Sales Training Skills

Many people say that no matter how many hours people have of sales training, skills like these can't be taught ? that salespeople either have the knack or not. But the best sales recruiters, managers, and professional will tell you differently and have been putting these beliefs into practice for decades in the sales recruiting field. These experiences show that a good training course can help businesses maximise their sales by unlocking the potential of their sales force and improving performance. Having a well-organised and motivated sales force is one of the most important aspects of any business, but although there are many sales training programmes out there, most of them only have a marginal impact on the effectiveness of businesses.

Why? Because the sales training, skills being taught, and experience being shared haven't been tailored specifically to the client's needs. The first aspect of a good sales training course is to listen to the customer's needs, get a feel for their sales issues and the effect these are having on their company. That's the only way to deliver a training programme that's right for a business. Many companies continue to provide "off-the-peg" training programmes that just don't take account of the specific needs and situation of clients. The exceptional recruiting firm, however, tailors training to the needs of customers ? not the other way round.

Allied to this is a commitment to putting together sales training, skills, and experience sharing programmes that are memorable and fun to take part in, born of many years' experience in graduate sales recruitment and training. Sales trainers and coaches are people with a great passion for what they do, and that enthusiasm can't help but be transmitted to the salespeople who take our courses. Successful agency programmes of sales training, skills seminars, and courses are designed to get the best out of participants, using a mixture of experimental and situational training. Forget the tired old formula of workshops and stale role-playing situations; the modern sales recruiting agency creates training programmes which require sales people to use all the tools of their trade ? phone calls, presentations, negotiations, and meetings, all convincingly simulated (using professional actors where appropriate), and recorded to give even experienced sales people exposure to new situations, taking them out of their comfort zones, and giving them records of their performance to take away and work on.

A good sales training skills programme needs to be innovative and different if it is going to succeed, and sales professionals should expect no less. The result? Sales training courses are developed that really make a difference to the performance of sales teams, whatever the situation.

Scott Deane is the Marketing Manager of meta-morphose international, a specialist graduate sales training agency. The company have graduate jobs in the UK and Internationally.