Why Sales Training is Important.Ā Sales Training is important because sales provides revenue which is the lifeblood of business. A well trained sales team will outsell your competitors and build relationships for future business. We would never hire a Lawyer, Accountant or Trades person if they hadnāt been trained and sales is equally important.
Why Sales Training is Important
Salesmanship training can benefit your business in a myriad of ways. Chances are you have a great deal of competition to gain an edge over, and sales training can help with this.
In many cases products and services can appear similar to customers and often when this happens companies try to compete on price.
Rather than try to compete on price in Business to Business sales people still buy from people so it makes more sense to have a well trained sales force than simply keep discounting your selling price.
Regardless of the advances in technology and social sellingĀ B2B salesĀ is still a people to people activity and an experienced sales team can help you develop more leads and convert more prospects into customers.
Thereās a new way to deliver sales growthā¦
Don’t buy Sales Training until you’ve watched this video…
1. Return on Investment
Businesses across sectors invest vast sums of money into sales training each year, seeing exceptional returns on their investment.
As an example, when a salesperson learns how to sell without discounting their price, they can use this skill for the rest of their career.
Most companies recover the cost of training between 1 month and 6 months after completion. The time is largely dependent on the profitability and volume which is unique to every business.
2. Changes in your Market.
The internet has and continues to create huge changes in the way people and companies buy which makes the continued upskilling of your salespeople more important than ever.
All markets are dynamic by nature and training is an important part of keeping your salespeople up to date.
Changes in technology, legislation, customer needs, all serve to make you and your business less relevant unless you change with them.
Salespeople form a vital conduit between the customer and the business feeding back these changes to the business.
As a simple example, the use of Social Media in selling has now become a critical sales skill in modern selling.
3. Building Brand Loyalty
Most sales professionals will connect with your customers and clients not only on a business level but a personal level too.
They can help you strengthen your credibility and position you in the eyes of your customers as Thought Leaders in your industry.
Sales Training helps your sales team accurately diagnose theĀ root cause of your customersā business painsĀ and circumstances before offering solutions that match their requirements perfectly.
The better your customer experience is, the more likely it is that those customers will return to you to purchase more products and services, time and time again.
The vast majority of sales decisions are based on how much trust customers have in a brand and salespeople are an extension of your brand.
4. Business Growth
It’s simply impossible to grow any business unless you grow the people in the business. In it’s simplest terms every business has a strategy to grow.
As an example, part of your growth strategy may be to start selling to larger companies. The sales strategy, tactics and skills required for this can be very different from selling to SMEs.
Technological advancements mean companies now need to do so much more to engage with their customers than before across multiple platforms.
This means queries need to be met with swift responses and pre-sales support needs to be easily available.
5. Optimise the Customer Experience
If a customer has a bad experience with your brand, there’s a big chance they will let others know about it and in the worst case use social media to tell everyone.
Whilst customer experience (CX) was once exclusively the domain of Account Managers companies have expanded their CX to include the very start of the sales process and the very end in the hope of converting existing customers to high value brand ambassadors.
Whilst more common in B2C more and more B2B companies have developed bespoke programmes to optimise the customers experience journey.
With the lifetime value of B2B deals worth considerably more than B2C ones, it’s no surprise that sales training in this area has become more and more relevant.
One customer’s horror story can quickly go viral and impact on your industry reputation. This is why sales training is important to your sales team to help them communicate quickly and effectively whilst resolving issues as soon as they arise.
Customers are also likely to let others know if they have an incredibly positive experience when dealing with your brand.
This can generate much more interest in your website, products and services. Sales training is important for any brand that wishes to improve and deepen its relationships with its customers.
6. Knowledge is Power
Sales training can also give your team a richer understanding of your products, services and the industry they serve.
The more your sales team know about what you do and what you sell, the more effective they will be when informing others and positioning your brand.
Prospective customers are unlikely to be swayed if the sales rep theyāre talking to lacks sufficient knowledge about your company, products and services.
The best sales training tells your team how to sell from within the context of your brand, makes them more knowledgeable about your history and the benefits your products offer to your customers.
In B2B, sales training isnāt just about learning how to answer your prospects questions. Whatās much more important is learning the right questions to ask.
The modern sales professional is as much a detective hunting down answers than simply answering the prospects questions.
At the most basic level, have you set a budget aside for this project yet, who else is involved in the purchasing decision, what timeline do you need your solution in place by?
These are all important questions that B2B companies need answers to before even qualifying a sales opportunity.
7. Learning from Mistakes is Expensive
Unfortunately like every other profession and skill in B2B sales mistakes can happen. These mistakes can be painful and expensive.
Sales training and coaching is there to reduce the mistakes and help salespeople learn from them.
One mistake repeated once a month over the course of a year is an expensive way to learn, when an experienced sales trainer and coach could help the sales team avoid the mistakes in advance.
Whilst failure can be costly in sales what’s worse is the often debilitating effect it has on salespeople who don’t understand why the mistakes are happening or what they can do about it.
Most training programmes will help the sales team develop guides on best practice that can be shared to make sure the same mistakes are not being repeated across the organisation.
We’ve developed our own best practice guides over the years and made them available in our Sales Playbook which you can download for free here.
8. Versatility and Flexibility
No two businesses are the same, and even when businesses may appear similar, the needs of the business and the buyers can be hugely different.
Sales training helps sales professionals adapt their approach when working with different types of industries, businesses and buyers.
Training can also help your team turn unhappy customers into satisfied ones, allowing them to overcome obstacles more effectively. Given the Lifetime value of clients in B2B this is hugely important.
9. Increase Leadership Skills
Sales training can also help you boost leadership skills within your company as it helps people become more effective communicators and teaches them to think more strategically.
Confidence in B2B sales is crucial part of success given the number and variety of differing scenarios salespeople can find themselves.
From simple 121 discussions in the boardroom through to delivering presentations to large groups of people from a stage, confidence is a key ingredient of the success of every sales person.
Training helps your team to understand your colleagues needs which is an important part of teamwork.
The best sales training courses enable delegates to develop high-quality communications skills that are essential for leadership roles.
Whilst rejections can hinder performance, trained sales professionals can overcome rejection and become more effective at winning customers over.
In sales you will always receive more No’s than Yes’s and to survive, let alone thrive in sales, it’s important to have skills and coping strategies to deal with this.
The excitement and highs of winning big deals inevitably come with the downs of losing large deals.
Whilst it’s important to always reflect after a loss, all to many times salespeople become overly self-critical and take the rejection and loss personally.
This kills confidence and in the worst case forces good people who could be succesful out of the industry, as they never had the support they needed to succeed.
Sales training is an important part of building resilience which will repay many fold when the business is confronted by the inevitable recession, lockdown or other crisis that is sure to come at some stage in the future
In Summary
When you evaluate all 10 points we’ve raised you will see Sales Training is important and an integral part of the growth of any business.
It’s also worth noting the importance of sales and marketing working together and breaking down any silos.
Sales and Leadership is all about taking action and that’s why sales training is so important. In addition Sales Management training is equally important has training a sales reprsentative.
There will always be a million reasons not to invest in training, however, sales are unlikely to improve unless you take action.
We’ve got all the templates & tools to make it easy for you
How to Sell to Big Companies. In order to sell to big companies you need to first create a shortlist of targets that meet your perfect prospect profile. Next, focus all your sales and marketing resources to research and create a unique sales approach for multiple contacts within the big company you are selling to.
