Whether for newly hired salespeople or veterans, sales training constitutes a major investment for most companies. This article tells how to get the most for your money, how to choose the type of training appropriate for your sales force, and where to turn for help.

Training works. Despite periodic claims that "great salespeople are born, not made," the demands placed on salespeople to achieve corporate goals and anticipate the needs of customers mean that sales training is an essential management tool. And, though there always will be those who grumble about the instruction, for the vast majority of salespeople, training provides their initiation into the world of selling and is likely to recur at critical points throughout their career.

Companies that get the best results, naturally, are those that work hard at designing training programs grounded in conditions that trainees will find in the marketplace. Most corporate and outside trainers agree that it's not how much a company spends on training that's important but that the curriculum be tied to specific goals in line with the company's business strategy.

There are many different types of sales training, but all fall under one of two basic headings:

• Product training. Companies generally assume responsibility for indoctrinating salespeople in the qualities of the products and services they will be presenting to customers.
  
  
• Training in selling skills, both basic and advanced. This is frequently the province of outside training providers.

KEY ISSUES

Needs assessment. Most training programs start by identifying the skills salespeople need to develop. Some companies will ask salespeople directly what their needs are; others ask customers to identify skill gaps in the salespeople calling on them; still others will use more objective testing, sometimes administered by an outside training company or consultant, to help identify the areas where salespeople need training.

Time spent in training is an important factor for some sales organizations. Time away from customers is always a serious issue, particularly for small companies or those in highly competitive industries. As a result, training for experienced salespeople involves relatively little time out of the field compared to that for sales trainees.

Training media. Even larger companies with their own internal training organizations are constantly looking for ways to decentralize training. Their goal is to maximize sales productivity by taking training into the field, as close as possible to the salesperson. More companies are offering salespeople a choice of self-training materials so they can sharpen their skills without taking time out from seeing customers. These media include video tapes, audio tapes, books, skills-oriented newsletters, interactive training software, satellite TV-based programs, and, most recently, the Internet and company intranets.

Group size. The effort to minimize training time has led some companies to make the mistake of trying to accomplish all their training goals in one session; for example, by tacking two days of training onto the end of the company's annual sales meeting. The result is often an attempt to cram too much material into too little time with too large a group. Training efforts are most successful when groups are kept small and sessions are spread out over a longer period of time.

STATISTICS

In 1999, training budgets totaled 62.5 billion for some form of employer-provided training, and of that about $7.6 billion--12 percent of all training dollars--was allocated to sales training, according to Training magazine's most recent "18th Annual Industry Report."

WHAT TRAINING SHOULD COVER

The first question you should ask before investing in training is, What do we want our training to accomplish? What specific knowledge or skills should the salesperson be able to demonstrate on completing training? Training for new salespeople, for instance, should probably involve product training and information about customers, the industry, and competitors. It should cover such internal concerns as how to file a credit for a customer, how to handle a complaint, and other procedures necessary to provide effective sales and customer service. That might include how to request a test sample from the engineering department or how to set up a plant visit for a customer. Training for new salespeople should also include some level of skills training, depending on the nature of your company's approach to the customer and the level of skills your sales trainees bring to the job. Among the types of training that will be influenced by your objectives are the following:

Product knowledge is where sales training efforts start. That's particularly true of technical products and services, but it is also true for any company that takes a features-and-benefits approach to sales. A salesperson has to understand his or her product, know how it works, and be able to explain how it can help the prospective customer.

Customer knowledge is an important element in most training efforts, because the more salespeople know about their customer's business, the better they can identify sales opportunities and explain how their product or service can help. Good salespeople strive to learn how customers do business, how they add value to a product, who their customers are, and what they are asking for.

Competitor knowledge. In many cases, a thorough understanding of your competitor's products and services is as important as knowing your own products and services. In any sales situation, it is important to know how the features and benefits of a competitor's products compare to those of your own products and be able to explain that difference to customers. In addition, companies that adopt a consultative sales approach (solution selling) may wind up using a competitor's products as well as their own in the solution they offer to customers.

Internal knowledge. Training on how their own company works is often shortchanged in programs for salespeople, but it is nevertheless important. In mature industries, in particular, or with products that are perceived as commodities, product differentiation is often a matter of promoting the added services that a company can provide to customers. Thus it is critical for a salesperson to have a working knowledge of the company's capabilities in such areas as just-in-time delivery, 24-hour technical service, and on-site consultative services.

