Training


Sales ability, as indicated by success in this field, correlates closely with certain personality traits that occur only in a limited number of people – approximately 20 percent of the population. Unfortunately, many companies hire people who have no natural talent for sales and then keep them on staff hoping they’ll somehow acquire it. This not only wastes resources; it pulls down the performance of the rest of the team. To correct this mistake: Give a personality assessment to every can- didate for a sales position to confirm they have the basic traits that will allow them to be successful in sales.


Eight Training Corrections for Sales Managers


GEOFFREY JAMES


Sales professionals tend to be upbeat. When they think about improving sales productivity, they natu- rally gravitate toward imitating success rather than examining the causes of failure. However, as the philosopher Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”


Sales managers must be willing to examine and correct the common, repetitive mistakes that consistently result in lost opportunities, lost sales, and reduced productivity. There are eight mistakes common to sales organizations. Here they are:


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SALES MISTAKE #1 Hiring the wrong people – and then leaving them in place. Repeated correlation studies conducted over the past 28 years reveal that the most important fac- tor in sales success is natural talent.


SALES MISTAKE #2 Failing to train sales reps in the sales skills they need to succeed. Even candidates with extraordinary natural talent for sales require training in the specialized knowledge and skills required for a specific sales task. In some cases, the required knowl- edge may concern the specific indus- try, the way businesses in that industry operate, and how the firm’s products help customers within that industry. In other cases, the required knowledge may involve sales processes and con- versational skills required for relation- ship building. To correct this mistake: Expose


sales reps to a wide menu of train- ing options and work with their sales managers to determine weaknesses and a specific education plan to over- come those weaknesses. To ensure retention, present such training in a variety of formats, including role play.


SALES MISTAKE #3 Believing it’s possible for managers to motivate sales reps. Psychologists have repeatedly


proven that people cannot motivate other people. All motivation is inter- nal in the sense that each individual takes action (or doesn’t) based upon his or her own reasons. Because of this, the most a sales manager can do


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If you’ve made any of these mistakes,


here’s how to fix them.


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