What’s Inside
SESSION 1
The WHO
Introduction to Enterprise Selling
Selecting the right targets
Segmenting your accounts
Mastering the complex sale
Prep for Session 2
Get this session FREE
SESSION 2
The WHAT
The Door Opener
Right content, right contact, right time
How to write persuasive copy
The cadence of big account selling
The profitable, easy to deliver and replicate offer
SESSION 3
The HOW
What to say to Big Companies
How to control the sales conversation
The Contact Plan
Listen & Learn LIVE over the coaches shoulder
Your personal Action Plan
Course Author
Iain Swanston
Founder, Klozers
After 35 years in B2B sales Iain just loves solving sales problems. If you’ve ever attended one of his live events you’ll know, even during the breaks and after the event he always likes talking about sales. Iain is an Author, Speaker & our Lead Sales Coach. Iain is on a mission to make sales easier for B2B companies and their salespeople.
“In the short time I’ve been working with Klozers I’ve used his guidance to develop positive new sales activities, techniques and a mindset that has significantly helped my sales confidence. As a results I’ve already seen excellent performance benefits that are directly attributable to working to the coaching.”
Alan Wood
Scotland Director
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
“This was my first ever sales training and genuinely still the most pertinent in my sales career. Iain taught us how to take leads through the sales journey from lead to opportunity to closure, I still use these skills today and encourage my colleagues to do the same. My earnings have more than doubled since Iain gave that pertinent training and his latest blogs have been shared internally between our sales and marketing teams as the advice rings true to what we are currently working on as a department”
Lynne Hall
Strategic Accounts Manager
E-On Energy
“My coach was really flexible and was happy to talk in between my scheduled coaching slots, especially when I had burning questions and needed support fast. The debriefing calls we had after my sales meetings not only helped me understand where I could improve, they also gave me the right words to say, in the right sequence and at the right time.“
Elliott Boll
Enterprise Learning Consultant
Docebo
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“The first session was full of useful and practical sales information. I took so many notes and have come away with exercises I will carry out to help further clarify our approach to sales. I would highly recommend”
Rebecca Pick
Founder
Pick Protection
“Great training session with so much information packed into an hour. Looking forward to completing sessions 2 and 3. “
Max Anderson
Director
SuperBot Experts
Very insightful content from Klozers this afternoon. Thank you Iain Swanston for the invite to attend. This shall be hugely beneficial for our business moving forward and I am looking forward to putting my learning into practice
Laurie Wilson
Regional Sales Manager
CMP Products
Learn How to Sell to Big Companies
If you are new to sales at some stage you will want to learn how to sell to big companies. It’s common for most ambitious sales people and businesses, yet this can be a challenging or even, a near impossible experience.
For example, finding the right people to talk with (yes there will also be more than one decision maker) can be like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack, and then trying to coordinate all these decision makers can be like herding cats.
The longer sales cycles that inevitably arise from having multiple decision makers in a complex sale, then frustrate most sales people as time drags on.
The large revenues that Enterprise sales can deliver, more often than not, prove so elusive that the salespeople give up and focus on smaller opportunities, they know they can convert.
However, in some circumstances it can take the same amount of sales resources to convert a small opportunity as it does when selling the same product or service to a big company, so don’t give up just yet.
Learn More, Sell More, Earn More
How to Sell an Idea to a Big Company
Maybe you don’t have a product or service but instead you have an idea that you want to sell. It’s the sames process and the fact is, it is possible to sell to big companies and large enterprise organisations, although it does need a slightly different approach.
The first FREE 60 minute session in this course walks you through the preparation and planning required before you approach big companies.
When you sell to big companies you may also need some additional sales resources that are not as commonly used when selling to smaller organisations, such as a Business Case, a Cost Benefit Analysis – don’t worry we’ve got templates you can use for all of these.
If this sounds like lots of work, then Yes it is, and because of this many companies will not rely on any one individual, instead they will work as a team to win large accounts. Part of that team should include Marketing in order that you can target the right people in the buying organisation, with the right messaging, at the right time.
Run the sales campaign as a mini project with scope, roles and responsibilities, costings, objectives and milestones. Needless to say that it usually makes sense to be targeting more than one big company if you are going to do this professionally, but donāt make the mistake of having too many, as the campaign can then turn into a marketing initiative which by their very nature are more generic.
The key to success is that all the messaging must be bespoke and relevant to every target which takes time, which is time that you wonāt have if you have too many targets. Again this course covers everything you need.
Before you start selling to big companies there are however two important considerations you should address as follows:
1) Does your company have the capability to successfully deliver a project on the scale that a big company will require? In most cases you will only get one chance to sell to a big company and delivering success for your first big company will also give you a reference point that will help you sell to other big companies.
2) Does your company have the financial resources required to sell to a big company?
If you buy materials in January to create stock for February and have agreed 90 day payment terms this means you have to run 150 days without being paid. Some small businesses are not sufficiently funded to do this, so be careful what you wish for.
Selling to big companies can transform your business, but like most things in life that are worthwhile itās usually not easy and doesnāt happen overnight, but it certainly can be worth it.
Sales Teams with Sales Playbooks are 33% more likely to be high performers with win rates exceeding 50%
The Best Sales Playbook in the World
What is a Playbook in Sales
A playbook in Sales is a single repository that contains all the information, tools, templates, content, media, training and coaching that Salespeople require to execute their role successfully. The most common use of playbooks are for onboarding new salespeople, however, they are great for documenting your sales process and coaching salespeople.
What makes a good Sales Playbook?
A good sales playbook will help onboard new salespeople and get them to generate revenue as fast as possible. Playbooks help existing sales reps follow best practice, a proven sales process , develop their sales skills and behaviours and improve their productivity.
Join the next webinar for step by step instructions on how you can customise this playbook template for your business
We recommend that you host the playbook inside a Channel in MicrosoftĀ Teams in order that salesĀ and marketing teams working remotely can also access the document.
2. SaaS Sales Playbook Outline
SaaS playbooks or Inside Sales Playbooks are often different because SaaS sales can have a different sales process and structure, but either way weāve got you covered.
For example, many SaaS companies have teams of Sales Development Reps (SDRās) who are responsible for lead generation and the initial sales qualification process.
These B2B SaaS companies are scaling and Sales Playbooks form a vital role in recording, tracking and developing the sales function within the business as well as onboarding new sales team members.
In addition, the playbooks act as a simple but very effective sales enablement solution, helping them learn and implement best practice in sales while increasing productivity and performance viaĀ sales coachingĀ and training.
Playbooks are especially important for new hires who need to get up to speed and delivering as quickly as possible. Our template is the quickest way to get started creating your sales playbook and populating it with relevant content for your own sales team.
SaaS Sales Playbook
3. Sales Playbook Benefits
Single Location: Playbooks provide a single location for everything a B2B Sales Reps needs to know in order to do their job successfully. Rather than having pieces of information scattered across different file locations, and in different departments which are difficult and time consuming to find, your Sales Playbook keeps everything in one easy to find location.
Commonality: Sales Playbooks provide a common sales language that your sales and marketing teams can understand and follow.
Continuous improvement: Digital Playbooks provide a living, working document that can be continuously updated to retain relevancy.
Standardised Sales Process: Playbooks help salespeople follow the companyās proven sales process and buyerās journey rather than having every sales rep following a different process.
Best Practice: Sales Playbooks provide a location to document and report on the companysā best practices in selling for others to learn and follow.
Sales Coaching & Training: Sales playbooks provide a location to document and report on the learning & development plans for B2B sales reps. A good playbook improves the Sales Reps productivity and performance.
8. Building an Asset: As you begin to customise your sales playbook to meet your own strategy and methodology you can build in your own organisations KPIs, material, call scripts and content so it becomes a long term asset for the business.
9. Step by Step Guide: YourĀ sales playbook provides a step by step guideĀ on how your organisation goes to market. It covers everything from buyer personas, how to hire and onboard new reps, to KPIās ROI, Performance management, proposals, channels, planning and strategy. Itās a single point of reference for everything in sales.
4. Sales Playbook Best Practices
1. CustomisationĀ ā no two SaaS companies are the same so while itās great to start with a framework, itās important to customise the content of the playbook to match the needs of your organisation. Think of our playbook as a template to give you a head start on creating your own.
