How to Provide Impactful Sales Training at National Sales Meetings
Posted on 06/08/2018 in Selling SkillsNational sales meetings always have full agendas, and large numbers of sales professionals and others in attendance, which makes it doubly challenging to provide impactful sales training.
What can you do to ensure that sales training that is done in a short amount of time to a large audience is worthwhile? Answer these three questions, after which you can then select the appropriate sales training modules to design an interactive sales training session for your sales team.
Question #1: How many people will attend, and will they be in one large group or divided into smaller groups? This helps to determine if one or more teaching sessions need to be run concurrently.
Question #2: How much time is available for the sales training? In our experience, a short amount of time is usually available at national sales meetings, typically ranging from 2 hours to a half-day. Occasionally, a full day is dedicated to training, but the example shown below in the Modular Design section assumes that you have less than one full day.
Question #3: Which selling skills and topics are most relevant? You want to select those topics that fit best for the audience AND that also support the theme of the national sales meeting. For example, if your national sales meeting focused on the launch of a new product, then sales training on prospecting and business development would be a good choice.
Peak Selling's Modular Design for National Sales Meeting
We offer a series of sales training modules that work well with large audiences - they are very interactive and practical. You pick and choose the modules that match best to your time constraints and desired topics. For example, you could blend together two or more of the following modules to design a training session that ranges from 90 minutes to almost one full day.
Module 1: How Selling Has Evolved We discuss how the old ways of selling - such as being a high pressure, wheeler dealer - don't work well in today's professional sales environment. Instead, we teach three key competencies: 1) Consultative Selling; 2) Selling on Value; and 3) Team Selling. This module takes from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on which practice activity is used.
Module 2: Selecting the Most Appropriate Negotiation Strategy The ability to negotiate well and not make common mistakes such as conceding too much, too soon, characterizes the best sales professionals. This module takes 60 minutes and includes a short role play.
Module 3: Varying Your Selling Style A self-survey is used to identify each salesperson's natural selling style. We then teach how and when to vary your style to fit different types of customers, followed by some practice activities. This module takes 60 to 75 minutes.
Module 4: Handling Objections All sales professionals encounter objections but not all salespeople respond equally well. Everyone learns a 4-step process to handle objections, followed by a brainstorm and practice activity. This module takes 75 to 90 minutes.
Peak Selling has other modules besides the four modules shown above. We're simply using the above modules as an example. Contact us for more information if you're planning a national sales meeting soon.