Many of the clients that Sales Gauge works with have formal sales onboarding and training programs. One such client put together a comprehensive launch program for their sales people that began with the basic skills that a sales person needs to have prior to going out into the field.
But while this company had an aggressive 5-day boot camp for people that covered product and soft skills, they discovered a lot of people (25%) would wash out of sales within 6 months. As you can imagine, coming to this realization meant that they were hiring the wrong people. The company recognized that they needed to make some drastic changes to ensure that they were not only hiring the right candidates but that these new hires have the skills required to successfully sell on behalf of the company.
The first change they made was to have their sales managers participate in a sales hiring class so that they could adjust their evaluation process for potential candidates. By first conducting a survey to determine what their current hiring practices looked like, Sales Gauge worked with the managers and the team to develop a true plan for candidate evaluation.
From there, the company decided to make another revolutionary shift in their hiring process. In order to make it to the basic 5-day boot camp new hires had to earn the right to attend by first participating in a comprehensive eLearning program and proving their skills proficiency by getting certified in time and territory management, prospecting, social selling basics and storytelling. Then and only then was the company willing to invest in these salespeople further.
This is a critical topic for sales professionals. How do you invest in yourself and develop your skills to change with the times? Sales Gauge recognizes that not every employer is willing to invest in a full-scale sales onboarding and training program so how do you grow your skills without this kind of investment as an individual sales professional?
Find the best online resources and books
For the most part, it’s easy to find some great – and often free - online assets so this is a simple way to invest in yourself. Consider eBooks, podcasts, and good old-fashioned hard cover books. And don’t just download them and stick them in a folder somewhere; schedule time to review these and then establish a plan to take action based upon what you have learned. The best book I ever read is How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger. What are you reading?
In some cases people are looking for tactical training skills and have relied on eLearning from Sales Gauge to build their own personal training program with topics like Time Management, Prospecting to executives and leveraging LinkedIn and Twitter, story selling, negotiation and deal scoring with high value trades. At the end of each session, there are certifications that can be added to your LinkedIn profile.
Are you looking for specific resources around prospecting, negotiation and sales management? We would be happy to offer suggestions. Reach out to me at thaller@sales-gauge.com.