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A Guide to Training Your Sales People

by jkstam3
9 replies
Ok, so this isn't actually a guide to training your sales people, but I figured if we all chimed in and gave some advice, we could use this information to create a handbook of sorts to give to our sales people to help them sell our services more effectively.

I'll start.

Most of the time, when considering a sales person, they don't know squat about my services. So to begin with I have to give them some training into what exactly SEO is, social media marketing, video marketing, floogle places, ect. I've yet to figure out how to train them adequately in this area so that they can talk the talk so to speak...any suggestions?

I tell my sales people to think of a business niche, and search for their local listing on google...if they don't show up on the first page of google, or they have a website without an lead-gen capturing system, or their website just plain sucks...to go for them as clients to sell our services.

I tell them to take it one step further and search for a social media presence.

I suggest they print out a screen shot of the google search (example: New York Attorney" and attempt to contact the owner of the business in person by simply stopping by, introducing yourself and presenting them with the screen shot and saying something like: "hi blah blah I work for a local marketing firm in the area who specializes in online marketing for offline businesses...as you can see here you are currently not ranked in floogle and thus missing out on xxxxxx searches a month, if you would like to talk about what we can do for you to help bring in more clients heres my card you can call to schedule an appointment"

I also train them to treat the gatekeeper like they are a king/queen..the gatekeeper can be your biggest asset or worst enemy. I've heard stories of getting on the gatekeeper's good side as easy as complementing them on their make-up/attire to striking up a casual conversation about local restaurants and handing out "extra giftcards that I don't use" to get them on your good side....I could care less how they make them an asset, as long as they do!

Any other input?
#guide #people #sales #training
  • Profile picture of the author Jake Dennert
    Hi there,


    I like what you said about having sales reps stop by the business in person. Little more direct and unique than just pickin' up the phone and making a cold call.

    And, doing it that way, you could just hire a sales rep for each city you wanted to target. Simple and effective.

    Wanted to comment on one thing:

    You say that when you bring someone on, it's a little tricky getting them to understand all the little details of the service you provide. That right?

    Why not simplify things as much as you possibly can? Take you most basic service... Really, the simplest thing in your bag of tricks... And have your sales reps pitch that (and only that).

    As for the more complicated stuff... Just save that for the back-end and handle it yourself once the new client is through the door.

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    • Profile picture of the author joshril
      Originally Posted by Jake Dennert View Post

      Hi there,


      I like what you said about having sales reps stop by the business in person. Little more direct and unique than just pickin' up the phone and making a cold call.

      And, doing it that way, you could just hire a sales rep for each city you wanted to target. Simple and effective.

      Wanted to comment on one thing:

      You say that when you bring someone on, it's a little tricky getting them to understand all the little details of the service you provide. That right?

      Why not simplify things as much as you possibly can? Take you most basic service... Really, the simplest thing in your bag of tricks... And have your sales reps pitch that (and only that).

      As for the more complicated stuff... Just save that for the back-end and handle it yourself once the new client is through the door.

      This is spot on! The simpler things are for a sales rep, the better! If you confuse a new sales rep, most will end up doing nothing. I've been building sales teams for 8 years, and I discovered that you start with one or two very simple products/services... The sales reps that do well, you can introduce to additional products, teach them to upsell, etc.

      You should also train your sales reps on the benefits of the services you're selling first and foremost. If you give them too much tech information (features instead of benefits) then they'll use all that "tech" talk with business owners which can easily confuse most business owners. If a business owner is confused, he'll want to "think about it".

      With new sales reps (especially commission-based sales reps that need to get paid quickly), keep things very simple... Get them going on a basic service, let them get some experience, make some money, and then go from there.

      --Joshua
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      • Profile picture of the author BrashImpact
        The answer is Simple,

        Hire a Sales Super Star, you know the Top 1/10th of 1% of sales
        people and that will elimnate all sales issues. Your going to have
        to pay them accordingly though, along with Running Continual
        Revenue or residual. I pay 15% on all client orders regardless
        of what product or service they buy. Not counting the 18% on the
        front end for the initial sale.

        By using a bigger percentage up front to your sales person they go
        after the Whole enchilada on the first go. Saves time and money.

        I wrote a Manifesto Last year on hiring super stars and still sell it
        to clients for $499 to this day. It pays off big time if you follow the
        same suit.

        Regards,
        Robert
        Signature

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        • Profile picture of the author jkstam3
          i really like the idea of teaching the sales people the benefits and avoiding all the tech talk as well as teaching the sales person the most basic of services for them to pitch.


          any other input?
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          • Profile picture of the author Jake Dennert
            Originally Posted by jkstam3 View Post

            i really like the idea of teaching the sales people the benefits and avoiding all the tech talk as well as teaching the sales person the most basic of services for them to pitch.


            any other input?

            Sure, I just thought of something else...

            I'd imagine, as with any "job", things would eventually get a little repetitive and boring for your reps. And what comes with that?

            --Decrease in productivity

            If they're not having a good time, they won't perform as well for you.

            Off the top of my head I've got 2 ways you can get around this... or even prevent it from happening to begin with.

            1) Hold weekly meetings. Nothing complicated, just a short get together (in person, online, phone, whatever) that's focused on increasing morale.

            And the next one can have a HUGE effect on morale.

            2) If you've got more than one sales rep, reward your top performers for doing a damn good job. Doesn't necessarily have to mean paying them more money... Can be as simple as recognizing their hard work in front of the other reps.

            Praise goes a long way.... And positive reinforcement will always be one of our most basic needs/desires as humans.


            - Jake
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  • Profile picture of the author arenee
    I finally find the best post for me.
    This is the message that I want to find, thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author aduttonater
      The idea would be to hire someone who knows what they are doing in the sales industry but not necessarily with your product or service.

      Every person has their own techniques, and then there are the basic, intermediate, and advanced sales techniques.

      I would train a person to sell my product/service the way that I want them to sell it. They way that I have tested and proven to work.

      I don't want to hire anybody that I have to show how to move and click a mouse!
      Signature
      http://newinnovativeenterprises.weebly.com
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  • Profile picture of the author mcleod1
    this is useful thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author vndnbrgj
    I agree with what was said above.
    I start my reps with one product.
    Once they make some sales with that, and prove they are comfortable with it, I then allow them to offer additional services.
    Then they are generating not only new clients but new sources of revenue from existing clients. Which also causes an increase in pay.
    Signature
    Life Begins At The End Of Your Comfort Zone
    - Neale Donald Wilson -
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