Effective Sales Training Begins by Defining Your Desired Results

Before you can begin to effectively train your sales team, you must first comprehend what you are trying to accomplish. You need to know exactly where your numbers are, and where you want them to be. If you are going to truly understand your figures, you need to know where they have been, and where they are projected to be. If there is a trend, this is where you need to modify things. Start by making a list.

For example, you review your last 5 years of sales, and every year in September, your profits plummet. Every year in April, they sky rocket. What is the cause, what are the main differences in these two times? You can definitely say that there needs to be an extra emphasis on September. Now you will need to look at why September is not as successful. Number one on your list is “September”. Under September there should be smaller subcategories. These would entail the things you presume to be the issue. Next to each item is a projected resolution. This list will then serve as an outline when reviewing your desired results. Be sure to keep this list in order of importance. Priority is a must.

You have now determined one of your main desired results is increasing profits in September. Look at your sales staff, when is the last time they were “pumped up”. The best way to get your team motivated is to motivate them. If you want your training to be effective, make it fun, not as though they have been under performing. By utilizing a list you can mentally or physically cross off each item as you have resolved it. Do not however, assume that because you believe you have a solution that it will be the correct one. If you have to retrain your sales force in 6 months, this list is a great reference. What worked, what didn’t? This will help you to obtain your weaknesses.

Keep your goals realistic. You cannot set personal or professional goals that are unobtainable. You are setting yourself and your team up for failure. Write these down also, this way when you meet or exceed your goal, it gets crossed off. Your lists may in turn look similar, but they are different. The desired results list will contain how to reach your goal; the goal list will contain what the specific goal is. In order to get to a point, you don’t need to know only what that point is, but also how to get there.

By creating these lists, it allows you to take a step-by-step approach to your desired results. You can visibly see where you are, and where you need to be. This is a business “map” to show you how to get to your desired results. If the training is not effective in a certain situation, circle it in red, you now know there is a problem. Try a new solution, or reference someone who specializes solely in that particular aspect. This way you are not paying someone for unnecessary knowledge. Most importantly, reward your team when they obtain one of your goals. It will make them strive to achieve the rest.