Why are regular weekly meetings necessary for sales department?

14/ 07/ 2020

Author: Valeriy Glubochenko, «Golden Sales Trainer» according to the version of the trainers’ battle of TradeMaster; author of the «SalesMaster» negotiation model, the author of the book «Negotiations for active sales. How to sell expensively and without discounts according to the «SalesMaster» model. 50 tasks for script development and weekly training of the sales department». Professional sportsmen train constantly. Exercises take 99% of their time and competitions take only 1%. And what about sales? 22 working days multiply by 8 hours per day and multiply by 49 weeks (minus vocation) equals to 8624 working hours annually… And only 16 hours for training in the ideal case, because in some companies sales department has training on sales skills once in 3-5 years. As a conclusion, 16h / 8624h = 0,0019%, so even less than 1%... 0,2% of their working time sellers spend on training and competence development. So, we want our sales staff to change their mentality and approach to deal with customers spending only 0,2% of their time: Use the “outbox approach” processing customer briefs and help the customer to recognize these criteria; Sell not only financial conditions of the deal, but also holistic solutions; And also move from “pushing sales” to “pulling sales” – displaying care and responsibility towards a customer. Do you believe in it? Really? If a customer asks me before training: What do you get as a result of the training? What are the guarantees of the result you can provide? What else I’ll get from my investments: except for the positive perception of the training and motivation to increase sales… Probably, I would answer: «OK, now I will give your «sportsman» a 8-hours lecture, and he immediately becomes a champion of the city, region, country or even world!» Managers of internal training centers of big companies can object me: «Our sellers regularly take training courses provided by the internal trainers and on-line courses in DLS (distance learning system)». So what? Assume, thanks to the internal training center sellers take part in 6 one-day trainings per year = 48 hours. Of course, it’s much better, than 16 hours training once in 2-3 years. And 0,6%, (48h / 8624h = 0,0056%) is a good result in comparison with 0,2%! But I’d rather doubt that an internal trainer has enough authority to regional managers and experienced sellers. Will he\she be able to change the sales approach and team mentality? Or will series of on-line courses (very often taken under administrative pressure) influence a sophisticated seller? So, today my ideal picture of sales staff education is as follows: a sales manager should conduct his\her sales team meetings several times a week during 1 hour in the morning or in the evening. For example, 2-3 times: on Tuesday and Thursday, or Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, or Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In such a way, a sales manager invests in increasing professional competence of his\her team and in sharing his successful experience during 2-3 hours per week. Annually we will get 100-150 hours (equal to 10 two-days trainings). What competitor allows 10 trainings per year for sales team? Who among your competitors can set against concept of regular weekly meetings with sales department with the purpose of sharing successful experience and increasing professional competence? Can your sellers be considered your advantage in a competitive struggle? Can it help you to sell more? Can it increase the amount of business, or profit margin, or be the beginning of the effective sales of new products? We invite you to an online-lecture: How to Raise a Team of Sales Experts in Your Company, which will take place on July 30. Registration by the link.

Author: Valeriy Glubochenko, «Golden Sales Trainer» according to the version of the trainers’ battle of TradeMaster; author of the «SalesMaster» negotiation model, the author of the book «Negotiations for active sales. How to sell expensively and without discounts according to the «SalesMaster» model. 50 tasks for script development and weekly training of the sales department».

Professional sportsmen train constantly. Exercises take 99% of their time and competitions take only 1%. And what about sales? 22 working days multiply by 8 hours per day and multiply by 49 weeks (minus vocation) equals to 8624 working hours annually… And only 16 hours for training in the ideal case, because in some companies sales department has training on sales skills once in 3-5 years. As a conclusion, 16h / 8624h = 0,0019%, so even less than 1%… 0,2% of their working time sellers spend on training and competence development.

So, we want our sales staff to change their mentality and approach to deal with customers spending only 0,2% of their time:

Use the “outbox approach” processing customer briefs and help the customer to recognize these criteria;
Sell not only financial conditions of the deal, but also holistic solutions;
And also move from “pushing sales” to “pulling sales” – displaying care and responsibility towards a customer.

Do you believe in it? Really?

If a customer asks me before training: What do you get as a result of the training? What are the guarantees of the result you can provide? What else I’ll get from my investments: except for the positive perception of the training and motivation to increase sales… Probably, I would answer: «OK, now I will give your «sportsman» a 8-hours lecture, and he immediately becomes a champion of the city, region, country or even world!»

Managers of internal training centers of big companies can object me: «Our sellers regularly take training courses provided by the internal trainers and on-line courses in DLS (distance learning system)». So what? Assume, thanks to the internal training center sellers take part in 6 one-day trainings per year = 48 hours. Of course, it’s much better, than 16 hours training once in 2-3 years. And 0,6%, (48h / 8624h = 0,0056%) is a good result in comparison with 0,2%! But I’d rather doubt that an internal trainer has enough authority to regional managers and experienced sellers. Will he\she be able to change the sales approach and team mentality? Or will series of on-line courses (very often taken under administrative pressure) influence a sophisticated seller?

So, today my ideal picture of sales staff education is as follows: a sales manager should conduct his\her sales team meetings several times a week during 1 hour in the morning or in the evening. For example, 2-3 times: on Tuesday and Thursday, or Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, or Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In such a way, a sales manager invests in increasing professional competence of his\her team and in sharing his successful experience during 2-3 hours per week. Annually we will get 100-150 hours (equal to 10 two-days trainings). What competitor allows 10 trainings per year for sales team? Who among your competitors can set against concept of regular weekly meetings with sales department with the purpose of sharing successful experience and increasing professional competence? Can your sellers be considered your advantage in a competitive struggle? Can it help you to sell more? Can it increase the amount of business, or profit margin, or be the beginning of the effective sales of new products?

We invite you to an online-lecture: “How to Raise a Team of Sales Experts in Your Company”, which will take place on July 30. Registration by the link.