Revamped sales training could be exactly what your program needs if you’re seeing plateaued or weakened sales from your sales reps. When you hire sales reps, you often choose people for their record of great experience, so is it really necessary to provide them with additional sales training? In most cases, yes, and here’s why.

Technology Moves Fast

If some or all of your sales reps are unfamiliar with the latest technology that affects your industry, you need sales training.

Focusing training on technology can help your organization to blend old school techniques with today’s newest technology. Some of your sales reps probably automatically incorporate new technology into their presentations and methods of operation, but others need to be shown how today’s technology can help them to be more productive. Also, clients and potential customers are impressed when sales people are knowledgeable about the latest and greatest technology that affects their industries. It makes your sales reps more trustworthy and valuable in their eyes.

Measurable Outcomes

If you don’t have a simple way of measuring outcome, you need sales training.

Sales training isn’t just for rookies; veterans need periodic training as well. And one of the reasons for instigating a training program is to develop a measurable outcome from which both the sales reps and the company can benefit. Consider what can be measured, and develop a training curriculum around those items. The following items can get you started as you think about measurable outcomes:

• Total revenue
• Total sales
• New accounts
• Number of appointments set
• Number of leads generated
• Number of mentor meetings witnessed

Follow Up Coaching

If you don’t know how your past training has affected your sales reps, you need follow-up sales training.

When you take precious time out of your sales reps’ days to train them, it’s important to follow up and see how they’re implementing what they learned into their day-to-day work. Too many sales reps learn a new skill in a classroom but then forget about it as soon as they get back out in the field. This is because of a lack of accountability by their managers. If you considered the training important enough to develop and present it, then it’s important enough to periodically check in and measure their progress.

Peer feedback and accountability can be very important when it comes to follow up coaching. When sales reps are accountable to each other as well as to their managers, they benefit from the friendly competition you engender in your program, and they give each other valuable ideas gleaned from their experiences with clients.

By using sales training to help your sales reps keep up with changing technology, to discover and use measurable outcomes, and to follow up with past coaching, your organization will improve its sales and reach prospective customers like never before. Find out what kind of sales training is necessary for your reps, and provide it without delay.