As effective business leaders or owners know, finding role-specific training for their employees is critical to the overall success of any company. In particular, this type of specialization allows the sales team to be equipped with the tools, resources, training, and opportunities they need to operate at their full potential.

It is also important when it comes to executive sales recruitment and finding the right training for your sales executives as, contrary to a commonly held misconception, they are not the same thing as sales managers. And, while there are any number of training programs available to choose from for your sales managers, executive sales leadership training can be a little more difficult to find, according to leading sales trainers.

A study by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) recently found that only 10% of companies train their sales leaders to a high extent while over 20% do not train them at all. On the other end of the scale, the study found that about 65% of those companies train their salespeople on selling skills at least once a year.

The skills needed to be an effective sales executive are not the same as those required to be a successful salesperson or sales manager. Because of this, finding a talented sales executive can be challenging as many of the skills they need are not obvious if they are currently a member of your sales team.

If you choose to look for an experienced sales executive outside of the company, it will still be important to ensure they have access to ongoing career development so they can continue to contribute to your company. By failing to provide access to executive sales leadership training, you could be hurting your company by limiting employees’ chances for success.

So, whether you are planning to hire a new sales executive, promote from within or are simply trying to get the most out of the sales executives you already have, investing in industry-leading training for your sales team will help your company get where you want it to go. Here is who will benefit from executive sales leadership training:

A member of your sales team with leadership potential

As any successful sales trainer will tell you, finding role-specific training for employees is critical to the overall success of any company. This is particularly important when it comes to finding the right training for your sales team leaders. Executive sales leadership training programs should be tailored to each organization and employee to suit their unique situation and provide the best possible learning experience.

An underperforming sales executive

It is important to remember to provide a proportionate level of training and coaching to your company’s sales executives as well as your frontline salespeople. Often, a lack of sales executive coaching and training is the reason they are failing or performing below expectations. While commonplace in many workplaces across the United States, neglecting to invest in the development of sales executives can be a costly mistake.

A promoted employee who lacks the leadership skills and tools needed for their new role

For anyone working in sales, one of the biggest challenges you can face is becoming a sales leader or executive after a career as a rep or a manager. Just because a person is highly skilled at closing deals does not mean they naturally have what it takes to lead people and plan strategically. They must be taught how to translate a company’s mission, values, and vision into a clear game-plan that their teams can get excited about and dedicate themselves to.

A skilled sales leader in need of an attitude adjustment to realize their full potential

Sales leaders must understand they are only as good as the teams they manage and their primary role is to make the people around them better. Executive sales leadership training teaches sales leaders how to define tasks, set achievable objectives, and maintain control over their teams. Good people skills alone are not enough. They must be able to take a logical and planned approach to help their teams maximize results.

Executive sales leadership training will be beneficial for your whole company

With it you will create a focused vision and mission statement for your company and set measurable goals and objectives that you and your team can follow. These sales team trainings will also help you to learn how to manage change, develop plans and methodologies to ensure your team is motivated to continuously exceed client expectations.

Investing in top-notch executive sales leadership training will help you develop a sales strategy that will take your company to new heights. The key is to find training that is specifically tailored to your industry and your employees.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Natasa Tomic is a journalist and content producer who specializes in writing about business and sales.

The Chinese philospher Lao Tzu once said: “He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

While it is unlikely he had the modern sales professional in mind when he said this, that doesn’t make his words any less applicable to those hoping to be a success in the industry today.

Most salespeople already understand how important it is to know as much as possible about a prospect and their company before trying to sell to them. The successful ones practice the research aspect of first call preparation religeously and often reap the rewards of knowing exactly how they can provide a solution to a prospect’s challenge. Less successful sales professionals frequently skip this step in favor of “winging it.”

However, both groups are usually guilty of skipping an equally critical step in preparing for that first call: They neglect to research themselves.

How much should you know about yourself before reaching out?

Before picking up the phone to make a first-contact sales call, it is critically important you know everything there is to know about your own company. As any top sales coach will tell you, you should know your company’s history, its leadership as well as its products and services inside and out.

Before you can even start crafting your pitch, you must understand exactly what makes your company’s products or services valuable to others even if they are not the products or services you are specifically charged with selling. Just as it is nearly impossible to sell a product or service you don’t believe in or fully understand, it is extremely difficult to sell anything if you don’t believe in your company or its mission.

