Sales Training is a process of developing the skills of salespeople, resulting in improved performance and more closed deals. It is a structured approach to teaching trainees various sales techniques, up-to-date practices, and relationship-building strategies.
Throughout this article, we will review everything about sales training, starting from the definition and ending with a step-by-step guide on how to start virtual sales training.
So, if you are ready, let’s start!
The following article covers:
8 steps to start an online sales training
Benefits of sales training
Let’s start with the revision of the main benefits that learners, organizations, and trainers gain from sales training.
- High market demand. Sales Training enjoys good demand in today’s market, which benefits sales coaches in terms of income potential.
- Organizations are willing to hire sales trainers to improve the efficiency of their sales teams as it benefits them in the long-term increasing profits.
- High-income skills. Sales are valuable skills one needs to grow a business, change career, and generally profit. Thus, learners are willing to invest in sales training to gain high-income skills for today’s market.
- As a trainer, you can practice your sales skills when trying to sell the training program and continuously improve.
- Keeps you on track. Knowing you are responsible for the results of teams, you are always on track and keep learning new methodologies and practices. Thus, you are on the road to constant self & professional improvement.
The market of sales training
Well, to continue, let’s review the current market of sales training.
Market demand
Sales training enjoys good demand on the market. For instance, average monthly searches for “online sales training” are around 1k - 10k. Average monthly searches for “sales training” are 10k to 100k. Also, searches for “sales training services” are around 10 to 100.
These numbers indicate good market demand.
Competition
Online sales training is a competitive niche. Meaning that in order to gain visibility and awareness, you must put in some real effort. However, competitiveness also showcases high demand, which is good for your business.
You can see the cost for ads in low and high ranges in the data down below. Higher costs indicate higher competition in ranking. In the competition, you can see Medium to High range.
All you need to rank with these indicators are
- Good SEO Strategy
- Incorporate the showcased keywords into the content
- Create landing pages and place good CTAs before turning on ads
So, do not be afraid of medium t high competition instead create a proper strategy.
Sales training challenges
Well, it is time to review sales training challenges.
- Measuring the effectiveness of training. This can be quite difficult, as you need to follow up with clients in the long term to see how much they improved their tactics and how it impacted the sales they made. Yet, you can also measure their progress with tests and activities.
- Keeping up with all the industry changes. Sales are one of the most dynamic industries that tend to change quite quickly., With changing demand, customer needs & expectations, there is a huge stress on trainers to always keep up with everything.
- Balancing theory related to sales techniques and practice
- Time management. You and your trainees might be in different time zones. Thus group sales training becomes hard to manage in terms of time.
Can sales training be online?
Yes, sales training can be online.
Moreover, with the growing popularity of eLearning, it is the best and most scalable option today. It is convenient for learners and instructors due to location freedom and time flexibility.
Main responsibilities
Let’s take a look at the general responsibilities of a sales trainer.
- Deliver high-value training that will equip participants with the necessary sales skills and lead to real-life results.
- Structure sales training plan to meet individual & business objectives
- For quality training facilitation, for instance, you must check technology before each session to avoid potential technical issues
- Knowledge of appropriate CRM tools to teach students
- Knowledge of sales automation tools to showcase to students how to use them for better productivity
- Assess and evaluate the performance of students with tests and group activities (best to incorporate activities where students can implement sales skills learned in practice)
- Creating an engaging learning experience
- Collaborate with management if businesses hire you to gain more insights into the sales team you will work with
8 steps to start an online sales training
Let’s dive into the practical part of this article.
Step 1 - Identify Your Target Market
Before selling any product, you must know to who you are selling it.
So, conduct proper market research to be able to segment your target market. When you understand what type of sale straining enjoys the most demand, decide on the topic & Headline. Also, create a USP. Then, create buyer personas and strategies on how you are going to reach each type.
Afterward, put everything together to create a wholesome marketing strategy and plan for promoting your sales training business.
Step 2 - Set Objectives for the Training & Clarify Learning Outcomes
Set training objectives and learning outcomes.
First of all, this will help you to better structure a wholesome training. It will provide a bigger picture of what type of materials you need and what activities to incorporate.
Also, it will help you to better market the course. The learning outcomes and objectives can be positioned as “motivators” to trigger purchases.
Step 3 - Create a Training Outline
When you are clear on objectives, create an outline for sale and training accordingly. Make sure you cover all the necessary topics. E.g., if it is IT Sales Training or SaaS Sales Training, then include sessions on certain tools that work well for these industries.
