If you’ve got salespeople who have been “in the business” for five minutes, five years or five decades they all need one thing: training. Training is essential to a salesperson’s success and you, as the manager have to ensure there is continuing education happening at all times.
You have to keep them at the forefront of industry knowledge, product knowledge and always be practicing and improving their sales skills. Sales is something very few people ever completely master — even the greatest continue to learn every day. That’s what makes them great.
Most professions require ongoing training and schooling annually in order to continue to be accredited or certified. Airline pilots, doctors, dentists and other professionals are always learning new techniques, testing themselves and otherwise continuing to grow their skills.
This is another area where you, as the sales manager have to lead by example. If you let your skills become stagnant, what message does that send? If you’re not reading good books, attending seminars, webinars and otherwise putting good, positive information in your mind, how can you expect your salespeople to do so?
Successful managers have the heart of a teacher and the mind of a student and never stop learning and growing. They are naturally curios and want to know as much as possible about their industry and how to better serve it.
Are you challenging your people to always be better?
Once you’ve established high expectations and proven yourself to be open to training, your people will generally follow suit. However, if you have someone who “knows it all” and doesn’t need to waste time reading or learning you’re better off ridding yourself of that person. Their attitude is contagious and will adversely affect other within your department.
Being successful is a process. You never get there — you’re always on the way.