2. UpdatingĀ ā sales is a fast paced environment that is constantly changing and your sales playbook needs to be a living working document. Playbooks should be updated regularly and reviewed completely every six months.
3. OwnershipĀ ā have a limited number of playbook owners with admin rights to stop anyone and everyone from editing the document. In OneNote this can be achieved by password protecting sections and pages. Improvements and additions can be fed back to the administrators on an ad-hoc basis or at Sales Meetings.
4. EngagementĀ ā playbooks have noĀ impact on SalesĀ unless they are used. Sales Managers must hold Sales Reps accountable to using and following the playbooks.Ā ā51% of reps attain quota at firms using a Sales Playbook, compared to 40% at firms who donāt have a Sales Playbook.āĀ Aberdeen Group
5. ContentĀ ā In addition to being relevant content should be easy to consume and engaging. Avoid massive PowerPoint decks with generic messaging. Use multimedia and a mixture of content types where possible.
6. AccessĀ ā Sales Playbooks should be Cloud based however having access to them offline may be critical for some Reps, in which case the Playbooks should be downloadable but with restrictions on editing.
5. Sales Playbook Content
Your copy of the best Sales Playbook in the World contains:
5.1 DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE
This is where you can store information on your industry like statistics, trends and market intelligence. You can track and follow Industry Thought Leaders, top industry publications and Industry Bodies and Organisations so your teams are always up to date.
5.2Ā YOUR COMPANY
In this section you can provide details on your companyās History, Mission and Values. This is also where you would place your Sales Strategy and Sales Plan so every team member knows the āWhyā behind what you do, and can align their sales behaviours with the Sales Plan. Lastly in this section we record all the companies products and services.
5.3Ā YOUR COLLEAGUES
When you join a new company and you donāt know anyone the first few weeks can be quite intimidating. This section contains an internal directory in order that new team members can quickly identify and connect with any colleague including those outside the sales department.
This section is where you can store information of your clients. These are typically examples of clients/buyers that fit your sales prospect profiles, common pain points, clients who provide good case studies, testimonials, channel partners or strategic accounts.
5.6 SALES PROCESS
Itās important that Reps have and follow a proven Sales Process. This process provides a track for the salespeople to follow which is repeatable and measurable. We have also included an example of our Qualifying template which you can customise to meet your own needs.
5.7 SALES PLAYS
Sales plays are where we document our sales messaging and structure for controlling the sales conversation with a buyer. They include templates for what we call a Door Opener which is similar to an Elevator pitch. There are also sections for buyer personas, pain points, how to deal with prospects Stalls & Objections, How to deliver product Demos, Pricing, Proposals, Sales Stories and Customer Meeting Notes.
5.8 COMPETITION
This is where you can store information and intelligence on your competitors. We are great fans of Sales Battlecards which you can use to win deals against your competition. The Battlecards help you steer the buyer conversation to the areas that favour your solution the most and make it more difficult for your competitors to compete. In short this shows you how to move the goals posts in the middle of the sales process to sabotage your competitors bid.
5.9 CONTENT
No more searching for files, flyers, technical specifications, case studies, testimonials and pricing sheets. Everything is stored inside this OneNote section in your sales playbook.
Coaching bij verkooponderhandelingen
5.10 KPIāS
Every Sales Rep needs to know their numbers and what are the Key Deliverables for their role. We have listed all the KPIās you will need for you to choose from and then create your own Sales Scorecards to manage Sales Reps.
5.11 LEARNING
Learning is your library for Onboarding Plans, Sales Coaching Playbooks, Training Planners, Personal Learning Plans, Sales Coaching Notes, Goal Setting and experiential learning and simulations.
5.12 ADMIN
The very last section is our Admin section. In here we store Team Meeting notes, Compensation & Commission, Expenses and a Time Management Tracker.
6. Sales Coaching Playbook
As aĀ sales trainingĀ and coaching company we use Sales Playbooks for training and sales coaching probably more than any other business. Playbooks are a great place to include:
Sales Messaging is an often overlooked and undervalued area of sales, however when you lose business to a competitor it means that someone else is either saying or doing something better than you.
In sales, we have little to no control of the product, but we have 100% ownership of our messaging.
Robert Cialdinis best seller Influence is a testament to this and a great read for anyone in sales.
We call our Sales Messaging our Sales Plays and we have a whole chapter in the playbook dedicated to this.
Sales Messaging ā our Sales Plays should include every possible part of the Sales Conversation that a Salespeople will have as they walk a prospect/buyer through the sales process.
In addition, our Playbook includes templates for creating your Perfect Prospect Profile / buyer personas to make sure your messaging matches with your prospect/buyer in every way.
8. Sales Playbook Download
Join the next webinar for step by step instructions on how you can customise this playbook template for your business
We’ve written this guide based on the most common questions we are asked by companies considering purchasing Sales Training, those who have bought sales training from us, and those who are considering implementing their own sales training programmes.
Our goal is to give you as much information as possible to make an educated decision on Training for you and your business.
If there are any questions we have missed then please leave a comment below and we will add them in for future visitors.
Sometimes the answers to these questions may lead to other questions which are unique to your situation and if that’s the case you can reach us via the contact page.
The biggest influence on training costs are the way that the training course or content is delivered. Free sales training is available by reading books and some online courses. Paid training in most cases involves facilitator-led sessions and costs between Ā£450 per person for a one day course, up to circa Ā£10,000 per person for 12 month programmes.
Larger organisations can make savings by volume purchasing and Facilitator costs are between Ā£3,500 and Ā£15,000 per day, however, in most cases they will restrict class sizes to circa 15 to maintain a good learning environment.
As most companies move away from Impact Training (one-day events with no follow up) more and more companies are adopting a longer-term approach to developing their salespeople and using regular weekly and monthly sales training and coaching sessions.
Is Sales Training Effective?
The level of effectiveness of training is directly linked to the time spent designing the training programme, measuring the outputs of the sales training, and lastly following through on the training to ensure it is embedded in the organisation moving forward.
As a minimum, the follow-through would include sales coaching but may include further training and personal development.
If you consider the Sales Reps are in effect learning new skills for life as long as the training is relevant, well delivered and receives follow through training easily delivers a strong ROI.
Sales Training refers to the process of teaching and developing salespeople on how to sell more effectively. Training may include both the theoretical and practical skills required to be effective in sales.
Sales Effectiveness can be measured in many different ways, however, the main KPI’s may include Total Sales, Cost of Sales, Sales Margins, Sales Conversion ratios, Length of Sales Cycle and Lifetime Customer Value.
Training may include Skills Training which can also be referred to as Sales Competencies or Learning Competencies. These refer to the practical activities that salespeople undertake on a regular basis. This could include skills such as Prospecting, Rapport Building, Active Listening, Questioning & Planning.
What is a Sales Training programme?
A Training programme is typically a long term learning and development programme lasting for between 6 months and a year, whereas a Training course would normally be held over 1 or two days.
Training programmes often include a number of sales training courses that form part of the wider training programme.
What is a Sales Training process?
A Training process is a step by step programme that would take a Salesperson through the different areas of sales that they need to develop and improve.
An example of this would be when a new person joins a company they will go through a Sales Training Process that may include training on the company’s history, products and services, target markets, case studies, skills training and sales management training.
The sales training process often needs to be flexible to allow learners to join at different points in the process and allow them to progress at different speeds which is called self-paced learning.
What Sales Training ideas do you have?
All Training should be needs-based, meaning that the topics or ideas should be driven by the needs of the salespeople and the business. These training needs are often found by studying the sales data, analytics, industry trends or the future needs of the business if there is a change in sales strategy.
Training ideas are the start of the learning process as they need to be developed into structured programmes with learning objectives and learning outcomes that can be assessed and measured.
If the Training is not needs-based then there is a real danger that the training will have no relevance to the Salespeople. When this happens learners switch off and even important components within the training are missed.
