Inbound sales and marketing has begun to take hold and change the landscape of the business world. Large companies have the luxury of hiring multiple people and delegating tasks to separate, compartmentalized departments. But where does that leave the small business owner who, with a limited budget, can only hire one or two sales reps?  Inbound marketing has changed the small business model. How do you implement a program to increase sales revenue?  This week on the podcast, John and Lindsay discuss how small businesses can achieve success when hiring sales people who will be responsible for both inbound sales and outbound sales.

One of the biggest challenges for the small business owner is hiring sales people who will be successful. Poor hiring decisions have the potential to be catastrophic and can literally make or break a small company. When the team is limited, reps must be able to excel at multiple tasks. Prior to interviewing candidates, begin with a sales assessment to make sure reps you are considering can perform the tasks required for the position. Hire a rep with strong sales DNA; sales skills can be nurtured and developed using a thorough onboarding process.

Sales onboarding is the buzz word for company training. This is how your new rep will acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and behaviors to function as an effective member of your team. You cannot dump a pile of work on your new rep and expect them to be successful. It is essential that business owners put adequate time and effort into developing an effective onboarding program. Turnover creates turmoil for any organization, but it is magnified when the sales team is modest. When sales reps are adequately prepared for their position, there is greater success and less turnover.

The small business sales rep is expected to wear many hats and perform multiple tasks. As a business owner, examine company practices and determine what tasks can be taken off of your rep’s plate. If you hired the rep to primarily perform sales tasks, how can you allow more time in the field? Think outside of the box. Is it worth hiring a part time employee to complete paperwork or is it better to streamline your process so that time spend on management tasks is kept to a minimum? Create a process laying out the sales rep’s day, giving them adequate time for inbound and outbound sales. Help reps create and achieve balance.  

WHAT? Small companies do not have the luxury to hire separate inbound and outbound reps, hence each rep must be a jack of all trades. Small companies have struggled to find their space in the inbound world. A major part of the onboarding process should be devoted to training reps to be successful at both. Traditional outbound sales and inbound sales must be aligned for maximum revenue growth. Reps should be proficient at branding not only their company, but themselves. By putting relevant content on social sites, reps build warm connections and foster relationships with clients and prospects. The rep becomes their own personal inbound marketer for both themselves and the company. Sales reps should be posting content on the LinkedIn long forum, involved on twitter, attend events, and create warm opportunities for themselves. Smaller companies are not in a position to live off of inbound leads, so it is imperative that reps that are qualified to perform outbound and inbound sales tasks.

Choosing the right metrics and key performance indicators to track effectiveness is extremely important. It sets the tone for everything. With the transition that has occurred in sales over the past few years, it is time to evaluate what indicators are being used to track sales and create an accurate pipeline. Nothing is a bigger waste of time than gathering useless information and tracking inefficient metrics.  

The small business owner is often connected to their company on a visceral level. This is their baby. Because of that, they attempt to control everything the sales rep says or does. By creating a company narrative and building it into the onboarding process, sales reps know the company story. The process is the process, the methodology is the methodology. Have confidence in your hiring decision and let your reps find their voice.

Part of a well-developed onboarding process is meeting with your rep each week. Time should be devoted to sales coaching, but there should also be time built in to listen to what your rep has to say. Spend time listening to what is happening in the field. Discuss what is working or what might not be working. Devote a portion of the conversation to discovering what your rep might need to be successful.

Prospecting has outgrown knocking on doors. If you are expecting reps to perform old school sales techniques and handing them inbound leads with the expectation of success, there will be problems. Listen to this episode of The Funnel and see how small businesses can incorporate inbound leads into their inbound and outbound sales processes.

Most employees, outside of marketing departments, don’t ‘get’ inbound marketing. Without visuals, time, and buy in, people fail to recognize inbound's impact on an organization. They lack basic knowledge of the buyer’s journey, who the buyer is, how the buyer has changed, and the methodology behind purchasing decisions.  Some folks question why their company is investing in an inbound solution in the first place. When the inbound process is demystified the experience is richer, more powerful and financially rewarding.

Prospect Builder has created a series of workshops to help their clients understand inbound marketing strategy. When a client pays a retainer for marketing services, they are required to set aside time for an inbound workshop. During the class, employees have an opportunity to put themselves into the shoes of their clients and walk through what they experience.

By bringing everyone into the workshop, each member of the team recognizes they are valuable to the process. The knowledge base employees bring to the sessions contribute to the success of the implementation. More employees will participate and support the effort if they recognize its value.

