Invest in Sales Coaching and Learning Now

By Jim Lundy

Invest in Sales Coaching and Learning Now

One of the biggest questions we get asked is, “What are the best practices to deal with a slowing economy?”

The answer is simple: invest in your people, and it starts with sales. This blog is about Sales Coaching and Learning and the key things to do now.

Investing In Sales: Validation and Weekly Role Plays

Two of the most overlooked aspects of sales are skills and weekly game prep. Having the right skills to sell is vital, but so is practicing them.

Today, there are many providers of Sales Coaching and Learning. They can enable sales training and something very important called Video Role Plays.

The issue is, don’t just purchase a service, deploy it and get those role plays going. Record your executives giving each pitch. Then, make reps do it.

I can tell you, as a former District Manager of Sales at Xerox, there is value to memorizing a pitch. Recall is better and to get it perfect – it takes practice. 

A Well Known CEO was Fired – Why?

A well known CEO at tech SaaS company was fired recently. Many questions were raised about why.

The basic answer is this: the company stopped doing regular role plays. New reps were just not getting the deals as fast or as frequently because their skills were not crisp. They were not practicing.

For Managers: Coaching is key

Managers can use role play offerings to see which teams and individuals need help. Many products today offer great comparisons of how people are doing with their respective role plays. It is important for managers to give feedback to their team members and to help them. Sometimes, even a live practice session is great to do.

In the old days, this would be done in a car on the way to an appointment or in the parking lot before a call. Today, given virtual selling, it is often ‘practiced’ in a video conferencing session. The key is don’t wait to do this.

Bottom Line

Just like sports, practice makes perfect. The sales teams that prepare – are often the ones that win. Practicing your skills for each step of a sale is very important and while sometimes seeming fundamental, it is one of the reasons that enterprises outperform their competitors. They are better prepared.

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This was the third blog in the Digital Workplace blog series by Aragon Research’s CEO, Jim Lundy.

Stay tuned! We publish a new blog every Thursday.

Missed the previous installments? Catch up here:

Introducing The Digital Workplace Weekly Blog Series	Application Proliferation – Building out Departmental Tech Stacks