Make sure you know what makes you and your company stand out from the competition. Only then will it become obvious how what you have to offer will be a solution to your clients’ problem.

Even the downsides can be upsides

Conducting a deep dive on your own company might result in discovering some – shall we say – less than favorable information. Obviously, you shouldn’t volunteer this information to your prospects but knowing these issues exist will help you to respond effectively if a customer or client ever brings them up. You might even be able to turn them into positives.

Remember, nothing beats being an expert with superior product knowledge. Knowing your own company’s products or services better than anyone else will be a key factor when it comes to winning new business and closing deals.

At this point, if you’re struggling to understand why you should put so much effort into knowing everything about your company and its products and services, try putting yourself in the shoes of a potential client.

What would you do?

Would you buy from someone you repeatedly have to ask questions about their products? Is there anything more frustrating than asking a question about a product or service only to be told “I don’t know” or “I’ll have to get back to you on that”? Chances are you’d be just as inclined as your prospective customer to seek out someone who does have the answers i.e. the competition.

If, on the other hand, you are able to display a deep knowledge of (and pride in) your comany and its products and services, you’ll be more likely to be seen as a valuable resource that can help them grow their business.

That is why you should read all your company’s press releases, blogs and newsletters to stay current on any updates and developments. You should also try to spend as much time as you can with the sales engineers who know the technical aspects of the products your trying to sell.

Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard

Part of the challenge here is that few people go into sales thinking they will have to do all of this “extra” work. Well, there’s a reason sales is considered the highest paying hard work or the lowest paying easy work you’ll ever have.

Bottome Line: It is a lot of hard work and you will spend a lot of time on things that may seem outside the scope of your role. But, the value you create for your company and your customers by going above-and-beyond will see you well rewarded in the end.

What comes next?

So, all your hard work has paid off and you closed the sale. Now what? If you answered “more hard work,” you’re starting to get the message!

It’s not enough to understand how your company’s current products and services work, you must stay on top of developments to know what’s coming in the future and how it may provide additional solutions to your customers’ evolving challenges.

Industry-leading certified sales coaches recommend subscribing to customers’ blogs and newsletters to stay up to speed with what they’re doing and what their future needs might be.

It’s not all bad news

While the thought of doing all this research might seem daunting at first, it’s not actually as bad as it sounds because most of it will only have to be done once. For example, once you know your company’s history, you know it. From that point on, it will simply be a case of keeping an eye out for new developments in the story.

Of course, there’s a little more to it with potential customers as you will have to do a deep dive for each and every new one. However, once they become a established client, you’ll be in the same position you are with your own company in terms of just staying up to speed with developments.

There is no better way to establish and build a relationship with a customer than to know them as well – or better – than they know themselves. Calling them first to say, “I heard you guys are thinking of doing this and I think we can help” is always going to be more effective than sitting there waiting for the phone to ring.

As any top sales coach will tell you, failing to prepare is the same thing as preparing to fail. So, the choice is yours: Do the hard work and be rewarded for it or don’t do it and continue to struggle.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Natasa Tomic is journalist and content producer who specializes in writing about business and sales.

Being a successful entrepreneur means the quest for new skills and knowledge never ends. Reading, taking online courses, speaking with more experienced contemporaries, learning from mistakes and failures are all part of the process that will take you where you want to go.

As a sales professional, your area of study should be a little more focused as you need to enhance your persuasion techniques and negotiation skills as well as your ability to communicate effectively with potential clients and customers. These are some of the most important traits of a successful salesperson as you endeavor to separate yourself, your company and your products from the competition.

At first, just knowing where to go to find the information to help you on your journey can be challenging. If you already work with a trusted sales coach, you should ask them to provide you with a list of resources for additional study.

Otherwise, here is a list of the five best sales books ever written to help you get started. Whether you are an experienced professional looking to beat your current monthly sales record or a rookie just starting out, these books are must-reads that will change your life! Enjoy:

ZigZiglar’s Secrets of Closing the Sale

Written by Zig Ziglar, this book contains tips and trick on how to sell your product and make everyone you pitch to say: “I’ll take it!“ In less than 500 pages, the author outlines more than 100 persuasive closes in addition to over 700 questions every salesman should ask himself. Renowned for his powers of persuasion, Ziglar is widely considered one of the most successful motivational speakers in history. This book is something every serious salesperson should own.

