Outsourcing Sales Training
As a sales manager, you’ve no doubt been tempted to outsource your sales training. Is this a good idea or should you do all of your sales training in house? There are arguments both ways around efficacy and cost. However if you put the two together and see what gives the best value for money and effort, you might be surprised what good value an external resource can deliver.
While doing your sales training in house can help you build cohesion within your team, there are some compelling arguments to outsource much or all of your sales training.
In this article, we’ll be sharing why this is and, more importantly, how you can make the best decision about who to bring on board as an outside sales training resource.
- Training Makes Coaching More Effective
Outside training gives you an edge when it comes to coaching your sales staff. This is because outside training provides fresh ideas for you to integrate in to your observation and feedback sessions with your team.
An outside sales training consultant can also provide objective feedback on your sales management strengths and opportunities. They in effect become a coach for the coach. With so much intense focus inwards you may be missing the outsider’s perspective to see all the angles. By bringing in external trainers who aren’t immersed in the daily routine of managing tasks, teams and individuals, you’ll be able to challenge your own thinking about how to get results through your people. So take their presence as an opportunity for personal development of your skills as well as those of your team
The sales manager will also benefit by observing how the trained specialist interacts with your team and presents learning experiences. This can be modeled and prove a valuable extension of the manager’s people development toolbox.
- Outside Training Can Be Motivating AND Educational
In addition to being a great learning experience, sales training seminars, workshops and training sessions can also be very exciting and motivational for your sales team. Sales people are notorious for having short attention spans and for losing focus easily. Being in sales is also emotionally taxing and the need for consistent encouragement and motivation is almost as important as the need for consistent training.
A fresh face, voice and ideas are instantly motivating when compared to the one they hear most often. Many managers complain of the frustrating experience of telling their sales team something over and over and over, only to have them finally “get it” when they hear it from a well skilled outsider. A change of scenery and physical state opens the learning pathways.
- Outside Training Can Give You Inside Information
This is probably the most important reason to consider outsourcing some of your sales training. If your trainer has experience, then this can be tapped and applied back in to your world.
If your consultant has direct industry experience this builds a faster bridge to the audience and credibility creates trust. They can update you and your team on industry level developments and provide informed opinions on future opportunities. If they have worked with a competitor or trading partner this holds special value for insights alone.
However exploring ideas and experiences from other industries can prove even more valuable. Think of it as a part investment in cross industry research.
So keep an open mind when making your selection or framing a brief.
When comparing potential trainers, ensure you check their experience and what results their previous work generated. It is easy to make claims but what makes the difference is the impact they deliver.
Recap: Three Reasons to Hire an Outside Sales Trainer
- Training Makes Coaching More Effective
- Outside Training Can Be Motivating AND Educational
- Outside Training Can Give You Inside Information
To return to the question of efficacy and cost, there are two simple questions to consider:
“How much more value can I confidently generate by leveraging an outsider’s specific skills, knowledge and services compared to doing it ourselves?”
“By how much does that value exceed the cost of investing in that resource?”
If the outsider is good at what they do, has a proven track record and is pleasant to engage, the decision is usually very easy.
Handling Objections
Closing the sale is the most important part of selling, and since few sales are closed without at least a few objections, overcoming objections is a must for any successful sales person. In this article, we’ll reveal four simple yet powerful steps for overcoming objections and gaining commitment.
#1: Set the Pace from Start to Finish
An objection only becomes an insurmountable obstacle when it interrupts the momentum of your sales presentation. Having strong momentum can help you overcome this and that’s why you must set the pace of every sales call from the very beginning.
A great way to do this is to come to the meeting with a specific agenda for what’s going to happen at the meeting and to make it clear to the client what you’ll be discussing and what decisions will be made. For example, your meeting agenda might look like this:
- Explore the prospect’s current needs especially in respect to the market challenges he outlined prior to the meeting
- Determine some options on how we can address that problem for the client
- Gain their commitment to move forward
With this agenda in hand, you can set the pace of your meeting by saying something like this to your customer:
“Thanks for taking this time to meet Mr. Prospect. The purpose of this meeting is to start by discussing the problem you’re looking to solve. Once we’re both clear about the problem and its implications, we can then determine how we can provide a solution. At that point you can give me some feedback if you would like to progress. Does that work for you?”
After saying this, wait for their response and make sure they’re willing to agree to the agenda from the beginning. You’ll find that the client is less likely to try to interrupt your agenda or throw up obstacles if they’ve agreed to the topics to be discussed and the decisions to be made at the meeting.
Clearing up the purpose of the meeting will also make it easier to deal with objections and delays, which normally come towards the end of the presentation.
#2: Beat the Price Objection Before it Happens
One of the most frustrating situations for a sales person is to get to the close, only to find out that the customer doesn’t have the money to say yes to the offer. This needs to be dealt with up front by asking your customer a simple question like this:
“Before we get started, are there any budget constraints I should know about?”
If your customer says that they’re working on a tight budget, find out what it is before you move forward. If they ask for the price of your product before you’ve presented the value, simply give them a range and ask again if they have any budget constraints you should know about.
Of course, you don’t want to get into price objections before you’ve discussed the value of your product, but you also don’t want to sweep price completely under the rug. By getting an idea of what your customer is working with in terms of a budget, you’ll close the door on the price objection before you get to it.
The only thing you’ll have to do then is sell them on whether your offer is worth the money that they already have available.
#3: Have all Decision Makers Present
Another common objection customers use is the “I need to talk to____,” objection. The problem is that ___ is usually not present and then you’re stuck with your client trying to do your job by selling your product to the other decision maker. You can avoid this by making sure, from the start of the meeting, that all decision makers are present and ready to talk business.
