Content about Sales

March 27, 2012
Salespeople Are Different—and So Are Companies

If your company’s sales training program isn’t in tune with the organization’s culture, history, and preconceived notions, it may bring polite nods but deliver little else. Here are five aspects that can’t be overlooked.

By Ken Wax

My recent article explored “10 Reasons Why Training Salespeople Is Different and What You Can Do About It” (http://trainingmag.com/article/yes-salespeople-are-different%E2%80%94and-so-training-them). It showed why the very nature of their work makes them different than most other groups.

March 13, 2012
Will the Customer Service Process Ever Be the Same?

Whether we like it or not, the customer service process is going through a permanent change that we cannot avoid. And while it may be an awkward, uncomfortable embrace at first, over time, it will become second nature. But in the meantime, how do we work the customer service process we know and love into a new, digital era?

By Joe Cortez, Interactive Media Specialist, Signature Worldwide

Technology has driven us into some new, unforeseen territory in the last few years. Before, when you had a problem with a company (or its level of perceived service), you would have to call an 800 number and navigate through a touch-tone menu of options just to speak to someone who hopefully could resolve your problem. Today, instead of dealing with the company directly, you can express your dissatisfaction through a public medium such as Facebook or Twitter.

February 27, 2012
How to Teach a Course That Doesn’t Exist

People—usually successful, senior-level people—will speak of this course easily, almost casually. They seem to know it well, as if they’ve taken it themselves. And the day may come when you hear it requested, with little further explanation, as the cure to some pretty serious problems. What course is this? It’s called “Sales 101”—and no one has ever taken it.

By Ken Wax

People—usually successful, senior-level people—will speak of this course easily, almost casually. They seem to know it well, as if they’ve taken it themselves. And the day may come when you hear it requested, with little further explanation, as the cure to some pretty serious problems.

What course is this? It’s called “Sales 101”—and no one has ever taken it.

February 21, 2012
Best Practices and Outstanding Initiatives

Trainingeditors recognize innovative and successful learning and development programs and practices submitted in the 2012 Training Top 125 application.

BEST PRACTICES

Edward Jones: Practice Makes Perfect (Sales Training)

Each month, Edward Jones hires more than 150 new recruits with little financial background, then trains them to serve clients well. This organic growth is achieved through extensive training, including coaching by veterans, online study, virtual classes, weeklong stints of classroom training, and recorded role-play.

January 30, 2012
Want Higher Performance from Sales Teams?

More than one of every three HR managers (37.9 percent) named Sales as the department most in need of training, based on a global talent management survey by NorthgateArinso.Training correlates to several key outcomes, based on AchieveGlobal research. Moderate to substantial coaching and training tends be related to higher deal sizes, greater increases in personal sales revenue, and generally more overall success compared with those receiving minimal coaching and training.

By Sharon Daniels, CEO, AchieveGlobal

Ultimately, all companies are in the business of sales. While goods and services vary from brand to brand, a company’s lifeblood is in the revenue generated from sales. That’s why it’s critical to consider what comprises an organization’s sales DNA—ranging from the talent of individual salespeople, to strength within the leadership ranks, to organizational structure.

January 27, 2012
Yes, Salespeople Are Different—and So Is Training Them

In surveys and interviews with training professionals, one group always stands out as being particularly challenging: salespeople. Here are 10 reasons why, and then 10 ways to work with those differences. By understanding their world, pressures, and what makes them tick, you can improve their experience in classes—and yours.

By Ken Wax

In surveys and interviews with training professionals, one group always stands out as being particularly challenging: salespeople. Here are 10 reasons why, and then 10 ways to work with those differences. By understanding their world, pressures, and what makes them tick, you can improve their experience in classes—and yours.

November 16, 2011
Use Telemarketing to Generate Qualified Sales Leads

Many accounting, consulting, law, technology, and other professional service businesses are turning to business telemarketing to generate new immediate, short- and long-term sales opportunities. For a sales lead generation program to succeed, though, the telemarketing team and the sales team need to share a unified definition of a qualified sales lead.

By Jim Graziano, President, Onset Marketing LLC

Business telemarketing is a reliable method to generate qualified sales leads. Many accounting, consulting, law, technology, and other professional service businesses are turning to business telemarketing to generate new immediate, short- and long-term sales opportunities.

November 1, 2011
6 Salesperson Onboarding Mistakes That Can Lead to Disaster

Top-performing companies don’t think of adding headcount to the sales team as hiring. They see it as an investment in revenue. Use onboarding as your strategy to protect the investment and ensure a high rate of return.

By Lee B. Salz

When a sales candidate accepts a job offer, everyone is all smiles. Yet, those smiles can quickly turn upside down if you are making any of these salesperson onboarding mistakes:

September 13, 2011
Social Media: Is It Worth Your Time and Resources?

The answer is a resounding “Yes.” The Internet and various social media platforms give us the ability to interact with anyone who chooses to engage with us. There are many tools available today to use in communicating with your customers. Consider asking members of your team who are already knowledgeable or engaged in social media to assist you by being a voice of the company.

