Selection First, Development Second#

Building a winning sales team starts with careful recruiting. People generally do not change — which is why 95 percent of your success as a sales manager is determined upstream, in selection. But once the right people are on the team, the second key to peak performance is continuous training and development.

No sports team can win at the elite level without continual training. The same is true of any sales team that aspires to peak performance.

Achieve Sales Fitness#

Think of yourself as the coach of an Olympic athlete. You direct training and development every single day. The same logic applies to sales:

• Sales fitness, like physical fitness, decays without continual practice.
• The highest-performing sales organizations train every week — or every day.

Sales managers who began regular training programs reported sales increases of 200%, 300%, even 500% in a single year. Most were astonished at how quickly the impact appeared.

Build a Personal Learning Program for Each Salesperson#

If your schedule does not allow daily team training, build a personal development program for each salesperson. The program should specify:

• The skills the salesperson must acquire.
• The activities they will engage in to build those skills.
• Audiobooks to listen to while travelling between sales meetings.
• Books and articles to read.
• Online videos to watch in the morning before starting work.

Maintain two distinct programs:

• An internal sales training program all new hires must complete on day one.
• An ongoing sales training program mandatory for everyone, at minimum weekly.

Weekly Training Pays Compounding Returns#

A division sales manager started a simple weekly training program: one sales video per week, followed by group discussion.

• Within one year, the division was the highest in sales and profitability worldwide for the company.
• The day after each weekly training session was the highest sales day of the week.

One hour of training per week — followed by a discussion of how to apply the lesson with real customers — can drive an entire organization to record sales.

The Basic Rule of Performance#

You cannot expect people to deliver a specific result if you have not trained them thoroughly in exactly what they need to do to achieve it.

If a salesperson is missing one technique — how to set more appointments, how to handle a particular objection, how to close — the gap stays open until you close it deliberately.

Why Training Itself Is a Recruiting Magnet#

Beyond the direct skill gain, training acts as a talent magnet:

• Word spreads in the market about which company invests in its salespeople.
• The best salespeople gravitate toward organizations that develop their earning ability.
• Salespeople think constantly about how to increase what they earn — and training is the most direct way to do it.

Salespeople love being trained to earn more money. It is one of the strongest non-monetary forms of compensation you can offer.

The Seven Essential Sales Skills#

Every salesperson on your team should be evaluated against — and trained on — seven core skills (covered in detail in the CANEI chapter):

1. Prospecting.
2. Building trust and rapport.
3. Identifying needs accurately.
4. Presenting persuasively.
5. Answering objections effectively.
6. Closing the sale.
7. Getting resales and referrals.

The eighth, supporting skill is time management for salespeople — the highest-paid salespeople consistently manage their time better than the lowest-paid.

Action Exercises#

1. List the seven essential sales skills. Score each salesperson 1 to 10 on each skill. The lowest scores are your training agenda for the next 90 days.
2. Sit with each salesperson and co-author their personal and professional development plan. Make daily learning a normal part of their job.