Building a B2B Sales Training Programme

B2B Sales Training Delivers Meaningful Results

To keep pace with changes in the buying process and remain ahead of the competition, successful B2B organisations must ensure their salespeople remain agile and strive for continuous improvement. For many B2B selling organisations, continuous skill-building at scale is not an easy task.

Identifying the right skills, the right people, the right sustainment path, and the right metrics to measure takes planning and expertise.

These 5 tips will help you build an effective business-to-business sales training programme.

1. Start at the Top

Leadership buy-in and commitment is critical. From the vision they communicate through the behaviours they display, leaders need a clear path and set of skills to lead the change.

2. Make It Personal

Every salesperson and sales manager comes to the table as a unique individual with strengths and gaps. Personalisation begins by giving the team visibility into their unique needs to create buy-in and engagement. Customised, contextualised content drives immediate relevancy. Targeted learning paths drive individual behaviour change and are achievable at scale.

3. Focus on Agility

The sales process and methodology a sales organisation employs drives consistency and a common language for sales coaching. But, B2B sales skills are what drive agility in the moment with the buyer. In a world where change is constant, the most successful business-to-business sales organisations are the ones that are highly skilled and can stay out in front of their buyers.

4. Plan with the End in Mind

Sustainment and measurement strategies should be planned at the beginning of a sales transformation initiative. Understanding the critical business metrics you need to improve will drive the behaviours you change. Sustaining your transformation is the best path to realising the full return on investment.

5. Use Data to Keep Getting Better

Using real-time data and analytics not only shows progress, but it also allows for in-the-moment adjustments for the most targeted improvement efforts. Commitment, engagement, behaviour change, and performance improvement are all measurable elements that should be tightly woven together in a data set that is accurate and delivered in a way that leads to actionable insights for your business.

Building momentum to the close of a sale while preserving the bottom line requires a strategy that takes place before, during, and after the sales call.

Richardson Sales Performance offers programmes like prosperous account strategy to train sales reps on building an intentional plan to engage their customers and B2B prospects. These programmes combined with those that focus on selling conversations like Consultative Selling, Sprint Negotiations^TM, and Sprint Selling^TM build a powerful solution for improved sales performance.

Learn more about Richardson Sales Performance's Connected Selling Curriculum^TM

Selecting a Training Modality For Your B2B Sales Training Programme

In most cases, a blended learning solution will be most effective for professionals who sell B2B products or services because it minimises time out of market and maximises time spent in the classroom. A balanced, pragmatic approach to learning helps promote the acquisition of knowledge; mastery; application; and long-term, sustained behaviour change in the field.

A blended learning solution incorporates a wide range of training delivery modalities that might include:

• Instructor-led training
• Virtual instructor-led training
• Digital learning platform
• Live or recorded webinars
• Video-based learning scenarios
• Mobile Reinforcement
• Gamification

A common blended learning approach to B2B sales training typically involves 55%-75% of the total time spent engaged in various online activities and the remainder of the time in the classroom.

Building an effective B2B sales training programme can be a daunting task. If you would like support in creating a programme that engages your sales team and drives results for your organisation contact Richardson Sales Performance to learn more about how you can partner with us to drive success.