Traditional sales training is no longer optimal. Industries are changing and, to keep up with the competition, your sales training approach needs to as well. Mentor Group redefines sales training with a modern approach, with the focus on your business.
What is traditional sales training?
Traditional sales training often takes place in a classroom environment, focusing on a sole training event. Often adopting a ‘one size fits all’ mindset, and being led by a single instructor, traditional sales training has many drawbacks. This outdated style of training rarely takes into account the individual needs of each salesperson, and is often unenjoyable and outdated.
Predominantly face to face, traditional sales training can also be time consuming and inefficient. More modern approaches could include virtual training modules (like those offered here at Mentor Group), with structured plans and foundations.
Does traditional sales training work for modern businesses?
Traditional sales training often places an expectation on salespeople to retain vast amounts of information after being exposed to it just one time. There is usually very little emphasis placed on actually embedding learned skills and making use of them long term.
According to Xerox, 87% of sales training is forgotten without reinforcement, so it is unlikely to actually be beneficial for modern businesses. The modern business world is hectic, and we all have very little time to spare. Targets must be met, and often the workload is only just manageable.
Try fitting an in-person, time constrained sales training style into this already frantic environment.
Very quickly, you’ll find that this isn’t really feasible, and paired with the fact that most traditional training isn’t even retained, this style of training is simply a waste of time and resources.
There are elements of traditional sales training that are still beneficial for a modern business. After all, the fundamentals of sales remain the same, and many of the techniques encouraged are the same as always. In short, the basics are the same, but the delivery is outdated. That’s why we aim to strike the perfect balance between traditional techniques and modern delivery methods, adopting a uniquely holistic approach to sales training.
The biggest problem with traditional sales training
The biggest problem with traditional sales training is the lack of personal touch. We expect our salespeople to treat each customer as an individual, getting to know their personal needs and wants, as this is the best way to develop relationships and secure business. Yet, so often our training techniques don’t treat them with the same understanding and care we expect from them.
Like any person, sales professionals each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Some excel when developing relationships with customers, whilst others specialise in closing deals and negotiating. For this reason, the ‘one size fits all’ strategy adopted by traditional sales trainers simply won’t work for your business.
It is important to cater to each individual when training your team; learning should be person-specific to ensure that your team all reaches the same standard of professionalism having undergone training. A traditional approach could lead to gaps in learning or understanding, without every member of the team reaching the same level of professionalism post-training.
A large contributor to this issue is the generic, face-to-face traditional style of training. A single or small group of teachers means that individual contact time is reduced. For this reason, it is unrealistic to expect a more personal and fulfilling approach without employing modern teaching and training methods.
Traditional vs modern sales training
Traditional vs modern sales training effectively refers to instructor led training vs virtual instructor led training. The former usually takes place in person, which comes with a number of issues:
- Cost - Instructor led training being in person means that your business may accrue high travel costs. These lessons may take place at specific locations and times, which will take time out of every salesperson's busy schedule, requiring them to commute to the onsite location. Virtual training eliminates the need for travel, reducing the overall cost of training for your business.
Additionally, the need for instructor led training to take place in a physical setting, often rented, increases the price of the service. Another cost-reducing feature of modern training is the lack of any need for physical setting.
- Flexibility - Virtual training offers a level of convenience and flexibility not afforded by in person training. Modern virtual training allows participants to join from anywhere with an internet connection. This means it can be completed on the move, even from home, causing minimal disruption to business.
Virtual training is worldwide. No matter where you are in the world, we can provide the same high quality sales training to your team, with no extra hassle or cost.
Less company time will need to be blocked out for training, so your sales team can keep doing what they do best… selling! - Group Size - Virtual training can be conducted in larger groups than traditional in-person training. There are almost no restrictions as to how many people can attend a virtual session. Obviously, this contrasts massively with in person training, which is limited quite simply by the physical size of the location. This means that no matter the size of your sales team, we can provide a solution appropriate for you.
Aside from instructor led training vs virtual instructor led training, there are a few differences in traditional vs modern sales training. Our modern training model focuses on retaining existing customers as well as solely acquiring them like more traditional methods.
So whilst it could be argued that traditional sales training does ‘work’ (as businesses are equipped to gain more prospects), it certainly doesn’t work as well as the methods and ideologies promoted by modern sales training.
Many sceptics argue that modern sales training does not deliver the same realistic personal element as traditional training. Mentor Group’s fundamental coaching methodologies even include ‘red herrings’ to create a life-like challenge, as well as maintaining participant focus during delivery.
Traditional sales training has served its purpose for a long time, and there are certainly still elements of this approach which are useful today. At Mentor Group, we have extracted the good from this, and expanded on these basics to redefine sales training with a modern and unique approach, which can be altered to suit the needs of any business or organisation.
If you want to learn more about how Mentor Group can help your business adopt a revenue-centric strategy, and transform the revenue potential of your organisation in the process, visit our Contact Us Page or reach out directly to info@mentorgroup.com
