Creating a Sales Training Program that Drives Sales Performance in 2022

Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.

We’ve all heard this idiom, and it rings true, especially when it comes to sales. 

Companies can enjoy significant revenue boosts by getting lucky with an exceptional hire. But companies that use data to understand how to identify the underlying traits and attributes that cause someone to be an exceptional hire and then back that up by building a sales training program that creates high-performance sales reps will consistently outpace competitors that rely on landing rare outliers without doing the work to understand what makes the "outliers" uniquely suited to excelling and reproducing that formula of hiring and training.

Building a sales training program that improves sales performance can be a challenge. That’s why we created this guide to creating a sales training program that drives sales performance in 2022.

The Overall Goal of a Sales Training Program Is...

Driving sales. The truth is, sales just aren’t quite as simple as they were in the past. Traditionally, training programs touched on effective strategies and best practices briefly en route to extensive product education and training. 

Today’s markets and consumers necessitate a higher caliber of salesmanship from companies interested in standing out from the crowd. 

Boosting your sales reps' ability to rattle off a list of product features and benefits isn’t likely to revolutionize your bottom line but investing in sales training programs that hone essential customer-facing skills just might. 

Today’s customers demand a collaborative sales approach. They place value on companies that take the time to provide genuine value pre-purchase through informative and friendly interactions that build a genuine relationship between the customer and sales professional.

Why is a Sales Training Program Important?

We would all love to manage a team of sales veterans with industry-leading CVs who hit the ground running and begin to drive revenue on day one. 

But the reality of creating a high-performance sales team is more about building internal talent effectively than loading up your roster with experienced (and expensive) sales professionals. 

Companies that develop an effective sales training program can enjoy steady sales growth as they learn to consistently develop top performers for their industry and product.

The Components of a Successful Sales Training Program

1. CRM Training

Learning how to effectively manage your company’s CRM system should serve as a foundation of any sales training program. Walk new sales professionals through any customization your company might’ve made to the software and cover best practices for using the CRM system to boost productivity. 

Many companies mistakenly rely on vendor-created training content for CRMs and other SaaS tools. While these videos are great for learning the basics of how a program functions, companies must invest time in showing new employees processes and crucial functions to day-to-day operations.

2. Your Sales Process

Sales processes vary dramatically depending on the industry, market, brand awareness, and a slew of other factors. Compared side-by-side, even direct competitors likely have different sales processes and strategies. 

This means getting new hires up to speed on your sales process is critical for minimizing ramp time, even if your new team member has prior sales experience. Comprehensively solidify the key elements of your sales process, including:

• Lead generation methods and strategies
  
  
• Prospect qualification methods
  
  
• Defining the stages of your sales funnel 
  
  
• Best practices for guiding prospects through the sales process 
  
  
• Creating a proposal 
  
  
• Closing a deal 

3. Your Products and Market

Don’t abandon product training completely in a rush to modernize your sales training program. 

Sales reps should be well-versed in the ins and outs of your products or service offerings to provide valuable and confident answers to customers’ questions during the sales process. 

Chief among product details to drive home during sales training is your Unique Value Proposition. The Unique Value Proposition, also known as UVP, differentiates your product and company from an ever-growing field of competitors. Understanding your UVP is the key to answering the time-honored question, ‘so, why should I buy from you instead of Company X?’

Inviting professionals from other departments, like software developers, to meet with the sales team to discuss little-known facts and features of the product is a great way to provide your sales team with deeper insight into product or service features and benefits. 

Their hands-on experience and alternative perspective may just provide the spark to ignite your next successful sales strategy.

4. Team-Building Exercises

Team-building isn’t just for sports teams and summer camps. Team-building is also crucial for driving consistently high performance with minimal costly turnover.

In fact, 27% of employees who plan to leave within the first year cite feeling “disconnected” from their organization. So add a few fun icebreakers and team challenges to your sales training program to ensure new hires begin creating healthy bonds within their team and the larger sales department. 

Take advantage of ideas that encourage new hires to collaborate and speak with as many of their teammates as possible to see the largest impact on camaraderie.

5. The Customer Perspective

Sometimes there’s no substitution for the real thing. By including actual customer feedback and experiences in your sales training program, you can immediately expand your sales teams’ prowess for effective strategies that contribute positively to real customer experiences. 

