Why Sales Training is Essential

Selling is a unique profession that can be regarded both as a science and an art. Principles of sales are based on scientific rules of cause and effect. But excelling in sales or achieving super success in sales is an art form, an art form that is no less exact and precise than a master painter’s brush strokes. Producing good music is an art form too. All most all musicians know about the basic science of musical notes but only a maestro knows how to intermingle the notes to produce great music. So is selling.

Not every trained sales person will become a super seller, but every single successful seller is trained somewhere by someone about the nuances of sales. All sales persons need to be trained to achieve their business targets. How well a sales man succeeds depends on his aptitude, the trainer’s skills, and the training methods used. But sales training in some form or other is essential for every sales person.

Sales training can be imparted in various forms: class room training, one-on-one training, or on field training. The training method can be adjusted to the varying need of organizations and their sales team. Sales training can focus on only one aspect of sales or the entire gamut of activities related to sales. For instance, a sales team may have difficulties only in closing deals. They can benefit on sales training concentrating only on closing deals and improving that aspect of sales. A sales team hiring new sales staff would benefit from giving comprehensive sales training starting from cold calls to closing.

Senior managers and executives require as much sales training as the fresh recruits. It’s a myth that senior managers have all the experience and hence all the knowledge and do not need any training in sales. They may be overlooking simple things, over doing certain things, ignoring certain basics of sales process, or may be completely unaware of certain latest developments in sales. Sales training for them would help them over come these problems.

Four billion dollars – that’s how much goes in to sales training every year as reported by ES Research group in 2006. The group also found in studies that more than 90% of all sales programs lead to increased sales. An interesting finding of the research group was that nearly half of the funds spent on training go to third party sales training organizations. Surely, business owners, senior managers, and decision makers know exactly what they are doing and why they are spending money on sales training. The study also has shown that the revenues coming from sales increase by 20 percent after training. But the difference in revenues earned fizzles out after a period of six months or so.

Regular sales training helps in sustaining the gains secured from the first sales training program. This emphasizes the point that sales training is not a one off event or an annual event. It’s an ongoing process that helps in honing the skills of the sales professionals constantly.