Any business person worth their weight understands solving a problem is not free. There is some level of cost associated with solutions and most are willing to pay the price to get something back. The return on the investment of the workshop up front lays the groundwork for a smooth transition to inbound and financial gain.

Companies have turnover. At Prospect Builder, they host their seminar on GoToMeeting and then turn the recording over to the client. The success of a company depends heavily on a solid onboarding program, and the client is encouraged to integrate the workshop into their employee onboarding process, ensuring future employees also understand the full impact of the marketing program.

On this episode of The Funnel, Alignment Group's sales and marketing podcast, John and Lindsay discuss the value of an inbound marketing workshop. In the long run everyone benefits; a happy client + a well developed inbound program = increased revenue!  

Multitasking. Studies suggest only 2% of the population can multitask without detrimental effects in one or more areas of focus. Today’s conversation was born out of a study John read on multitasking and its negative effect on business productivity.

We are not as good as multitasking as we think we are. Tools and technology have the potential to be grand distractors. Email, texts, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest…..the list goes on and on. While these platforms offer great advantages to businesses, they also create ‘noise’ that if not filtered, can become distracting and overwhelming.

On this episode of the sales and marketing podcast, John and Lindsay offer advice to help sales reps, marketing agents and business professionals to turn down the volume and focus on tasks at hand.

In today’s business environment, that does not mean you are necessarily in the same state or country! Technology, such as GoToMeeting or similar platforms, empowers you to be 100% engaged and connected to colleagues during sessions. Virtual meetings, using video chat, offer the advantage of more time on task; no commute equals more time in the office or out in the field with prospects. The video aspect of the meeting ensures that participants remain fully engaged and on point.

When you train yourself to listen, you stop thinking about what you are going to say next and listen to the person speaking. Active listening is a skill that can be practiced and perfected. Sales reps, if during a meeting you are thrown off track by a question, ask to take down a note, continue the discussion and address the topic later in the conversation. Learn to listen to your colleagues and clients without becoming distracted.

One of the most annoying habits during a conversation is when the person you are speaking with is looking at their phone, texting or checking emails. Stay focused on the person you are speaking with. Listen and respond clearly. There is a price to be paid, from a brain perspective, for performing a job while distracted. If you are not fully attuned and engaged in a conversation, chances are you are missing subtle signals and misinterpreting information. Stay in the moment and limit distractions. If you are easily distracted, do something about it.

Believe it or not, people will tell you what you need to know. Ask the right questions and you will be privy to your prospects pain points. Once you understand what your client needs, you can offer appropriate solutions and build more effective campaigns. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to listen more than you speak.

Lindsay and her colleagues at Prospect Builders have started using Toggl to keep track of project time. It is a time management app that tracks actual time spent on tasks.  A sales rep spending hours of time writing proposals can use this tool to see if the actual process is taking up time or time spent off task is the main culprit. Discipline yourself when working; close all other apps and don’t check email or screens when focusing on a project. Set aside specific times to check and respond to email or social channel postings.

This week on The Funnel, John and Lindsay discuss the pitfalls of multitasking and its detrimental effect on focusing.  John is committed to teaching sales reps and managers the value of listening, so much so that he developed a class that is going to be offered at the Inbound Sales Academy. Check out ISA to see how you can improve your sales skills. Until next week, keep filling the funnel.

Inbound marketing is all about how to generate leads online. It is about attracting visitors and enticing them to stay for a while. More often than not, your website is the first touch a prospective client will have with your company. On this episode of The Funnel, John and Lindsay focus on what an effective website looks like and what elements should be present to address the question of how to drive traffic to your website.

The products and/or services you offer are on the website and easy to comprehend. Often, people stumble upon a company websites when they are searching for solutions to problems. Make sure your website is easy to navigate and clearly explains the problems you address and solutions offered.  This is not the time to use industry jargon; communicate in layman’s terms. Evaluate your website from the perspective of a prospect. Ask yourself, “If I knew nothing about my business, would I be able to go to my website and understand what I do?” Make sure your website consumer friendly and easy to understand.

Offer References.  People trust a recommendation from a friend. Make your website personal by including references from satisfied customers. If somebody loves you, put it up on your website! Having a recommendation from someone outside your organization lends credibility to your solutions. Testimonials, from references outside of your company, are excellent story vehicles.

