National Sales Center

Advice About Customized Sales Training Programs

By, Nick Moreno

Customized sales training programs are presented as programs designed for a specific product, industry or company. Sounds good on the surface but what do you get when you peal back the onion? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of customized sales training programs.

I don’t promote my customized sales training programs. If a company approaches me and really wants a customized program, I’ll produce it but it’s not something I aggressively market. I’ll also be the first to move that company in a different direction.

Industry Specific Customized Sales Training

Some customized sales training programs have my support. Consider auto sales training for a moment. Often, these programs are developed by someone that successfully sold cars. That experience allows the trainer to base the advanced sales training on their best practices. I see some benefits to that but not all industries are afforded this luxury.

So, what if you are in the Telecommunications industry and you are looking for a customized sales training program? Typically, you hire a sales trainer and that trainer spends time studying how Telecommunication services are sold. They then develop a customized sales training program based on all they’ve uncovered. Well, I’ve got a few issues with these types of so-called, customized sales training programs.

Issues With Customized Sales Training

One point, although it’s minor, if the fact that customized sales training programs can be quite expensive compared to a simple but effective sales training CD.  After all, you have to pay a sales trainer to first learn all about your business. I say it’s a minor point because the true cost must be measured against a return on investment. Obviously, these are corporate initiatives so an individual looking to improve their sales skills could never afford this type of customized sales training program.

My large issue is over the material developed in most customized sales training programs. It is impossible for a sales trainer to become an industry expert after spending only a few weeks learning about that industry. Furthermore, someone that never successfully sold that particular product or service is the person that develops the customized sales training material. I think you see the problem with this. Their selling techniques for that product were never field tested .

So now let’s take a hard look at the actual material in the customized program. The client may feel good about seeing their logo on the material but how much of the material is actually customized? Often, a good portion of the material is boilerplate with the specific product inserted in the blanks. I feel salespeople are smart enough to fill in their own blanks.

The Only Way To Sell Anything

You don’t reinvent the principals of salesmanship for every product or service. Selling is selling and the only way to generate consistent sales success is by mastering the Sales Process. Once you’ve mastered the Sales Process, you can customize that process to fit any product or service.

And so, that’s my take on customized sales training programs. It’s great if such programs are available for your industry such as you’ll find in auto or Real Estate sales training. That said, if you don’t fully know how to execute the Sales Process you may want to get that training before you take customized sales training. The Sales Process is the foundation of all sales training, customized or not.

All is not lost if customized sales training programs are not available for your industry or if you’re an individual looking to improve their sales skills. Just get your hands on some solid Sales Process training.

Make it a great day,

Nick Moreno

Tags: Sales Training