TRAINING OPTIONS

In deciding how to train their salespeople, companies have a wide variety of options, ranging from formal classroom work to on-the-job training and mentoring. The type a company chooses will depend on the size of the company and the size of the sales force, how much the company can afford to spend, the type of training salespeople need, and management's willingness to take salespeople out of the field for training.

On-the-job training is probably the most common form of sales training, particularly for smaller companies. The most effective on-the-job training calls for the sales manager (or a veteran salesperson) to accompany the trainee on a series of carefully selected calls to introduce the trainee to the realities of selling. The manager discusses each call beforehand, going over everything that might happen during the call and setting out potential steps for the trainee to take. Then, the manager lets the trainee conduct the call on his own, interfering as little as possible. After the call, the manager reviews what went well and things that might be improved.

Mentoring is an extension of on-the-job training. A senior salesperson works as a daily advisor to the new salesperson, both as an on-the-job trainer during the early stages and as a regular advisor and sounding board thereafter.

Classroom training. Formal classroom training has the advantage of a structured environment in which a large amount of information can be transferred to a group of salespeople in a relatively short period of time. But it can be boring, and it is often poorly reinforced in the field. To improve the process, companies and outside trainers vary the classroom routine by using such techniques as role-playing, games, group projects, and case studies.

Electronic and computer-based training. A number of larger companies with widely dispersed sales forces take advantage of electronic technologies to get customized product and skills training into the hands of their salespeople without taking them out of the field. These methods include interactive video training, CD-ROM-based interactive computer training, and training offered via corporate satellite TV networks. Even when booklets, course materials, or other documents are required, companies save on shipping costs by using a "print-on-demand" system to distribute the information electronically and then have it printed at remote locations. Two rapidly-emerging media: training via the Internet or over a corporate intranet.

WHAT SALES SKILLS WILL BE NEEDED?

The type of skills your training efforts will focus on will likely depend on the approach your organization takes to sales, but the following basics should be included in any program:

Listening skills. To identify sales opportunities, salespeople need to be able to listen carefully as customers talk about their business and the problems they face.

Presentation skills. Whether you take a consultative approach to sales or a features-and-benefits approach, selling almost always involves a formal presentation to an individual or a group.

Probing and questioning. The ability to ask probing questions is crucial, both to identify sales opportunities and to help the customer understand how your product or service can help.

Prospecting and qualifying. A large part of selling is prospecting--identifying potential new customers to keep the sales pipeline filled. Prospecting skills include such things as telephone selling, trade show skills, and techniques for getting past gatekeepers. Qualifying involves being able to separate customers or prospects according to their level of potential. Are they seriously interested in your product, can they afford it, do they have buying authority, and do they have a time frame within which they will likely make a purchase?

Handling objections. An objection is the term applied to resistance or hesitation on the part of the customer for a stated (or sometimes unstated) reason, such as cost or quality. Salespeople must be ready to anticipate, acknowledge, and respond to objections in a way that satisfies the customer's concerns without causing offense.

Closing techniques are simply ways to ask for the order. They range from pulling out an order form and asking for a signature to summarizing the reasons why buying the product or service makes sense for the customer.

Time-and-territory management. Salespeople are usually on their own most of the day and have a lot of demands on their time. Training in time-management skills will help them organize their territories, classify customers, prioritize their responsibilities, and manage their time so that they make the most productive use of the work day.

SPECIALIZED SALES TRAINING

In addition to the basic skills listed above, many outside sales trainers offer specialized training that arises out of a specific theory of sales or out of their personal experience in sales and sales training. Training of this sort is almost always outsourced. Among the most common specialties are:

Consultative selling positions the salesperson as a consultant or problem-solver, rather than a product vendor.

Major-account management. Training for salespeople who are responsible for handling large national or global accounts.

Partnering is an approach to sales that attempts to make the customer a partner in the business relationship, thus fostering a win-win situation for both buyer and seller. It calls for sharing such financial information as costs and margins, and strategic information such as marketing and expansion plans.

Relationship selling emphasizes the importance of building long-term business and personal relationships with customers.