How to Sell Anything to Anybody

Authored by Joe Girard, this book was first published in 1978 and is now considered a classic. Part of the reason for this lies in the fact that Girard made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for selling 1,425 cars in one year (1973). Throughout the book, Girard shares best sales practices learned throughout his career and offers useful advice to those hoping to follow in his footsteps.

The Greatest Salesman in the World

Through the story of a poor camel boy named Hamid who achieves success with his selling skills, author Og Mandino shares his key essentials to becoming a successful sales professional. The book includes The Legend of the Ten Scrolls with each scroll outlining a key attribute necessary to make it in the sales business. Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey has said this book changed his life so why don’t you let it change yours too?

How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling

Following an unremarkable careers in professional baseball, author Frank Bettger turned to selling insurance to make a living. Nothing short of an epic failure at the beginning of his career, he considered moving into a different field after just 10 months. However, heeding a lesson learned from a baseball manager who had cut him, he changed his attitude and his approach and by the time his was 40-years-old, he owned a large country estate and was one of the most successful salespeople in the world. A must-read for anyone doubting the power of “faking it until you make it.“

How to Win Friends and Influence People

With over 30 millions of copies sold worldwide, Dale Carnegie’s classic is one of the bestselling books of all the time. With good reason as Carnegie offers solid advice on how to make people like you and how to win them over to your way of thinking with little or no resistance. The book expounds on the fundamentals of handling people in addition to offering tips and tricks on how to make your home life happier. Keep an eye out for the passage that talks about the magic of the phrase, “Do me a favor …“ The power of starting a request with these five words is truly remarkable!

While reading all of these books will take a while, it will be time well spent and your sales managers will thank and reward you for it. Inside these volumes, you will find some of the best sales coaching practices out there and the sooner you start implementing them, the sooner you will start blowing away the competition.

Don’t forget … if you’re not a big reader, all of the above titles are now available on audiobook. Alternatively, any industry-leading sales coach or sales trainer will be well versed in the strategies outlined in their pages.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Natasa Tomic is journalist and content producer who specializes in writing about business and sales.

The skills of a certified sales coach or sales trainer – or more specifically since the beginning of the pandemic – a virtual sales coach or sales trainer, are essential in any business that needs to make sales to survive and thrive.

Knowledge is power when it comes to sales and the more you know, and the more data you have, the better pitches you will make to prospects and the better service you will provide to existing clients or customers.

However, not everyone has access to the best sales coaches and sales trainers in the business and while many have taken their operations online, there may be some other options that even the best coaches will encourage you to explore.

Podcasts have rapidly become one of the most sought-after and engaging forms of content on the internet, so it should come as no surprise that there are some amazing sales podcasts out there.

Here are the Top 10 Sales Podcasts you need to listen to right now to help you learn everything you need to know when it comes to the world of sales:

1. Catalyst Sale Podcast

When you combine the hosts of this podcast – Mike Conner and Mike Simmons – you get over half a century of expertise from the sales industry. Insights and actionable tips come as standard, but if you’re in need of motivation to really make your interest in sales ooze passion, no other podcast comes close.

2. Hey Salespeople

There’s no denying that selling is an art form and there’s certainly those more naturally talented than others. However, it’s also a skill you can learn and sharpen over time and this comprehensive podcast is one of the best when it comes skill building and development.

3. Your Sales MBA Podcast

Hosted by Jeff Hoffman and Cece Aparo, this podcast is known for dispensing advice you can act on. Whether you’re learning how to craft the perfect sales pitch or seeking new ways to close deals faster, this is the podcast for you.

4. Women in Tech Podcast

With episodes lasting 20-60 minutes, it doesn’t matter if you’re in the mood for bitesized snippets of info or detailed and analytical interviews, this podcast that has it all. Hosted by Espree Devora, this is a truly empowering sales podcast for women.

5. Get in the Door

You can spend a lot of time and money trying to figure out how to close more sales and a certified sales coach can certainly help you do that. However, this podcast focuses on the first step in the sales process, getting in the door to meet with prospects in the first place. sales and make them convert every time. If this first step is usually your biggest stumbling block, this is the podcast for you. As any leading sales coach will tell you, grabbing your prospect’s attention from the get-go is vital if you want to be successful. Hosts Scot Plum and Bill Hellkamp offer plenty of tips on how to do it.

