I was Zooming with a friend in the US last week. He’s a sales trainer too. We were discussing why sales training is so hard to sell.
The short answer is that too many managers regard it as an event, rather than an ongoing process. You talk to these managers and they tell you: ”We did sales training last year” as though one webinar or one course is going to train people for the rest of their lives.
I have to explain to them that training is a process, not an event
I’m often asked whether my training is for rookies, or veterans. I always answer “YES.” It’s for both. Rookies are hearing knowledge for the first time, while veterans need to go back to work on a specific skill.
Revisit fundamentals
Everyone has to go back and revisit the fundamentals. My friend has devised a series of Knowledge Bites lasting three to five minutes so reps can go back and listen several times until it sinks in.
One day a sales manager told me that he couldn’t afford to send everyone to my seminar, so he ran a sales contest and the winner got to go. I explained that that was erroneous thinking.
The winner should have won a steak dinner and the loser should attend the seminar. Why would you reward the winner of a sales contest with sales training?
Training isn’t a reward, it’s a necessity. The person who loses the sales contest needs the training more than anyone else. One seller told me that he was offended when his manager suggested that he, a senior seller, might benefit from attending my 30-day online course.
Training is not punishment
I positioned it as a course for beginners, but each of us needs to revisit the fundamentals every once in a while. Strike that. Not once in a while, regularly. Now that he has gone through the course he’s gotten ideas he never had and has changed he’s approach to clients with lucrative results.
Education without action is entertainment. Training is not a punishment
The half-life of a learned skill is five years. This means that much of what you learned ten years ago is now obsolete and half of what you learned five years ago, is now irrelevant. There’s no such thing as permanent competence or a fully developed skillset in either individuals or organisations.
Lifelong learners get more out of life and more income from their sales jobs.
You’re never fully finished with your training.
Stan Katz is an acclaimed radio practitioner and a sales trainer/consultant. He is the author of the best-selling book: Radio Sales. A Sound Investment. 10 Key Principles For Maximising Returns. stanbkatz@gmail.com
