All Entries in the "Research" Category

What is the Definition of Sales 2.0

Have you heard of Web 2.0? What about “Sales 2.0″?

There is new sales 2.0 conference that is owned by Selling Power Magazine — it remains to be seen what specific direction they will take it.

Is Web 2.0 the same thing as sales 2.0? What is the current buzz surrounding sales 2.0.?

There are two camps currently:

What Sales Teams Want

In order to determine what salespeople and sales managers want, we must first determine what they need to know. As markets, models, and buyer expectations have changed, so have the necessary knowledge and skills for the successful salesperson and sales manager. No longer are product knowledge, persuasiveness, and persistence enough.

To truly understand what successful sales team members need to know and do, we asked them with our sales training research.

ASTD Research surveyed 210 sales trainers and 179 salespeople during the summer. Overwhelmingly, respondents said that they value sales training and believe it to be very or extremely important.

When asked about the skills required to be successful in their jobs, survey respondents indicated these top five:

• Asking effective or productive questions of customers

• Becoming a better listener

• Selling with the customer’s best interest in mind

• Making ethical decisions

• Leveraging sales approaches that are adaptable from one situation to the next.

Respondents were also asked what kind of knowledge is required to be successful in their jobs. Valuable knowledge areas include:

• Customer requirements and potential uses of the product or service

• Product knowledge

• Company knowledge (of the selling company)

• Knowledge about competitor companies.

Accenture research found that although 146 of 244 executives from six countries said that the sales team plays the most prominent role in their company’s long- and short-term success, 41 percent of managers and executives from more than 2,500 sales organizations said that their salespeople are performing below expectations (Nightingale Conant/Andy Miller).

This backs up our thought that we need a new approach, one in which the sales development and training needs of sales teams are viewed through a strategic and holistic lens. To be successful, this approach requires the alignment of all aspects of talent management, skills development, and sales process execution. Revenue goals must be aligned with business outcomes and business processes that are deliberately designed to allow salespeople to develop productive customer relationships and deliver appropriate solutions. Further, salespeople must be equipped and empowered to make decisions that benefit both the buying and selling organizations, and sales managers must be given both the time and the training to coach and develop their sales teams.

ASTD Releases State of Sales Training Research

To achieve a more detailed picture of how sales training hours are being allocated as well as the methods used to deliver it, the research study examined the relative importance organizations place in addressing sales training in terms of the “mix” of five different categories of sales training: selling skills, product training, industry training, company-specific training and sales management. These five sales training categories all contribute to success, but organizations place more emphasis on some of them than they do with others.

Find out about sales training here:

Sales Training Research

Do you make decisions, or do you make the right decisions?

Much of today’s sales training market research has focused on a reactive approach to competitive markets. While these discussions are relevant and provide insight to the challenges faced by sales managers and sales trainers, they are often conducted with little regard for the entire selling system required for sustained sales excellence. As such, until now, very little research has been conducted on the strategies or best practices of executing a sales training and performance initiative to drive sales outcomes (even in areas such as sales management research).

Think about it: Why is there so much sales content on ‘how’ to sell and so little content on ‘what’ to do to make salespeople better?As a sales training decision maker, you are directly responsible for improving one of the most important occupations in your organization — the sales team. Over $15 billion (USD) is spent every year on sales training in the United States alone (according to ASTD’s latest State of the Sales Training Industry report).

The money you help invest in your sales team should be spent wisely, yield a specific ROI, and help move your organization toward its short- and long-term goals. To achieve this, you should leverage sound, objective, and comprehensive research to help you:

• Increase credibility within the sales organization
• Strengthen the link between sales training and generating revenue
• Determine the business impact of sales training better
• Improve personal sales training competency

Listening Skills

Teaching listening skills has been proven to improve sales team performance.

Things to consider in regards to listening skills training:

• How does listening help your customer build trust and confidence in your sales team?
• Why do clients and customers look for active listening skills in your sales team? What does listening do for them?
• Is there a difference between hearing and listening? How can listening be used to help understand the true needs of a customer or client?
• If listening is a skill, how can that skill be honed, sharpened, and enabled to help each sales team member achieve more success?