Jen Nikolaeva
Corporate training solutions · 6 MIN · 14.11.2024
What is sales training?
In today’s competitive market, a company’s success relies much on its capability to sell its services and products. Without a strong sales team, there’s a small possibility you’ll be able to make a profit to its full potential, no matter how good your offer is — you need specialists who will help you close deals and handle objections.
Since the sales team turnover rate is usually 3 times higher than any other profession, you’ll need to automate your onboarding and training to save yourself time for more important tasks. Upskilling and helping your team grow is also crucial for employees to feel appreciated and confident in their skills. Here’s where the sales training comes into play.
Since the sales team turnover rate is usually 3 times higher than any other profession, you’ll need to automate your onboarding and training to save yourself time for more important tasks. Upskilling and helping your team grow is also crucial for employees to feel appreciated and confident in their skills. Here’s where the sales training comes into play.
What is sales training?
Sales training is a type of training aimed at improving the sales team’s selling skills, and their behavior to achieve success in sales. Since 55% of people working in sales do not have the necessary knowledge to be successful, training is the solution to help them.
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Sales training can contain such key skills as negotiating, closing techniques, managing sales, and motivation management for team leads. Understanding what you need for your sales team is key to effective sales training.
Challenges in sales training
There are certain challenges that you need to keep in mind before creating a programme. Research shows that sales training participants forget around 70% of the information within a week, and 87% within a month of training. Without a proper repetition strategy, your effort in training your team might not be as valuable in the long run.
Misalignment with company goals and too generic content might be another obstacle to effective training. You need to create learning materials that would help YOUR company succeed, and plan training accordingly. But how to do it?
Sales training development
To create a training programme tailored specifically for your company there’s a certain list of things you need to follow.
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Understand business goals. Each business has its goals that align with the company’s strategy. Whether you need to increase win rates on proposals, improve customer satisfaction and retention, reduce the length of sales cycles, etc. Understanding these goals will help you create a roadmap for the content for your training. -
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Analyse business needs. Identify gaps in the current state of sales, teams’ capabilities and challenges. What are the main issues preventing higher sale rates? Which skills are lacking for each role in your sales team? Ask your employees to help you understand the situation. -
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Segment your employees. Every role on your sales team has different skills they need to improve: managers might need knowledge on team management and leadership, salespeople – more information on closing strategies and handling objections. By understanding what groups you have, you will get an idea of what you need to teach them. -
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Align training with company processes and business goals. Match your company's sales methodologies and processes and business goals. With the help of skilled salespeople map out the training for each segment group, bringing real-life scenarios to the training content. -
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Choose the content delivery method. Since a lot of companies choose the hybrid and remote work models, the best solution to training teams in today’s world is to choose an LMS (Learning Management System) that will help you deliver content to your remote teams.
Such LMS as Seturon will let your training participants learn at their own pace, have adaptive learning paths according to their current skill levels, have live online sessions with instructors and assess their knowledge — all in one place. You’ll also be able to track their progress and get feedback in real-time. -
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Plan out the training. Gather all the data from the previous steps and map out the training. Plan out what content needs to be conducted in real-time, and what can be learned at one’s own pace. Don’t forget to include a reinforcement plan. That could be spaced repetition and follow-up modules, checklists and templates for daily tasks use. -
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Create training content. Create content that will help you deliver information more efficiently — guides, instructions, sales scripts, theory in text, videos, audio for sales techniques example. Don’t forget to include real-life simulations and knowledge-checking in the form of tests, quizzes or other assessments.
The only thing left is to conduct the training and analyse how it went.
Benefits of sales training
Sales training is a strategic investment for any company. When effectively designed and implemented, it can transform your sales team's performance leading to increased sales results. Here are a few other benefits to keep in mind.
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Improved sales performance. Sales teams that go through effective training are better equipped to achieve higher conversion rates, handle objections and close deals. It also can lead to bigger deals that increase the company’s revenue. Good negotiation skills will help your employees secure favourable terms while maintaining strong customer relationships. -
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Faster and more effective onboarding. Having all the necessary documentation in one place for new hires to go through will help them start closing deals in no time. New team members will be able to start contributing to your company much faster if you have all the training in the required skills and tools. -
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Adaptability to trends and market. To stay competitive in the industry market, you need to upskill your employees with the latest sales techniques, tools and trends. Regular training will help you be on top and strong in your sales team workforce. -
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Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty. Training in soft skills will help your employees build trust with customers, understand clients’ needs better and find the right solutions tailored individually for each partner. -
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Enhanced team motivation. Employees who are confident in their skills and knowledge radiate this confidence to clients while selling and closing deals. This will not only help your employees feel better about themselves and their performance but also foster team collaboration and knowledge-sharing within the company. -
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Employee retention. People who get regular training within companies feel appreciated and valued, making them loyal to the organisations they work for. Training also helps you upskill your team members growing them into leadership roles.
FAQ
Sales training focuses on improving the skills and behaviour of sales teams to drive better performance. It’s essential because it equips salespeople with the tools to close deals, handle objections, and align with company goals, leading to increased revenue and employee retention.
Sales training often includes negotiation, closing techniques, sales management, and motivation strategies. It’s tailored to address the specific skills needed by different roles within a sales team.
Common challenges include participants forgetting information quickly, misalignment with company goals, and overly generic training content. A strong repetition strategy and tailored materials can help overcome these obstacles.
By understanding business goals and analyzing current sales performance, training can be customized to address gaps and support the company’s strategies, ensuring a direct impact on success metrics like win rates and customer retention.
An LMS (Learning Management System) facilitates remote and hybrid learning, offering adaptive paths, real-time feedback, and the ability to track progress. It ensures efficient delivery of training content and supports self-paced learning for busy sales teams.
Start by identifying business goals and analyzing team needs. Segment employees by roles, align training with company processes, choose the right delivery methods, and plan reinforcement strategies like spaced repetition and real-life simulations.
Sales training accelerates onboarding by providing new hires with structured resources, tools, and knowledge, enabling them to contribute effectively and start closing deals faster.
Training in soft skills helps salespeople understand customer needs better, build trust, and offer tailored solutions, leading to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Beyond increased revenue, sales training enhances team motivation, improves adaptability to market trends, boosts employee confidence, and fosters loyalty, reducing turnover rates.
Employees who receive consistent training feel valued and appreciated. Upskilling opportunities encourage personal growth, making them more likely to stay with the organization and grow into leadership roles.
Regular intervals, such as quarterly or bi-annually, are recommended to keep teams updated on market trends, refine skills, and reinforce key concepts for long-term success.
Effective sales training includes guides, sales scripts, videos, audio demonstrations, and interactive elements like real-life simulations, quizzes, and knowledge assessments.
Yes, effective training programs segment employees by role (e.g., managers vs. sales reps) and customize content to address the unique skills required for each position.
Without reinforcement, most training content is forgotten within weeks. Techniques like spaced repetition, follow-up modules, and daily task checklists ensure lasting retention of knowledge.
Sales training improves team performance, customer satisfaction, and employee retention, directly impacting a company’s revenue and long-term success, making it a high-return investment.
- Jen NikolaevaLearning Experience Designer and EdTech Producer
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