Include case studies. Case studies are stories. They present realistic, complex, and contextually rich situations and often involve a dilemma, conflict, or problem that one or more of the characters in the case must negotiate (Carnegie Mellon definition). A short video, or written description, of one of your actual customers and the solution you provided to their complex problem makes a perfect case story. Videos are very powerful. Don’t make them any longer than a few minutes and use stimulating visuals. Case studies, or case stories, are an excellent way to infuse emotion into your website so that you come across as a human organization.

Update the ‘About Us’ section of your website. This section of your website should highlight how you are a valuable partner in a business relationship. Unless you are a strictly transactional vendor, focus on the relationship you and the prospective client will have and the value that offers. Address how you collaborate with your clients. Most importantly, be you. Be genuine and true to yourself and what you offer.

Use Social Media share buttons on your pages. Keep navigation simple on your website and include social sharing buttons on items you would like prospects to view. Customers comb the internet for solutions to their problems; make yourself easy to find by using multiple social channels to offer solutions. LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and similar sites allow customers a glimpse of what you have to say and highlight your personality. Social sharing buttons allow prospects to share your information with others on their social channels.

Write a blog.  Your blog must be educational, informative, well written and include content your clients are interested in consuming. When considering topics, examine questions your prospects consistently ask of you and your sales people.  A blog topic that answers a specific question has the potential to get many hits and drive the right prospects to your website. Include links on your blog to appropriate pages or sources you are referencing.

Give prospects a path to follow and an action to complete. Your website should be easy to navigate and move prospects along a path. Map out a journey for your visitors so that as they finish one webpage they can easily transition to a new page on your site. Include links and a ‘call to action’ on each web page. A call to action, or CTA, requires the visitor to complete an action to receive an offer. If your prospect sees value in the offer, they provide information, on a form, to move forward in the journey. An infographic, eBook, special podcast or other consumable you have created can be the offer for a specific CTA. The goal of the customer journey is to engage the prospect so that they are interested in pursuing your solution.

A responsive design website is a necessity. Information is consumed on more platforms then ever! Make sure your website is a mobile optmized website so that no matter what devise it is being viewed on, the site can adjust itself and be easily viewed. Your prospect’s experience on your website should be enjoyable and free from frustration.

Listen to this episode of the podcast and learn how to get traffic to your website and how to generate sales leads. Inbound marketing is more than just pretty pictures. Update your website and let prospects know how you are going to help solve their problems and make their lives easier! 

This week John and Lindsay  address the gap between inbound marketing and sales departments. Many companies ask the question, “Why are we bringing in traffic and leads, but not closing the sale?” This episode of Alignment Group's sales and marketing podcast attempts to shine light on that issue.

Marketing evangelizes the buyer’s journey; sales exhorts the sales process. When an inbound lead enters the system, both sides of the ‘house’ use different language to discuss the same lead! This disconnect needs to be addressed and rectified. Process and methodology must be examined in conjunction with each other in order to achieve sales and marketing alignment. Speak the same language, or at least become bilingual and understand what your coworkers are communicating.

Companies need to address the communication gap. In a perfect world, the alignment of the two processes is proportionate, however, there are steps in the sales process take that do not align with the buyer’s journey. If your inbound marketing strategy does not take into account these processes that are not present in the buyer's journey, there are missed business opportunities.

Sales process differs from sales methodology. Process is unique to each individual company.We have discussed this topic extensively and have a podcast episode exclusively dedicated to the topic; Sales Process vs. Sales Methodology. Process must to adjust to the journey. See where it hits and misses based on inbound leads. Adjust that process and inbound selling becomes a success story.

A deep understanding of your client and the political process they must navigate within their organizations is essential to how to make a sale. There is no comparable step in the buyer’s journey to what is happening politically within your prospect’s organization. The people, process, politics, agendas, and other projects on the plate are unique to each company. Understanding the political landscape, players and agendas is well beyond the buyer’s journey and sales process, but critical to closing leads; inbound and outbound.

The value an exceptional sales person brings to the table is collaboration. A superb sales rep knows that they must immerse themselves and quickly establish a relationship with their client. Any sales rep who is worth their weight in gold, can navigate and quickly establish the relationship and begin the collaboration process. This extends beyond the product, service or problem you are solving, into an understanding the landscape of the client and how to navigate those waters. Many clients need help bringing their project to the forefront of their organization and an excellent sales rep can be of great value in assisting that process. Navigating the political landscape, side by side with your prospect, will facilitate closing a sale. 

