Training
a salesperson who has just joined can be intimidating even for an
experienced salesperson. This is because there is a huge difference
between taking knowledge in and imparting the same to someone else.
Sales is a job that requires an enormous amount of patience. Teaching a new skill to a sales representative is no different. A lot of patience, guidance, and a proper learning strategy should be built before you take up the training of a new salesperson in your hands.
Below is a to-do list of the things that you must follow in order to train a new salesperson. Following the list will help you enormously in building a training plan which would prove fruitful in the longer run.
Make it exciting
It is very important to make your training session exciting for the new trainees. Long and dull training sessions often prove to be fruitless.
Making the jobs interesting in your trainees' minds can help you not just have a successful training session but also have good and dedicated salespersons in your team in the future.
Go from easy to hard
There is a quote by Mark Zuckerberg, founder, and CEO of Facebook which reads, "I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress."
This holds true even while training newbies.
It is pointless to start with the hardest tasks in your training sessions. The right way to go about it is to start from the easiest of tasks and gradually move towards acing the hard ones. This would not just help boost your newbie sales reps’ confidence but also better the future sales of the company.
Give a tour of the entire department
Before diving deep into the training sessions, it is advisable that you give your trainees a tour of the entire department and tell them how it functions and processes. This would help them get accustomed to the work environment.
It often happens that we explain the minute details of a process but forget about the big picture. The big picture doesn't only help understand the system but also invites innovation into any task.
Thus, make sure your trainees can see the big picture.
Teach software thoroughly
It is essential for the new sales reps to be thoroughly updated about the softwares used in your company. For our new sales reps, we provide a thorough experience of the CRM management tools that are used.
Technical knowledge might not be the soul of your training sessions but is inevitable in its requirement. Give them some time to get acquainted with the software and answer their queries promptly.
Set up group training sessions
Group training sessions can be very effective in bringing out the best among your trainees. It is also the backbone of developing team spirit among young trainees.
Include group training and group tasks in your training sessions to start building trust among the team members which will ultimately help them to work together smoothly.
Demonstrate live calls and meetings
The most crucial part of ensuring that training knowledge stays on with the trainees is giving them hands-on experience.
Demonstrating live sales calls as well as sales meetings in front of your trainees is the most important part of your training sessions.
This is the part where they learn the practicalities about their job. It doesn't just teach them what to do but also 'how to do it' and 'when to do it'.
Give tasks
No training sessions are complete without assigning tasks to your students that they must complete in order to prove their learning.
This step can be either performed throughout the training sessions or can be saved for the last part.
You can judge how each individual handles priority management, meeting deadlines, and works smartly to manage all the given tasks.
Monitor individual performance
There is no point in giving tasks or training if there is no one monitoring the performances of the trainees.
Monitoring individual performance helps understand and analyze individuals as well as group performances of your trainees and helps you determine which task is better suited for whom.
Following the above-mentioned tasks in order can help your trainee understand everything very clearly and effectively. This would automatically make your training sessions a success.
However, the execution of each of the points in practice is important. Proper observation and analysis can help you improve your training sessions and be more effective in the future.
Hope you found this article useful!
