Tag: sales development

The Importance of Continuous Learning in Sales Team Development

Posted on by Nick Mann

You’ve just hired a new salesperson who shows a ton of potential. You’ve gotten them successfully onboarded, and they have a solid grasp of your products, industry, and culture. They’re achieving positive results, meeting or even exceeding your expectations. In situations like these, it’s easy to become complacent and take your foot off the gas with the rep’s development. But most experts warn against this, saying continuous learning is critical for fully developing your sales team.

Here’s why, along with plenty of research-backed data to fully illuminate the importance of continuous learning in the sales profession.

First, the Stats

Before I dive into the details, let me provide a basic overview of the specific benefits continuous learning can have for sales teams.

According to HubSpot, “Companies with continuous sales training reap as high as 50% higher net sales per employee than companies without.” Let that sink in for a second. 50%!

That alone should be enough to pique the interest of any sales leader and clearly shows that prioritizing ongoing learning can have an immense impact on sales.

Next, an SHRM survey found that “More than 8 in 10 hiring managers believe salesperson training helps attract the right candidates.” Further, the study says “76% of salespeople are more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous training.”

Additionally, Lorman Education Services states, “74% of salespeople are willing to learn new skills or re-train to remain employable,” and “87% of millennials believe learning and development in the workplace is important.”

Crunching these numbers together tells us a few key things about continuous learning:

  • It can send sales soaring
  • It’s integral for attracting and retaining elite sales reps
  • The majority of salespeople are willing to continuously learn, with most feeling it’s important to their career progression

Now that we have an understanding of the data behind why continuous learning makes sense, let’s further unpack some specific applications.

Mastering Product Knowledge

I’m always a proponent of hiring candidates who can sell and then teaching them the industry and product, rather than hiring those who know the industry and product and then teaching them how to sell.

That said, having a firm command of your product line is always vitally important. To truly optimize the customer journey, offer great demos, and perfectly match leads with the right products, your reps need to know your products inside and out.

While most can learn the essentials fairly quickly, mastering product knowledge takes time. And given the continuous new iterations and developments that are par for the course for most products these days, it’s something that never ends.

This is especially true for companies that offer a wide range of solutions, like Mailchimp, for example. Check out what they currently offer — everything from email marketing and SMS marketing to audience management and marketing automation. And let’s not forget that they cater to several different industries, where the applications of the solutions can differ.

One of the biggest reasons to invest in continuous learning is so that reps know every last detail of your products and stay on top of new developments as they unfold.

Staying Ahead of Market Changes

Just as products are in perpetual evolution, so is the market itself. New technology, customer trends, sales techniques, and competitor strategies are constantly emerging at a rapid speed. For sales teams that take a “one-and-done approach” to learning that ends after initial onboarding, they’re unlikely to be equipped to thrive in our dynamic sales world.

However, those who place a strong emphasis on continuous learning in sales team development should remain agile enough to 1) see market changes happen in advance and 2) seamlessly adapt. If you’re one of the brands that fall under this category, you’re almost guaranteed to have an advantage over a large portion of competitors who lag behind.

Learning and Refining Sales Strategies

One of the most exciting things about sales is that there’s no ceiling. A good salesperson can become great, and a great salesperson can become elite. No matter how skilled a rep is, they can always take it further and continuously improve their craft.

When continuous learning is baked into your sales team’s mindset, your reps are in a position to learn new sales strategies that unfold and refine their existing ones. And with a wide array of comprehensive educational sales programs available, there’s really no excuse to not work this into the fold.

Here are just a few examples of some professional sales training courses currently offered by Dale Carnegie Training.

And if you’re looking for the be-all and end-all guide to sales training programs, I suggest reading this post from HubSpot.

Building Knowledge and Confidence

There’s one last, but critically important, aspect of building a growth-centric culture. Helping your sales team continually build their knowledge, as well as their confidence.

Think of it like this.

A huge part of mastering sales is simply “having salespeople get their reps in.” The more times a salesperson goes over a product, rehearses a demo, works on their pitch, and so on, the more comfortable they’re going to feel when they’re interacting with a lead.

In other words, there’s a clear correlation between practice and confidence.

When continuous learning is part of a salesperson’s job description, the more knowledge they’ll gain and the more confident they’ll be. And given that confidence is considered by many to be a core competency of high-performing sales reps, you can see why this is so important for thriving in this profession.

The Foundation of Sales Excellence: Continuous Learning

From increased sales to salesperson attraction and retention to mastering product knowledge to staying at the forefront of your market, there’s no denying the impact continuous learning can have on your sales team. That’s why I can’t stress enough the importance of going beyond initial onboarding and firmly ingraining ongoing growth into the fabric of your culture.