How do I create a TrainingĀ curriculum?
A Training curriculum will vary dependent on the course design and learning objectives.
We recommend: 1. Identifying the Sales Competencies required for success in the Sales role from a business perspectiveĀ 2. Identify the sales competencies that make your Top sales performers stand out 3. Prioritise the competencies based on your KPI’s for success 4. Understand what Best Practice is for each Competency in your organisation and document it 5. Create appropriate learning content with learning objectives and measurable outcomes 6. Train Salespeople on the Sales Competencies and measure the outcomes 7. Use Sales Managers and Top Performers for follow-through coaching that reinforces the training. 8. Link financial rewards to learning goals as much as revenue goals
What Training Competenciesshould I consider?
Historically training was delivered via 1 and 2-day courses however as training itself has developed more and more organisations break down their training needs into Competencies. We group these competencies into the four main areas of sales performance which are: 1. Finding new customers Why Prospects Buy, How to target prospect, Making Cold Calls to Prospect, How to Uncover Business Pain, Uncovering Where Prospects See Value, Using Social Media to Sell, Building a Personal Brand, Qualifying Sales Tenders, Listening Skills
2. Closing new customers Building Trust, Consultative Selling Skills, Handling Stalls & Objection, Maintaining Sales Pipelines, Differentiating your Products and Services, How to Beat your Competition, Selling Value Not Price 3. Growing existing customer revenues and Selling through Customer Service, Key Account skills, Maximising Meetings with Prospects, Preparing for Sales Negotiation 4. Development or Learning Goals Managing Personal Time, Improving Self Performance,Ā Understanding Human Behaviour, Leading Others, Coaching and mentoring, Mindset
The relevance of each Sales Competency can be different from one business to another and one industry to another however the main competencies we work with are
Will you help us design our own Bespoke Sales Training programme?
Yes. We can work with you to co-create your own learning programmes and content. Depending where you are in the design process this takes anything from 2 weeks to 2 months.
Who needs Sales Training?
Many different groups of people need sales training, however, the most common groups include Graduates, People transitioning to Sales from another position, Salespeople looking to develop their careers, Entrepreneurs, Consultants and Engineers.
In reality, anyone who has contact with customers, whether that be via chat, phone or face to face can benefit from Training. More and more companies are asking for formal training as part of the interview process, as they only want to hire new salespeople who can hit the ground running so to speak.
Changes in Buyer behaviour means that where previously customers were served by humans either face to face or telephone are now purchasing the same products and services by shopping carts online. If anyone in Sales wants to future proof their career they should invest continuously in themselves.
Do you provide Learning Management Systems?
Yes. Learning Management systems (LMS) are online software applications that provide the end to end management of the learning and development of your sales team.
There are many LMS applications to choose from that have different features and if you have specific requirements you will need to undertake some research. For most companies over 80% of their LMS requirements can be met with Microsoft applications that they are already paying for.
We use MS Teams as the base platform which we customise to include Needs Analysis, Sales Playbooks, Training Courses, Learning Assessments, Coaching Programmes and Content Management Systems.
What Different Sales Training methods are available?
There are 4 main training methods that companies are using as follows: 1. Self Study. As a training method self-study is difficult to measure in terms of effectiveness. Without any design or structure or support there will be a limit to how effective this method is however all training and learning is good training so this should not be discounted.
2. Role Play. This is not always popular, however, when Roleplay sessions are designed and conducted well they are not only very powerful, they are also enjoyable for the participants. Roleplay continues to be the most effective way to build the muscle memory required to make real changes in sales behaviour.
3. Observation. Many companies monitor and record telephone calls to ensure Salespeople are following their sales process and complying with any regulatory requirements. For Field Sales Teams “ride-alongs” whereby a Sales Manager or Sales Mentor accompanies a Sales Rep to observe and provide feedback.
4. Workshops. Sales Workshops are a great way to facilitate peer learning amongst your Sales Team however their success lies in the design and facilitation of each session. Workshops are usually focussed around a single topic and would last between 1 hour and 1 day. Training Courses. Despite the move away from Impact Training, Sales Training courses are still a powerful sales training method. In most cases training courses are now highly interactive, activity-based sessions that engage and inspire learners.
5. Self-Directed Sales Training. When people have ownership of anything they tend to have a higher rate of engagement so allowing Sales Teams to Self Direct and in effect choose their own training can be very powerful. In order to be effective Self Directed training needs to have a framework that guides and challenges learners. Sales Playbooks. Sales Playbooks are digital repositories that contain everything on how and organisation sells. The “Books” are divided into chapters that contain different information such as products and services, sales plays, the companys sales process, product and service information, technical data, case studies and testimonials. Playbooks are great tools that every organisation should have.
There are many different types of Training Programmes however most training programmes are categorised by course delivery type:
1. Online via our Learning Portal 2. Open Courses, where anyone can attend from any company 3. In-house Courses where we deliver courses exclusively for one organisation 4. Bespoke Sales Training programmes where we co-create learning content with you
Once you have chosen your course delivery type sales training programmes are further categorised by their content: Product Training & Sales Skills Training.
In terms of Sales Skills Training the most popular skills bases sales training programmes are: 1. Telephone Sales Skills 2. Key Account Management Training 3. Consultative Selling Skills Training 4. Sales Management Training
Many Training programmes now include an element of Sales Coaching to ensure follow-through which makes every training programme more effective.
Do you provide Online Sales Training?
Online training has become more and more popular and now nearly every organisation delivers part of their training online.
The most common area for this is the adoption of online training as part of a Sales Enablement system which are one-stop repositories for everything connected to sales inside an organisation.
Online Training is also widely used for onboarding new salespeople, both graduates and experienced salespeople as it allows them to quickly learn the fundamentals of selling within that organisation without tying up more senior salespeople to deliver this.
We provide Online Training both as a stand alone service and to compliment and support our face to face delivery. Our training programmes are delivered via Microsoft Teams and prices start at Ā£97 + VAT
Do you provide TrainingĀ courses for beginners?
There are numerous options for training courses for beginners with most companies having their own in house onboarding programmes. In addition, there are many sales training courses for beginners available online, however, online learning for sales does have it’s limitations.
You can’t teach someone how to make a pot without at some stage, them getting their hands dirty and practising on a pottery wheel. Selling is a hands-on activity that needs to be learned on the job.
Do you provide Sales Training Videos?
Yes all our online training courses include raining videos which are a great learning tool to complement and support a training programme.
They are especially helpful for Remote training and coaching and really lend themselves to product, process and technical training. Whilst it is possible to use video for Skills training it can be difficult to include every context and therefore needs to be used as part of a wider blended learning programme.
Do you provide Sales Webinars?
Yes. We run monthly Training webinars for our customers as a way to reinforce our Training access our Sales Trainers from anywhere in the world.
Our webinars include the facility to ask the presenters questions and in most cases these webinars can be recorded and accessed offline.
These can form the basis of a lunch and learn where you need to stimulate a conversation around a particular sales topic.
Do you provide PPT (PowerPoint) presentations on your Training?
No. We do use PPT, however, our sales trainers only use them as a way to support our blended learning process.
Blended learning is an approach to training that includes a mix of different content such as Training PPT’s and quizzes, worksheets, templates, guides and most importantly, activities and interactions with the sales trainer and their peer group.
Furthermore, studies have shown that people learn and retain knowledge and skills more by doing than training. This is more relevant in Sales than most other topics.
Do you provide post course support for Training?
Yes. We use our online learning portal to engage with your salespeople before the training to ensure we include and specific content they need. After training our participants have access to the portal for a further 12 months to ensure they get the support they need.
Do you provide Sales Coaching?
Yes. We have a range of sales coaching programmes available for Salespeople and Sales Leaders.
Don’t buy Sales Training until you’ve watched this video…
In this article we will cover...
