In an increasingly competitive and ever-changing business environment, high-quality sales training is essential to optimise your people’s performance and maintain a competitive edge in your industry. We’re taking a look at how you can develop your team using training.
“A motivated team will climb the mountains
that un-motivated teams don’t even look at”
1. Review skills gaps and performance shortfalls in your team:
When it comes to appraisal time, when reviewing your teams’ performance, identify any gaps in their skills or knowledge – then define the skills, knowledge or competencies required to fill the skills gap/performance shortfall. For example, would the sales team benefit from increasing their confidence when it comes to influencing and negotiation or attending networking events? Review proposed training requirements and requests from your team’s performance appraisals. If someone is soon to be promoted, are there any training courses that would help boost their skills and confidence to maximise their performance in their new role – such as leadership or management skills?
2. Define clear SMART training objective(s):
Most of us are familiar with the ‘SMART’ acronym – which stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, targeted and timed. Think about what the learner should be able to do once the training is completed? Manage both sets of expectations to get the most out of the training.
3. Research appropriate training resources/suppliers:
Look for companies with significant experience in training businesses and professionals, and the credentials of the trainers hosting the courses; trainers with specific sector experience that is relevant to your business, for example. Then, plan your training programme (e.g. online, on-site, off-site, courses, and secondments or outdoor team building) and create a training schedule. Ripley Training offers a wide range of sales and marketing courses to aid your teams’ development.
4. Encourage a culture of continuous improvement and learning:
Your employees need to believe in training and development just as much as you do – and they need to see the tangible benefits to them for their own personal and professional development. By creating and fostering a company culture that supports continuous learning, improvement and development, your team will constantly strive to be better at what they do and take the initiative to learn themselves through self-directed learning. Be flexible – give your team the opportunity to attend industry events conferences and seminars, provide subscriptions to key sales and marketing publications which are then made available to your team in the office, to help them stay abreast of the latest technology and trends in their field. This way – you’re visually showing and demonstrating your commitment to their development.
5. Monitor, review and evaluate the return on the budget spent:
Have a process in place for continually reviewing the impact and results that training is having on your teams’ development. Ask them for feedback; ask them to demonstrate what they’ve learnt in their daily roles – for example: Try a monthly ‘show and tell’ where team members present to their colleagues on what they have learnt that month and how they have applied it in their work. Set some KPI’s to measure which can form the yardsticks upon which to measure your teams’ performance.
Can we help you?
With 8 years’ experience in providing sales and marketing training to businesses, both in-house and via open sales and marketing courses across the UK, we have helped thousands of companies develop their sales and marketing teams, increase productivity and ultimately – revenue. Furthermore, if you’d like us to design a bespoke course for your Sales and Marketing team why not give us a call on 01423-861-122 or fill in our short contact form – we’d love to help you!
By Mike Smith
