Salespeople Don't Really Need Training

Whenever I hear the term “sales training,” I get this reaction like fingernails across the blackboard. It really bothers me because “training” is such a poor term for what is really at the heart of the process.

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear “sales training” is that someone (the trainer) is locked in a steel cage with a bunch of wild “would-be” salespeople to fend them off and get them to do rudimentary tricks while holding a wooden chair and a whip – with a tranquilizer gun ever at the ready.

Of course, I also think of house-breaking dogs, toilet-training toddlers, obedience training for dogs, and training wheels for bicycles. Does training only involve animals and small children?

OK, so salespeople need to learn their craft and develop their skills. No argument. Training is not the answer. Selling is not some rote process that is learned and mastered by repetition. Selling is relational, it’s adaptive. How do you train for this? Answer: you don’t.

Forget training. Instead, educate, teach, and coach. Mentor.

I never think of myself as a trainer – although that tag is sometimes applied or I have no choice but to select it from a pull-down menu as the closest to what I really do. Nevertheless, I don’t train – I coach, teach, evaluate, strategize, encourage, motivate.

There is a lot to learn to be a good salesperson. In fact, I doubt that one can ever learn all there is to know. That’s one of the aspects about sales that I love – that you can keep learning and becoming even better and more effective.

Training, no! Learning, absolutely!

* For more information about my consulting and coaching services visit my website stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can join this site and begin participating in the fun and networking opportunities by clicking here.