How to get more from your sales training

Learn to sell better and earn more money

All great sales people love being in front of a client. From getting the conversation started, uncovering the needs, presenting the solution through to overcoming objections and closing the client down. The whole customer facing part of the sales process is a lot of fun. So why would you want to take a few days out to go on yet another sales training course?

Sales Training = Bigger Pay Cheques

Take riding a bike. As soon as you can ride a bike without assistance, most people can do it for life. However, selling is not like riding a bike. It is not something you can learn in a matter of a few hours and it takes many years to become seriously good at it.

Even after many years of selling, you will still not be able to close every single deal you go after. Selling is a people industry. Your clients are all different, so the outcomes are going to be more difficult to predict as a result.

Therefore, if you want to become seriously good at selling, then you need to invest in sales training or coaching. You might or might not be the one paying the invoice, but you are certainly the one who needs to put the effort in.

I mean, just what is the point of going on a sales training workshop if you don’t give 100%. It is not just the company that will benefit with bigger more profitable sales, but you will see a financial return in the form of your payslip or even a promotion!

“Everything in life is a sale and everything you want is a commission” Grant Cardone

Make Sales Training Work For You

You are booked to go on the sales training, but what exactly can you do to make sure you leave the training with more knowledge and confidence to close more sales. Here are my 10 tips for making the most of your sales training.

Read the joining instructions – Besides the obvious disadvantage of missing out on essential learning, not doing so means that you could be highly embarrassed, by not doing something everyone else has. If you have to prepare a presentation or introduction then a few minutes in preparing this will really help you start the training session on a positive note.

Get an early night before the training starts – Yes I know going to stop in a hotel with your colleagues is a good excuse to catch up with company gossip over a shandy or too, but resist the temptation to eat and drink too much. You really don’t want to be the one that nods off straight after lunch.

Tell people you are in training – Set your out of office on your emails and your answer phone message. Your company has very likely paid a lot of money for you to attend the sales training. Besides paying a trainer like myself four figures a day plus expenses, they also have your costs to cover and the hidden costs of you not being in front of your clients. Therefore you need to give yourself every opportunity to learn without distraction of clients or colleagues.

Don’t be afraid of not knowing – Now this is a big one for anyone new into sales. Just because some sales people have been selling a long time, does not mean they know how to sell. Don’t feel intimidated by their apparent wealth of experience. Trust me when I say that there are not many truly great sales people out there, so you really have no reason to feel in awe of someone that boasts about how long they have “been in the game and have seen the lot”. In my experience as a trainer, they are usually the ones who make the biggest faux pas during the workshop!

Ask questions – You are there to learn and the best way to do that is ask questions. My motto for sales and training is “If you don’t ask, you don’t get”. The worst question is the one that isn’t asked, so make sure you ask if you want an answer. Your trainer won’t mind at all and your fellow delegates will probably thank you for asking what they really wanted to

Make good notes – Make sure you have a couple of good pens to write with and perhaps some pencils too. Have a good solid note book to write everything down that is important to you. The simple act of writing can really embed the learning more effectively. If the trainer provides a workbook then use that in conjunction with your notebook. I like to pop big or general learning points in the notebook, so I can refer to it during another related training program.

Get stuck in – Those who volunteer to go first may make more mistakes than the ones who go last, but they are the delegates most likely to learn from their mistakes. Leave your perfect ego at the door and get stuck into all the activities your sales trainer throws at you. A great trainer will make sure that the activities are varied, highly interactive and a whole lot of fun. Being a part of that will be a great learning experience for you and one that helps you to sell a lot more successfully.

Read any role play instructions carefully – I love role play. A LOT! Over 30 years ago I spent a week learning to sell a typewriter and every role play session was recorded on a VHS which we got at the end of the course. What I learnt is that the key to a good role play is to read all the instructions thoroughly and do everything they tell you to do. Whether you are playing the buyer or the seller, those instructions were given to you for a reason. Don’t let yourself or your fellow delegates down by missing an important bit of information out.

Feedback constructively – Your sales trainer thrives on feedback. They have been paid to make sure you take the training on board and need to know if you haven’t. HOWEVER, don’t criticise them for stupid stuff, which will always reflect badly on you. My corporate clients always ask for feedback and I will be very honest with them, just as they will be with me. Going on about petty stuff like having 5 hours to drive home, or the fact that there was a comma missing from a powerpoint slide is likely to reflect poorly on you, not the trainer.

Share stories supportively – For me, great sales training is more akin to coaching than teaching. However, in order to get a particular point across it is really useful for everyone to share their experiences. I have often seen newbies overwhelmed by their seasoned colleagues when they share stories of how something did, or didn’t work with a client. Even I pull on 30 plus years of sales experience to share stories which prove or disprove a particular point. So do contribute stories and examples that help others in the group, but please leave your ego at the door and contribute supportively.

Like any kind of training, you only get out of it what you put in. However, if your company doesn’t provide you with sales training to help you be the best, then don’t panic. Either contact me for a FREE 20 minute sales accelerator call with myself or check out my online sales training. I promise that by the end you will have a clearer idea of the sales training options that are available to you.