Using MS Teams for Sales
We’ve previously written about how we use Microsoft OneNote for Sales Management for everything from recording meeting notes through toĀ online sales coaching and trainingĀ and sales playbooks. We are big fans of OneNote, but what really turbocharges OneNote for us, is the ability to create, store, access and use inside MS Teams.
With so many people now using MS Teams from home Teams has gone from a Business product to a household brand that everyone can use. Unlike its competitors that lack the Enterprise level of security, MS Teams has multilayered security allowing users to configure Teams to bring sales prospects, customers and employees all together. In some cases that might not be appropriate, however, in many cases we help our clients configure Teams so they have:
Using the Public Access feature to deliver Live Events & Sales Webinars for Lead Generation
Using Group Access to position your business as an Industry thought leader
External Company access for Sales Prospects to take them through a Complex Sales Process
In house access where Teams for Managing Sales Opportunities, for example, collaborating on Tenders
In House access where Teams is used as the āhost platformā for a Learning Management System based on OneNote, MS Forms, Planner, Yammer, Stream, To Do, Calendar and My Analytics or even third party apps like Moodle.
Letās take a closer look at each of these scenarios and see why using MS Teams for sales makes so much sense.
1. Public Access for Live Events using MS Teams for Sales
Every business needs new customers and the Live Events feature inside Teams allows you to create and run events open to the public as part of your Lead Generation Programme. Over the years we have found that many Salespeople struggle to pick up the telephone and make sales calls.
Some even struggle to send emails and LinkedIn connection requests because they are introverts and donāt want to face the possible rejection that comes in sales. We’ve found that create FREE high-value Events are a great way to overcome this because most Salespeople are much happier calling or emailing a FREE invitation. The reality is Events are a great way to position your business, raise awareness and start conversations with prospects.
If you’re struggling with ideas on what High-Value event you could deliver think about what’s relevant and what’s current. Are there changes in Legislation surrounding your industry? Are their new trends in your industry?
If you’re still unsure look up your Industry News site and run a Live Event on the topic they are headlining with. If you don’t know anything about the topic find the expert source that the News article referenced and interview them for the Live event using questions from the attendees.
ENABLING THE LIVE EVENTS FUNCTIONSĀ INSIDE MS TEAMS
If you are planning on using MS Teams for Sales, the Public Access feature may not be available or switched on in your companies current MS Teams platform. If Public Access is not available then you will require a user with Admin Rights to switch this feature on from inside the Teams Admin Centre. Once Inside the Admin Centre you should look for the Meetings section and from there the Live Events policies. Please check the video for easy to follow directions.
Using MS Teams for Sales ā Live Event Schedule
The notes not only help us remember what was said and what next steps need to be taken they are great for referring back to when we send a āThank you for meeting me emailā with a summary of the notes and if we need to create a proposal or presentation later in the sales process.
If you are in the Admin Centre itās worthwhile using the additional features in Teams to customise your Meeting Invitations: Your Company Logo Your Legal Tās and Cās Your Support Contact for the Event Your Company strapline in the Footer These are then displayed whenever a recipient opens their Meeting Invite.
We should point out weāre not a Tech Channel so here are the links to Microsoftsā own guide to making these changes.
Once you have Live Events configured you can create your own Event from inside teams by clicking on Calendar and then use the drop-down menu to access the live events option.
Using MS Teams for Sales ā Live Event
From here you can then add the Meeting Title and all the details. Next, simply copy the link and insert it into your emails or lead generation campaigns.
2. Group Access for Sales using MS Teams
Whereas Public Access in MS Teams is a great platform for Live events, we recently configured Teams for a client who wanted a Channel to communicate with a specific industry that was going through huge changes with the Pandemic and needed a platform to talk to them.
They invited over 350 customers and 450 prospects into Teams and are delivering weekly updates to an entire industry. They are now seen as thought leaders in the industry and itās a great way to start conversations that lead to relationships that lead to sales.
You can use the same strategy and use MS Teams to create a platform so that you can talk to your industry.
You could deliver updates on new laws and regulations, industry trends and insights, interview industry thought leaders and invite your customers to talk about their businesses and experiences.
We would, however, warn against overtly selling in these types of communications as the minute the audience believes they are being sold to, they will start to drop out and the Channel will wither.
3. Company Access for Sales Prospects inside MS Teams
In B2B Sales it’s increasingly difficult to reach all the decision-makers in the Sales Process. In many cases they send a āScoutā to find information not available on your website and do all they can to keep Salespeople at a distance throughout the buying process.
What these buyers want is information and in most cases a quote or proposal and when they have it they immediately cease all contact. This can be a huge waste of time and money for the selling organisation as tenders become more and more complicated, needing multiple people in the way of bid teams to respond. If you’re not sure if this is happening to you simply check back through your CRM and you’ll see that many deals stall immediately after the prospect receives the pricing and information they need.Ā Ā
There is no easy way around this however what’s working for our clients is offering limited information up-front and then holding back until the other Decision Makers engage. They do this by re-framing the sales opportunity as a project and using Teams as the āProject Management Portalā to gather the needs of all the āstakeholdersā.
This brings the buyers out and allows a controlled release of the information in exchange for engagement. This doesn’t work on every deal however it very quickly āsmokesā out the genuine buyers from those just using the Salespeople for pricing.
An additional benefit of this approach is the Sales Team can invite Pre-Sales, operations, delivery teams and aftercare teams to the Teams Channel in the solution forming phase of the sale which can provide a richer sales experience for the customer. This is a great point of differentiation and whilst no sales strategy works every time itās low cost and easy to try.
Lastly this strategy shouldn’t be applied across the board unless every sales opportunity is large and comes with a bespoke solution. We only implement this for deals above Ā£10k, but you can choose where to set the bar.
4. Inhouse Access for Using Teams on Bids & Tenders
The most common use for MS Teams is the call and video conferencing functions, however, there is much more functionality that can help Sales Teams sell more. MS Teams makes Sales Teams more productive, more focussed and delivers a better user experience which in turn increases productivity.
There are numerous advantages with Teams such as the chat function, which allows us to stay connected without cluttering up our Outlook Inbox. Whether it’s Yammer, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or any of the other O365 products, they can all be accessed and worked on from inside the Teams environment.
If you have bid teams responding to tenders the Bid documents can be created, stored and developed within the Teams environment and Tender Teams can collaborate and even edit the same document simultaneously.
In many cases the Bid creation process can run down to the deadline and when multiple authors are involved which can create time delays as each contributes and updates potentially separate copies of the one document. The Multi author allows uses inside Teams to make edits and additions live and see the document develop as their work colleagues contribute in real time.
Whether it’s Word, Excel, PowerPoint or any of the other O365 products, they can all be accessed and worked on from inside Microsoft Teams.
5. Teams as a Learning Management System
Many companies now acknowledge the tangible benefits of training, coaching and developing their people. Sales Training and Coaching itself has changed and improved over the years, whereas in the past training was in most cases was one-off event, they are now almost always part of a bespoke sales training programme. In order to deliver these programmes software companies have developed SaaS models where companies can create bespoke learning programmes.
There are numerousĀ Learning Management SystemsĀ on the market each with some great functionality, however, Microsoft Teams has for most companies all the functionality they will ever need from an (LMS). Furthermore, the beauty of using MS Teams as an LMS is both compelling and simple:
You are already paying for it with your 0365 Licence
Your people are already working inside the O365 suite every hour of every day so that’s a great place for learning.
Although there is no one standard in terms of the functionality of an LMS, for most companies an LMS has the capability to, create, document, record, measure, store and deliver training programmes. In practical terms this means:
Using MS Teams for Sales ā OneNote as an LMS
Create.Ā Document, Record. You can create learning content in OneNote, MS Wiki, MS Paint, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, Stream, MS Whiteboard, Excel, Publisher.
Measure.Ā You can test and measure learning using all of the above and MS Planner and MS Forms.
