Sales training

How to choose the right course

"Sales Training" is one of the most important courses or seminars that an organization can choose. Good sales training can help you increase your turnover, provide financial stability, and generate funds to invest in growth of the business. Poor sales training will have little effect, and the organization is likely to struggle to survive. No matter how good the organization's business, finance or technical skills, unless a good product is sold well, it won't sell.

Sales training seminars are not all the same

This web page provides some brief guidelines on how to choose a good sales training seminar or course. When you understand what you are looking for, it is important to take a long and thorough look at what is available and choose a course that fits your requirements.

In making your choice you need to be clear about the type of course are you looking for.

• New lead generation or creating new opportunities with existing customers.
• Telephone, face-to-face or impersonal selling (eg: web or mail order).
• Basic or advanced skills.
• Managerial skills.

In a new or growing business, it may be best to start with marketing courses. Marketing is about getting everything right before the decision to buy, so that the job of selling becomes much easier. Selling is about using tools and techniques to conduct a transaction and generate income for the organization. Even if you only need a course in basic selling skills, if it includes some marketing basics those involved in selling can provide useful feedback to the marketeers, eg: to help improve product or package design.

Internet or mail order selling is a specialist area, that requires a particular type of course, as is management - eg: the skills required are those of evaluating the effectiveness of different channels, or techniques for coaching and motivating staff to perform better.

Aspects of selling that should be included in the course

This brings us to the content of the course itself. The list below is indicative of the types of things that could be included. You need to decide which are appropriate for your needs, look round for a range of courses, and then assess each course against your needs.

• Basic models of selling, such as:
  • AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire Action)
  • FAB (Features, Advantages, Benefits)
  • Hunting/Skinning model (get new clients vs more work from existing clients)
  • Basic interpersonal techniques:
    • questioning
    • listening
    • handling objections
    • closing techniques
  • The use of scripts in selling
  • Tailoring the selling process for the product
  • Cross-selling
• Product/service training (you need to understand what you are selling to sell it!)
• Advanced models of selling, such as:
  • The difference between selling tangibles and intangibles
  • NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming - despite the technical sound to the name, it refers to a set of interpersonal techniques for influencing and persuading)
  • Firo (Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation - ie meeting prospective customers' control, inclusion and openness needs).
  • Team Selling
  • Invitation To Tenders
  • The "bid" process
  • Sales training using Myers Briggs personality type (ie recognizing how different strategies can be more effective with different individuals/personalities, and adapting the style and process to suit).
• Other aspects of the selling process that are relevant to your business, such as:
  • Telephone selling
  • Customer Relationship Management
  • Customer feedback mechanisms
  • Building partnerships (with co-sellers and prospective customers)

Summary

The choice of sales training is a fundamental one to the success of the organization. You should be clear on what type of course you are looking for. Then, armed with an understanding of the range of techniques that are available, you should look at a wide variety of courses to see which best fits your requirements.

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