Although some people seem to have a natural gift for selling, many of today’s top salespeople have reached the pinnacle by learning and refining their sales skills over time. There might be a bit of talent and luck involved, but the right sales training can go a long way toward helping salespeople hone their abilities and reap the benefits.
According to Accenture’s Return on Learning: Training for High Performance, for every dollar invested by a company in training, they’ll get around $4.53 in return. That’s a pretty hefty return on investment — 353 percent, to be precise. It’s hard to overstate the value of a good sales team to a company, and sales training can pay off quite nicely if it’s approached correctly.
Want To Boost Your Sales?
If you want to boost your sales, a sales training program can give you the right insight and tactics to reach your goals. Here’s a look at how sales training can help with several important aspects of the sales process.
Improve Your Sales Storytelling
We all like a good story — it’s just human nature. If you’ve ever found yourself binge-watching a series on Netflix or staying up late to read one more chapter in a book, you know just how compelling and memorable a good story can be.
The same philosophy can actually be used in sales to appeal to a client’s logic and emotion. Highly engaging stories that contain all the right elements can actually trigger the release of oxytocin, the trust hormone. Sales training can explain how to use this neurochemical to promote connection and encourage empathy to create a bond with clients that can lead to increased sales. Stories can motivate people to act, so use this to your advantage.
Combine Meaningful Facts And Logic
Of course, just like writing a good book, some approaches to storytelling in sales are better than others. Good sales training will show salespeople how they can combine a strong narrative with meaningful facts into a good story that will accelerate sales performance. They can also cover one of the most important elements of storytelling from a sales point of view: positioning your company as the solution to your clients’ problems.
Have Your Employees Gain More In-Depth Knowledge
A sales training program can give your employees the in-depth knowledge that helps them give clients the answers they need right when they need them. Sales pros shouldn’t be following scripts; they need to know how to engage clients in meaningful conversations. One way of doing this is by asking exploratory questions, and sales training can show salespeople how to do this confidently and effectively.
Learn How To Qualify Leads
With all the emphasis that is placed on closing deals, you’d be forgiven for thinking the closing is the most important part of the sales journey. However, the way you open a deal is just as valuable. Lead qualification can ensure that your sales team is pursuing the most viable prospects.
Lead qualification is complex, but getting it right can save you time and energy and increase your company’s bottom line.
It should start with the initial contact or even beforehand in the marketing stage. When done right, you can easily determine if a prospect aligns with your Ideal Customer Profile and is in the right place to benefit from what you’re offering. You will also need to know which titles within your prospect company have the authority and the budget to make the purchase and how you offer value over your competitors.
Skills To Negotiate Competitively
Although comprehensive sales training will look at the entire sales process, a good amount of time will be spent on negotiation. Sales training consultants understand how businesses can improve their sales numbers and closing rates by upping their negotiation game. Getting this right can even increase employee retention. After all, who doesn’t want to be part of a top-performing team?
Sales training can help your company put the right sales negotiation process in place that includes all the elements of a successful sale. First, you’ll learn how to create a solid negotiation strategy that can improve the chances of a successful outcome. You’ll also learn how to know when to pull the trigger and close the deal before your prospect walks away.
Sales training will also introduce sales teams to tactics that can help them keep their prospects engaged. Finally, because closing a sale is often the hardest part of the process, sales training will show you how to get the timing just right and close the deal strategically.
Reach Out To A Sales Training Consultant
The sales process is a complex one, and there are many moving parts that all need to come together just right to close sales successfully. Whether your sales team is already performing well and just needs some polishing or a more intensive overhaul is needed, a sales training program can help you put all the pieces in the right places to master every aspect of sales. Reach out to the sales training consultants at RCG Workgroup to find out how they can help your company soar to new heights of success.