Team selling. Selling high-tech products, capital goods, or complicated systems and services often requires the specialized skills of more than one person. This type of training focuses on how the salesperson can act as the quarterback for a team of product specialists, customer service people, and technical staff.

Telesales. This is training, usually heavily scripted, for salespeople who conduct all or most of their selling activities by phone.

Value-added selling. To differentiate itself from competitors, a company might emphasize additional services it offers in such areas as delivery, quality-assurance, or technical assistance.

TRAINING FOR SALES CERTIFICATION

A number of industry associations (the furniture and automobile industries are good examples) offer programs to certify salespeople in their industries. It's a way of letting customers and potential employers know that these salespeople meet certain minimum standards for selling skills, experience, industry and product knowledge, and ethics. Check with your industry association to see what it has for salespeople. Also, both Sales and Marketing Executives International and the National Association of Sales Professionals offer generic sales certification programs open to sales professionals in all industries (see Associations).

CASE HISTORY: 3M

How about letting customers decide what sort of sales training your salespeople need? It sounds risky, but that's the approach that 3M takes with its customer-focused training. The company developed a detailed survey covering key sales-skill areas, including knowledge of products and services, strategic skills critical to leveraging time with the customer, interpersonal selling, sales negotiation, internal influence and teamwork, and customer-focused quality. Salespeople evaluate themselves first, then ask six of their customers to evaluate their performance from the customer's point of view. The reports are mailed back to 3M, where the personnel department prepares a feedback report for each salesperson.

The report points out the gaps between how well the salesperson thinks he is doing and what customers think. Based on that, it identifies areas where the salesperson might need additional training. The salesperson then meets with his sales manager to map out a training program addressing the three most significant gaps. The program might include 3M-sponsored classroom training courses, outside training, or approved self-study materials. Salespeople are required take their composite feedback reports back to the customers who completed the survey to discuss the results and ask for additional input on how to close the gaps.

ENCOURAGING SELF-PACED TRAINING IN SALES

Take a look at the best salespeople in any organization--those who recognize the value of career-long learning and the advantages it can bring--and you'll find that they've taken on their own program for training. They check their performance every day. They listen to audio tapes in the car. They look for and read articles that will help them improve their performance.

They also learn from experience. After every sales call, self-training sales professionals ask themselves two questions:

• What did I do right?
• What could I do differently if I had to do it over again?

Companies can help to encourage continuous self-training among salespeople by building an in-house library of training materials that is available to salespeople through a variety of media. The library might include books, training videos, audio cassettes, materials that can be posted on a web site, and information about courses offered by trade associations and local universities. Additions to the library can be announced by e-mail, company intranet, or company newsletter. Management can reinforce the importance of continuous learning by using trade magazines and newsletters as a source of case studies, examples, and talking points to present at monthly sales meetings (see Publications).

CHOOSING A SALES TRAINING COMPANY

The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) estimates that 30 percent of U.S. companies regularly use outside training vendors, but there's more to the picture. Other sources suggest that 70 percent of all companies use outside trainers or send salespeople to outside training seminars on at least an occasional basis.

ASTD publishes an annual Buyers Guide and Consultant Directory, which lists training and development suppliers, their products and services, and contact information. It's free to ASTD members, $75 to nonmembers (see Associations). When choosing an outside supplier ASTD recommends that companies:

• Review the credentials of the individual who will provide the training.
• Ask for a client list and references whom you can call to ask about the trainer's communication style, interpersonal skills, and expertise.
• Ask to look at the trainer's instructional materials and, if possible, sit in on a training session.
• Assess the trainer's ability to understand your company's problems, needs, and resources.

ASSOCIATIONS

American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) is the leading professional organization dedicated to workplace learning and performance. ASTD conducts research and publishes Training & Development magazine and other publications related to training in general and sales training in particular. Members of its Sales and Marketing Professional Practice Area include both corporate trainers and outside training providers. Call 703-683-8100; fax 703-683-8103. Go to http://www.astd.org.

Professional Society for Sales & Marketing Training (SMT) is an association of corporate sales and marketing trainers that offers how-to booklets and textbooks as well as a number of educational programs and networking opportunities. Call 215-564-3484; fax 215-963-9785. Go to http://www.smt.org.

National Association of Sales Professionals (NASP) is an association dedicated to improving the image and standards of the sales profession through a sales certification program, educational programs, and networking opportunities. Call 480-951-4311; fax 480-483-2860. Go to http://www.nasp.com.

