You Don’t Need Sales Training
All too often, companies buy trainings and seminars that have nothing to do with what they need to do. In this post I will be showcasing why you don't need sales training or any of the other generic trainings that can take up valuable time in your company as well as money.
The idea is to get rid of all these useless trainings and focus on what is genuinely important for success in your industry. That way you can put your energy and funds into things that actually make an impact like taking care of the product, marketing, customer service, etc.
This article will also give you a breakdown of what sales training and programs are often used for and then why they don't work. I'll be showcasing these resources and then finally providing my own recommendations, which aren't related to most sales training programs.
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Why Do Salespeople Need Sales Training?
I've always found this funny because it's not something that I hear so much, but it's something that the majority of people seem to think is necessary. Why do salespeople need sales training? Is it because they need to sell more? If that were true then wouldn't selling more mean you'll make more money? Wrong. In fact, the opposite is true. You can have the best salesperson in the world and they will still not be able to make money if they aren't selling correctly.
In this case, sales training is a waste of time and resources. It's never going to help you get better at selling because there is nothing to teach. Sales are about getting more leads, closing more deals and then reaping the benefits that come from those deals. There's no one-size-fits-all blueprint for how to do this and therefore there's no perfect training that will teach you everything you need to know about sales.
This is where I come in. There is a training that everyone can learn and that will work for every business. It's called the Process of Closing. This process defines what your end goal is and how to get from A to Z. It covers everything from who you're selling to, proper body language, next step follow up, how to deal with objections and how to close a deal.
All of these points are things that are missing from most sales training programs. If you can master this process then it will help you close more deals, which will in turn increase your profits and pay you more money.
Below is a list of training that are commonly referred to as 'sales training' and then I will explain why they don't work. There are a lot of bad sales trainers out there who will take your money and teach you what they want to teach you instead of the actual process. This means that you won't be able to use this information once you leave the training. The sales process is dynamic so if their sales process is flawed they could be teaching you things that will hurt your chances long term but make them feel like they did their job.
This is why it's important to learn the Process of Closing or 'How To Close' as it's often called. This is because it is dynamic and will keep improving with time and you'll be able to use it forever.
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Examples of Common Sales Training
Leadership/Management Training
Leadership training isn't meant for your salespeople. In fact it's not meant for anyone in sales at all. It's usually geared towards someone who is new to management or is a manager in a different industry. Sales skills can be improved through managing, but they are very different skills. Essentially you're teaching someone to do two jobs at once. This will take up valuable time that could be going into bettering your product instead of trying to get someone to buy it. Leadership training will help with the second half of the process but it won't help you with the first part, which is what is most important.
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Marketing Training
Nothing about marketing can be taught. You can't be taught to drive a car or fly an airplane, so why would you think you can teach someone to sell and market the same product? Marketing is a skill that is learned through experience and if you don't have the experience then there's nothing you can learn from a training program that will help. A lot of people think they need it because they read something on the internet and they want to know what everyone else knows. There is no reason to spend money on marketing training because it won't help your salespeople learn more in less time.
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Customer Service Training
Customer service isn't a sales skill. Most people will say that it is, but it's not. Customer service just ties into the sales process, but it's not the actual skill to help you sell more and make more money. There are some customer service skills that you can use to get better at sales and close deals faster though, so there is some crossover. That being said, you don't need a class to teach someone how to answer phone calls or emails. You can find some free resources online or even use your own internal training program to help with this issue.
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Sales Coaching vs Sales Training
A common misconception of coaching is that it has something to do with sports and/or physical schooling. This is different from sales training. Coaching is a process that helps you improve your sales by addressing the issues...and there will always be issues. Sales doesn't get easier and it's not one of those things where you can just do it and get better at it through practice. You need to work on the right things, but you also need to work on the wrong things as well. This is called 'coaching'.
An easy way to spot a sales training program that won't help you is if they're focused on solely helping your staff with closing deals. At this point in time, closing isn't the problem because everyone can close when they have enough help from others to do their job properly. This is where coaching comes in. The staff that needs coaching are the ones who need to be able to close on their own without help. This is a much more advanced sales strategy and most people won't need this until they are well into their careers. Some people don't ever have these problems and they will never need to be coached by anyone else.
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Other Sales Training vs 'How-To Close'
There are many other terms used when referring to this process but it's all the same thing. There's nothing wrong with wanting to learn more about the sales process, but make sure you're learning from someone who can teach you how to close deals and not just how to sell a product or service.
Conclusion
Sales is not a skill that can be learned in the classroom, it's a skill that is learned through experience. The main reason people don't succeed in sales is because they aren't willing to commit to the process. The process cannot be rushed and there will always be people who are more successful than others. You have to have the right mindset and not give up no matter how much money you lose.
If you're looking to make more money, then you should consider how much time you want to put into making more of it. A lot of people get into sales because they want this big pay day at the end of their career and for some reason think that two years of working hard will get them there.