Often times when the term sales person is heard, people conjure up this vision of an individual with an extroverted personality; but being successful in sales requires much more than an outgoing personality. Sales require excellent communications, including the ability to convey details about specific products and services and also listening to the needs of prospects as well as having the know-how required to close sales repeatedly. So while the extroverted individual may innately possess some of those skills, training is essential in order to continuously be successful.

People have more information than ever at their fingertips, and because of that expectations and demands are harder to meet. They have conducted their own research and are not only interested in specific products or services, but they want to know that the companies they buy from are trustworthy and reliable. The sales team will ultimately be the face of a company. You want everyone singing from the same songsheet. Here are a few things that should be incorporated into your sales training agenda:

Refining Communication Skills

A large part of sales is having the ability of truly listen to others and know when and how to ask questions. This ensures that the prospective clients questions are answered while building relationships with new prospects as well as existing customers. Knowing how to effectively communicate with others, regardless of personalities or professions is key to making a sale. Statistics indicate that 71% of consumers base a purchase decision on the trust of a sales person and / or company. Communication and interaction is the basis for that trust; trust that should be enjoyed by both parties which paves the way to building trust and loyalty.

Incremental and Planned Improvements

Sales training can provide valuable insight into learning how to be successful. It is a road map of sorts that teaches the importance of setting a target, or goal and knowing the processes required to achieve the goal. Each transaction is tracked and feedback provided to ensure and builds up to the next interaction. Training your sales team on specific techniques alleviates the incidences of your sales personnel “winging it” and potentially missing out on sales.

Knowing When to Close

One major component that should be incorporated with any sales training is the method of identifying signals from prospects. Knowing how to recognize when a prospect is undecided is just as important and recognizing signals that indicate the prospect is ready to make a purchase. Learning to read people and gain an intuitive understanding is crucial to making the sale.

Overcoming Rejection

No matter how good a sales person is, not every prospect will buy. It is simply the nature of the game. Rejection occurs for a variety of reasons and regardless of those reasons, knowing how to deal with rejection is advantageous. On occasion rejection comes completely unexpectedly and at other times, prospects are undecided. However, having the skills required to handle rejection discreetly are vital. Prospects may return later and will likely remember the sales person. Training the sales team that rejection is never personal and techniques on remaining professional at all times helps everyone be successful.

The Importance of Administrative Skills

Sales aren’t only about the process of talking with people, or cold calling for sales, but also involves administrative tasks including organized record keeping, logging daily prospects to ensure appropriate follow ups are made, and also tracking ratios on successful closings. These administrative skills help in assessing progress, time management and staying organized. The portion of training relating to administrative skills may involve instructions on using software or applications that support proper tracking, organization and time management skills.

Sales Training Is an Investment

When companies view sales training as an investment versus an expense, the success rates increases. The sales team is the front lines of a business and they are the face of the business. Successful training in sales will equip individuals with the appropriate communication tools and techniques involved to get through each stage of the pipeline. It will supply them with organizational tools, and teach the necessity of self-evaluations, being able to recognize when strategic changes should be made, and knowing how to make those changes. The sales team will also know the products and/or services of your company inside and out, which will be effective in building consumer trust, loyalty and even new leads for sales. When you concentrate on the means to the ends, good things will happen.