Tips to a successful sales training program

Myers Barnes new home sales training successSales training is not a one-off activity. Life changes, creating new challenges for homebuyers. The market shifts, causing new home sales professionals to stay sharp. Although the fundamentals of selling stay the same through it all, mindset can move, droop, or simply fail to turn lessons into behaviors. Here are tips for a successful sales training program.

Plan ahead with your trainer.

Don’t just sit back and wait for your sales trainer to launch into insightful brilliance. Prepare for the experience. Evaluate your team and their needs. Set goals for each sales training session. Is this experience intended to introduce new content or build on what’s been presented in the past? 

Be specific about what you want each session to achieve and share it with your trainer in advance. Discuss your selling process with the trainer so that the presentation is relatable to your team. Point out recent challenges that individuals and the team have been trying to manage.

Prep your sales team.

Explain the purpose and value of sales training. It’s your company’s investment in them, an opportunity to keep growing and improving. Remind them that we all need to sharpen our skills from time to time, to stay on top of trends and shifts in the art of selling.

Discuss the goals of the training program with your sales team. Ask for their input by suggesting they individually give you their wish list—offering this confidentiality will allow them to be more forthcoming and candid.

Shift into the mindset.

Before training begins, everyone needs to welcome learning. An open mind and positive attitude is like watering a garden, encouraging new growth. All it takes is one naysayer to spoil an experience for those who are engaged in harvesting knowledge. If you have anyone who might dampen the positivity of the sales training session, pull them aside in advance and encourage them to adopt a better attitude and approach this opportunity as the perk that it is.

Eliminate distractions.

When I look around a room and see people tapping away at their phones or laptops, I know they’re distracted. Allowing attendees to be diverted from the training is a waste of time and money. Instruct everyone that they must leave all devices outside the room. Allow breaks when they can handle their essential communication. No exceptions—and that includes the sales manager, too! 

Follow up.

Send an email immediately after each day’s session is completed to thank everyone for their participation (hint: prepare the emails in advance to save time and update each as needed based on the day’s presentation). Outline the key points that were covered. Provide links to relevant content, including online resources for the material presented. Keep your email brief and encouraging.

Gather feedback.

Within a few days after the sales training program has been completed, ask for feedback from each person who took part. Don’t do it immediately; let the experience soak in.

Send a few questions that require your new home sales professionals to revisit the knowledge and put it into practice. Keep the questions open, requiring more than a “yes” or “no” answer, so that they have to be more thoughtful in their responses. 

For example:

  • What did you learn from the recent training?
  • How will you apply the knowledge to your sales technique?
  • What would you like to cover in future sales training programs?

Most importantly, commit to training!

Sales training, done right, delivers tremendous ROI. Don’t let your sales staff get rusty from the lack of continuing education and inspiration. When you invest in them, you build a strong sales team that follows a successful selling process. Use these sales training tips to start framing out your program. Then contact me to deliver the inspiration and knowledge your team needs.

 

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