Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2014 - (Page 41)

Contemporary sales training means more than simply referring to age and shelf-life, it suggests that the content and learning approaches are both modern and up to date. In the sales training business, it's much easier to be theoretical and complex than it is to be practical and simple. Yet, when salespeople and account managers are asked post-training, why they aren't using their sales training concepts in the field, common responses include: "It's not practical" or "It doesn't work with my customers." below, when executed properly, will help establish credibility, build a foundation of trust with the customer and differentiate from the competition. * Understand the customer's external pressures, business objectives and internal challenges by asking the right questions of the right people at the right times. * Discover how the customer defines value early in the sales process. * Recommend ways to solve customer problems and address customer business objectives by appropriately positioning ideas and solutions. * Create and differentiate the "unique value" that will be most important to the customer and is a stronger fit against their requirements than any other alternative. The reality is this: if sales training can't sell itself to the salespeople and account managers that it proposes to equip and enable for improved performance, then why should they use it? A key output of effective sales training should be hearts and minds that are more open to change and receptive to trying new approaches, because these new approaches make them THE NEW WORLD OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS COMMERCE feel more confident, not REQUIRES A FRESH NEW LOOK AT THE BIGGER PICTURE hesitant. With this in mind, it's little wonder why sales OF CUSTOMER/SUPPLIER DYNAMICS. training that is considered past its prime, complex and/or too theoretical is not going to be successful. The sales training of the future must align with the next generation COLLABORATIVE AND TEAM-ORIENTED of B2B commerce practitioners, which includes suppliers, their sales and account management It is fascinating to see an account team get together for the purpose of focusing on the growth and professionals and the customers that they serve. well-being of a key prospect/customer. Yet, most sales training is lecture-based, targeted only at CUSTOMER-FOCUSED the sales team and does not include all customerIf the focus of sales training is primarily on the sales facing team members. process and closing sales, then chances are the customer felt as if they were sold something as More and more customers are engaging in opposed to having bought something. Customers team-buying with a greater emphasis from frequently experience a feature-benefit approach the procurement/sourcing area. This dynamic that is all about the supplier, their products/ is a characteristic of more complex selling solutions and what they think they can do for the environments, and it creates a logistics issue that customer. Selling with tired techniques that are can either become a strong advantage for the "feature/ benefit/response" oriented simply isn't supplier or a stark disadvantage. To succeed in this good enough if you are going to align effectively type of selling environment, it is important that the with your customers, position your solutions, supplier be effective at team-to-team alignment. differentiate your value and win business. Team-to-team alignment has two aspects: Being customer-focused is more than just * External team - the customer's decision and espousing the benefits of the supplier's solution. implementation team It's about being prepared by researching the * Internal team - the supplier's sales and account customer's business, gathering the necessary team, as well as the internal stakeholders. information and creating thought-provoking questions that lead to discussions about the things the customer values most. It's about validating your Many sales organizations will say they have two understanding and sharing ideas in a consultative sales cycles: one to the external team and one manner that brings clarity to both the supplier and with their own internal team. Creating alignment with both teams is extremely critical to succeeding the customer. at winning new business and growing existing The sales training of the future must help create business. a customer-focused mindset where salespeople constantly ask themselves, "What do I need to do Future sales training must focus on creating a to earn the right to engage further?" The actions collaborative environment for customer problemTRAINING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE - WINTER2014 I WWW.TRAININGINDUSTRY.COM/MAGAZINE 41 http://www.trainingindustry.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2014

Tracking Trends
Table of Contents
Guest Editor: Meeting Today's Learning Consumers Where They Are
Facilitating Change
How Smart Leaders Squash Employee Entitlement
The Reskilling of Design
Responsive Design and Learning Solutions
Women, Leadership and Emotional Intelligence
Key Trends for 2014: Shifting to Business-Centric Learning
The Promise of Badges for Learning and Development
The Business Leader's Bottom Line: Aligning Learning with Organizational Needs
Raising the Bar: The Impact of Sales Training on Effective Customer Engagement
The Language of Measurement: When to Assess, Evalutate and Test
Casebook: Combined Insurance: Ensuring Efficient Sales Training via Mobile Learning
The Challenge of Workplace Re-entry After Training
The Learning Shift: From Event to Process
What's Online
Company News

Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2014