They would prefer to be out in the field selling and making money. Some sales people feel insulted to be trained in sales techniques again they are sure that know enough already. The reality though is we all need sales training regularly.

A lumberjack who is cutting down a tree in the forest knows that he must regularly stop and sharpen his saw. If he did not it would look to the world like he was cutting down a tree but in reality he would be getting nowhere. His saw would be blunt and ineffective.

In the same way as sales people who are at the cutting edge of selling, we need to be constantly sharpening our sales skills to remain effective.  Some of the issues that can be eradicated by regular sales training include:

Bad habits!

The way we sell changes as we do week by week. We introduce things into our sales delivery, we change things and we omit things. We do this regularly and these new changes become our habits. These changes are rarely for the better.

Once our sales process has been distorted that becomes the way we sell, if a baking tin is banged and pitted then it follows that every cake that is baked in it will be misshapen and pitted too. Regular sales training keeps your selling pure and unblemished.

The 2mm rule of life

If you have played Golf you will know the importance of 2mm. If you hit the golf ball and its 2mm off true, your ball will end up 200 yards to the left or right of where it should have gone. It is the same in our sales life, just a few small things we do wrong could mean we end up miles away from where we want to be on pay day.

Colin Montgomery used to start each new golf season by saying to his coach ‘I’ve never played Golf before teach me from scratch’.   By studying the sales process again you can ensure that all your efforts will be accurate and effective

The forgetful sales person

‘He’s forgotten more about sales than you know’ is a very true saying. We do forget information if we are not constantly using it. Going back through the sales process will remind you of things you may have forgotten and reinforce things you already know.

Professional people like Doctors and Lawyers need to keep up to date with all the latest developments in their field to keep themselves current and sharp.  Professional sales people also need to keep abreast of all the latest developments in the sales environment to be successful and improve their success ratio.

Managing your expectations

If you start a programme of regular sales training do not become discouraged if your earning do not double in the first week.  You will need to understand how your training will affect your sales life.  If you decide to start eating five pieces of fruit every day, the first day you had started you would feel no different. Over a period of days and weeks though, your health would improve dramatically.

It is the same with sales training the effects are not instantaneous, but over a period of time your sales results will improve dramatically.  The reverse is true, if you decide to eat five doughnuts every day; soon you would be fat.

We use the word fat in our sales culture as meaning surplus, if you do no sales training you will be selling unhealthily or unsuccessfully and eventually you could find yourself surplus to the business requirements.

Refreshing what we know about the sales process, learning new things, exchanging ideas and methods is a positive, there are no negatives.  You as a salesperson will feel in control of what you do, you will be more successful.

Your bank balance will also benefit from the exercise!

Check out our open sales  training seminars or if you have a specific questions contact us direct or start a new thread in our free forum page. Click here  for our next free article.

All ideas and articles are the sole copyright of Louie Burns. No part of these articles may be reproduced in any form, or by any means without prior written permission from Louie Burns.