Cutting Budgets Or Misallocating Budgets?

In tougher times people say "we don't have budget for sales training."

Yet at the same time those very same people are expecting their sales teams to improve their sales performance in a softer, declining market but not giving them the tools to help them achieve these aims.

Spot the problem?

That's like sending soldiers out to war without any weapons.?

Or a sports team out on the field without the right skills and training to try and beat a better team.

How is that in sales land a fair fight??

If you want your team to perform at a higher level you need to equip your team with the right skills and competencies so they have greater confidence and conviction in themselves so they can win more deals.

No professional doctor, pilot, or surgeon ever wings it.

All of them have budgets firmly committed and allocated to continual training.

They don't "cut training budgets" because?lives run the risk of being lost.

The stakes are super high.

The same isn't for sales but the livelihood of the business or the people it employs is at risk if you don't continually train.

They say trust is the most important thing in rural.

But ask yourself do you really think sales people as a whole are trusted?

In most cases, it's clearly a hell no!

Most sales people don't make any of us feel safe, especially when they "sell" to us.

Most sale people are awful at selling and provide an appalling sales experience because they've haven't been properly trained.

Which makes it so much harder to sell for you because your farming customers have been burnt and bruised by sleasy, salsey sales people using out-dated high pressure tactics from the 1980s.

Clients' guards are up. Almost permanently. They don't feel safe because they think you're the same.

Yet research shows us:

Those that train the most are trusted the most -?like?nurses, police, doctors, teachers, search and rescue, military and pilots:

Rather than cut your budget, you need to re-allocate your budget.

Look at where you are spending budget on:

• advertising that you can't attribute?
• sales rep salaries who haven't performed for several seasons that your high performers hate carrying?
• generic, cookie-cutter training that comes with no guarantee of a proven, quantifiable commercial outcome?
• marketing that is missing its mark and can't be defended as spend at Board level?
• ad agencies that are good at spending money but not good at earning?you money in the form of leads, appointments or sales?

It's never really question of budget, it's always a question of priority.

And your priority should always be making more sales, whatever the market conditions.

The more your sales team learn, the more you and they will earn.

+++

I am on a mission to help rural business owners, marketing managers and rural sales reps get the respect and results they deserve.

If you're struggling with rural sales or generating predictable reliable qualified leads and want a proven rural marketing system that works like a 24/7 money-making machine, you can grab a free 30-minute rural sales coaching call with me?here

Make sure you get a copy of my "How To Succeed In Rural Sales" ebook before I take it down. You can download your FREE copy?here

PS. If you enjoy my articles, you’ll??? my new podcast. Subscribe?here

PPS. If you liked reading this article, you might enjoy these ones too: