Anyone with a strong sales team can achieve strong revenue. That's the theory, anyway. But how do employees become truly great salespeople? We have put together 7 tips to help sales managers continuously develop their staff: from modern sales training to successful sales calls.

1.) Keep your eyes open when selecting personnel

It is very rare for a naturally shy person to turn into an extroverted top salesperson. Even with sales training, it will take a very long time and will ultimately be far too costly for your company. On the other hand, you can more easily train a layperson to become an expert. You should therefore look for true sales personalities right from the personnel selection stage – you can always help staff acquire the know-how about the product world later on.

2.) Modern further education instead of dull sales training

Continuous learning about products or services is essential in sales. How do you motivate your staff to keep informing themselves? Our tip: Use modern further education opportunities from the e-learning sector for your sales training. Follow the example of Wüstenrot AG: there, 1,400 field staff members are already learning about new products via a quiz app. This simultaneously saves a lot of time and high costs for elaborate seminars.

3.) Mix online and offline elements in sales training

Classic sales training brings many advantages, but also numerous disadvantages. For example, it is difficult to cater to individual knowledge levels. Furthermore, sales training is always dependent on time and place, which can become a challenge, especially in field sales. Find out about blended learning to contribute to further education both through on-site sales training and digitally. Content here can range from new sales strategies to knowledge about your company's products or services.

4.) Create a positive work atmosphere

A positive inner attitude is transferred directly to customers because voice, facial expressions, gestures, and language reflect the motivation of the salespeople. With an attractive work atmosphere, you help your sales staff manage their work in a motivated way.

• What benefits do you offer and how can these be optimized/intensified?
• Is internal communication developed in such a way that all employees know their benefits?
• Do your employees already identify with your company?

Employer branding is the keyword here: Sometimes you increase your sales success more through intrinsic motivation than by putting your employees through days of sales training.

5.) Develop successful sales techniques together

In a sales coaching session, you can work together with your employees to develop the "10 golden rules of sales," which are then graphically prepared and hung in a prominent place in the office. One aspect could be, for example: "We start conversations with open-ended questions."

In practice, this means asking: "What can I show you?" instead of "May I show you something?"

This point serves only as an example of an open development of rules. Do not simply present guidelines to your employees; let them emerge in a joint thought process during a sales training session.

6.) Set realistic goals

Nothing demotivates employees more than unrealistic goals. Therefore, discuss with your staff together what the goals are for the respective year and which milestones can be achieved in between. This way, the employee does not just see the big, overarching goal, but can progress along small milestones.

7.) Enable anonymous feedback

Continuously discuss whether and where there are hurdles in sales and convey to every one of your employees that you always have an open ear. After all, you cannot always see where things are getting stuck. Tools like a suggestion box or anonymous feedback via a sales app can help to reduce the hurdles of expressing criticism.

Modern tools for more sales motivation?

As an e-learning provider, keeunit has been established on the market for several years and has already whipped many sales teams into shape using a quiz app. Take a look at our references, which include names like Ford, Springer, or WIKA. 4,000 field staff members also always stay up to date at Schwäbisch Hall thanks to the "Fuchs-Quiz".

In a free initial consultation, we can find out together how we can make your sales team fitter. Alternatively, you can also request a live demo directly.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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