Store.Ā You can store all your content in either One Drive or SharePoint.
Deliver.Ā You can deliver all your training and coaching using MS Teams and acknowledge achievements via MS Praise.
In addition to the suite of O365 tools there are many additional third-party applications available from inside MS Teams to both enhance and compliment your existing applications. For example, you can connect to
CRM systems ā MS Dynamics CRM,Ā Salesforce CRM, NImble, Zoho or iGlobe CRM. Productivity ā Asana, Trello, Jira & Stormflow. Communications ā Survey Monkey, Mail Chimp, Mail Clerk & Text Bot.
There are hundreds of other applications available and the number of these apps including Moodle which is a stand alone LMS that can be connected into your Teams Channel.
We’ve also written on the benefits ofĀ using OneNote for Sales ManagementĀ and Coaching which are an important part of any LMS. We rally like the combined functionality of MS Teams and OneNote as a Coaching platform to help develop Salespeople.
You can break down your Training into competencies and deliver bespoke sessions on specifics like sales prospecting, pipeline managementĀ sales closing techniquesĀ all from inside your own Sales Playbooks in OneNote. We use our Sales Playbooks with every client and the combination of creating and using OneNote for the Playbook, and delivering them through Teams is really powerful.
6. Recommended Reading
If you would like to discover some of the free templates that we use inside teams then check out ourĀ B2B Sales Tools.
Alles wat we leren, doen we ook echt als onderdeel van Klozers eigen verkoopstrategieƫn. Dit betekent dat we een diepgaand begrip hebben en niet alleen theorieƫn uit tekstboeken.
Elke verkooptraining is live. Met interactieve oefeningen zorgen we voor een meeslepende leerervaring.
Onze training omvat leren op het werk Dit betekent dat je praktische taken en verkoopvaardigheden krijgt toegewezen om te oefenen als onderdeel van je dagelijkse verkoopfunctie, zodat je al doende leert.
Let op: we zouden je nooit aanmoedigen om je producten en diensten gratis aan te bieden, en in dezelfde geest geven we geen gratis verkooptraining.
Niets in het leven dat iets waard is, is gratis.
Beste online verkoopcursussen
Hoeveel kost een online verkooptraining?
De kosten voor online verkooptraining beginnen gratis en kunnen oplopen tot $15.000 per maand. De kosten variƫren afhankelijk van het aantal mensen dat getraind moet worden, hoeveel maatwerk er nodig is voor de inhoud van de training en hoeveel online ondersteuning de deelnemers nodig hebben tijdens het trainingsprogramma.
De inhoud kan worden aangepast aan de specifieke behoeften van je verkoopteam. Naast de training in verkooptechnieken zijn onze coaches heel praktijkgericht en kunnen ze met je samenwerken om je waardepropositie, verkoopstrategieƫn en de planning en uitvoering daarvan te ontwikkelen.
In het verleden was deze training het populairst bij beginnende salesprofessionals, maar deze training is een geweldige opfrisser voor ervaren Business Development Executives en Account Managers die al hun tijd, of een deel daarvan, thuis doorbrengen.
Let op: het Live bellen is een combinatie van uitgaande gesprekken door de Trainer, zodat je in realtime kunt zien en horen wat Telesales is, en er is ook tijd ingeruimd voor deelnemers om live te bellen terwijl ze worden gecoacht door de cursusleider.
Voor bedrijven die een volledige inbound verkoopmethodologie willen ontwikkelen, zijn wij het enige bedrijf op het gebied van verkooptraining met expertise in zowel inbound als outbound leadgeneratie.
Cursus Consultatieve Verkoopvaardigheden
Onze cursus Consultatieve verkoopvaardigheden is al 8 jaar onze bestseller. Deze herziene en bijgewerkte cursus is een must voor iedereen in B2B-verkoop.
De training helpt deelnemers om elk verkoopgesprek te controleren en te structureren op een manier die kopers helpt hun eigen persoonlijke redenen om te kopen te ontdekken, die altijd krachtiger zijn dan de redenen van de verkoper.
Deze methodologie is altijd populair bij niet-verkopende professionals zoals IT-professionals, ingenieurs, professionele dienstverleners, consultants, software-ingenieurs, projectmanagers, accountants en architecten die niet “verkoopachtig” willen overkomen tegenover prospects.
De cursus behandelt de kernconcepten van Consultative Selling, waaronder:
Moderne verkoopvaardigheden
Het consultatieve verkoopproces
Waarde ontdekken
Menselijk gedrag
Verkopen via service en het winnen van herhalingsaankopen
Vertrouwen opbouwen
Verkooppijplijnen en verkoopproces
Verkoopdoelen stellen
Key Account Management Opleiding
Als je bedrijf een doorsnee bedrijf is, dan komt 70-80% van de inkomsten van volgend jaar van klanten van dit jaar. Het is ook waar dat je klanten je concurrenten doelwit zijn, dus zonder Professioneel Accountbeheer kunnen deze belangrijke klanten vertrekken.
De cursus helpt deelnemers bij het identificeren en opbouwen van relaties met de belangrijkste belanghebbenden in het bedrijf van de klant en bij het vinden en targeten van nieuwe omzetkansen binnen de account. De meeste cursisten zijn accountmanagers, relatiemanagers, technisch accountmanagers en accountdirecteuren.
Onze training Key Account Management omvat modules over:
Inzicht in key accounts
Belangrijke accounts segmenteren en definiƫren
Planning voor belangrijke accounts
Plannen voor key accounts maken
Cursus Verkoopmanagement
Sales Managers zijn de lijm die verkoopteams bij elkaar houdt. Nu veel Sales Managers persoonlijke Sales Targets hebben, is hun tijd kostbaarder dan ooit.
Onze Sales Management Training behandelt de kernonderwerpen van:
Verkoopbenchmarking
Planning voor verkoopverbetering
Beheer van verkoopprestaties
Coaching van winnaars
Verkoopmanagementvaardigheden
We bieden online verkooptraining via zelfstudie en ondersteund met of zonder live training en coaching.
We bieden elk van de bovenstaande soorten programma’s aan, maar we geloven dat we de beste online verkooptraining hebben vanwege de leermethode of leerstijl die we gebruiken, namelijk Werkgebaseerd Leren.
Lees verder om te ontdekken waarom dit belangrijk voor je is.
Afhankelijk van uw wensen hebben we een aantal opties beschikbaar om online verkooptraining te geven aan uw verkoopteam:
Online verkooptraining voor individuen – koop individuele licenties voor minder dan 5 verkopers gehost op ons platform.
Online verkooptraining voor teams – we bieden een kortingstarief voor meerdere licenties van onze trainingsinhoud aan teams met minimaal 5 verkopers die op ons platform worden gehost.
Online verkooptraining voor teams – schaf teamlicenties aan en host deze op je eigen bedrijfsplatform
In tegenstelling tot de meeste online trainingen die op theorie gebaseerd zijn, volgen al onze trainingen de Work Based Learning-methodologie die tot nu toe nog geen erkende certificeringsinstantie heeft.
Al onze trainingen zijn zelfgecertificeerd en we verstrekken certificaten aan deelnemers na succesvolle afronding van hun trainingsprogramma.
Beste online verkooptraining – Certificering
Naast onze Training Certificaten kunnen deelnemers details van hun Training vermelden op hun Linkedin profiel zoals hieronder getoond:
Onze Online Verkooptraining voor Beginners is een mix van zelfstudie en training onder leiding van een instructeur die de kernconcepten van het verkopen van business-to-business behandelt.
