How to build a successful sales training program

B2B sales is quickly evolving and it's tougher than ever for sales reps to hit their quotas. To be successful, sellers need to be experts on products and services, tenacious, organized, and well-equipped with many other skills. If you're bringing on new sellers, trying to improve the productivity of current teammates, or even offering advanced sales training to seasoned reps, you need the best training program possible.

What's a sales training program?

A sales training program features courses, workshops, and development sessions designed to help sales reps learn and hone essential skills. Courses may cover a range of topics, including making effective sales calls, delivering strong elevator pitches, and overcoming buyer objections. The overall goal is to boost the technical and interpersonal skills that reps use daily.

Why is sales training important?

The quality of your organization's sales team can make all the difference between high performance and slow growth. Still, it's unrealistic to expect your sales team to gather all of the knowledge required themselves. You also can't count on them having all of the skills that make them an outstanding seller right from the start. These skills require time and practice.

That's why sales training is so important. Sales training helps both new and experienced sellers stay current with your organization's sales strategies and best practices. With the right training, reps become confident sellers who effectively close deals and meet goals. Companies with great sales training also experience improved sales processes that lead to higher conversion rates and increased revenue. This is especially critical in today's B2B sales landscape, where complex deals require a deep understanding of buyer needs.

How to build a sales training program

Despite the importance of sales training, it's often a pain point for many organizations. In fact, 22% of organizations have no formal onboarding program and 60% fail to set training milestones for new reps. Thankfully, this guide will help you build a sales training program that's effective and engaging. First, follow these steps:

Tips for creating the best sales training program

Remember, the best sales training programs should be engaging, practical, trackable, and adaptable. Therefore, include these best practices:

• Provide context and clarity: Programs should have well-defined goals and information so sellers know exactly why they're receiving training and what they should expect to learn.
• Focus on one skill at a time: One of the quickest ways to confuse a seller is throwing too many topics at them simultaneously. People struggle to keep track of what you're trying to teach them when jumping rapidly from one subject to the next. The best sales training courses only focus on one skill or area of knowledge at a time.
• Embrace microlearning: Microlearning breaks up larger sales training topics into smaller, easier-to-handle segments. This also makes it easier to fit in a quick sales training session here and there when sellers have a bit of down time.
• Include interactivity: Include role-playing, practice exercise, and real-life scenarios to apply what they just learned.
• Offer personalized coaching: Supplement training with one-on-one coaching so reps can ask questions and receive tailored feedback to further improve skills.
• Deliver ongoing training: Training is not a one-and-done event. Once sales onboarding is finished, reps should receive ongoing training to sharpen their skills and keep pace with business changes.
• Measure outcomes: Be sure to track progress and effectiveness of your training efforts. Let's take a closer look at how to do this.

How to evaluate if your sales training program is working

Measuring the success of your sales training efforts is critical. We suggest:

1. Tracking key metrics: Successful training is about more than checking off a box and ensuring 100% completion. Instead, analyze KPIs including win rates, average deal size, and revenue generated after training.
2. Gathering feedback: Regularly ask reps to assess their skills and confidence after training. This will help you identify what's working and where there's room to improve your training program.
3. Making ongoing changes: Use the data and feedback to refine and improve your training efforts continuously.

The advantages of an online sales training program

There are many different types of sales training programs, so it's important for your organization to develop a training plan that works for your needs. In today's remote and hybrid environment, many organizations have turned to online sales training. Here are several reasons why this is one of the best training methods for modern sellers

Provides flexibility

Even if you have the most innovative sales training techniques, it won't matter if your sales teams can't easily access training content. By offering your sales training programs online, your sales team has a much more flexible way to receive the training they need.

When done right, sales training courses are the most accessible. That's because reps can access digital training courses whenever and wherever they need them. Online availability also means sellers can take less time out of their workday to seek answers when they need them, as the information will be readily available.

Delivers consistent training

While having a veteran employee or sales manager train other sales members can be an excellent way to build employee rapport and personal connections, it's often inconvenient and inconsistent. Designated trainers have to take time out of their schedules to prepare and deliver training courses, which slows down the sales process and ultimately costs the company money.

On top of that, no two training sessions can be the same, especially if different people run them. This can lead to anything from minor discrepancies to significant training differences, and this lack of consistency can lead to inconsistency in your sales processes. But, with online training programs, you provide the same material to all sales team members. Since they're all learning based on the same content, the differences in how they work will decrease drastically.

Increases engagement

Another issue with in-person sales training courses is that not everybody will be able to attend, and they may struggle to pay attention if they do. Many people learn and retain information better if they can choose when they reference the information and access it as needed. Online sales training programs are accessible for your sellers at any time, so they can go over the materials and brush up on the information whenever they want or need to. It also means they can complete or revisit training materials at their own pace, which can also improve engagement and knowledge retention.

Promotes a culture of ongoing learning

Since sales training courses are so easily accessible, they also encourage your reps to continue learning throughout their careers. They can use the readily available training material to brush up on their knowledge and sharpen their skills routinely and stay up to date on all best practices.

While all new hires will need training to familiarize themselves with your business, best practices, products, and consumers, the need for this training doesn't just disappear after that. Your company, products, customers, and practices are ever evolving, so your sales team needs continuous and advanced sales training to keep up.

Includes tracking, data, and insights

One of the best parts of online training is the ease of data tracking regarding your employees' training. Online sales training software tracks which employees excel in certain areas, and which need a bit more practice. You can also see when sales reps access, complete, or revisit content as well as a lot of other valuable insights.

8 sales training ideas to include in your program

If you're trying to figure out what to cover in your sales training program, our guide features 75 sales training ideas that focus on hard and soft skills training. Peek at some of the topics we recommend:

Deliver the best sales training with Seismic

For some companies, creating the perfect sales training program can be daunting. Others may simply stick with the same onboarding and training plan that they've used for years. While evolving your sales training program does take dedication and intentionality, it will also reap plenty of rewards.

If you're ready to improve the delivery of your team's sales training, we're here to help. Our online sales training software makes it easy to create and deliver engaging sales training courses that ramp new reps quickly, hone essential skills, and keep sellers up to date with important changes. Click here to get a demo and learn more.