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May 14, 2006
Practice Makes Perfect…and Quota
by Sridhar Ramanathan
Babe Ruth is legendary for having an extraordinary number of both home runs and strike outs. He took more risks, more often, in order to get more results. Similarly, sales reps need more “at bats” or “practice” hitting home runs even if it means more strike outs. I want to emphasize the importance of practice in addition to traditional sales training methods such as live instructor led training, self-paced online e-learning, and simulations. We’ve had experience with Chief Learning Officers and sales training managers at Cisco, Documentum, Siebel, Sybase, Interwoven, and others. One best practice we see is the extensive use of hands-on practice. Here are three methods to hands-on practice for your sales training manager or sales operations person to consider implementing. Best of all, these practices do not take time out of field.
Practice Cold Calling
Reps hate cold calling, of course, but it’s actually one of the best training opportunities. Why? They will have to build rapport quickly, hone their message, qualify on the fly, deal with objections, and know the product well. It’s a good mix of soft skill and product knowledge development. Block a 90 minute chunk of time with a sales rep and have them cold call prospects. Do this even if they are not responsible for inside sales. Give them quick feedback after each call so they can apply it immediately. You’ll be surprised how quickly this improves effectiveness and confidence.
Practice Pitching
Customer presentations are another excellent opportunity to practice. Yes a customer pitch can be risky (like Babe’s strike out risk) but the rewards are high too. A good choice is an installed base account that needs a quick product line or company update. If you like, have the rep dry run the pitch with you alone before the customer visit. Reps have enormous pressure to perform in a setting like this. So they’ll do the necessary homework to ensure they can present credibly and effectively.
Practice Teaching
One of the best ways to learn is to teach. Have a sale rep deliver a 10-minute update at your next sales conference call and go into some depth on a particular topic— hooks that work, overcoming objections, setting competitive land mines, selling approaches, account planning, etc. The recognition itself is a motivator. And as they teach, key skills and knowledge are reinforced.
Copyright © 2006 Sridhar Ramanathan Pacifica Group
Posted May 14, 2006 | Permalink
Posted to Sales Effectiveness