Deze Beginnerscursus is geschikt voor de volgende personen:
Afgestudeerden
Mensen die overstappen naar nieuwe verkoopfuncties
Marketingteams die de basisprincipes van verkopen moeten begrijpen
Ondernemers
Oprichters van startups
Deze cursus behandelt de kernmodules van Basic Selling:
Verkoop begrijpen
Alles wat je moet weten voordat je met klanten praat Deel 1
Alles wat je moet weten voordat je met klanten praat Deel 2
Om een succesvol verkoopontwikkelingsprogramma te kunnen leveren, beginnen we meestal met het maken van een plan op maat voor jouw bedrijf. Veel van onze zakelijke klanten hebben hun eigen Learning & Development afdelingen die lange termijn trainingsplannen kunnen maken en genereren voor hun verkoopteams. Voor bedrijven die dat niet kunnen, kunnen we een service op maat bieden:
De kerncompetenties voor verkoop identificeren die vereist zijn voor elke verkoopfunctie
De competenties afzetten tegen de leerdoelen in onze trainingsmodules
Op maat gemaakte trainingsplannen en beoordelingsprogramma’s maken om deelnemers op te leiden, te registreren en te beoordelen
Ons doel is om de beste Online Sales Training ervaring te leveren die kan worden geleverd door een combinatie van face-to-face, self-paced online en door een instructeur geleide online sessies.
Naast het ondersteunen van de toekomstige groei en verkoopdoelstellingen van uw bedrijf, moet uw verkoopontwikkelingsplan de verkoopcarriĆØre en persoonlijke ontwikkeling van de deelnemers bevorderen.
Onze verkooptrainers zijn zeer praktijkgericht en zorgen voor een balans tussen deelnemers in hun eigen tempo laten leren en hen pushen om de verkoopdoelstellingen van het bedrijf te halen.
Onze Online Sales Training wordt gegeven in een veilig en stabiel platform online via Microsoft Teams. Individuen worden uitgenodigd in Teams en krijgen op basis van hun behoeften trainingsmodules toegewezen die ze moeten voltooien op basis van hun persoonlijke leerdoelen en eventuele aanvullende doelen die zijn bepaald door hun lijnmanager.
Om leermoeheid te voorkomen zijn al onze cursussen opgedeeld in modules van 1 tot 2 uur. Daarnaast hebben we korte modules over verkoopvaardigheden die tussen de 10 en 30 minuten duren.
De modules voor verkoopvaardigheden die we aanbieden zijn:
Vaardigheden voor gevorderden
Het verkoopgesprek beheersen
Omgaan met blokkades en bezwaren
Verwijzingen & Getuigenissen
Online verkoop presentatie vaardigheden
Whiteboard Verkopen
Relaties opbouwen
Waardecreatie
LinkedIn Sales Navigator/Social Selling
Omgaan met moeilijke klanten
Cross-selling en upselling
Onderhandelingsvaardigheden
Beste online verkooptraining
Het Teams Portal biedt de flexibiliteit om het kanaal op verschillende manieren te configureren:
Een van de meest gestelde vragen aan verkoopleiders is “Wat is het verschil tussen verkooptraining en verkoopcoaching” en waarom is het belangrijk. Training en coaching zijn twee verschillende dingen, die twee verschillende resultaten opleveren. Om de vraag te beantwoorden is het belangrijk om eerst te definiĆ«ren wat we bedoelen met verkooptraining en verkoopcoaching.
We beweren niet dat onze eigen definities de industriestandaard zijn, of dezelfde zijn als die van andere dienstverleners, maar we weten uit ervaring dat onze definities het voor onze klanten gemakkelijker maken om hun eigen behoeften beter te begrijpen, en dat is het belangrijkste.
Wat is verkooptraining?
Verkooptraining is de overdracht van kennis of vaardigheden.
Wat is verkoopcoaching?
Sales Coaching ondersteunt de praktische toepassing van training (kennis + vaardigheden) in het veld.
Bij Klozers definiĆ«ren we verkooptraining als de “overdracht van kennis”, en het primaire resultaat van elke overdracht van kennis moet altijd een toename in leren, opleiding en begrip zijn. Er zijn natuurlijk secundaire resultaten die vergelijkbaar zijn met de resultaten van coaching, maar het is belangrijk dat we het verschil tussen de twee begrijpen.
Dit is de reden waarom elke training, ongeacht het onderwerp, duidelijk vermeldt wat de “leerresultaten” zullen zijn na de cursus en meestal niet verwijst naar enige vorm van prestatieverbetering.
In de westerse wereld bestaat meer dan 90% van de banen waarvoor handenarbeid nodig is niet meer en we zijn nu wat we noemen een kenniseconomie. Verkopers worden betaald voor hun kennis en vaardigheden, niet voor handenarbeid. Daarom is voor elke verkoper kennis macht en daarom zijn verkooptraining en leerresultaten zo belangrijk.
Zodra we erkennen dat verkooptraining het mechanisme is waarmee we kennis overdragen en dat kennis macht is, is het net zo belangrijk om te begrijpen dat deze kennis bij verkoop, meer dan bij elk ander onderwerp, waardeloos is tenzij de verkoper de kennis gebruikt en toepast bij prospects en klanten.
Zonder deze praktische toepassing van de nieuwe verkoopkennis in het veld, loopt de verkoper het risico de slimste verkoper op kantoor te zijn, waar geen klanten zijn. In de meeste gevallen vindt er nooit een verkoop plaats tenzij een verkoper een of andere activiteit/gedrag/actie heeft ondernomen en deze activiteit is waar alle nieuwe kennis uit de training moet worden toegepast.
Dezelfde regels gelden voor verkoop binnendienst, met als enige verschil de kanalen waarmee ze communiceren met de prospects/klanten. Als een Inside Sales medewerker bijvoorbeeld een training volgt over communicatievaardigheden, dan is de training waardeloos als hij deze vaardigheden niet toepast aan de telefoon, via e-mail of sociale media.
Wij definiĆ«ren Sales Coaching echter als “ondersteuning van de praktische toepassing van kennis in het veld”, en het resultaat van coaching moet altijd een toename in vaardigheden, vertrouwen en prestaties zijn.
Het belangrijkste dat vaak ontbreekt in verkooptrainingen, en dit is geen kritiek, maar eerder een praktische beperking, is dat de training niet elk mogelijk scenario kan behandelen dat een verkoper tegenkomt tijdens de interactie met een prospect of klant. Deze scenario’s en de context van elk scenario, die net zo belangrijk zijn, zorgen ervoor dat een klassikale verkooptraining wordt omgezet in directieresultaten.
10. Het belang van het verschil tussen training en coaching
De beste manier om het belang van coaching uit te leggen is door de analogie van golf te gebruiken. Als we een 1, 2 of 3 daagse golftraining met Tiger Woods zouden bijwonen, zou Tiger Woods als een van ‘s werelds beste golfers ongetwijfeld in staat zijn om een uitstekende training te geven.
De cursus zou dingen kunnen behandelen als de juiste houding bij het adresseren van de bal, de juiste grip en de optimale swing, en het lijdt geen twijfel dat de cursisten een aantal zeer specifieke en waardevolle leerresultaten zouden hebben.
Wat Tiger Woods niet kan behandelen, is de praktische toepassing van die kennis volgende week wanneer je op de plaatselijke golfbaan bent en je je grip probeerde te veranderen, maar omdat het nieuw voor je was, voelde het ongemakkelijk en de eerste 9 holes had je nieuwe houding, grip en swing je 10 over par opgeleverd.
In deze omstandigheden zal de golfer waarschijnlijk terugkeren naar zijn oorspronkelijke houding, grip en swing en de volgende 9 holes afmaken op 5 over par, wat zijn norm is. Er vindt geen prestatieverbetering plaats omdat er geen coach was om te helpen bij de praktische implementatie van de nieuwe kennis die de golfer had.
Bovendien blijft de golfer/verkoper meestal gefrustreerd en teleurgesteld achter, omdat hij zeker weet dat Tiger Woods geweldige inhoud heeft geleverd in zijn cursus en zich realiseert dat hij gewoon niet de mogelijkheid heeft om die kennis te implementeren.
