Cracking the Sales Staff Training Code
There are tons of off-the-shelf training programs and products out there that can help your staff sell better. While these types of programs are great to help with the psychology of selling and best practices in sales, they’re missing the company-specific information required to be successful.
We’ve pulled together a list of potential topics that could be included in your very own sales staff training program, so that your sales staff will have the knowledge and background info to sell your products and services effectively. These will obviously vary by industry and even by company, but should point you in the right direction. Here they are (in no particular order):
Company History – When was the company started and by whom. How has it evolved over the years?
Mission/Mandate – Why does your company exist? How do you set yourselves apart from the competition?
Key People – Are there specific people the sales team should know and mention with customers? Or key people they should know (e.g. founder, current CEO)?
Products – Provide a detailed overview of all of your products, their benefits, pricing, complimentary products, and the top selling points of each.
Key Statistics – Know your company’s top sellers, and also know which products are new to the market and may not be as familiar to your client.
Ideal Client – Provide a profile of your ideal client (or various profiles if your products have different target markets) so your sales staff understands who they’re working with.
Competitors – Who are your competitors and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
Sales Scripts – Give your employees potential wording to help address various situations that they encounter regularly.
Internal Processes – Make sure your sales staff understand how to place an order, conduct returns, deal with defective products/complaints, order samples/company swag, etc.
Manufacturing Processes – Where do your products come from? Is there anything special about your manufacturing process that you’d want to highlight with customers?
Management – What is the manager’s role in supporting the sales training? We often develop companion guides for managers so they can help the employee get up to speed.
Other Departments – How does your sales staff work with other departments? Understanding when to hand things off, and to whom, could be included.
CRM - How to use your CRM effectively, including which information to capture and how to leverage it for sales success.
KPIs - Understand specific key performance indicators for your company.
Best Practices - Integrate any best practices that are specific to your company or industry.
Technology – How to use any internal software programs
This information can be pretty detailed. We do find that the training program has the greatest impact when it’s presented to sales staff in written form so they can reference it on the job as needed (printed or electronically). You probably don’t want your new salesperson to spend their first few weeks bored silly reading through technical info that they probably won’t remember anyway (and I’m sure that’s not how they want to spend their time on the job either). Instead, we suggest creating a strategic training plan that breaks this information down over several months, with a mixture of reading, job-shadowing, scenario-based training, videos/multimedia, and on-the-job learning. We also suggest that you outline objectives for each month so your sales staff can be sure they’re on track with their learning. This also builds in some accountability.
Ultimately, you want your sales team to grow their accounts so you can grow your business. Ensuring that they have enough company-specific information is critical to achieving this success.
If you’re ready to discuss your sales training program, reach out. We’d love to chat!
HIGH TIDE LEARNING STUDIO
We’re Erin and Peter, a husband and wife team passionate about making your organization successful through employee training and engagement. Join us as we explore new opportunities to improve your workplace.