Sales & Marketing Executives International (SMEI) is a management-level organization that offers a sales-certification program and other educational programs. Call 800-999-1414; fax 216-771-6652. Go to http://www.smei.org/.

CONFERENCES AND TRADE SHOWS

For a list of Industry Events, go to #9510, Calendar of Industry Events.

BOOKS AND TAPES

Brain Sell: Harnessing the Selling Power of Your Whole Brain, by Tony Buzan and Richard Israel, offers salespeople a series of exercises they can do on their own to communicate and sell better. $19.95. Available through Amazon.com, $13.97.

Developing a Professional Sales Force: A Guide for Sales Trainers and Sales Managers, by David Arthur Stumm, provides a thoughtful analysis of the sales training process--where it succeeds and why it fails--and presents field-tested techniques for creating an effective training program. $59.95. Available through Amazon.com, $59.95.

The Inner Game of Selling: A Personal Training System for Sales Professionals, by Robert T. Hill, is a self-learning package that contains not only a book but six audio-tape discussions of the material. $60.95. Available through Amazon.com, $60.95.

Training Salesmen on the Job (Second Edition), by John Lidstone, is a primer for companies interested in offering on-the-job sales training. $69.95. Available through Amazon.com, $69.95.

The ASTD Trainer's Sourcebook--Sales, by Herbert R. Miller, is part of the ASTD Trainer's Sourcebook Series. Provides complete ready-to-run workshops in sales and communications. Includes training games, role-plays, learning activities, surveys, overheads, and presentations that you can mix and match to suit your company's needs. $39.95. Available through Amazon.com, $31.96.

The Sales Professional's Idea-A-Day Guide, by Tony Alessandra, Gregg Baron, and Jim Cathcart, is a useful skill-builder for salespeople looking for a self-paced training source. 363 pp. Dartnell Corp. $29.95. Call 800-621-5463; fax 800-327-8635. Go to http://www.dartnellcorp.com.

Dartnell's Professional Selling Series includes titles on Winning New Accounts and Closing Strong. Dartnell Corp. Call 800-621-5463; fax 800-327-8635. Go to http://www.dartnellcorp.com/.

PUBLICATIONS

Sales & Marketing Management magazine carries frequent articles on sales training and sales training resources. 12 issues. $48/yr. Call 800-821-6897.

Selling Power magazine offers articles, tips, and advice to the professional salesperson. 10 issues. $33/yr. Call 800-752-7355.

Training & Development magazine, published by ASTD, covers a variety of training and human-resources development issues. 12 issues. $85/yr. Call 703-683-8100; fax 703-683-8103. Go to http://www.astd.org.

Training magazine covers the field of training in general and publishes an annual survey-based "Training Industry Report" in its October issue. 12 issues. $78/yr. To subscribe, call 800-707-7749; for information, call 800-328-4329 or 612-333-0471; fax 612-333-6526. Go to http://www.trainingsupersite.com.

"Sell!ng" newletter. Every issue of Sell!ng is brimming with information, ideas, and concrete suggestions on: what to do, what to say, how to act, how to improve your presentations, your telephone manner, how to use technology to save time and simplify your life, and much more. 12 issues. $79/yr. Call 800-621-5463.

"Selling Advantage" newsletter is published 24 times per year and offers motivation and sales tips. $94.65/yr. Call 800-220-5000.

"Salesmanship" is a biweekly newsletter offering tips on developing sales skills. $236.50/yr. Call 800-621-5463.

"Overcoming Objections." This 4-page newsletter provides practical responses to every obections your sales reps are likely to face, along with techniques for turning those objections into sales opportunities. 26 issues, $236.50/yr. Call 800-621-5463.

"Successful Closing Techniques." By highlighting one closing situation in each issue and providing your sales reps with techniques for drumming up bigger sales and closing more frequently, this newsletter in both inspirational and instructional. 26 issues, $236.50/yr. Call 800-621-5463.

"Prospecting." New salespeople and veterans alike will be inspired and motivated by the profit-producing ideas--along with techniques for finding new customers. 26 issues, $236.50/yr. Call 800-621-5463.

RELATED SMN ARTICLES

For information related to sales training, see Doc. 7024, Increasing Sales Productivity via Internet and Intranet.