My “Biased” Thoughts On Most Sales Training…

With the podcast that we do (www.advancedsellingpodcast), we get a lot of questions on what we think of sales training. Well, it’s kind of like asking the chef if the food’s good in the deli next door. You kind of know what his answer will be.

Most of the time, these questionners are wondering because they are in the midst of searching for sales training, sales management training, or other professional development.

There’s a ton of training out there–and rather than me comment on any by name–I would prefer to suggest a very short list of things I would look for if I were on the other side of the desk–buying it instead of selling it.

1. Complete Assessment. So much garbage is “off the shelf” training that can’t be customized for your business. It HAS TO BE CUSTOMIZED for not just your business (and the language you use), but for your people, too. If you have a senior group, you’d better be speaking to some higher philosophies like comfort zones, high self image, and large deal negotiation skills.

Make sure the trainer, upfront, asks you (or your manager) a lot of questions about where in the sales process things stall out, how you feel about that, what isn’t happening that needs to, what do you want to get your prospect to admit to, and are there any emotional roadblocks to high achievement (self image issues)?

A Terrible Sales Training Story…I had a client tell me yesterday that he just returned from a 2-day training where the facilitator (from a global training company) read her PowerPoint slides from the screen and when finished with each one, said, “What do you think about that?” EVERY SLIDE!!! Wow, now there’s some real growth happening there?!?!?!!? (And I’m sure the company paid $000,000 for that content).

2. Content Philosophy. Most sales training has, at it’s core, an intent of helping you “sell more stuff.” That is totally wrong (as far as I’m concerned). A better intent is to help the constituent (seller) “discern” between someone who can and will buy–and another who can’t.

You can call that “qualifying” if you want but I actually think that word has been overused. Most often it’s used to make ANY PROSPECT FIT. The philosophy of great sales training content should be to help you understand and articulate the value you bring–and do that ONLY to people who have pains/problems that need to be solved. (Many people are willing to live in their own garabge–they aren’t prospects. Great sales training helps you discern the economically serious from the merely curious.)

Make sure the training content speaks to the inner game/soul of the trainee. That’s where all of the action is anyway. It’s not in the words you use, or how high up you call in the prospect company, or how elaborate your 12-step sales process is. It starts with the 6″ of real estate between your ears. If the content you buy doesn’t deal with that, then it won’t catapult you much.

3. Ongoing Nature. Training for adults can’t be delivered effectively in a one-day seminar. That’s just not how we learn best. Meaningful sales training, advanced or basic, must have frequent reinforcement to it. Personally, I think it should be every 2-4 weeks. It doesn’t have to be face to face (it could be via phone/web), but there has to be a regular way to reconnect with people in the training (and the trainer.)

A Suggestion:
One thing we do is the monthy TeleTraining Call. There is no new topic discussed. It is only a) a reinforcement of some of the work we’ve done already and b) a chance for people to bring issues/problems to the trainer.

If you have hired a trainer and they can’t stop talking about new techniques or how great they are, fire him and find another. Part of the great value of effective sales training is to allow the constituents to open up and speak freely about their problems, without the fear of getting jumped on. 

I hope this helps if you’re in the mode of searching for someone who can help you grow your business by implementing a sound sales strategy in your company. Remember, a trainer today should have much more knowledge than just sales techniques to share. He must understand people, human nature, how organizations (prospect) work, and how decisions are made.

If all he can do is recite from the book (or read PowerPoints), he’s not worth much, regardless of how little you’re paying.