Encourage customers to share any challenges or issues they faced during the sales cycle for an invaluable opportunity to fine-tune selling processes. 

6. Interdepartmental Connections

Sales don’t occur in a vacuum. Instead, they are often the cumulative product of sales, marketing, and product teams. 

Representatives from your marketing, product, and other relevant departments can introduce new sales professionals to the methods that drive interdepartmental collaboration.

Early meetings between sales reps, marketers, and product team members also develop cordial and productive working relationships on the individual level. 

These relationships inspire company morale, team loyalty and support, and interdisciplinary conversations that might just lead to a revolutionary sales or marketing strategy that supercharges your company’s profits.

How to Build a Successful Sales Training Program

1. Define Objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Companies need to do a little groundwork before attempting to build a new sales training program. 

Executives and sales managers should meet with key players in their sales department to deep-dive into sales objectives and identify key performance indicators that support overarching sales goals.

This process is the basis for building a comprehensive sales training program because it allows companies to tailor training efforts for maximum ROI and minimal ramp time for new hires.

2. Plan

All successful journeys begin with a good map and charting out your sales training program is no different.

When companies outline a training program from start to finish before attempting to implement it, they can identify potential friction points and ensure a smoother rollout. 

3. Identify Performance Gaps

New sales training programs also provide a valuable opportunity to identify performance gaps in current sales strategies. For example, if your team struggles to meet quotas on a certain product or service, it can be a sign to include additional training modules and materials for that area.

Regular assessments of the team and individual sales performance gaps keep training managers in tune with the challenges sales reps predominately face and account for them with ongoing training and support.

4. Make Training Materials Accessible

Effective sales training is an ongoing effort. If sales reps don’t have access to materials and resources that reinforce best sales practices and key product information, their pitch may lose sharpness and confidence. 

Conversely, sales teams with consistent access to high-quality training materials can consistently improve, elevating your entire team’s average performance levels. 

5. Boost Retention

Training is only half of the battle. If your sales reps don’t effectively retain the information provided to them, you’re back to square one. Fortunately, managers and other sales leaders can encourage and improve training retention with a few easy steps.

• Update and share training materials with your team regularly. This is a useful sales training hack for veterans and new team members alike.
  
  
• Implement a simple strategy review process that allows sales managers to analyze their reps' abilities and knowledge.
  
  
• Make coaching a part of your sales culture. Keep training information fresh in the minds of your sales reps to ensure long-term retention.

6. Measure and Iterate

Companies interested in optimizing their training programs should outline straightforward methods for measuring the success of your training. The KPIs in Step One should guide your measuring process to compare performance before and after training and gauge effectiveness. 

7. Maintain Accountability

Finally, companies should implement an accountability system to reinforce new sales strategies and methods continually. New habits take time to form, but creating clear expectations for new hires encourages successful sales habits. 

To boost accountability, consider an accountability group system. Experts recommend creating groups of three or more for the most effective accountability systems to account for role changes, time off, and other situations that could potentially lead to an accountability slip. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Building a Sales Training Program

How can you leverage mobile learning for remote sales team training?

Mobile learning’s advantage is its ability to embrace a wide-ranging spectrum of learning styles and needs on your sales team.

What strategies should you consider for your online sales training program?

Companies should prioritize modernizing their sales training to gain an edge over their competitors. This is a two-part process: modernize what you train and how you train.

Successful sales training in 2022 is digital, easily accessible, shareable, and optimized for remote working. Additionally, it should regularly update best practices and sales strategies that align with the current state of your market.

What can you do to make training content engaging?

Content development is a crucial aspect of creating engaging training materials. In fact, 91% of employees want their training to be personalized and relevant. 

You can create engaging content by partnering with a firm that specializes in content creation for businesses. These firms will work with your company to create materials that align with the unique mission, values, and strategies while also keeping employees focused and interested.

Predict Sales Performance with Us Today

PerceptionPredict specializes in harnessing predictive analytics. Our hiring decision support platform has the power to optimize sales performance, enhance productivity, and ensure a healthy ROI on data-driven hiring decisions.

Our unique predictive analysis tools have helped hire, train, and assemble world-class sales teams for international leaders like Mercedes-Benz and CrowdStrike.

To learn more and speak with a sales performance expert, book a demo today.