6. B2B Growth Show

These podcasts, made up of a 20-minute episodes hosted by James Carbary and Jonathan Green, are precisely what you need if you’re in the B2B market, The duo talks about how to get creative with your strategies, how to save time on certain processes and how to align your sales goals with your marketing.

7. The Ziglar Show

Zig Ziglar was one of the most inspiring sales speakers in the world and this podcast continues his legacy of inspiration and true performance, one episode at a time. Hosts Kevin Miller and Tom Ziglar frequently play audio clips of the great man himself and regularly bring in industry-leading guests including some of the biggest names in sales today.

8. Sell or Die

Jennifer Gluckow and her husband Jeffery host the Sell or Die podcast. If you’re a fan of their book – The Little Red Book of Selling – this is a podcast you’re not going to want to miss. With weekly segments to enjoy, like Monday Motivation and Best-of-the-Week, this podcast covers a wide range of sales-based information all in one convenient place.

9. In the Arena Podcast

Leadership is a critical component of successful sales and an art form all to itself. This podcast offers a lot of great insights into being a remote leader and provides a lot of detailed information important to first-time sales managers.

10. The Advanced Selling Podcast

Looking for something short that’s easily accessible on iTunes? Check out The Advanced Selling Podcast. Every week, you’ll have access to some incredibly helpful topics, including how to communicate value and how to negotiate price. This is a good one to listen to if you’re looking for actionable information you can use right now.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Katherine Rundell is a writer at Assignment Services and Best Coursework Services. She specializes in writing about sales and sales-related topics.

In modern general usage, the word “habit” has almost taken on a negative connotation. More than anything else, you always hear the word used in phrases like “bad habit,” “break a habit” and “habit-forming.”

However, at the other end of the scale, it is possible to have good habits that will have a positive impact on your life and career. Top sales professionals have understood this for years and are among the best when it comes to creating effective habits that drive success.

For the most part, these behaviors are actually quite easy to incorporate into your daily sales routine but they do require discipline and repetition to make them habits.

Since these habits are focused on what you already do well – and according to most reputable sales coaches – should be doing anyway, building on them will help you work towards creating a strong sales plan that will drive sales and boost your qualified leads.

A great place to start is by working on your positivity which in turn engenders confidence. Positivity and confidence are essential when it comes to creating a great impression when communicating with a prospect for the first time even if that meeting takes place online.

This positivity comes from being prepared, knowing your buyer and being sure about yourself and the products or services you are promoting. Of course, getting in a good habit of doing the necessary amount of prep work is essential. Here is a fuller list of positive habits for you to cultivate to scale new heights in your sales career:

Planning The old saying “failure to plan is planning to fail” is an old saying for a reason. It’s true. Before every call, before every meeting, you must get in the habit of not just researching your prospect but planning out how you want the encounter to go.

This includes everything from the time and place to your salutation and your choice of clothing. Research your prospect and develop a specific sales approach you think will work. Then, as every top sales rep does, do it all again to create your Plan B. It takes time. It takes effort. But, by leaving nothing to chance, your confidence will be sky high and your chances of making the sale will be exponentially improved.

Building personal relationships Networking and staying in regular contact with connections by email, over the phone or through social media sites such as LinkedIn is a very positive habit to develop. Again, it takes time but not only does this build connections for qualified leads but it also allows you to become a trusted source of information.

Scheduling Another very positive habit to develop is the ability to structure and schedule your day. Schedule a time to make cold calls and follow-up calls in addition to time for networking, updating records and going over notes from meetings. While new CRM (Customer Relationship Management) programs makes this easier, it still must be completed on a daily basis and it is something that industry-leading sales trainers focus on a lot when trying to help customer reach their full potential.

Making healthy lifestyle choices You don’t want to show up for a meeting looking or sounding like you’ve been hung in a bag and beaten with a stick all night. Get at least eight hours of sleep, eat healthy and get some regular exercise. Energy and positivity go hand-in-hand so embracing a health habit will help your career (and maybe even help you live longer!).

By feeling healthy and creating a better work-life balance, you will be more motivated, more creative and better prepared for the demanding job of being a successful sales professional.

Summary While positive and healthy habits may be harder to develop than bad ones, they are worth the effort and they’ll take you places you’ve never been before both with your career and in your personal life.