For instance, for beginner training, you can have parts (each oary 1-3 sessions) dedicated to:
- Introduction to sales & digital marketing
- Practical techniques on how to close the deal
- Introduction to Lead Generation Tools
- Introduction to CRM Tools
- Introduction Sales Automation tools
Step 4 - Develop Training materials
Finally, it is time to develop training materials based on the outline.
Research and include additional resources to your training. Make sure to recommend a list of books that will enhance students’ understanding of a particular topic.
Design high-quality visuals and stick to youtube brand colors (choose 3-5 colors). Make sure visuals are not overstuffed with text or graphics, keep white spaces, and explain one thing at a time. Examples of visual training materials are presentations and infographics.
Step 5 - Choose a Platform
Next step is to choose a platform where you will host your online sales training business.
Best platforms offer features such as:
- Automation
- Website & Course Builder,
- Live functionality
- Integrations with other tools.
Also, good platforms must be speed & SEO-optimized. Examples of such are Uteach & Thinkific.
Step 6 - Create & SEO-optimize the Website
It is time to build a website with the platform of your choice.
Most LMS platforms offer “drag & drop” website builders. You can even choose pre-made themes and templates which you can customize. Yet, you also have the option to build a website from scratch.
Once again, keep it contrasting and follow UI rules to create the best possible user experience.
When a website is ready, upload the necessary content if you want to add a blog section and publish articles sharing your expertise. Blogs greatly help with authority building.
Step 7 - Start Promoting Your Training
After everything is ready, it is time to start promoting your product and making your first sales.
Needed skills for sales training
Sales trainers must be equipped with a certain set of skills to succeed.
Hard Skills
- Team building and development
- Sales process proficiency
- Lead generation
- Product knowledge
- Management
- Business Development
- CRM tools
- Sales Automation Tools
- SEO knowledge
Soft Skills
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
- Relationship building and maintenance skills
- Training skills that allow you to deliver proper sessions instead of lectures
- Empathy and Emotional intelligence
- Growth mindset
- Adaptability & flexibility
FAQ about sales training
Finally, let’s review the most common questions related to sales training.
Can I start the sales training with minimum investments?
Yes, you can. Sales training requires minimum investments. You need a few digital tools and, most importantly, a platform. (platforms - Uteach, Thinkific, Digital tools - Whiteboard, Notion, Canva) From physical equipment, your laptop or phone camera usually is enough, so just take care of the microphone.
Do I need certification for creating sales training?
Yes and no, let me explain why.
You do not need a certification to start an online sales training program. However, you are required to have a strong background and expertise in sales to be able to provide valuable training.
So, your education, maybe BA in marketing or business management field, or a separate sales course you have completed + a description of your work expertise are beneficial.
Official training certification is optional. Yet, someone can be a good professional but a bad trainer. Thus, if you have time to invest in yourself to learn how to train people, then take the appropriate course.
Certification of programs (training for trainers) not only increases the audience’s trust factor but also allows you to learn various techniques of successful training in depth. Thus, improving the quality of your training.
How much does it cost to create sales training?
The creation of sale straining program varies depending on a variety of factors. Here are the general numbers:
- From $39 to $250 Platform per month (depending on platform and plan)
- $20 to $50 Microphone
- Digital tools such as whiteboards, design tools, and other tools that will contribute to better knowledge acquisition during sales training from $30 to $100
So, at the end of the day, sales training creation will cost around $90 up to $400. Consider also the marketing budget, e.g., $100 for the first month, meaning $190 to $500.
How much can I earn with selling sales training?
You have huge income potential as a sales trainer. If we take a look at average market prices. Approximate costs are:
- Beginner Trainers (cost of a program) - $500 - $1500 per individual
- Experiences Trainers (cost of a program) - $1500 - $4500 per individual
Also, keep in mind that group training costs 30% less than individual yet guarantees more income due to spending the same amount of time simultaneously with 3 - 5 people.
So, if you get your first five individual clients during the first month and price the program $800, you will make $4000. As a sales trainer, you will be able to get more clients for your program; just put in the right amount of effort.
How to measure sales training effectiveness?
There are various tools that allow you to measure sales training efficiency. For instance:
- Feedback of learners on the training
- Test results
- Performance over time
- Long-term results, e.g., improvement of sales team performance that leads to more profits for X business, change of career, the landing of a dream sales job, etc.
How long does it take to create sales training?
As usual, sales training can be created within a month, even three weeks.
Dedicate the first part to proper market research and identification of various segments of your target market. The second part must be dedicated to outlining the development and goals of the program; you also can start pre-selling the program. Also, develop training materials during the second phase.
Finally, during the third phase, you can build the website, upload all the necessary materials & content, properly SEO-optimize it and start lead-generation campaigns.
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