that day and approximately how much time you will spend on it. It makes it easier to understand and makes it a lot less stressful. Additionally, it will make it easier for your managers and coworkers to know what you will be doing at what time.

Another benefit of being organized is that through this method, you may grow to understand how long a certain task will take and realize that you will have more time to do other tasks. You will be able to squeeze in a meeting or lunch with someone, do a task that you thought you did not have time for, and develop a workflow from which you are able to get more done because you know what you are doing that day and how long it will take.

Higher Productivity and Effectiveness

As previously stated, being more organized can lead to you making better use of your day. But more than just being more organized, time blocking can ultimately make your work day more productive and can make the work that you do more effective.

The first reason is because you were dedicating time to a single task, you’re not going to be distracted and you will be less likely to procrastinate. Not only will you get it done, but you will be able to fully engross yourself into the task at hand. Additionally, because what you will be doing is scheduled, you will be less likely to be interrupted or distracted. During that time of high intensity work, you will be able to get a lot more done and because you’re more engaged with it, it will likely turn out better.

Another reason you will have a higher level of productivity is that you will be able to get more tasks done with the time you have. As stated in the previous section, because your schedule is a lot more organized, you will be able to fit more tasks between the gaps or, in some cases, large chunks of time you’d otherwise spend piddling around.

Additionally, this gives you more control of your schedule, which means that you may be able to organize specific time slots in strategic ways in order to get better results. A great example of this is in phone selling, where a strategy used by some salespeople is to call someone five minutes before the hour or 25 minutes after; for example, calling at either 10:55 AM or 11:25 AM.

During these times, clients are more likely to answer their phones with much higher conversion rates. Knowing when the best time intervals for making such calls can make a world of difference and is usually easier to do if you use time blocking since you will be able to set up specific times to make those calls. Time blocking can be used with other time management strategies and can be used to make implementing sales strategies more effective.

Greater Work/Life Balance

Finally, time blocking will give you a much greater work/life balance because you will get your work done during the time dedicated to getting it done. You will not have to stress during your free time what you have to do because you have already scheduled what you need to get done nor will you have to spend your free time catching up on work since you will already have the time allotted for those tasks. With everything scheduled so that everything gets done during your working hours, time blocking can allow you to make the most out of your free time and have a better work/life balance.

When people think of salespeople, they tend to picture one of the following stereotypes:
A boring stiff painstakingly organizing their desk to kill time, a con artist wringing their hands as they devise better ways to swindle, or a struggling entrepreneur trying to sell something nobody wants.

Like most stereotypes, there is some level of accuracy to these examples but in truth, they are mostly based on assumptions. There are many misconceptions about sales and being a salesperson. By understanding and clearing up these misconceptions, you can get a better idea what the life of a salesperson is like. Read on to learn the most common misconceptions about a career in sales:

Sales is Self-Serving and Predatory

The first thing that a person thinks of when we think of sales is usually someone trying to sell us something we do not want or if we do want it, there is always a downside that we are not aware of. While there are some salespeople who are incredibly pushy hard sellers who are not willing to take “no” for an answer and there are some con artists who just want your money, we think of them that way because they are the stories that stand out.

Human psychology has an annoying aspect to it called a negativity bias whereby our negative experiences are twice as memorable and powerful than our positive ones. We will often remember one insult far more than a hundred compliments for instance. So when we have a bad experience with a salesperson, we remember it more. Because of that negativity bias, we tend to filter out the positive experiences we have had with them. Those working in retail, an online sales helper, someone running a restaurant, all of these are sales people that most people we experience in our day to day, most of which we have positive experiences with.

From this, it is important to understand why they are positive experiences, which being that those sales interactions were mutually beneficial. In a positive sales interaction, we get something valuable from the money we spend. While bad salespeople will try to swindle you out of your money, good ones will work with you to provide the best service they can offer you. Instead of trying to manipulate you, they will work with you and listen to your needs in order to best provide you with the best service possible.

Service is the key word here. Sales is supposed to be a service. Understanding this will not only help you see the difference between a good salesperson and a bad one but will also help you to see the profession in a much more positive light.

Sales is Impersonal and Only About Numbers

This mindset is why a lot of bad sales people exist, because they really only care about the money they can make or the position they can get from the numbers they generate. Even otherwise good sales people can fall into this trap, whether they were given bad advice by their peers, or they are simply ignorant of what a salesperson should be doing.

But sales means so much more than just closing a deal, it is also about cultivating a decent relationship with your clientele. Even if you have a good product or service, disinterest in feedback and disregard for their customers beyond what they have to sell will not go unnoticed and may result in their services being dropped if a better alternative arises.

Thus, good sales people will have the customer be involved in the sales process and will do things they may be inconvenient for themselves in order to help the customer. This may require rewards programs, making returns convenient, excellent customer service, whatever will make it more convenient for the customer. Doing this, while possibly making it so not as much money is made, will create a dedicated following that allows the candle to burn for longer. Customer loyalty will sustain a business longer than immediate profit and corner cutting.

Sales is Rigid and Limiting

Many see the profession of sales itself as a limiting profession, however it is far more flexible than people realize. Some people assume that you need a degree in order to get into sales, but that simply is not true. Many of the best sales people do not have their bachelors in anything and were able to work from the bottom up. While it can help in some areas of sales to have a level of higher education, it is not always necessary.

Further, some people assume that you need to have a certain type of personality to be a salesperson. They assume you have to be a logical left-brained type, an extrovert, or a rigid hard ruled busy body. While those types of people do succeed in sales, introverted right-brained types who like to be more spontaneous can also be very successful in sales. Many types of people have become great sales people and have changed sales as we know it with their unique perspective innovating on their, at the time, current models. While each personality quirk will come with their own set of challenges, if you want to be a salesperson, then go for it.

Finally, some people think that sales is a dead-end profession. To which we say: “Absolutely not!” Even within the industry you are already in, salespeople can get promoted to higher positions or look to work for more prestigious companies. Their knowledge of sales can allow them to work in other industries and even allow them to start their own business. Even if they do not want to continue working in sales, knowledge about sales can still be useful in other fields. It all depends on the person and their personal journey.