Sales Training Under The Magnifying Glass

We did an analysis of sales training courses recently. We found that there was little change in over a decade in terms of the topics being addressed.

More important still, it appears that sales training has failed to reflect any of the dramatic changes that have taken place in respect of how buyers buy. Indeed, as the word cloud below (an analysis of 10 sales training courses) shows there is little mention at all of buying.

Buying Has Changed

Here is a straightforward reality: Buying has changed. Sales training – as the word cloud suggests – has not.

Indeed, to say that buying has changed is an understatement – this is the era of changed priorities, slashed budgets and stalled projects. But if sales training has changed little to reflect these new realities the result is a widening gap between how buyers buy and how sellers sell.

More of the same in terms of cold calling, sales pitches and proposals cannot deliver higher conversion rates, or increased sales success. So if you are buying sales training make sure that those delivering it know as much about buying as they do about selling.

Make sure your next sales trainer can provide your sales team with the insights to how buying decisions are made and to how they can influence them. Given your team the tools to more effectively pre-qualify opportunities based on a analysis of buying process and the tools to increase the level of success when it comes to buying decisions that are made by extended buying teams and through competitive tendering processes.

Click here to read the article series we wrote on sales training.

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