How to Create Tailor-Made Sales Team Training

There’s no one-size-fits-all training system for sales teams, which makes it hard to find the perfect training system for your business. What you can do is strategically tailor sales training to the needs of your business so you can boost sales and grow your bottom line.?

Key Takeaways: How to Tailor Sales Training to Your Team

• Companies in the US alone have spent $70 billion on training
• You need a custom-made system that addresses problems unique to your business.
• The first step to getting the perfect training module is to identify your unique sales problems and training options
• Automating your sales process decreases human error and boosts sales?
• Continuously modify your training to always reflect your sales team’s needs

Many founders know that sales teams are pivotal to their business. After all, that’s where the money comes from.?

These founders also know that the most efficient way to increase revenue is to train their sales team. So, it’s not surprising that US companies spent over $70 billion on sales training in 2016 alone.?

The only problem is developing a training system that works for your business. It’s unlikely that you'll find a one-size-fits-all system for training your team members. These are different people, each with unique strengths, experience, etc. Luckily, you can find a robust training approach that helps develop your salespeople as individuals and as a team.?

This guide highlights the process involved in creating a custom-made training system for your sales team, so you can maximize sales without sacrificing company objectives. Ready? Let’s dig in.

1. Select the right sales training program

Every good sales training program has three things in common:

• They find and close the skills gap between your sales team and competitors' sales teams.
• They teach social selling skills.
• They can be easily integrated into your current sales process.

While these are good impacts to be looking out for, they don’t specifically address the problems unique to your sales team. What you need to do at this stage is shortlist your options to get programs that solve your problem.?

One way to do this is to answer some relevant questions. Questions like, what does your current sales process look like? How do you obtain leads? Do you qualify your leads? Who is your target audience? What is your unique selling proposition??

Answer these questions, and you’ll have a program that improves your sales team and potentially grows your bottom line.

2. Define your sales process

This step is crucial if you’re onboarding new salespeople to your team. Chances are, they have experience working through another system and will approach your sales with principles from that system. But no two businesses are the same.

Defining your sales process provides a clear picture of your unique approach to lead generation, upselling, cross-selling, proposal creation, etc. One way to do this is to do a practical case study highlighting your whole sales process.

Have you had success with a particular client? How did you go about it? How did you get and qualify the lead? Do you have a signature closing technique??

Another thing you can try is role-playing. Get your new and even more experienced salespeople to practice closing a client, preferably an old client. This gives everybody hands-on experience in sales while cementing your company culture in new hires.

3. Determine the sales training type that works for your business

You can choose from four major sales training types for your business:?

• Product sales training
• Sales methodology training
• Sales skill training
• Sales automation training?

Product sales training covers everything there is to know about your product – features, pricing, the whole nine yards. Sales methodology training boils down your sales process. That means lead generation, lead qualification, etc.?

Sales skill training is designed to improve how your team uses your methodology. How well are they capturing leads? What techniques do you put in place to close more sales? Sales automation training covers the unique tools for optimizing your sales process.?

Each of these trainings has unique benefits and covers different sales stages, but you don’t need all this training for your business. For instance, if you’re only looking to upskill your sales team’s selling techniques, then you should focus on sales skills training.?

4. Sales automation training?

Sales automation training deserves a special spotlight. Today, this training is a non-negotiable element in every sales course. Why??

It reduces the chances of human error impacting your sales. Human error is not uncommon in sales – maybe you forgot to send the follow-up email or spent too much time in one meeting and lost a client. While you may not be to blame, that’s money lost right there.

Sales automation tools reduce these risks so you can boost sales and revenue. In fact, as of 2020, 61% of businesses that automate their sales have surpassed their revenue targets. If you want to record sales of that magnitude, you need to train your sales team to use your automation tools effectively.?

Note that you must find the right sales automation tool for your business before teaching your team to use it. For instance, if your goal is to close more leads, you need a robust customer relationship management (CRM) system to help. Find the right tools, train your team to use them, and watch your bottom line grow.

5. Constantly modify your sales training to reflect your team’s needs

You may have to change your sales techniques with time, especially as your business grows. The sales process you use when targeting 100 people may not work when you’re serving a million people. That calls for change. It’s best to start off your business with a scalable sales process but remain open to change.?

Build your team’s confidence and loyalty while seeing bottom-line growth

An effective sales training program does more than improve your sales. It’s a major confidence booster for new and tapped-out salespeople. If you really think about it, sales is mainly about transferring confidence.?

You’re confident that your product can solve a prospect’s problem. Now, all you have to do is get the prospect to the same level of confidence in the product, and that’s a purchase right there.?

If you’re still confused about putting together tailor-made training for your sales team, MetaGrowth can help. MetaGrowth helps you create a strong training approach, so sales team members master digital tools and stay aligned with company sales goals.?

Is sales your thing? Are you looking to improve your sales process? Contact MetaGrowth today to learn all the ways they can help.?