Before you choose your training it is very important first of all to understand what are the obstacles in the sales work and the sales process. Some sales people find it hard to initiate contact with clients, some are afraid to push the client to close, some feel unconfident talking to senior management, others are afraid to face competition. Once you identify the areas of potential or real problems, you will be able to identify your focus for sales force development and how to follow up the results of such training.

In order to understand such an effect it is important to realise what dissatisfies you and you want to change in your sales force work, before you start the training or coaching activities. Engage your sales people /or a chosen individual/ in a confidential conversation in order to reach common understanding and agreement that they need and will put consciencious effort to achieve change. Set an objective and agree what will be the evidence that such change has happened. Monitor the training/coaching process /and a short period after that/ and demand your sales people/person to implement what they have learned. If your objective is reached at the end of the projected time-span and there is a positive change, you can measure the effect of the training/coaching. In case you need to measure the effect in figures/money/percent of increase we can offer you a sales efficiency evaluation tool that can prognose and measure your sales results after implementing a development programme.

Definitely. We have been involved in many training projects where our clients have measured a sales increase of 30-35% after the training. Bearing in mind that the sales results come from a combination of factors, such as the market specifics, competitor activities, company’s marketing strategy and the efforts of the sales force, then it is logical to conclude that a well focused training on developing selling knowledge and skills will influence the increase of the sales results. Real life and market almost never give us the ideal conditions where the only factor changed is the increased level of selling skills, so that we can conclude that it was the training that increased the sales. Yet, if it has had a strong effect on the sales people’s motivation, if it has given answers to real-life practical questions, if it was designed to transfer learning from the training room directly into the market activities, if management follows up and demands its implementation, then you may definitely ensure increased sales results. We can help you do that and even more – we can help you prognose figures and be with you to achieve it.

We recommend it and encourage it in our practice. On the one hand, it gives the managers the opportunity to improve his communication with the sales people and achieve honesty and trust. On the other hand, he can witness how they perform during the training and have an individual appoach in their development after the training.

Training can be ongoing (e.g.online or on-the-job), regularly (small sessions once every 1-3 months) or in relation to a campaign. It depends on the company’s business, the people development strategy of the company and the budgets for that purpose. Our recommendation would be to evaluate your sales people’s efficiency once a year and as a result of it devise an annual sales force development plan. Some sales teams may not need ongoing training, while for others it may be the most appropriate form of learning. Others could make best use of coaching.

However, it is not possible to say what a sales team needs for its development before we initially run a diagnostic analysis of the situation.

Every recruitment expert and consultant will advise you to start with a profile of the best sales person you imagine for your company and your market strategy. Some managers do not have the luxury to choose their own sales team (they often inherit it). That is why it is extremelu useful to have an evaluation of your current sales team along with its sales manager(s). We can help you find out to what extent your sales people align with your company’s objectives and strategy, as well as offer you a plan to develop them to the level needed on team and individual level.