This post was originally published on lessonly.com.
We can all be good at a whole bunch of things with enough practice, right? After all, there isn’t a musician, gamer, athlete, coach, or pony trainer out there who hasn’t logged hours (and hours) of practice. Yep—we’d say it’s pretty important for pretty much every person out there.
So, if you have the right person walk through the doors of your office (or, in a lot of cases now, sign into your company’s Zoom meeting), it’s easier than ever to help them become a highly-qualified, well-trained, all-star sales rep.
“How is this even doable?” you ask. By combining the power of practice and sales training platforms—that’s how.
Practice through sales training platforms
Sales training platforms allow sales leaders and trainers to create and share online training programs with reps. Whether you need to create sales training courses for beginners or a certification course for your most seasoned reps, sales enablement software helps reps learn the ins and outs of their role and receive ongoing enablement and training to keep their skills and knowledge fresh. The result? One salesforce that marches to the same beat and is enabled for practically every component of their job.
Sales training software gives reps the opportunity to hone in on and embrace all the aspects of their role as many times as they need. They’re not designed to be a one-and-done type of platform, they are designed to be accessed anywhere, at any time, and to offer as much practice as the rep may need. So, how can you bring the power of practice to your team?
Sales training tips for effective practicing
But, it’s not enough to just provide reps with a sales training tool that makes practice possible. If you really want your sales training program to deliver a one, two punch, here are a few sales training tips to keep in mind.
Let reps practice when the time is right
It’s important to build time into your reps’ schedule for intentional practice, but it’s just as important to give reps the freedom to practice when it’s right for them. The best sales training platforms give reps the chance to practice crucial skills on-demand instead of forcing them to rush through a practice exercise in-between juggling a number of other tasks.
Focus on one skill at a time
All too often leaders and trainers try to cram a ton of information into training. But as it turns out, this is a pretty ineffective strategy that results in wasted time and little engagement or retention. The best training and practice exercises focus on improving one skill at a time. So instead of asking a rep to pitch your company and reply to an objection all in one exercise, break things up so they have a better understanding of the skills needed for each task. Once they’ve shown they can properly apply skills and newly learned information move on to the next skill.
Provide feedback and coaching
Practice is only effective if it’s paired with personalized feedback and coaching. Without it, reps won’t know how they’re performing or if their skills are up to par. Intentional feedback and coaching provides reps with a better understanding of what they did well during a practice exercise, what needs additional work, and how they can continuously improve.
How to get your sales training program started
There are different factors that should be considered when deciding which software is the best fit for your team. The best sales training tools vary in size, features, and pricing, but here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Does it provide on-demand access for reps to access training when and where they need it?
- Does it enable you to pair crucial sales training and practice exercises to apply knowledge and hone skills?
- Does it integrate with other tools in your tech stack for seamless training?
- Does it provide training and practice insights that make it easy to track progress for individual reps and the entire team?
- Does it support feedback and coaching at scale?
At the very basic level, training exists to help employees be the best that they can be. A world-class sales training curriculum helps reps stay on top of the newest products when selling to customers, learn selling best practices, and practice as much as they need. That’s why our sales training software makes it easy to ramp new reps, hone essential skills, and close more deals.
