Although the craft of selling has been around forever, it wasn’t until a few decades ago that we realized that sales performance and the skill of selling can be taught. Since then, there have been many different methodologies and concepts … most of which are pretty good. However, the ability to teach these philosophies and having the students actually utilize the skills they learn has been a real challenge.
I work very hard on making sure our sales training programs are effective long after I stop working with my clients. My goal is simple: the sales professionals that attend my sessions (live or webinar) take action on at three ideas right away, with one becoming a habit that helps them improve their sales performance the rest of their career. This is my goal for every single session, and we’re succeeding. How? I believe it’s because of the three core imperatives of every program, listed below.
- We engage leadership more than the sales team.
If sales management does not buy in to the program, it will not be as successful… especially in the security industry. All of our programs, not just sales training, gain the buy-in and commitment of leadership before we execute our agreement. In fact, I work with the leaders as much as I work with the sale team. For example, our 12-month sales training program included a monthly webinar with sales management and ownership. The webinar covers a consistent agenda each month, with the goal of developing better sales leaders and providing them the material needed to further develop their team. When we’re done, not only is the sales team at a much better place, but their leaders know how to train their people and have the tools to do so.
- Our content is built for the security sales professional in today’s environment.
There are very good programs that understand the world of selling in the 21st century, and there are very good programs that understand the fundamentals of the security industry. The differentiator with our programs is that we understand the challenges that sales people face today and we’ve customized the content for the security sales professional. When I present a scenario to my audience, whether it’s live or virtual, I always feel validation because it’s usually a scenario that is relevant to them. Once I gain their validation, learning is much easier.
- We create masters of specific skills.
Finally, we don’t try to teach the entire encyclopedia of sales in one program. I’ve attended and been part of too many sales training courses that try to fit in so much material that they’re unable to get deep into anything. The result is a little knowledge on a lot of topics, but none of it gets implemented. If a sales person doesn’t get deep instruction and the material to implement the ideas, they won’t take action – they’re too busy and usually have too many fires to put out when the course is done.
When we start a program, I work with leadership to determine a theme. Some common themes have been: Winning New Business, Differentiating Yourself, and Developing the Best Sales Channel. Our topics for the next 12 months are created for the theme. We get very deep on a different topic each month, and we keep the topic narrow. For that month, all we work on is developing skills on that particular topic.
If you’re interested in learning more about our Security Sales Training, I’d love to chat with you. Please click here to learn more.
