Getting on the Same Page: Empowering Your Sales Teams from Training Onward

Sales managers need to continuously refine their training methods to ensure effectiveness. It’s not enough anymore to walk new sales representatives through one long training session after they're hired. Studies have revealed that engagement, follow-up training and coaching all contribute to the retention of key sales skills.

If your sales and product presentations have proven to leave a lasting impact on their audience, why not use the same platform to train new reps? Doing so makes coaching and demonstrations more engaging and interactive. While they’re learning, reps also become familiar with the same presentation software they’ll eventually use to pitch prospective clients.

What's the Best Possible Outcome of Sales Training?

Sales training empowers representatives with enhanced skills to better sell your products. But it's only effective if it's a constant state of learning. Salespeople lose up to 87% of new skills within a month of learning them. Making sales training a continuous process ensures this doesn't happen to your reps.

With regular training sessions, reps can practice and eventually adopt key sales skills. These skills benefit team members in the following ways:

• Reps improve their communication skills. Communication doesn't involve merely talking to potential customers to push a product. In most cases, effective communication requires listening and knowing the right questions to ask. Sales reps learn how to listen to prospects to learn about their needs and find ways to position your products as the solution.
• Sales reps become more successful at handling different types of clients. Workshops tailored to specific buyer personas allow sales reps to dig deep into the clients’ mindset, behavior and needs. Providing them with these insights helps them develop better strategies in dealing with different types of customers. Identifying which types of leads are more likely to convert using their sales methods is much easier when armed with the right information and training.
• Reps learn how to deal with objections. Salespeople rarely get a "yes" after their first presentation. In fact, 60% of customers object or refuse offers four times before saying yes. Sales training teaches representatives how to properly overcome objections and reach out to prospects for follow-ups.
• Maximizing modern tools for better sales outcomes. Reps also become familiar with modern tools, such as Ingage, which give them an edge over competitors still using traditional sales methods. Managers can use training sessions to demonstrate how presentation tools can be efficiently utilized. As a result, reps learn to use these tools to their advantage at every stage of the sales cycle.

Through continuous sales training, you can also keep sales teams updated on new products and company policies.

Utilize the Same Sales Presentation Platform During Training

Presentation tools come in handy for creating not just sales presentations but also sales training resources. Through platforms like Ingage, sales managers can create training materials that are consistent and accessible. Utilizing such tools during training also streamlines your team’s sale enablement campaigns by efficiently producing and delivering resources and materials.

Consistency Across Platforms

Using just one platform for sales presentation and training allows managers to achieve consistent results with reps. On Ingage, for example, you can make a sales presentation and add elements like voiceovers and videos. This way, reps learn exactly what to say and do in specific sections of their sales presentations.

This consistency can be difficult to achieve these days when in-person training is impossible for many companies. With tools like Ingage, reps can access training materials any time and practice every aspect of sales presentations independently. Managers, in turn, can make sure that reps stick to tried-and-tested sales methods and existing company guidelines.

Training reps on the same software used for sales presentations also speeds up onboarding. Using Ingage, you can demonstrate exactly how features like interactive buttons and navigation bars work. These demonstrations improve sales reps’ mastery of the platform so they can give flawless sales presentations.

Accessibility and Shareability of Resources

Using Ingage, sales managers can create a collection of training resources that reps can access anytime. It also allows leaders to create teams and provide access to distinct content to specific user groups.

For example, multi-territory sales teams have different training materials depending on their areas. Training resources covering specific product lines or client personas can be shared with the right sales representatives. Targeted and specialized content ensures that members get the most out of their training and don’t get bogged down with details that don’t apply to their target market.

Create Your Own Demos

Fully featured presentation platforms make it easier for managers to create a wide variety of training materials and demonstrations. Through Ingage, you can take your pick from a library of built-in page outlines, including Portfolio, House Tour and Product Showcase. Combine interactive elements to create detailed product resources and content-rich demos for self-paced training, which your field sales teams will appreciate.

Understand Your Sales Reps Using Analytics

Ingage comes with Analytics that provide insights on how reps use training resources. Metrics like Page Views and Section Views will tell you which information is most valuable to each member. Use this data to determine if they are going through the training materials properly or just glossing over certain parts.

The dashboard provides a big picture view of your sales training. Identify which training materials are used often and expand the topics covered in those presentations. Similarly, determine the least valuable materials and collaborate with your sales reps on how to improve them.

How Do You Make Sales Training Work for Your Reps?

Sales training requires more than just gathering your reps around a table and lecturing them about boosting sales productivity. To see improvements in reps' performance, you have to make sure that their newfound knowledge sticks. Here are some of the best sales training methods to use:

• For maximum impact, keep training sessions short.  A study on microlearning says that learning in short periods best matches the brain's working memory capacity. Create training materials that last from three to seven minutes so sales reps can easily remember what they learned.
• Provide opportunities for hands-on training.  Managers can pair up beginners with more experienced sales reps so new hires can gain firsthand insights. Reps can also do mock sales calls and presentations with timely feedback from managers.
• Set up regular one-on-one coaching meetings with sales reps. One-on-one coaching provides a venue for more specialized training and makes it possible for managers to focus on a specific rep's weaknesses.

Using one platform for sales training and presentations benefits both sales managers and their team members. Through presentation tools, like Ingage, managers can save time and effort facilitating sales training and producing materials. Reps also get a preview of how they can later use the tool's features to their advantage.

You can learn more about Ingage and how it can support sales training by booking a demo.

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