If possible, it’s best to avoid even making an appointment unless all decision makers will be present. You can do this by asking a question like:
“Before we have our meeting, are there any other decision makers who will need to be present or are you the one with all the power?”
Next, you clarify again at the start of the meeting that all decision makers are present by asking a question like:
“And we do have all decision makers present, is that correct?”
When you ask this, always make sure you get the confirmation from them before moving forward. This way, you’ll shut the door on the “I need to talk to____,” by getting the customer’s agreement that the final decision can be made by those who are present.
#4: Deal With the Right Objection
Provided that you’ve set the pace, discussed potential budgeting constraints and clarified that all decision makers are present, any remaining objections should be only about the value of your offer. At this point, any objections regarding price or any claims that they have to talk to someone else are just a smoke screen and your job is to get to the bottom of the real objection.
For example, if your customer says they need to talk to someone else, but they’ve already agreed that the final decision rests with them, your job is to get to the root of the real objection using a question:
Client: “This sounds great, but I need to talk to ____.”
Sales Person: “I understand, but we’ve agreed that the final decision rests with you. Is there anything about this solution that’s causing your hesitation?”
In most cases, the customer won’t go back on their own words if they’ve already told you that the final decision rests with them. Another example would be if your customer has already agreed that their budget is about $500 a month and they claim that your price of $499 is too high:
Client: “This sounds good, but $499 a month isn’t something we can do right now.”
Sales Person: “I’m not sure I know what you mean. We’ve agreed that your budget for this is around $500. Is there some reason you feel our solution wouldn’t be worth your investment?”
Again, you’re reminding the customer of the terms they’ve agreed to, and people are less likely to argue with themselves by telling you that they can’t actually afford the investment they originally said was possible.
When your customer responds by telling you what their true hesitation is, listen very closely to their objection. See if you can determine how they’re measuring the value of your offer and what feature would be the most important for them. If you get a complaint or negative feedback, listen for the missing need behind that complaint and educate the customer on how your solution will meet that need.
Many sales people are simply ready with a canned rebuttal, but canned rebuttals demonstrate that you’re not really listening to the client’s concerns and that’s a quick way to lose the sale. However, if you settle the common smoke screen objections up front, you’ll create an opportunity to discuss and to overcome the client’s true concerns at the close.
Recap of the Four Steps to Overcoming Objections
#1: Set the Pace from Start to Finish
#2: Beat the Price Objection Before it Happens
#3: Have all Decision Makers Present
#4: Deal With the Right Objection
Outsourcing
As a sales manager, you’ve no doubt been tempted to outsource your sales training. Is this a good idea or should you do all of your sales training in house? There are arguments both ways around efficacy and cost. However if you put the two together and see what gives the best value for money and effort, you might be surprised what good value an external resource can deliver.
While doing your sales training in house can help you build cohesion within your team, there are some compelling arguments to outsource much or all of your sales training.
In this article, we’ll be sharing why this is and, more importantly, how you can make the best decision about who to bring on board as an outside sales training resource.
- Training Makes Coaching More Effective
Outside training gives you an edge when it comes to coaching your sales staff. This is because outside training provides fresh ideas for you to integrate in to your observation and feedback sessions with your team.
An outside sales training consultant can also provide objective feedback on your sales management strengths and opportunities. They in effect become a coach for the coach. With so much intense focus inwards you may be missing the outsider’s perspective to see all the angles. By bringing in external trainers who aren’t immersed in the daily routine of managing tasks, teams and individuals, you’ll be able to challenge your own thinking about how to get results through your people. So take their presence as an opportunity for personal development of your skills as well as those of your team
The sales manager will also benefit by observing how the trained specialist interacts with your team and presents learning experiences. This can be modeled and prove a valuable extension of the manager’s people development toolbox.
- Outside Training Can Be Motivating AND Educational
In addition to being a great learning experience, sales training seminars, workshops and training sessions can also be very exciting and motivational for your sales team. Sales people are notorious for having short attention spans and for losing focus easily. Being in sales is also emotionally taxing and the need for consistent encouragement and motivation is almost as important as the need for consistent training.
A fresh face, voice and ideas are instantly motivating when compared to the one they hear most often. Many managers complain of the frustrating experience of telling their sales team something over and over and over, only to have them finally “get it” when they hear it from a well skilled outsider. A change of scenery and physical state opens the learning pathways.
- Outside Training Can Give You Inside Information
This is probably the most important reason to consider outsourcing some of your sales training. If your trainer has experience, then this can be tapped and applied back in to your world.
If your consultant has direct industry experience this builds a faster bridge to the audience and credibility creates trust. They can update you and your team on industry level developments and provide informed opinions on future opportunities. If they have worked with a competitor or trading partner this holds special value for insights alone.
However exploring ideas and experiences from other industries can prove even more valuable. Think of it as a part investment in cross industry research.
So keep an open mind when making your selection or framing a brief.
When comparing potential trainers, ensure you check their experience and what results their previous work generated. It is easy to make claims but what makes the difference is the impact they deliver.
Recap: Three Reasons to Hire an Outside Sales Trainer
- Training Makes Coaching More Effective
- Outside Training Can Be Motivating AND Educational
- Outside Training Can Give You Inside Information
To return to the question of efficacy and cost, there are two simple questions to consider:
“How much more value can I confidently generate by leveraging an outsider’s specific skills, knowledge and services compared to doing it ourselves?”
“By how much does that value exceed the cost of investing in that resource?”
If the outsider is good at what they do, has a proven track record and is pleasant to engage, the decision is usually very easy.