How to Build a Tailored Training Plan

A highly effective sales team needs the right blend of skill, talent and people. One of the best ways to enhance your recruitment and ensure your sales team are at the top of their game is to invest in the right training, which is instrumental for continued growth and success. Whether you’re bringing new recruits and graduates up to speed, or improving the skills of your existing team, training facilitates strong professional progress.

Introducing sales training programs goes much further than giving an immediate improvement in performance. It’s also good for morale, as it shows your employees that you’re willing to invest in their development and future. This, in turn, helps your business grow in both size and revenue, and improves overall staff retention levels.

A quality sales training course goes beyond a few handouts or practice calls. To be as impactful as possible, they should be bespoke to your team, identifying gaps in the skills and seeking to close them.

Find out how to build a successful training scheme tailored to your sales team with Pareto.

Benefits of bespoke training schemes

While there are a number of package sales training programs readily available, creating and tailoring a course specific for your team is the most valuable. This way, you can make sure the focus is on weaknesses that your team specifically needs to strengthen.

Meet employee needs

Every employee has different skillsets, strengths and weaknesses. A successful training scheme should consider each team member’s unique abilities. That’s why at Pareto, we begin with an in-depth audit as part of our bespoke sales training solution. We assess the abilities of your team against industry standards of excellence to reveal gaps and then make recommendations on the most effective forms of training for your business.

Rather than a general sales training course focusing on limited areas, a bespoke training scheme enables you to prioritise the skills that need developing in your team. This allows you to meet specific requirements, either for the wider team or certain individuals, and provide a training program curated specifically for them.

Ensure everyone is on the same page

Changes to policy, client demands or a disruptive tech advance can shake up a business and change the way a sales team operates. When this happens, a bespoke training scheme can be instrumental to addressing these changes and ensuring everyone works collectively.

Sales is a fast paced and dynamic industry, so staying ahead of the game is key to providing the best service to your clients. Keeping your team in the loop and up to speed with new information and developments through short, regular training refreshers can ensure their skillset doesn’t falter and that their ways of working are always both relevant and impactful.

Provide flexibility 

Some training courses are formulaic. They run time and again over the years using the same routine and the same materials, inevitably becoming less effective. A huge benefit of choosing a bespoke training scheme is that you, or your provider, have complete freedom to adapt approach, timings and budget to your team and their needs.

Bespoke means that you can think creatively about approaching training. You can analyse how your team can get the most out of the training, whether it’s shaking up the tried and tested approach or breaking one full day into bite-sized courses throughout the week.

Identifying skills gaps

Identifying gaps in your employees’ skillsets will help tailor your bespoke sales team training scheme. There are several ways you can do this, including:

• Surveys: A quick and efficient way to discover what the team consider their main knowledge and skill gaps.
• Tests: Setting your team a task can help you get an accurate review of each individual’s skill gaps.
• Performance review: Regular one-to-one meetings and performance reviews should give you an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, while allowing you to monitor development.

Once you’ve identified team or individual knowledge or expertise gaps, you can begin designing a sales training program that targets these areas.

Building a bespoke sales training plan

When it comes to creating the best sales training scheme for your team, there are several steps you need to take to ensure success.

1. Audit the business

With the team’s skill gaps identified, review and assess where extra support is most urgently needed. Share these gaps with the team by offering feedback and recommendations, so everyone is on the same page in terms of developmental requirements.

2. Set team objectives

Next, consider these gaps and establish a theme for the training plan and what you hope the individual and the wider business will gain. Create specific, measurable objectives, such as boosting morale and teamwork or improving closing skills.

3. Run the training course

Try to include as much variety as possible in the course to keep the team engaged. This could be a mix of role play activities, questionnaires and presentations to make sure people aren’t confined to a desk or getting bored throughout the day.

4. Review its success

With any training program, it’s important to analyse as you go, making sure you are aware of how effective your approach has been so you can adapt it accordingly in the future. Have the team complete a survey on their thoughts of the training and monitor whether any new skills are being used in the workplace over an extended period of time.

Creating a bespoke training scheme for your sales team can help improve sales, boost morale and enhance your team’s skillset, addressing specific problem areas that affect your team.

If time is limited or you don’t have the means to build your own program, Pareto offer training solutions designed with your business’ needs at heart, identifying where your team can improve to fast-track ROI.