Training Sales Staffs Can Boost Profit Margins

I hear it said all the time that profit margins are declining. Some people blame the decline on the Internet, which allows the customer the ability to shop and compare pricing. Yes, I will agree that the Internet has caused some challenges, but I don’t think it deserves all the blame. Secondly are the box movers, (Staples, Grainger), that strictly sell on price. But, before we point fingers, maybe we should first look at ourselves.

I believe there are other factors causing are declining profit margins and many of them have to do with our sales staffs. Our biggest issue is training, or the lack thereof.

Did you know that back in the day, IBM would have their sales people complete an intense four to six month training program before they could make a sales call? As a result IBM at one point owned 80 percent of the sales market for computers.

How much training do you give your salespeople? Most companies set up a simple training program. The training may consist of spending a day in the warehouse; a day with the delivery person, a day on the inside with different personnel, a day with the IT person, and then maybe two to three days with the manufacturers’ reps who throw facts and figures about their product but do little sales training. Then lastly, the training may end with two to three days riding along with one or two of your best sales people. Now the training is complete, let’s give them a price book and send them out selling. Does this sound familiar?

In speaking with some of the sales people in the industry, most of them say that they didn’t even get this much training when they began. What happened to training? There are a number of reasons why training has declined. The first one is Time — Who’s got time and how can we justify even a month of training?

A second factor is return on investment (ROI) — We are paying them, so we feel we must get something in return. The thought is throw them to the sharks; the ones that can swim with the sharks will make it.

Another factor is Sales Managers — Most sales managers will not admit it, but they were trained the same way and do not have the skills to train properly nor the time. I will cover more ways to improve our sales staffs in my next tip.

If you agree or disagree I would love to hear from you. Contact me at corkerdj@yahoo.com.

David Corker is a sales manager for Arnold Sales in Zeeland, Michigan.