Some ideas about sales training

Most of people thinks that there was one simple way to develop sales skills. We all have our own learning styles and preferences. Some learn best through activity, either role-play or trial and error, some through book-based study, others through reflecting and questioning. Indeed, learning is such a personal thing that the latest opinion is that self-directed learning is where individuals and companies should be headed. Companies should aim to provide the infrastructure and learning environment whilst motivating and encouraging employees to take personal responsibility for their own skills development.

It's a cliché, but the reality is that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. You can provide a training environment, lay on training courses, books and even personal coaching. If the person is not open and motivated to learning then it will not happen. When working with individuals a coach will spend a great deal of time focusing on their goals, values and aspirations. When someone is motivated for their own reasons you know that great things are going to happen! A person motivated to learn and overcome obstacles will typically put in the effort to read a book, listen to audio programmers in the car even pay for their own training and coaching!

Cold calling and prospecting are good examples of how selling is a mental game. The crucial issue in sales development is most often not how? but why? and what's stopping that person from achieving better results.

The human brain is designed for continual learning, but the question is whether the individual is motivated to learn. The coaching relationship is confidential and personal, allowing the individual to open up and discuss things that motivate them and things that may be de-motivating them. By bringing these concerns out in the open they can then take action to move things forward.

Even though each person is unique, for those who like to put people in boxes there do seem to be some common types to look out for:

Motivated achiever
These are the professionals. This type of person is always looking for ways to get better results. They are highly self motivated and will take whatever sales development assistance you provide. Often they will personally fund their own development. They are keen readers and may have a personal development tape in the car. Even at the top of their profession, these people get great results from High Performance Coaching. It's like pouring petrol on a fire!

Know it all
These people have been around a while: been there, done it and have the scars to prove it. They believe that they know how life is and you are not going to convince them otherwise. Know-it-alls are generally fairly closed to learning. They tend to be reasonably ok at selling although sometimes patchy and could do even better. They are often OK with cold calling and prospecting although it can be a problem if their performance is below their capabilities. Sometimes they respond well to High Performance Coaching although often they just play along.

Pleaser
These are very good at looking after customers because they like pleasing people. They can develop some very strong business relationships and customer loyalty. Pleasers often shy away from cold calling and prospecting until they can see the function in terms of helping people. They often cannot understand why, having attended all the training programmers and read all the books; they still have difficulty in making the calls. These people can get big improvements in performance through High Performance Coaching.

Reluctant Sales person
This is someone who doesn't really enjoy certain parts of the sales role or has temporarily lost interest. They avoid making the calls because they either don't feel like it or they can't be bothered. It's a motivation issue rather than a learning issue, although the sales person is unlikely to admit it. Most training is wasted until the motivation is there. High Performance Coaching can really help the individual to get clear about their goals and resolve any issues with colleagues. Occasionally the process can help them realise they are in the wrong job.

Steady Eddie
They will make the calls on a regular basis because that's just part of the job. This person will go on any course they are told to. They are unlikely to request a course for themselves and will just get on with it. They are comfortable with their way of life and although they would like things to be improving are not going to set the world alight without help to build much bigger goals.

The ideal approach to helping each of these types is to have a combination of more classroom, book or audio programmer learning combined with High Performance Coaching. This ensures that the learning is translated into action and anything that is standing in the way is confronted. There is also great benefit in sales people learning from each other. In many organizations, they work individually and an interactive learning day where everyone participates is a great way of building some team spirit.

'We focus on helping our clients get the best performance increases from their sales team within their budgetary constraints,' says Richard White. 'This often means a combination of conventional learning methods and our style of High Performance Coaching. We can even help sales managers and sales directors achieve performance break-thoughts by learning our approach to coaching.'