Sales course. Investment or expense?

There may be many reasons that lead you to think and decide to take a sales course, and among the most important are the desire to sell more and better.

However, the level of satisfaction and the results obtained when completing a course will determine for the manager and executives that it has been an investment or an expense.

In the field of experiences, if you or your salespeople complete a course and find that they must make subsequent adaptations of all or part of what they have learned to enjoy their effect on the results, you have incurred an expense.

On the other hand, when you can start applying all or part of what you have learned immediately after completing the course, you have made a good investment.

Here the knowledge you have about what a course is and what can truly contribute to efficient performance weighs the difference between making the best investment instead of a bad expense.

For this reason, it is important to know what should be taken into account in the analysis process and before deciding on the best option for such an important operational aspect of the sales team and for the growth and evolution of the business.

What is a course?

It is a training process that achieves and verifies the learning of essential knowledge and the application of management techniques.

From there it is understood that a good course must have "learning objectives", "syllabus that allows them to be met", "applied teaching method" and "exercise that contributes efficiently to learning and checking the fulfillment of each objective".

Among the most important reasons that determine its realization are:

• Achieve in a short time a solid conceptual and practical training of the management to be carried out by the sellers, thus preventing the seller from learning "making way while walking", producing irreversible damages due to low production and loss of image for the company.

• Strengthen the management of vendors who have not been previously trained, have been trained a long time ago, or have done so with the wrong choice of course.

• Filter the vices that are brought from other jobs, correcting them in a timely manner and eradicating them from their actions.

• Achieve a homogeneous application of an effective effective management method that produces continuous, productive and consistent results in each period of the year by all team members.

Before starting the sales course search process, it is very important to establish what your own requirements are.

To facilitate the analysis of your requirements, simply write on a sheet all the aspects of the management of your salespeople that you observe and that should improve, after writing the phrase "they sell more" since this will be the consequence of providing them with the strengths that they need.

If at this stage you encounter difficulties in establishing the requirements, it is appropriate and convenient to hold a meeting with the manager or with a specialized consultant.

Aspects to consider to make the best decision

The need to train sellers is very common and constant in any organization that has the goal of achieving a successful goal in profitability, market penetration and positioning until reaching an outstanding position in the minds of its current and future clients.

This has generated in the last decades the proliferation of many consultants and independent instructors to offer their courses, coming to flood the training market for sales.

Given this abundant offer, and in order to make a good investment in this regard, it is convenient to take into account the following aspects when choosing wisely:

• The objectives of the course. They must be expressed in terms of expected final conduct. This term means to define the knowledge, abilities and skills that the offeror agrees to achieve with his vendors when the activity ends.

• The instructor's profile. Always choose someone with solid sales experience and a recognized training background. Here it is highly advisable to get direct referrals from customers who have trained their sellers with each option.

• The agenda and content. The description of the topics or modules must be in full correspondence with the objectives of the course. Otherwise or in the absence of training objectives, you will surely face a good seminar but not a good course.

• Teaching methodology. This defines how the instructor will transmit the concepts, their fundamentals and keys, confirming that they are incorporated in each vendor, as well as practical training so that they incorporate the skills and abilities of management.

• Time or extension. Part of the investment in the training of vendors lies in allocating the hours required for their effective training. This aspect is not negotiable if it is intended to be done in a short time, since the time required for an efficient basic sales course normally takes at least sixteen (16) hours of work and can be extended to twenty-four (24) hours depending on the breadth and complexity. of management.

• Fees. Every professional in sales training is clear about the value of their services, based on their achievements, experience and track record. Here the precept that says "everything cheap ends up being expensive" applies. Therefore, bargains in this regard are usually a good indicator of a possible expense rather than a good investment.

The essential complement to any good course is in the person in charge who leads the team (supervisor, manager, manager, owner, entrepreneur, etc.), who will be in charge of ensuring the application of what has been learned and permanently improving it.

The best way to ensure the continuity of everything learned is to take the activity together with your salespeople and then be able to assist them individually, permanently improving their sales management until reaching the desired level of performance.

In their absence, a sales management coaching service can be hired where the same purpose is achieved in a few meetings after the end of the course.

Conclusions

We know that each one is the owner and responsible for his own destiny according to the successes in his opportune decisions at each stage of his journey.

In business, those who want to achieve their desired goals and achieve the success of their activity now have more elements to analyze and make sound decisions for the team that provides the income required for the subsistence, growth and development of the organization.

The initial training of the seller, before starting the action, will avoid a series of errors that are incurred when the training was not carried out in due time and efficiently.

But remember that "it is never too late when happiness is good", especially if after a certain time you recognize the value that a good sales course provides and decide to make a good investment in training for the team.

recommendations

• Professional Sales Management Consulting