Listen to this episode of The Funnel and learn how to convert inbound leads to inbound sales. Understand the nature of the problem your prospect has and dive deeper. The value you bring as a sales rep is a process that’s aligned and executed properly and the reward is higher revenue for the company and yourself.

This episode of The Funnel begins with a quick nod towards technology. Toggl is a tracking tool Lindsay uses to track time spent interacting with clients. Check it out and realize actual time spent on specific activities.

The focus of this week’s sales and marketing podcast is relationships. Specifically, the relationship between a professional and his or her clients. Customer relationships span across multiple industries. Any professional who works on a project based program with a client will gain valuable insight from today’s topic. What are the rules of the game? What can you do to ensure the relationship is successful?

There are five key elements to successful client relationships:

Mutual respect. Both parties must be involved, respect each other and on the same page. You and your client bring value, in different areas, to the table. Learning to collaborate on projects and foster a relationship with mutual respect is necessary for a successful professional relationship.

Respect time. This is a huge component of a business relationship. People are busy; incredibly busy. Time is valuable to both you and your client. When meetings are canceled on a whim, it sets horrible precedence. Each person’s time is valuable. If one party continually cancels appointments or ignores emails, because they are ‘too busy’, not only is it disrespectful, it is unprofessional. Timelines and schedules must be actualized and strictly adhered to in order to respect each other’s time.

Feedback is Golden. Feedback helps to fine tune the process of any mutual project. When both sides of the partnership must provide information for completion of a task, clear communication is necessary not only to define the parameters of a project but to keep in moving in the right direction. You can’t be expected to read each other’s minds! Questioning techniques frequently used by sales people can help drive direct answers during conversations, quickly getting to the heart of the matter and distilling information to its base level.

Open Lines of Communication. If you feel the project is not heading in the right direction, communicate that to your client or vice versa. If something is bothering you and does not seem right, share that information. It is not optional to keep quiet. How can you fix something if you don’t know there is a problem? Be honest with each other and keep the lines of communication open and flowing in both directions.

Trust. This is a major part of any relationship. Your client trusts that you know your business and you have to trust that your client knows theirs. Make sure this is expressed early in the working relationship. The moment trust begins to break down, have a frank open and honest conversation. It is better to have an uncomfortable conversation and move forward than harbor mistrust and become mired in uncertainty.

Keep Filling the Funnel

John and Lindsay talk about fostering successful business relationships on this episode of The Funnel. Read the blog “A Master Servant Relationship is a Recipe for Inbound Failure” on the Prospect Builders website for a deeper dive into promoting positive working relationships.

An essential component of every sales manager’s job is to hire sales reps to fill positions within organizations. The obstacle is how to hire a sales rep who will be successful. How do you avoid making a bad hire? How do you find people who will give return on the investment of time and resources?  

Most sales managers, VP’s and owners lack the skill set necessary to hire optimal candidates. They have never been taught how to identify and interview potential candidates. These upper level positions require mastery of multiple disciplines, which does not occur through osmosis! Sales management training and development is necessary to master these skill sets.

The odds of hiring a person who will be successful rise significantly when a methodical process is applied to every hiring decision. This podcast is the guide to building that process.

Create a candidate profile. The first step when deciding how to hire sales reps is to outline exactly what it is you are looking for relative to the position. Be specific so that all of the skills necessary are included in the profile. A more detailed profile will yield a better match for that specific position. A key to reducing sales turnover is hiring sales people who are qualified for the position!

Screen each candidate using a sales assessment. A sales evaluation is essential to identifying highly qualified sales people. Only interview candidates who come back recommended by the candidate assessment. John recommends the sales analysis created by Objective Management Group, specifically for sales people, and uses it with his clients.

Conduct a brief telephone or webinar interview. Evaluate how the candidate has handled him or her self during the first conversation. Did he or she communicate effectively within the given time frame? Is this person a good fit for your company? Has he or she impressed you enough to move forward in the hiring process? Part of the sales management process is to effectively evaluate the information from the sales skills assessment and determain if the rep if qualified to move on to the next stage of the hiring process.

The first interview. This is the first face to face meeting and the resume is the perfect place to begin the conversation. Be specific with questioning and tease out the facts and information behind what is in black and white on the resume.  Learn the facts behind their experience in context. Do not create a narrative for the candidate – that is a trap easily fallen into. Let the candidate tell his or her story and guide them through the process by asking questions that go wide and deep.

