| Sales training can be one of the more difficult | | | | want to teach your employees how to get better |
| parts of sales. It can be hard to explain what | | | | sales. Don't just feed them one-liners or give |
| you're looking for; difficult to convince your sales | | | | them a product that is sure to sell with or without |
| team that they should do things your way; and a | | | | any assistance. Teach them principles that will |
| trial to get your sales team to actually do the | | | | improve their selling skills. |
| things you've just trained them in. No one looks | | | | 4. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Don't |
| forward to sales training. But unfortunately, it's an | | | | pack too much information in your sales training |
| inevitable part of any company involved in sales. | | | | meetings. If necessary, schedule another meeting |
| So in order to make things a bit easier for you, | | | | to finish going over the thing you've been |
| here are 6 suggestions of things to avoid during | | | | discussing. But don't keep your employees in |
| sales training. | | | | training meetings for hours upon hours. They will |
| 1. Avoid training that promises fun and games. As | | | | only get bored and frustrated and no one will |
| tempting as it may be, sales training that | | | | learn anything useful. You'll just be wasting your |
| promises fun and games to your employees is | | | | time. So be sure that your sales training meetings |
| not always the most efficient way to train. Some | | | | are concise and brief. Each employee should come |
| experts say that trying to get your staff all riled | | | | away with enough learning to make a difference |
| up can be a waste of time and money, especially | | | | in their selling, but not so mach that they'll ignore |
| if the effort comes late in the day. If your | | | | everything you say. |
| company cannot offer job satisfaction in general, | | | | 5. Avoid passing fads. Sales scripts are often |
| no amount of fun and games will be able to fix it. | | | | taught as magic bullets: "if you use this script |
| This is not to say that you should never offer fun | | | | you're guaranteed X-number of sales..." This |
| and games during sales training, just that you | | | | approach is often popular among sales |
| should chose to do so with caution. | | | | representatives, but is often very ineffective. In |
| 2. Don't wait until the end of the day. Anyone | | | | doing this you're not teaching your sales reps the |
| who has ever had a job knows how slowly the | | | | skills they need to succeed. Sales training that |
| afternoon can drag on. Most people count the | | | | follows fads, jumping from one sales system to |
| hours until they can go home. So planning a sales | | | | another, may confuse sales people or turn them |
| training meeting (which can already cause irritation | | | | into cynics. |
| in some employees) at the end of the day can be | | | | 6. Avoid fear of motivational speakers. |
| very ineffective. Your employees are already | | | | Sometimes what your employees really need is |
| tired and bored, and the last thing they need is a | | | | some motivation. Maybe they are already |
| boring meeting on how to improve their sales. | | | | equipped with the best tools for sales; they just |
| 3. Teach your sales representatives how to fish, | | | | need to be motivated to do their best. Inviting a |
| don't just give them a fish. You've heard the old | | | | motivational speaker to one of your sales training |
| saying "give a man a fish and feed him for a day; | | | | meeting can be a very effective training |
| teach him how to fish and you'll feed him for a life | | | | technique. |
| time." The same thing applies in sales training. You | | | | |