By Dulce Gonell-Holderby, Training Account Manager, Signature Worldwide

Did you know that Skittles candy has more than 16.7 million likes (fans) on Facebook? California Pizza Kitchen has more than 112,000; just five months ago, the number was less than 30,000. And what about Under Armour? It now has 700,000-plus fans and its Facebook pages have some of the best graphics I have ever seen for fan pages…talk about “Charged.” Check them out.

August 15, 2011
Carmax Compiles Sales Training Playbook

Carmax, Inc., took a page out of the National Football League playbook—literally—to create its SmartClips sales training program. The goal was to establish a culture of daily practice in which the team (in this case, the company’s sales force) practices the plays (or strategies) in the playbook every day until they are mastered.

By Margery Weinstein

Carmax, Inc., took a page out of the National Football League playbook—literally—to create its SmartClips sales training program. The goal was to establish a culture of daily practice in which the team (in this case, the company’s sales force) practices the plays (or strategies) in the playbook every day until they are mastered. Like an NFL playbook, the sales force reviews videos, or clips, of their practice sessions to figure out how to improve. Here is how the program “plays out”:

July 28, 2011
Learning and Development at Sprint

Sprint sees the marriage between traditional and leading-edge learning methods as an ongoing opportunity that continues to evolve, and that is reflected in an evolving performance-system approach. Sprint University collaborates with business units such as Sales and Customer Management to develop performer support tools that drive improved efficiency and effectiveness.

By Dave Fogleman, Vice President, Sprint University

Results from the 2011 American Customer Satisfaction Index include this noteworthy outcome: “Sprint was unbeaten among major wireless carriers for customer satisfaction. In addition to tying for first place among wireless carriers, Sprint was also the No. 1 most improved company in customer satisfaction, across all industries, over the last three years.” This recognition highlights the great strides Sprint has made in recent years to improve customer service and customer turnover.

July 1, 2011
Refocus Your Training on the Basics

Retooling your sales and service processes ensures your people a comprehensive selection of “how should I react in this situation” tools so they can focus on the customer, not on the product. Next, combine this new culture with an ongoing reinforcement and coaching plan that continues to give your staff additional tools they will need to be successful from the “Hello” at the beginning of a relationship to the ending, “Thank you, is there anything else I can do for you?”

By Dave Hamilton, senior vice president for Signature Worldwide

There has been an accelerated increase in consumer expectations the last few years. Yes, today’s economic climate has been a driving factor, but certainly not the only reason our customers now are focused on perceived value. The waste-not, want-not mentality, so visible and practiced by the traditionalist generation that was discarded by following generations, now seems to be the new status quo. It’s been said all things run in cycles.

May 6, 2011
Switched-On Selling: A Revolution in Training

You may have read many books on selling and attended numerous sales seminars. You might even have a private coach. But the success you’re striving for may still be elusive as long as your subconscious mind is running old programming that blocks or limits you. The good news, explain authors Jerry V. Teplitz and Tony Alessandra, is that there is a brain optimization process that easily reprograms and rebalances that old subconscious programming.

By Jerry V. Teplitz and Tony Alessandra, with Norma Eckroate

Have you ever wondered what it is that sets extraordinary salespeople apart from those who are just getting by? Are they simply more talented or more intelligent? Do they have better connections with decision-makers? Or is something else going on? The fact is that super-successful salespeople not only have great personalities and proven, powerful sales methods, they also have an elusive quality that we might call the X-factor. This X-factor includes inner resilience and a strong ability to empower oneself.

October 11, 2010
NSU Unveils Sales Institute and Program

Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business & Entrepreneurship launched a Sales Program and Institute this fall semester offering sales education and training. The business school partnered exclusively with Sandler Training, which helped to develop sales-centric curricula driven by research and innovative methods of instruction.

To meet the demands for a highly competent and proficient sales workforce in today’s business environment, Florida-based Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business & Entrepreneurship launched a Sales Program and Institute this fall semester offering sales education and training. The business school partnered exclusively with Sandler Training, which helped to develop sales-centric curricula driven by research and innovative methods of instruction.

October 4, 2010
Hiring the Right Leaders

There is a myth that sales leaders are born not made. However, that is not necessarily the case, according to a newly released white paper by Manpower, "Recruiting the Right Talent Increases Sales Effectiveness." A growing body of research suggests that up to 40 percent of externally hired executives fail within the first 18 months. How can organizations avoid turnover and increase effectiveness of sales management?

October 4, 2010
How ADP Aces Live Classroom Training

At ADP, the Major Accounts Sales Trainee and Sales Office Week Program accelerates new sales associates' productivity and exposes them to the ADP culture by giving newly hired associates access to tenured ADP experts, exposing them to on-the-job sales experiences, and delivering relevant content using cutting-edge technology and a blended curriculum that makes hearty use of live classroom training.

By Margery Weinstein

February 1, 2009
SCC Soft Computer

"Training initiatives are not done unless there is a business reason to do it," she says. "When we get contacted to do something, we ask, 'which of our key performance indicators it's designed to move,' 'what results we expect,' and 'how will it affect our customers?' Then we make the decision of how to support it from a training perspective."

