How to Make Sales Training More Effective

There are two main problems that I've frequently come across in sales training:
1. A lot of Sales People reject training in their mind because they feel they don't need it
2. Those who are receptive to sales training find it hard to put it into practice.

Let's first take a look at why so many sales people reject the idea of being trained by an expert trainer. Well I know the answer to this question because I was one of those people. I think one of the main reasons for this "refusal to be trained" is the fact that sales people are very independent types who like to work "on their own" A typical sales personality likes to reach objectives using personal techniques. (Some are good and some are bad)

I'll tell you a quick story about my experience as a musical composer and producer before I got into sales. About 15 years ago I started to get heavily into composing and producing music on the computer. I began with no knowledge whatsoever of writing music and how to put it together on a computer. Within a few months I was able to put pieces of music together and mix them down onto a single track and I felt like I was really going somewhere. However after a couple of years I was getting frustrated that I couldn't reach that really clean sound that you would hear on a professional CD. I kept on working for another four years to get that great sound and finally I suppose I reached it. My soundtrack was used on the first Italian movie distributed by Columbia pictures. Okay the movie did flop but at least I had reached that professional level. However looking back I now realise that I probably wasted hundreds and hundreds of hours trying to learn stuff all by myself. This caused me endless hours of frustration and stress that could so easily have been avoided. All I had to do was follow a course on music production and I would have saved myself so much time and energy. Well you've guessed it, the exact same thing applies to sales. Too many sales people are like a lot of pop music you hear today, "one continuous loop" They just keep trying the same thing over and over again, even if it's totally wrong.

The second problem is the sales person who is willing to do the training but finds it hard to put it into practice. One of the reasons why this happens is because sales training is an ongoing process. It's not a magic fix that will solve all problems after a few hours of training. Sales people can be orientated and pointed in the right direction. However at the end of the day, it's the individual who is must be accountable for wanting to change and improve. People form bad habits just as easily as they form good habits and this takes an average of just 30 days. How many people are willing to do something consistently for 30 days to make it the norm? New habits can be formed when the desire and motivation for change is there, but nobody can force anybody. Ironically, sales training works best for those sales people who are already willing to change. These are people who really want to improve and are willing to do whatever is necessary to get there.

I have found that one of the best ways to get people to put sales training into practice is to encourage them to develop their strengths. It's much less effective when we emphasise a person's weaknesses because that only acts to discourage and reduce self-esteem. Sales people need encouragement and recognition for achievement. This is the way forward and this is what I've found works best.

David Lynch is a Sales Training Designer & Accomplished Author. He has more than 20 years experience in a variety of industries including software, insurance & hospitality. If you would like to learn more sales skills from David you can download a Free Copy of his E-book "25 Mistakes To Avoid When Selling" at http://www.saleswillgrow.com/freesalestraining2.html