Online verkoopcoaching ondersteunt de praktische toepassing van kennis door ondersteuning en context te bieden voor de vele verschillende scenario’s die een verkoper tegenkomt met een prospect/klant.
Als we weer teruggaan naar de golfanalogie. De coach zou in staat zijn om de golfer te helpen begrijpen waarom de kennis die Tiger in de training had aangereikt niet werkte, bijvoorbeeld de wind, de grondcondities, het type en de lay-out van de baan, de club en de ballen – er zijn honderden externe variabelen, laat staan de interne variabelen zoals de mindset, het geloofssysteem en de houding van de golfer die de prestaties zouden beĆÆnvloeden.
Dit is absoluut hetzelfde wanneer een verkoper een gesprek aangaat met een prospect/klant, er zijn honderden variabelen, zowel extern als intern, die het resultaat en de prestaties beĆÆnvloeden. De rol van de verkoopcoach is om verkopers te ondersteunen bij hun inspanningen om deze uitdagingen te overwinnen.
Een ander belangrijk verschil tussen verkooptraining en verkoopcoaching is de stijl. Moderne training is gelukkig niet meer een eenrichtingsgesprek waarin mensen wordt verteld wat ze moeten doen. Spelletjes, oefeningen en een goede begeleiding die de deelnemers bij de training betrekt, moeten allemaal aan bod komen, maar de perceptie van de training kan vaak negatief zijn en veel deelnemers zijn mentaal uitgeschakeld voordat ze in de zaal/op de cursus komen.
Ze kunnen hier een goede reden voor hebben op basis van een negatieve ervaring uit het verleden, maar hoe dan ook is de perceptie niet altijd positief en vaak is de perceptie gerelateerd aan de stijl. Wat we hiermee bedoelen is dat de perceptie van verkooptraining er voor veel mensen een is van vertellen en uit onze eigen ervaring blijkt dat niemand, vooral verkopers, graag verteld wordt.
Coaching is echter het tegenovergestelde en is een vraaggerichte aanpak om de verkoper te helpen zelf de antwoorden te ontdekken. Dat proces van ontdekken en reflecteren is heel krachtig omdat het het eigenaarschap van het antwoord op de problemen overdraagt aan de verkoper. Wanneer de verkoper met de antwoorden komt, maakt hij zich het antwoord mentaal eigen, waardoor het veel geloofwaardiger is voor de verkoper.
Onze online verkoopcursussen maken gebruik van de concepten van werkgebaseerd leren, omdat veel bedrijven en verkopers niet langer de tijd hebben om dagen of zelfs uren aan training te besteden. De moderne werkplek vereist dat training niet alleen past in het schema van de betrokkenen, maar dat het ook een vorm van waarde genereert naast het leerresultaat.
Zoals het klinkt, is werkgebaseerd leren gericht op leren en activiteiten die niet alleen relevant zijn voor het werk, maar ook gebaseerd zijn op verkoopactiviteiten die bij het werk horen. Als mens leren en beheersen we vaardigheden voornamelijk door te doen en te herhalen.
De leertheoretici beweren dat we 70% leren door te doen, 20% door te kijken en 10% door te luisteren. Hoewel ik er zeker van ben dat deze cijfers niet accuraat zijn, zijn ze zeker een goede maatstaf voor elk trainingsprogramma, omdat de focus ligt op de leerlingen die daadwerkelijk de activiteiten en gedragingen uitvoeren die essentieel zijn voor elke verkoper.
Hoewel werkgebaseerd leren heel anders is dan de traditionele klassikale training, is het nog steeds essentieel voor verkopers om enige vorm van reflectie te hebben, want net als bij de golfer werkt niet alles meteen goed in het veld als hij erop uit trekt om de nieuwe kennis toe te passen.
Dit leren door te doen, en ja soms betekent dit ook leren door te falen, is verreweg de krachtigste manier voor ieder mens om nieuwe vaardigheden te leren en zich eigen te maken. We geloven ook dat werkgebaseerd leren nu belangrijker is dan ooit, omdat verkopers gewoonweg niet de tijd hebben om dagen achter elkaar weg te zijn van hun bureau of het veld op de manier die traditionele training voorschrijft.
Zonder enige vorm van verantwoording kiezen de verkopers wat ze doen en wanneer ze het doen en in de meeste gevallen kan dit schadelijk zijn voor het bedrijf. Verkooptrainers en -coaches hebben niet de leiding over en zijn niet verantwoordelijk voor de verkopers.
Dit moet komen van de Sales Leadership van het bedrijf zelf, want de Sales Trainer kan de Salesmensen vertellen wat ze moeten doen, de Sales Coach kan de Salesmensen laten zien wat ze moeten doen, maar alleen de Sales Leaders in het bedrijf kunnen hen vertellen wat ze moeten doen. Hoewel we absoluut van verkopers houden, worden verkopers in veel organisaties helaas niet verantwoordelijk gehouden en kiezen ze dus zelf wat ze doen, hoe ze het doen en wanneer ze het doen. Nogmaals, in de meeste gevallen is dit niet het beste voor het bedrijf.
Het ontwikkelen van een cultuur van verantwoording is naar onze mening een essentieel ingrediƫnt voor elk bedrijf, want zonder verantwoording wordt er eenvoudigweg niets gedaan. Zoals de meeste dingen in het leven die de moeite waard zijn, is er geen toverstafje voor Accountability en vergt het planning, doorzettingsvermogen en geduld, maar de eindresultaten zijn transformerend, zowel voor het bedrijf als voor de mensen, want als de cultuur eenmaal begint aan te slaan, worden mensen mondiger en gelukkiger, want met verantwoordelijkheid komt verantwoordelijkheid.
Dit helpt ook bij het wegnemen van knelpunten in de besluitvorming en vaak ook de last van senior mensen in het bedrijf, omdat de verantwoordelijkheden door de keten worden doorgegeven aan nieuwe medewerkers met meer bevoegdheden. Verkoopresultaten zijn afhankelijk van sterk verkoopleiderschap en sterk management. Niet elke beslissing zal populair zijn en niet elke verkoper zal de nieuwe cultuur omarmen.
In het boek ‘Good to Great’ heeft Jim Collins het over werknemers als mensen in een bus. De mensen moeten niet alleen in de juiste bus zitten, maar ze moeten ook op de juiste plaats zitten zodat de bus met succes zijn bestemming kan bereiken. Soms zitten mensen die aan het begin van de reis in de bus stappen niet op de juiste plaats of in de juiste bus.
Sales Leadership is een voortdurende drang naar verbetering van de verkoop, waarbij geen middel onbeproefd wordt gelaten. In sommige gevallen kan dit betekenen dat we mensen moeten vragen onze bus te verlaten omdat ze niet langer de juiste vaardigheden, gedragingen of mindset hebben die het bedrijf nodig heeft om vooruit te komen.
Begrijp ons niet verkeerd, wij geloven dat een bedrijf de plicht heeft om elke werknemer te ontwikkelen en te laten groeien, maar als die werknemers door hun acties duidelijk maken dat ze niet willen ontwikkelen en groeien, dan is het nalatig van het bedrijf om dit te negeren en geen actie te ondernemen.
We creƫren online verantwoordelijkheid door lijnmanagers bij het leerproces te betrekken. Wanneer deelnemers zich aanmelden, krijgen ze een e-mail met een aantal leerdoelen die gerelateerd zijn aan de cursus die ze hebben gekozen. Er wordt ook een selectie van aanvullende leerdoelen aangeboden en lerenden kunnen ook hun eigen leerdoelen toevoegen die allemaal moeten worden goedgekeurd door hun lijnmanager.
Door lijnmanagers te betrekken bij het initiƫle leerproces introduceren we Verantwoording. Lijnmanagers wordt gevraagd de werkopdrachten te controleren en te helpen beoordelen of de oorspronkelijke leerdoelen zijn gehaald.
