In an ideal world, your salesmen and saleswomen will show up for their first day of work ready and able to hit their target goals. Unfortunately, this is usually not the case.

That is why training your team should be the first step of your sales plan. Training ensures that your team members know what you expect of them and how they can meet or exceed those expectations. Without proper training, your new hires will flounder, and even your experienced salespeople will stagnate. Here are six tips for making the most out of the training sessions.

1. Keep Sessions Short

It is no secret that people today have shorter attention spans. That is why short videos on platforms such as TikTok are so popular.  

If you make your sales team attend hour-plus-long training sessions, their minds will start to wander in less than 30 minutes.  Similarly, you should avoid training events that last for multiple days. One study found that nearly half the information taught in these sessions is forgotten less than a month later.

Instead, keep each session concise and engaging. This will increase the chances of your team members retaining the information.

2. Provide Real-World Experience

Listening to sales experts describe their most effective strategies is no substitute for hands-on experience. Start by having new hires listen to effective pitches and sales calls from other employees. You could also have the trainees shadow your top performers to learn some tricks of the trade. Once your new team members are ready, send them into fairly comfortable environments where they can make their first sales.

3. Provide Specialized Training

Not every salesperson needs to know every aspect of the job. Each new employee should receive specialized training tailored to his or her specific role within your company. For instance, account managers should learn ways to cross-sell or upsell your company’s various services and products. Meanwhile, the training for sales representatives who will be making cold calls should emphasize ways to handle and overcome objections or rejections.

4. Use e-Learning

If your team members are located in different states or countries, it will be difficult and expensive to bring them all together for a training session. That is why e-learning platforms are so valuable.  They let you utilize modules and videos to quickly demonstrate new concepts. You can easily track which employees have and have not completed the training. eLearning platforms also help ensure that your training remains consistent.

5. Ensure Understanding of Your Target Customers

Your employees do not just need to learn about your company and its policies. They should also understand exactly who your ideal customers are. This should help them anticipate objections from potential clients. Your team members can then come up with ways to overcome these objections. During training, you should thus show your team members customer profiles that outline your target clients’ demographics, ages, hobbies and more.

6. Offer Incentives

Your employees may not want to sit through boring training sessions. To encourage them to complete all the required training, offer awards or incentives. For instance, those who reach a certain milestone in the training program could earn a gift certificate or an extra day off work. You can even provide teamwide rewards to foster a collaborative culture.

By properly training your new hires in the sales department, you can set them up for success. You should also hold regular refresher training sessions for your entire team. You can use these sessions to reiterate important concepts or to discuss any changes being made. Above all, you should emphasize that each member of the team should be working together toward a common goal.