Do not spend time on sales education.
Do not spend your time and money by hiring a top-of-the-line sales trainer.
Do not put a cent in those who sell to you.
Avoid any of these actions unless you intend to actively guide those selling on a regular and ongoing basis following the initial training. Training will get your reps going on the road towards success in sales; however, it’s a coach who keeps them on the right path. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that coaching is essential to exceeding and achieving your sales goals.
This article will explore the reasons why sales training, as a method of changing the way sales, are conducted is not effective and how you can fix it. It will provide specific strategies, techniques, and practices that can help to change the way that sales are conducted by your sales staff and help them achieve and exceed the sales goals you have set for them.
The Reason Sales Training Doesn’t Work – The Sales Thermostat
To better understand the reasons the reason sales reps don’t effectively train their employees, take a look at a thermostat in your home. It is a piece of equipment that responds automatically to changes in temperature and triggers switches that control devices like furnaces and air conditioners.
In a similar way In way, every sales representative is equipped with their own personal “sales thermostat” that automatically regulates their selling behavior. Similar to the thermostat you set in your house, sales reps also are able to put their personal comfort levels in terms of selling. The comfort zone could be set too high for sure and low for other people. The best way to improve sales is to change the thermostat. In effect, it creates a new comfort zone.
This is where the problem lies.
Sales training aims to set an entirely new sales ‘temperature’ through the introduction of new concepts, ideas, strategies, strategies, and techniques. Sales training implies that sales representatives must change specific elements of selling behavior and, by nature, they are resistant to changes. Change is like increasing temperature, and the more changes are made, the more uncomfortable the sales rep is. As new methods are mastered, the heat increases, and the agent gets increasingly awkward. If the new techniques don’t work right away, brokers are dissatisfied and frustrated. Sometimes, they are rejected by the client when they attempt something different and unique, and the opposition to the new set of skills is heightened.
In the course of days, but it’s not hours later, then the thermostat for sales will automatically start to operate. It is responsive to the adjustments and activates a “switch within the rep which directs the sales rep to go back to their usual methods. Even if these techniques don’t work, however, they’re familiar. It’s similar to the ‘devil’ you’ve seen’ versus the that you aren’t.’
It is a powerful device. It’s quiet and, in the majority of cases, an unconscious phenomenon. It is evident that sales representatives will believe that their present way of selling is better, even when their results do not support this. They’ll give a myriad of reasons that the new methods won’t be effective and then justify their return to previous ways of selling. In some instances, sales reps may think they’ve embraced the latest techniques without realizing that they’ve reverted back to their previous practices.
Sales thermostats can be difficult to fight, and that’s why learning can be a waste of time and energy. The initial excitement and enthusiasm of learning a new skill eventually eroded due to the irresistible urge of sales reps to return to their comfort zone. If left unattended, your learning funds will vanish within a matter of days.
The Solution is Coaching
So, what should the sales manager do to reset the thermostat to create an ideal comfort zone? What should a sales manager do to maximize the return on their investment in sales training?
It is essential to train the sales representatives you have. It’s as straightforward or as complicated as that.
After the course, it is your responsibility to help the sales representative in the implementation of the new methods. You must help to change their behavior and encourage them to practice the latest techniques. You must be an example of cheerleading and be a conscience. You must keep doing this over a period of 3-to-4 weeks. After that, the new behavior generally is a routine, and the new zone of comfort is established, and the thermostat changes. (And in the meantime, the siren’s call for a return to normal behavior is still there and haunts the person at times).
The Coaching Dilemma
Defined coaching refers to the method that is used to identify the difference between stand and understand performance and the actions taken to promote to modify, and enhance behavior.
Gee, it’s easy, doesn’t it? The issue with coaching is that it has two parts.
Problem #1: First, the majority of sales managers don’t teach; they manage. They control numbers, organize meetings, manage their bosses, set goals, they oversee tasks… however, they do not typically coach. If they do, it’s random in the nature of things.
The problem is that coaching isn’t usually an element of the management procedure. In essence, it means that managers need to step out of the safety zone they are in and set their own management thermostat.’ Coaching is not an easy task to apply. This means that it requires change for supervisors too. To be honest, the truth is that coaching isn’t always enjoyable. It can be a time-consuming and complex process, so it’s easy to go back to the familiar and safe routine of managing ‘tasks’ instead of people.
Problem #2. In simple terms, the majority of sales managers don’t know how to coach effectively. This is normal. In the majority of cases, nobody has ever taught them how to be a great coach, and this could be the reason they avoid this.
If the coach, the coach in a sporadic manner and is usually unintentional in nature. (“Well, when I was a student, the way I dealt with the opposition was …”). However, as mentioned above, the process of coaching is not simple applause or a couple of words of feedback every few weeks or every quarter during the review meeting. It is also not a way to address criticism from a coach, which is usually how it is presented, so sales reps are more likely to view it as a negative thing. In this scenario, nobody person likes it, and therefore everyone avoids it.
This is the problem in a succinct manner. Many sales managers do not have an established process or a method for how to effectively coach and alter behaviors. Since they don’t know what to do, they are either unable to do or provide coaching ineffectively or inconsistently.
Summary
Since coaching is a process that can be repeated and is a repeatable process, it is possible to identify its components and reduce them into elements. When we understand the parts of it, the coaching process can be mastery each step by step. If you’ve put a coaching system set up, the sales education investment will pay off in high-quality yields. If it is implemented consistently, the coaching system will not just aid you in meeting your sales targets; it will also reduce costs by decreasing burnout and the turnover of sales reps. You’ll spend less time and money in recruiting for, selecting, and instructing new agents. In the end, your role as a sales supervisor or director, or executive will be significantly easier.
