Sales Training Fails for a Reason

We can all agree that one of the biggest challenges in sales is making a sale. Sales training is prevalent and almost necessary to teach people how to sell, yet despite this there are many obstacles. Poor sales training has been found to be the #1 reason why salespeople fail.

So what do you do? The three key ways to improve your sales instruction are: engage, educate and equip. Engage by teaching empathy skills, providing concrete examples of how empathy can improve performance and encourage listening skills. Educate by presenting effective questioning techniques with immediate feedback loops so they know what they're doing wrong before they keep failing at it in the future. Finally, equip salespeople with the proper tools to improve their performance.

So, if sales training fails for a reason and we have the solution, then why does it still fail? The answer to that is the most important part of this article. Sales training failing happens for one reason: no leaders care about the talent in their company enough to make it a priority. If you hear "that's not my job", then they simply don't care enough to do what is necessary to help make a sale happen or help build relationship-based selling skills. That's why salespeople fail at making a sale even though they've learned how to sell.

The last two pages of this blog post are my template for an effective sales training program. For example, I won't teach them to ask questions until they show that they understand how to ask questions ("ask the right questions" is a must). Then I'll discuss what quality conversations require. After that, we'll do different types of sales conversations (i.e., giving case studies), and then we'll practice getting information from other people using questioning skills. This is really just a basic blueprint for any kind of sales training program, but it's effective and it's something that each salesperson should read before going through a training session ever again.

If you want your salespeople to have a better chance of making a sale, then the key is to make your sales training work. That means engaging, educating and equipping your people. You can't do that if you never get information from people on how they feel about being engaged, educated or equipped. If a salesperson says that it's not their job to provide information about how they're feeling about the engagement/education/equipment, then that is an indicator that they don't care enough to help you improve their knowledge and skills.

Finally, if the leaders at a company don't care enough to make sales training work, then it's probably not going to work in any meaningful way. So make your sales training investment in the lowest-level, first line of the company. Start from ground zero, and have the leaders in place to provide what's necessary.

-Rob Petrone

The Sales Development Solution by Rob Petrone can be found on Amazon for only $7: https://www.amazon.com/The-Sales-Development-Solution-ebook/dp/B00U6WZU6M/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1469061320&sr=8-1&keywords=rob+petrone

Title: How to Prepare for the Sales Interview Process

You've completed the online application, a phone interview and now you're doing a field interview. It seems like it's all going to plan. You're feeling confident and positive. Then what happens? Do you get the job?

By now, you've already seen a lot of success stories and wished you were in that position. What's wrong with you? And how did it turn out so badly? Well, first things first, let me tell you how the process goes from here based on my own experience and that of many previous clients.

First comes the phone interview to check your suitability for the role. This may or may not be done by a recruiter and again, could consist of between 30-60 minutes or more depending on whether it's face-to-face or conducted over the phone. You're likely to be asked about your experience and any experience you've had in the role. The key here is to sell yourself without overselling or appearing desperate.

Next you'll be invited for a face-to-face interview which could take up to an hour. You'll be asked various behavioral questions, most of which will be open ended requiring you to describe a situation such as a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer, co-worker, boss or prospect. If it's not that common for you, think about times when things have not turned out as well as expected and use them as examples in your answers. This is where you need to sell yourself to the recruiter or hiring manager.

You're going to have an opportunity at this stage to ask a question or two. Which, if you do, will likely be all about the job role itself and not much about the company or career progression in general. This is where you should talk about how you fit the role and how it's aligned with your career aspirations. You'll then be given feedback on your answers and invited for another interview sometime between two and three weeks. If it's not a face-to-face interview, expect to receive more same questions about your experience, questions about how things went in the past and what your strengths are.

In the face-to-face interview you'll be asked about your experience and asked about a time when you had to deal with a customer or co worker who was difficult or perhaps even downright abusive. This is where you need to stand out by empathizing with the customer and showing that you've used good customer service skills. It's not what happened, it's how you handled it and dealt with it that matters here. Your interviewer will be using this information as one of the criteria when they're reviewing your application pack so make sure you've added a copy of your CV, references and any information that has been requested by e-mail or fax.

The next stage you'll be invited to an assessment day. There's nothing to lose and everything to gain here. Make sure that you know exactly where the assessment center is and what to expect. The most likely structure will be a group exercise of some sort followed by individual interviews and a psychometric test. You should know what the role is all about, what your key priorities will be and have some idea of the culture in which you'll find yourself working before you walk into that first interview. It's all about preparation before, during and after each stage of the interview process so ensure that you're aware of any company news or information that could affect your chances of success.

Conclusion

Don't panic and don't assume that the recruiting or interviewing process is going to be easy. Make an effort to understand all of the steps needed for you to be successful. Put the time and effort into preparation for this stage. Take your time and get it right so you're fully prepared for your next few interviews.

-John Soudans

The Sales Development Solution by John Soudans can be found on Amazon for only $7: https://www.amazon.