| What passes for sales training in many selling | | | | 2. Instead of a systematic process for capturing |
| organizations is hardly a laughing matter. Ask any | | | | the knowledge, behavior and attitudes of the best |
| business leader or executive what the most | | | | performers, and then sharing it with the whole |
| important part of his or her business happens to | | | | sales organization, this information is inefficiently |
| be, and they'll say "my people". But when you | | | | dispersed one-on-one. The organization loses out |
| look into how little time, money and attention | | | | on the aggregate power of this transfer of |
| they invest into their training and development | | | | intellectual capital. |
| process, you'll be left with a much different | | | | 3. Bad sales habits of the hapless "trainer for a |
| impression. | | | | day" may get passed on to an impressionable |
| Far too many sales managers and business | | | | sales trainee during these unguided "sales training" |
| owners believe that they cannot afford to set | | | | sessions in a way that is damaging to the |
| aside the time or the money to get their sales | | | | long-term success of the trainee. |
| representatives deeply and rigorously trained in a | | | | 4. Many average or under-performing salespeople |
| manner that is customized for their organization's | | | | end up being assigned to mentor the new staff |
| needs. | | | | member because the top performers refuse to |
| Instead, they send newbies on half-backed | | | | dent their productivity by doing a task for which |
| orientation sessions, stick a bunch of binders in | | | | they are unsuited and untrained. |
| their hands, and sending them out on "ride-alongs" | | | | 5. Training business development professionals in |
| with senior salespeople (internal selling mentors). | | | | this way is potentially disastrous for overall |
| While this may work here and there, the | | | | production because different trainees get |
| occasional success of this method when | | | | exposure to different training. Such a system is |
| implemented alone has as much to do with dumb | | | | not duplicable or systematic, and therefore cannot |
| luck as with anything else. | | | | be incrementally improved over the long haul. It is |
| The Downside of Relying Mainly On Internal Selling | | | | not improvable... so when a problem arises, no sale |
| Mentors For Sales Training | | | | manager, executive or consultant can fix the |
| In a large sales organization, there may be as | | | | system. It will have to be replaced wholesale - |
| much as a 2100% gap in productivity between | | | | from planning, to scripting, to behavior. |
| the top performer and the bottom seller. This | | | | Conclusion |
| wide range of variation in productivity means that | | | | I am not against using more experienced sales |
| sales managers usually pick out the top | | | | professionals in your organization as selling |
| performers to be the "victim" of a sub-par | | | | mentors. However, this cannot take the place of |
| mentoring process. | | | | a robust and systematic sales training process. |
| Here are a few reasons why internal sales | | | | The most effective sales training systems are |
| mentoring should never be relied on as a | | | | customized to the needs of your organization. |
| substitute for a more robust sales training | | | | They are built from the ground up to |
| system. | | | | acknowledge the realities facing your business and |
| 1. Without special preparation, and with no special | | | | your sales professionals when they knock on the |
| incentive for doing something that could potentially | | | | doors of prospects. Such sales systems are |
| interfere with their own productivity, many of | | | | integrated and into metric-based sales |
| these top performers come to resent what | | | | management systems so that you can improve |
| should be a profitable and practical team-building | | | | on behaviors rather than relying on empty |
| (and business-building) process. | | | | rhetoric (or even insults) to motivate. |