The Final Interview. This interview is an opportunity to further examine the skill set of the candidate revealed by the sales assessment tools and dive even deeper. I recommend having at least one other member of your sales organization in on this step of the process. In this interview, you are selling your company. Let the candidate know about your organization.  A job offer is usually procured at the conclusion of this meeting.

On this episode of The Funnel John flies solo and talks about how sales hiring. The process takes somewhere between 4-6 weeks, but can take longer as the skill set becomes more specific. That might seem like a long time, but the candidates who make it to the interview process, following screening with candidate assessment tools, have great potential to be highly successful within your company. The work does not end with the hire – all new candidates should go through a proper onboarding process. But that is a discussion for another day.

If you are a sales manager and would like to learn more about how to build a sales team, listen to this episode of The Funnel. Learn how to hire quality sales reps who will be successful and grow revenue.

It is crucial for organizations to utilize a good candidate assessment tool when building a sales team because successful sales begin with hiring the right candidate for the position.

That is easier said than done. It is comfortable to hire new sales reps as we have done in the past – collecting resumes, interviewing candidates and choosing the one that we feel will do the best job. Moving out of our comfort zone is disconcerting and downright uncomfortable. Why change?

John identifies three major issues when it comes to hiring new talent and reducing sales turnover:

Candidate assessment tools reduce the risk of candidate failure.

Objective Management Group (OMG), under the direction of Dave Kurlan, developed a sales skills assessment test specifically for use when screening candidates for sales positions. The sales analysis was built for sales from the ground up specifically written for the sales industry.

Take a look at the numbers.  The OMG assessment has been used with 750,000 sales people from 1100 companies from 200 industries in 30 countries.  Of all of the sales people assessed, 26% come back recommended for the position. In other words, 3 out of every 4 candidates could be a potential mistake for your organization.

Mistakes are expensive! The approximate cost of a bad hire is $50,000 - $75,000. That takes into account salary, training, time invested, benefits, and recruiting services. That number is only valid if you move on after 90 or 120 days. It rises when you are unwilling to make a change or hope that things will just work themselves out. Suddenly a year or two has elapsed and you have a sales rep who is still underperforming.

A sales analysis gives insight into what the candidate can sell and their specific capabilities. The results of the OMG sales evaluation and the reps success/failure ratios speak for themselves: 96% of candidates who come back highly recommended reach the top half of the sales force.  Some managers go against the recommendations of the assessment and hire the candidate even if he or she is not recommended. 75% of those non recommended candidates fail within the first 6 months of being hired. The assessment is just one component of the hiring process, but using the assessment on the front end saves time. If the candidate comes back not recommended, do not conduct an interview.

How does the assessment yield specific results?

The first step of the  assessment is to create an ideal candidate profile. Set parameters for your ideal candidate. That information is then entered into the assessment tool and the rep taking the assessment is based against your ideal.

Objective Management Group’s development findings are skill specific. The assessment examines sales competencies and the report includes detailed insight into skills and strengths potential hires possess. Sales quotient – single biggest measure of how strong this sales person’s skills are  - is revealed. Results include a confidence score; a percentage that evaluates the candidate’s answers for honesty.  Did the candidate provide honest answers or have they tried to game the system? Results also include whether a candidate is trainable. Are they coachable, can you move the needle with them? How quickly can they get up to speed?

This sales skills assessment is involved, intense and requires heavy lifting on the part of managers. It answers the question, “Can this candidate be successful at this specific job”. There are three possible results: recommended, not recommended, or worthy of consideration. What does worthy of consideration mean? The candidate meets enough of the criteria, but will require extra training and development. If you have a solid onboarding program and are willing to put in the extra time and effort necessary for success, consider this candidate. If not, move on.

There is an art to understanding the assessment. John coaches his clients through the process and teaches them how to read the results. Then he does specific interview skills training.  But there are skilled managers in the field that just need access to a sales skills assessment. Those individuals can purchase the evaluation directly through a link on the Alignment Group website (Objective Management Group does not sell the assessment individually, they are available through consultants) After purchasing the assessment, if managers decide they want consulting services, contact Alignment Group.

If your company doesn't use a candidate assessment prior to interviewing new hires, this tool is worthy of consideration. There is tremendous value and benefit to using a candidate assessment tool. HubSpot believes in this product and utilizes it to hire their sales people. They recommend the product to their VAR’s.  Many successful companies use this tool when evaluating new hires – Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Angie’s List, Rolls Royce - the list goes on and on. Consider a candidate assessment and take the guesswork of of how to build a sales team.