"Training initiatives are not done unless there is a business reason to do it," she says.

May 8, 2007
Does Lack of Training Mean Lower Sales? For Circuit City, the Answer Might Be Yes

When do layoffs mean lower TV sales?  Apparently, when you're Circuit City. The company recently revised its projections for the first half of its fiscal year, based on poor sales of flat-panel and projection televisions. Partially due to the disappointing sales figures, the company expects a loss of $80 to $90 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2008. And analysts say that those bad sales figures can be blamed in part on the company's decision to fire its highest-paid workers.

When do layoffs mean lower TV sales?



Apparently, when you're Circuit City. The company recently revised its projections for the first half of its fiscal year, based on poor sales of flat-panel and projection televisions. Partially due to the disappointing sales figures, the company expects a loss of $80 to $90 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2008. And analysts say that those bad sales figures can be blamed in part on the company's decision to fire its highest-paid workers.


September 11, 2006
Turn Your Sales Team into a Growth Machine

Finding and keeping sales rainmakers who bring in new customers is a huge challenge for just about every company. If the oft-quoted metric that 80 percent of new accounts are sold by 20 percent of salespeople is true, it's axiomatic that most sales representatives don't pull their weight when it comes to bringing in new accounts. Finding and keeping rainmakers who bring in new customers is a huge challenge for just about every company. Along with turnover rates and high costs of recruiting and training, it's the main reason companies keep sales people who are marginal performers. 

If the oft-quoted metric that 80 percent of new accounts are sold by 20 percent of salespeople is true, it's axiomatic that most sales representatives don't pull their weight when it comes to bringing in new accounts.



Finding and keeping rainmakers who bring in new customers is a huge challenge for just about every company. Along with turnover rates and high costs of recruiting and training, it's the main reason companies keep sales people who are marginal performers.


July 11, 2006
"Fastrack" to Sales Success

At Northwestern Mutual in Milwaukee, ¿Fastrack¿ helps get new reps up to speed and positioned for success even before they enter into a formal contract as a financial representative.

At Northwestern Mutual in Milwaukee, “Fastrack” helps get new reps up to speed and positioned for success even before they enter into a formal contract as a financial representative. Training reps early on—and then continuing to train them throughout their tenure with the company—says Stephen Frankl, the company’s director of field training and development, not only adds to Northwestern’s bottom line, it also helps the company to retain representatives over the long haul. “Our retention rate is about 150 percent of the industry average, so we know that Fastrack makes a difference,” he says.

July 11, 2006
"Fastrack" to Sales Success

At Northwestern Mutual in Milwaukee, "Fastrack" helps get new reps up to speed and positioned for success even before they enter into a formal contract as a financial representative.

At Northwestern Mutual in Milwaukee, "Fastrack" helps get new reps up to speed and positioned for success even before they enter into a formal contract as a financial representative. Training reps early on—and then continuing to train them throughout their tenure with the company—says Stephen Frankl, the company's director of field training and development, not only adds to Northwestern's bottom line, it also helps the company to retain representatives over the long haul.

August 24, 2005
Death by corporate overview and how to prevent it

According to consultant Peter Cohan, beginning your sales presentation with an overview of the company you represent, even if kept brief, may make it tougher to move your audience toward your main message. He recommends starting with a "situation" slide t.⻼皺欸/ࠃ暼療.帉痾Ѐ�涆醿焷

According to consultant Peter Cohan, beginning your sales presentation with an overview of the company you represent, even if kept brief, may make it tougher to move your audience toward your main message. He recommends starting with a "situation" slide t.⻼皺欸/ࠃ暼療.帉痾Ѐ�涆醿焷

August 1, 2005
Death by corporate overview and how to prevent it

As a sales and marketing consultant, I often hear the question, "How much of a company's corporate overview should we include in a presentation?" It's a good question, and the answer I always give is: as little as possible.

As a sales and marketing consultant, I often hear the question, "How much of a company's corporate overview should we include in a presentation?" It's a good question, and the answer I always give is: as little as possible.

May 1, 2005
The Race for Dealer Loyalty

David Weiss is used to awarding unique incentives to successful salespeople. But one reward requested by an office-product reseller's salesperson takes the cake. When asked what would further motivate this sales star, the rep's answer was, quite simply, a.⻼皺欸/

David Weiss is used to awarding unique incentives to successful salespeople. But one reward requested by an office-product reseller's salesperson takes the cake. When asked what would further motivate this sales star, the rep's answer was, quite simply, a.⻼皺欸/

March 1, 2002
Use smart design to give customers what they want

A real-estate agent came to me with an idea for a pre-sentation to help sell her services. She wanted to create a self-guided PowerPoint slideshow that would run in the company lobby and could also be given to prospective clients.

A real-estate agent came to me with an idea for a pre-sentation to help sell her services. She wanted to create a self-guided PowerPoint slideshow that would run in the company lobby and could also be given to prospective clients.