Employee retention is a hard thing for many companies to master. A big part of this is hiring the right people in the first place but that is not the “be all, end all” of the process. By providing a great employee development training program, you can make sure your workers are in the best position to do well at your company and want to stay with you for a long time. These sales training tips can help achieve these goals.

1. Make use of e-learning techniques. You need your workers to have the soft skills, such as the ability to listen to their customers, but they also have to really know everything about your services and products. That is where e-learning can add a lot to your sales training programs. There is also a big confidence boost that comes along with knowing you know your stuff. This is good for both the newbies on the sales floor and the veteran sales staff. You can have programs and applications designed to let people learn in a variety of settings.
2. Make your sales training sessions short and sweet. People can only absorb information for so long. If you expect your sales people to go through sessions that last hours, you are only going to get some of that information into their heads. When you are planning your training sessions, keep this in mind and plan your classes and training schedule accordingly. If you are doing a training series, it is also important to make sure you work breaks into the day. Experts recommend not going more than between 60 to 90 minutes between breaks.
3. Use more carrots and less sticks. People often underestimate the value of offering praise to someone who has done something the way they are supposed to. People like being praised. When you conduct your training sessions, it is often useful to do mock sales and other exercises to get people to work through the process of making a sale. When you are trying to instill certain techniques and policies, make sure you reward your staff when they perform the way you want them to. People learn more from carrots than from sticks.
4. Provide training in the field. Experts in leadership development recommend training people in settings that are as close to what it is like working in the field as possible. Another thing you can do is to send your trainers into the field to have them analyze and monitor your sales staff when they are on the job. Having your trainers listen into the sales calls may make your sales staff a bit nervous at first but they will get used to it. Also, when you give them detailed feedback that can improve their performance, they will appreciate it, though it may take some time to get to that point.
5. Make sure they understand the importance of follow up. They say that “90% of life is showing up.” The same can be said of sales success. People need to follow up after the first conversation they have had with a prospective customer. It makes a huge difference. Keeping a customer happy is much easier than getting a new one.
6. Reward success by highlighting it. One thing that is critical to sales success is having a good attitude. That can be influenced by how a worker feels they are appreciated at their job. When you have a worker do really well or have success with a very difficult sale, you should share that information far and wide. There are a lot of ways to do this. If you have a newsletter, you can include shout outs there. You can also use your social media channels to showcase good performance among your staff. This can really inspire people to work harder.

It is important to remember that as important as salary may be, there are other intangibles that can lead to improved employee satisfaction, which will lead to less turnover. It is always important to provide workers with the tools they need to do their jobs. You also should provide both praise and constructive criticism. When you combine those with the right sales training, you can make your workplace more profitable for you and your workers.

andnbsp;

andnbsp;

andnbsp;

andnbsp;