Why Outsource Sales and Business Development Training

There are a number of good reasons to use professional trainers to up-skill your sales team even if you have an existing internal program.   An external trainer will add weight to the importance of the training.  When an organisation invests in bringing in a professional trainer, it’s perceived to be important and valuable. Whether we want to admit it or not, the value and importance of the session increases when a professional trainer delivers the message. Your team will pay closer attention, retain more information, and put into practice what they learned.

An external trainer will present the information in a different manner than your team is used to receiving and offer a slightly different slant that can help clarify and reinforce the training you’ve already put forth. Often, they provide visuals as part of their presentation that assist the team absorb the training. The trainer will have also worked with other organisations and can bring cross industry knowledge that will translate into new ideas and thought processes advantageous to your situation.

You may have a wonderful Sales Manager who you’re very happy with, but training may not necessarily be their strongest attribute.  What were the attributes you looked for when hiring your Sales Manager?

• Process driven and analytic
• Good motivator and communicator
• Relationship builder
• Confident and open
• Strong leader

They probably have had great success and years of experience as a salesperson and know your offerings inside and out. The issue is that they often do these things very naturally and cannot teach the techniques and thought processes that underlay the sales process.

As noted by Canadian gold-medal hockey player Therese Brisson, "Recently retired hockey players who played at high levels rarely make ideal coaches for youth hockey. They know what to do, but they can't communicate how they do it!" She says that given the choice between a skilled hockey player and an experienced physical education teacher to help at youth hockey camps she now runs, she always chooses the teacher.

So why then do more businesses not bring in an external trainer to help upskill their sales team? Very often it’s because they view the price as a cost rather than an investment. If perceived as a cost, the question asked is “We’re already paying a manager so why pay again on top of that?” Another common attitude is “I am paying them to sell, they should know what they’re doing.”

However, when you look at sales training as an investment, the focus shifts to the return you should expect of increased sales revenue. In other words, expenditure that has a strong probability of returning profit. By definition, cost is simply an expenditure of money, time, or resources. An investment is an expenditure that has a high probability of a return.

Companies that invest in their people are rewarded with higher morale, increased loyalty, lower recruiting costs and higher production. What do employees want more than anything else? According to Gallup, it’s the opportunity to learn. In fact, ongoing training is considered the most important decision-making factor by job seekers today. Your staff gets the chance to develop skills, learn new ones, and get better in their field. And this is exactly why training is important for employees.

In summary, the benefits of an external trainer will lead to your organisation achieving

• Lower turnover rate
• Increase productivity
• Shorten the sales cycle
• Increased upsell activity
• Improved client retention

And that’s the result every organisation is or should be looking  to obtain.