ThomasRoss posted on October 09, 2011 16:39
Sales Training has become a highly sought after but misunderstood process in the business world of 2010.
It used to be that most major corporations had their own internal training programs and even facilities that churned out well trained sales executives by the thousands right across North America. These folks would spread across many industries and organizations to become the backbone of a well trained profession. Of course, it also used to be that employees worked with their employers for life, no more.
Today, there is very little of this in place other than a few specialized sales training organizations that provide materials, seminars and classroom style training. The emphasize today seems to be more on materials such as video's, books, seminars, and what we like to call, "Rah-Rah sessions".
While this portion of training can be helpful, without the In-field mentoring and experience it is ineffective at best. "Sales", like any skill set, takes a great deal of experience and effort to master. While there are those that come by it more naturally than others, it still takes 10 years of consistent effort and experience to become proficient. This was highlighted recently by a well known management consultant and author, "Malcolm Gladwell", who expressed that it took 10 years to become an expert at anything.
To work with a sales person in the field is to see and fully understand their strengths and weaknesses. From this first hand experience and direct support comes true learning and results. Comparatively, to provide a group of sales folk's materials, classroom style training and seminars is at best like watching fireworks, they look amazing but they're over and forgotten very quickly.
A good example by comparison might be as it pertains to the profession of being a pilot. After years of successful classroom training would you get on a plane with a pilot with little practical experience or in-flight training?
For any profession or career choice it has been proven again and again that, "Mentoring", is a critical element to success. Adding this element to your Sales Process is by far the single most effective step any organization can take to improve its sales team and therefore sales results.