Many sales executives assume that because their organization hires only experienced sales people, there is no need to invest in sales training. If they hire a quality sales team, educate them on the products, and turn up the motivation and intensity, sales will take care of themselves. Nothing could be further from the truth. In today’s business climate, periodic sales training delivered by professional trainers and focused on modern selling strategies and tactics is utterly crucial for success.

Sales, like any other complex activity, require practice. Professional baseball players are undeniably good at what they do. They certainly understand the basics of their sport-batting, fielding, and throwing-yet they still spend hours every day practicing the timing and execution of those fundamental skills with the help expert coaches. Salespeople are no different; to stay at the top of their game, they too need to rehearse the fundamentals of their profession under the guidance of professional trainers.

Of those executives who do see the need for training their sales team, few utilize the most effective methods; in fact, many still confuse product training with sales training. Professional baseball players don’t spend their time studying every intricate detail of their bats and gloves; instead, they practice using those bats and gloves to hit and catch balls. Likewise, while understanding her products is important for a salesperson, understanding what motivates its customers to purchase those products and practicing how to successfully sell those products to solve its customers’ needs, is far more important. “Sales training isn’t about ‘war stories’, sales tricks, or slick closing techniques. And it definitely isn’t about complex models that are quickly forgotten a few days after training,” says Jeff Rogers, a President for OneAccord with over 20 years sales, sales management, and sales training experience. “Effective sales training consists of developing strategies and tactics for discovering prospects’ core business drivers, building listening skills, and learning how to effectively and efficiently navigate the sales process.”

Almost as important as the training material itself is the professional delivering the training. Sales managers, in their daily interactions with their team, usually concentrate on “what to do”; an experienced sales trainer, however, can provide salespeople professional advice and techniques on “how to do it”. To be as successful sales trainer, a professional should possess the following three requirements:

1. Substantial sales experience
2. Extensive sales training experience
3. A specific understanding of the specific industry, environment, and company

Effective facilitators use their experience as salespeople and as sales trainers, as well as their in-depth understanding of the selling environment, to provide proven selling strategies and tactics customized to specific industries, companies, and even groups and individuals.

During the dotcom era, products practically sold themselves. Develop a product, hire a sales team, and set them loose-voila, a recipe for success. In the tough economic times we are currently facing, however, buyers are more sophisticated. In order to be effective today, salespeople must understand what it is that motivates their buyers; they must also have the skills to use this information. Even experienced sales people must constantly practice these fundamental selling skills and undergo periodic training with professional sales trainers to continuously develop and update them. Any organization that hires only experienced salespeople and fails to provide them with proper sales training is setting itself up for disaster.

Need help reaching your company’s sales goals? Visit www.oneaccordpartners.com to learn about our experienced interim sales executives.

Photo by Mike Schinkel