Social media has forever changed the way companies conduct business. It is much easier to stay connected with customers then it has been in the past. Businesses add social media share buttons to many of their online documents to allow for a greater dispersal of information. But along with the good, comes the bad. On this episode of The Funnel, John and Lindsay address the appropriate response to take when you receive a negative comment on one of your social media channels.

Social media for businesses is not immune to negative comments. This is the unintended consequence of all social sharing platforms. There can be backlash from disgruntled customers or negative commentary from competitors. Commentary has the potential to be very negative and feel personal. So how is a company to respond?

There are two types of negative commentary; personal criticism and constructive criticism. Personal criticism serves no purpose other than to harm the reputation of the company or individuals within the organization. The people who leave these comments don't know you and feel the need to provide some negative feedback on a personal level. Don't take it personally and don't get too upset.

Constructive criticism is a different story. If someone is providing value in their commentary, but they don't necessarily agree with your point of view, THAT'S OK. it is an opportunity to have a discussion centered around the disagreement. That's healthy debate! If the negative comment is customer service related, pick up the phone and attempt to resolve the conflict. 

You must address the comment; personal or constructive criticism. It does more harm than good to leave a negative comment without a response on your website. There is no need to delete the comment, unless there is profanity or anything that would be offensive to others. Follow these guidelines in your response to comments.

As an organization, make sure you are listening to your social channels with a sympathetic ear. Manage your online reputation as you should your personal reputation; with integrity.

This sales and marketing podcast episode is mostly about sales training programs, but John and Lindsay first give a quick nod to a new social media platform. Periscope is a live-streaming app launched by Twitter this spring. Lindsay and John gave the platform a whirl by streaming their preparation for this podcast and talking about future implications of the app.  It's a new social media outlet to keep in your sights. 

The bulk of this podcast focuses on implementing an effective sales training program within an organization. How can sales managers and CEO's ensure the sales training techniques they execute are effective? How can sales reps make sure they are adequately trained if the company they work for does not offer sales training seminars? Referencing information read in The Sales Acceleration Formula, by Mark Roberge as well as online sales training developed by John, the two hosts discuss sales training best practices on this episode of The Funnel.

When developing a plan for training sales people, adhere to the following suggestions:

1. Define your goals and objectives. First and foremost, decide what you desire to achieve from sales rep training. Set specific goals and objectives and make sure there are metrics in place to evaluate the effectiveness of the experience.  

2. When choosing sales improvement curriculum, evaluate all options you are considering. Building a sales team from the ground up requires training that is different from that of a team of seasoned veterans. Sales rep education is an investment that you expect a return on. Read reviews and talk with references. If you can, modify the program to correspond with your company culture. Online sales training courses that are available can be used at a pace that best promotes long term retention of new techniques and information. Make sure to utilize the resource guide that accompanies the training. 

3. Consider spaced training vs. massed training. There are many studies that point to the effectiveness of spaced training. Brain based research has shown that long term retention of information is better when material is presented in smaller chunks over a long period of time. At Alignment Group, John has developed online sales training that he combines with personal coaching for maximum success. Clients complete a one hour online training module and then have a full week to practice what has been taught out in the field. The next week there is a 1 - 1.5 hour live, online coaching session, where John discusses specific opportunities with the participants. Blending the training with coaching has led to great success for many clients.

4. Provide your team with the tools and time they need to be successful. Sales enablement is a new buzz word in the sales world. Decide what is important for your organization. If A time is closing, and a priority for your company is to close more deals, how can you give your sales people more time in the field? Get creative and consider delegating tasks to other employees within your company. You would increase field time by eliminating administrative tasks from sales reps and providing tools needed for success. Give sales people the opportunity to implement the changes that are necessary to achieve their highest potential.

5. Measure the effectiveness of the sales training program you choose with defined metrics. Track how close each individual, as well as group, is meeting their goals. Metrics will disclose if the training has succeeded. Goals and objectives and metrics are necessary, with any training program, to gauge it's effectiveness and close the loop.

As a sales manager, be cognizant of the following things:

Sales training and coaching should not be viewed as negative. These opportunities should not be punitive. If you are a CEO or sales manager considering how to build a sales team or and grow revenue within an existing team, take the time necessary and research multiple sales training programs. If you are a sales rep and your company is investing time and money into the development of your skills, they are investing in your future. It is an opportunity for you to grow and flourish as a professional. Invest in yourself and make the most of that golden opportunity!