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This guest post from Brenda Savoie looks at the 7 most critical mistakes that occur in sales training.
Whether you have one, two, or ten sales representatives under your watch, it’s important that they’re performing well. In today’s post, we’re discussing the 7 most common mistakes and errors that you might commit while performing the sales training process. Note them down and ensure to never repeat them again.
Mistake #1. There is No Strategy
When you teach something, you must have a clear strategy right from the start. You need to develop a very specific training objective. What do you want to accomplish with your training? Do you want to teach your team to present the product better? Or do you want to let them know of the most common body language signs they should leverage during a sales pitch? Always have a strategy before teaching something!
Mistake #2. Lack of Concise Instructions
The purpose of sales training is to improve the qualities and skills of your sales representatives. Obviously, you don’t just need to preach, but you also need to explain. Everything that is displayed should be comprehended entirely, so it’s your task to provide concise guidelines and steps. Therefore, to lead by example and show them how it’s done. Don’t just present general information. Make it concise and practical!
Mistake #3. The Training is Boring
For any student to pay attention, the teacher must ensure that his instructions are not boring. During your sales teaching, involve a joke every now and then, leverage visual content material, and organize interactive games that reflect the topic you’re teaching.
Mistake #4. Not Knowing Your Employee's’ Individual Skills
Failing to recognize your employees’ individual skills and traits is a huge mistake that many sales trainers commit. Before you organize your sales training lessons, you need to know who you’re dealing with. For example, some of your sales representatives might be already “advanced” enough to skip several training sessions.
Moreover, by acknowledging your employee's unique value, you can count individualize the training. You can focus more on their qualities because if their qualities are optimized, their level of performance will also significantly increase.
Mistake #5. Skipping the Product
Neglecting the product is another common mistake that many sales trainers tend to commit. The product or the service that your sales representatives are pushing is basically the core of the pitch. Through your product’s features, the customers will enjoy the benefits they crave for. So, giving your sales reps as much relevant information about the core products is essential!
Mistake #6. Failing to Stick to the Marketplace’s Dance
The marketplace is always shifting. As a sales trainer, your job is to stay up to date with the latest news, policies, updates, practices, and strategies that are popular at different times. This way, you can inform your sales team about what’s going on, improving their effectiveness when presenting your products to other people.
Mistake #7. Learning Too Much and Practicing Too Little
Lastly, learning too much and practicing too little might result in mediocre results. I’d suggest organizing your training lessons in such a way that your students will get half-half of each. That means 50% theory and 50% practice. Teaching too much theory without tackling the practical practice is a mistake, as your sales rep will not gain too much value (even if the information you send is priceless)
Takeaways
Sales training is a complex process that is very much comparable to a skill. The more you train the better you get at it. It takes practice, time, effort, patience, and consistency. However, if you pay close attention to your biggest mistakes, you’ll be able to eliminate them from your teaching sessions.
Soon enough, this will have an amazing consequence: your company’s sales will grow, as your sales reps will produce better results as a consequence of your professional guidance. Good luck!
About the Author
Read more from Brenda Savoie on her blog, BestWritingClues. Find her on Twitter and Facebook.
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