To find elite-level reps that you can train and develop, register with HireDNA today. We make it simple to attract, recruit, and retain the best sales talent, faster using science-based, data-backed technology.

Investing in Salesperson Training Can Have Up to 353% ROI: Why it Pays to Develop Your Talent

Posted on by hiredna

In a previous post, I mentioned that it typically takes about 11 months for a new salesperson to become fully productive and around 15 months to become a top performer. That’s one of the main reasons why salesperson training is so important. It accelerates ramp time and helps reps reach their full potential more quickly and succeed in a competitive environment.

But this brings up a pressing question. What exactly is the ROI of salesperson training? And how much can you expect to get back for every $1 you invest?

That’s what I’ll discuss in this post.

Looking at 2020 Data

Let’s cut right to the chase. A 2020 study by Southern New Hampshire University found that salesperson training can have an ROI of up to 353%. And a separate 2020 study by the Sales Management Association found “teams that invest in sales training and development are 57% more effective than teams that don’t.”

That’s really impressive!

While this isn’t to say that every company will see results of this magnitude, as lower-performing teams only see an ROI of 4%, this shows the sky-high potential of properly investing in the development of your sales team.

To quantify even further, the monetary return for salesperson training is as much as $4.53 for every dollar invested. Again, this is on the high end of the spectrum, and you can’t automatically assume it will be this much for every company, but many businesses do see this amount of return, which is extremely promising.

Other Compelling Data

To add a bit more perspective to the picture, let me mention a few other statistics that illuminate things further.

Research by Clear Company found that “68% of salespeople say training and development is the most important workplace policy. Although numerous factors contribute to the success of salespeople, such as having the requisite skillset and a guided sales process, more than two-thirds believe salesperson training is the number one factor. Conversely, “reps cited lack of skills and training and development as the main reasons they chose to voluntarily leave their positions. And 40% of employees who receive poor sales training will leave their positions within the first year.”

employee turnover

This speaks to the correlation between inadequate salesperson training and turnover — something that’s absolutely toxic to establishing a winning sales team and to overall company culture. By looking at the big picture, it’s clear just how vital it is to develop your talent, and shows that it helps in multiple ways. Both in getting more out of your salespeople in their day-to-day operations and in reducing turnover.

The Core Benefits of Salesperson Training

At this point, I think we can agree that, when done right, sales training pays off. And we’ve looked at quantifiable data that tells us just how profitable it can be. But what are some specific ways that it produces this type of ROI?

Besides a shorter ramp time, as I mentioned earlier, there are four core benefits that lead to your company earning more money.

First, the better your sales reps are at doing their jobs, the greater the number of deals they’ll inevitably be a part of. From more effective prospecting to lead outreach to lead nurturing, salespeople should become more skilled at this essential aspect of their job, which, in turn, should maximize the number of chances they have to convert.

Next, salesperson training sets the stage for reps to boost the average profit margin per deal. As Modern Sales Training points out, “the best sales teams have learned how important it is to differentiate themselves to build value inside their deals, and building that value is a hot topic for sales training.” The better trained your salespeople are, the more perceived value they can bring to your products or services, which allows them to sell at a premium price.

Third, having well-trained reps naturally makes it easier to close more deals. After all, your salespeople will be in a better position to build rapport with leads, address their pain points, overcome objections, and so on, ultimately letting leads know why they should choose your company over a competitor. As a result, your competitive winning percentage should increase, and you’ll be better able to stand out even in a saturated market.

Finally, there’s the higher retention rate that tends to come along with robust sales training, which I touched on previously. I think Modern Sales Training articulates this phenomenon perfectly with this quote.

“All people want to feel like they’re improving themselves and increasing their skills. If people feel like they have learned all they can learn at your company, they will start to look for another challenge elsewhere.” Smart organizations recognize this and “create sales learning paths for their reps to always have the opportunity for growth, to challenge themselves, and give them the chance to improve their sales skills which will earn them more money.”

By putting your team in a position to succeed and leverage their full potential, most salespeople can’t help but feel more inclined to stick around for longer. And it often instills a deep sense of loyalty, which can strengthen your overall culture.

Why It Literally Pays to Develop Your Talent

Most sales leaders know that salesperson training is important and has value. But not all understand just how big of an impact it can have. With some companies seeing an ROI of up to 353% or $4.53 for every $1 spent, it’s well worth the effort and can pay dividends in the long run.

And if you’re looking to find dream candidates using a proven science-based approach, check out HireDNA. This cutting-edge software allows you to attract and retain top industry talent, with over 90% of candidates climbing to the top of the sales force within their first year.