Techniques to train your employees

State of skills: gaps to be filled

To optimize your sales force, it is essential to strengthen skills such as active listening, commercial maturity, organization and closing techniques. Let's analyze the skills of your salespeople in depth.

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Prospecting: an asset to be verified

Is telephone prospecting really a strong point for your teams? Despite its importance as a marketing tool, it is crucial to ensure that your salespeople are well trained to overcome obstacles. For example, do they know how to pass the assistant and secretary filters? Are they in the industry average when it comes to booking appointments?

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In addition, is the arguments used by your salespeople well structured and perfectly controlled? To verify this, play the role of a potential customer and ask them to introduce you to the company's new product. Let's evaluate together:

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Are they using a compelling pitch that's less than two minutes long?

Have they worked on the characteristics, advantages and benefits (CAB) to strengthen their persuasion?

Are they able to convince you to make an appointment to go further?

Finally, do your salespeople have the right tools to get more qualified appointments during their prospecting calls? Analyzing and strengthening these aspects could greatly improve their performance.

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Negotiation: The Art of Concluding Successfully

Negotiation, while fascinating for salespeople, is still one of the most complex aspects of selling. A simple hesitation or an error in posture can quickly cause a signature to fail.

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The main barrier to successful negotiations is often the discovery of needs. Did you know that 32% of salespeople fail at active listening and miss their targets? Do your teams use the BEBEDC and SONCAS methods to lead a conversation, obtain crucial information and qualify a deal?

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In addition, are they in control of the competitive advantages of their sector? Do they understand that a prospect's objections show genuine interest? Do they know how to respond to common objections without losing their cool, using pre-established answers?

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It's not enough to have bagout; being well prepared is essential.

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Closing Techniques: Conclude with Confidence

Closing a sale is not an innate skill. Many salespeople excel at understanding the needs of prospects and creating attractive price offers. However, when it comes to convincing and supporting the prospect towards the signature, many find themselves helpless.

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If you are looking for win-win deals, systematically reducing your margins is a mistake. Prices that are too low can devalue your products and reduce your turnover. Selling cheaper doesn't always increase sales. In addition, giving an indefinite period of time to a prospect is counterproductive: if they show a real interest in your product, they have an urgent problem to solve.

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Carefully analyze the closing rates of your teams and ask yourself if lower prices are their only selling point. Learning to defend your prices, build a solid proposal, and conclude a negotiation requires time, self-confidence, appropriate methodology and techniques.

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Training your sales representatives in MESORE and BATNA methods can considerably improve their closing efficiency and the quality of their agreements.

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Choose Adapted Courses

Managing a sales force is a complex challenge. Between top performers who achieve their goals alone and those who struggle to keep up, differences in level are often difficult to manage. Being responsible for business development involves strengthening the skills of your team. Although this does not generate direct sales, it is a crucial investment for the future.

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Valorization of Acquired Skills and Experience (VAE)

Highlight the skills of your employees thanks to VAE. This approach can allow a salesperson without a high school diploma to validate an RNCP level 3 title. Imagine the positive impact on their motivation and recognition!

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Internal solutions

In-house solutions, like e-learning and educational videos (for example, TED Talks), are cost-effective and do not require a physical presence. They offer fast and fun ways to improve the productivity of your salespeople.

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Reading recommendations:

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“What your salespeople don't do and that's costing you millions” by Didier Perraudin

“The Little Red Book of Selling” by Jeffrey Gitomer

“The Sales Tool Box” by Pascale Bélorgey and Stéphane Mercier

“Commercial negotiation in practice” by Patrick David

“How to Sell Anything to Anybody” by Joe Girard

“Predictable Revenue” by Aaron Ross

Encourage your salespeople to read these books and subscribe to recognized sales blogs for useful information and tips on a daily basis.

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Take a close look at the internal competencies of your sales team. You will certainly find experts in various fields: an excellent salesperson who makes appointments, another who perfectly masters the presentation of solutions, or even a negotiation specialist. Organize short training sessions led by these collaborators, as well as simulations of sales scenarios so that they can demonstrate their skills in real life situations.

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Start the day off right with these five essential tips for an effective morning routine, ensuring better preparation and increased motivation to reach the day's goals.

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Model your Working Methods

Take the example of the Compagnons du Tour de France by using mentoring to inspire your teams to learn and improve. Your most experienced salespeople, mastering your sales services and tools, can facilitate the skills of your new recruits.

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If no structured methods are currently in place, start by modeling the actions to be taken. Introduce essential preparatory routines and rituals. To optimize their interview performance, teach them that preparation time is critical to shortening the sales cycle.

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A well-prepared and confident salesperson is armed for success. Define clear processes:

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• Formalized appointment booking
• Profiling decision makers
• Methodology for an effective argument
• Mental preparation
• Definition of objections and responses
• MESORE techniques, etc.

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Manage your collaborators

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Good commercial management requires involvement and rigor. You have the experience that your employees still need to acquire. Lead them to joint success!

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Form a teaching team using your sales forces. Encourage sharing and create positive challenges. Team selling is a powerful social lever. Use it to elevate the skills of your salespeople.

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Here are some key actions to advance your sales team:

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• Deal debriefing: Analyze winning and losing deals as a team to learn from them.
• Support in the field: Follow your employees to appointments and then debrief them.
• Collaborative Working Groups: Organize activities adapted to their level of experience and problem themes.
• Simulations and Role Games: Train them like top athletes with simulated interviews and calls.
• Call Analysis: Listen to and debrief their calls to identify areas for improvement.
• Brainstormings: Gather feedback to discuss successes and effective methods.
• Mentoring: Leverage existing skills by establishing mentoring systems.
• Weekly meetings: Discuss challenges and share solutions.

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