What Is the Best Enterprise Sales Training?
Enterprise selling is sometimes overlooked in companies’ training because the sales process focuses more on other parts of the training deemed more important. However, enterprise selling is one of the most important parts of company sales training.
Enterprise selling is like other sales in many ways, but very different at the same time. For starters, enterprise selling requires more effort and time.
If you need guidance on making your team better at enterprise selling or are just looking for advice yourself, this complete guide will give you all the details you need to know.
Enterprise Sales Training
Enterprise sales are different compared to sales you will make to one person at one time. These are complex sales that cannot be done by just making one call. When conducting enterprise sales, you are taking on a big fish that can sometimes be hard to hook.
You need to be able to get your hands dirty and realize you will need to put in a lot of work to make enterprise sales. Enterprise sales have long sales cycles. They will take at least six months but often take much longer.
With enterprise sales, one person rarely works on the sale. Instead, up to 10 company employees are all working on the selling process.
Enterprise sales are often crucial to a business because they can bring in more money by closing deals. In addition, many of these companies have international and national offices, so you have the potential to bring in big bucks when you get them to partner with you.
Negotiation Experts – Sales Negotiation Training
According to Aberdeen Research, best-in-class sales enablement strategies help a company experience an increase in the contract value of enterprise deals by 13.7% annually.
LinkedIn’s State of Sales Report for 2020 states that top-performing sales reps are up to 33% more likely to train with their managers and up to 46% more likely to receive training from other sales experts.
As you can see, sale training courses are one of the most important things you can do for your company. Online negotiation training is different from basic sales training, however.
You might be wondering what your sales reps need in terms of sales negotiation training. One of the main things they need to do is show that it is a “win-win.” This means your company wins by selling the product, and the customer also wins because they are getting a product they and their company can benefit from.
Sales negotiation is when your sales rep and the potential buyer have a series of conversations about the products and why the person might need them. It would be best if you taught your salespeople how to create buyers’ trust.
Why Is Sales Training Important?
According to Zendesk, companies willing to invest in sales training are 57% more effective than rival companies that make no such investments.
In all companies, sales training is essential; whether you have a small company or a large multinational corporation, you need sales training as part of your company’s goals. Furthermore, sales skills are necessary if you want your company to experience real success.
A sales training program is not only good for your company, but it’s good for your employees. When you can highly equip your salespeople, they feel more confident making calls and making field sales.
The more you invest in your sales training program, the more you can develop your sales teams. Sales training also gives your team a greater sense of what the customers need. Sales conversations are essential to practice to see if your sales strategy is working or needs to be tweaked.
With sales training, your team can also give consistent results. They have sales plans they can follow each time they make a call or go to a meeting. With a plan and support from their training, they will be confident and ready to make sales.
Sales training also makes the customer experience better. If you have a customer on the phone or in a meeting with someone that needs to learn what they are talking about, they’ll be immediately put off, and you’ll lose their trust.
It’s the same when you have a salesperson who has yet to learn about the products on the phone with a customer, which can cause people to immediately not want to do business with you anymore.
Lastly, when you have sales training, people are more likely to join your team. When looking to start a sales career, they want to be successful from the beginning. Therefore, they will ask you what kind of training and prospects you give your employees.
If you do not have a training program in place, new hires will be discouraged because they feel like they are not being set up for success. They might also recommend to other employees where they are going to work to have sales training. This can take other talented people away from you, and before you know it, you have a very limited or nonexistent sales team.
Why Choose The Best Enterprise Sales Training?
When looking at the sales training you have available, you need to make sure you are choosing the best one. Selecting a good sales training program can make a huge difference because you will have better sales volume, profitable pricing, and a high opportunity to win rates.
Many companies use online sales training programs, while others do face-to-face training. Both are fine, but a combination approach is usually best. This can boost your employee’s ability to grow their sales accounts and get more customers.
Some employees may not focus on the training if it’s only online. It’s easy to get sidetracked when you’re on the computer all day. You can break up the online sales training technique through group discussions between the activities or modules.
Finding the right program for sales training is key, as some are better than others. Since you have to spend money to bring the sales training to your company, make sure you choose wisely so that company money is well-spent.
Sales training should teach all your employees:
- How to make sales calls
- How to negotiate with clients to find them the best deal
- Proposal writing
- Social selling
- Basic sales management skills
- Sales strategies
- How to close sales
- Client onboarding
- Consultative selling
The above skills are just the basics. There is always more to learn. The more modules and practice a sales training program can give you, the better.
Try to keep all these things in mind as you are looking for online sales training programs. Sales skills are essential to everyone in the company, so you want to ensure you are not cheapening your workers by giving them a less-than-lucrative training process.
Enterprise sales processes are also unique because they often take longer to conduct. Your salespeople need to be committed to making enterprise sales, whether it takes weeks or months.
This is where the in-person training to practice essential skills comes in. Once all your employees have finished the training, make sure you do some role-playing or other activities where they can showcase what they have learned.
You also want to ensure the training program is making good decision-makers. Ongoing training is needed for all enterprise sales reps and teams, ensuring everyone knows how to make decisions quickly.
A person on the phone may say they want to work with you but cannot afford a particular item. The worker needs to be able to decide quickly if any discounts can be offered or if they can work with the person to make a deal.
FAQ
What Is The Best Method For Training A Salesperson?
How do you train your salesmen and women? You can train someone in many ways, but some methods and processes work better than others.
Field training puts the person in the hot seat to see how sales should be made. You want to guide them the first few times.
Another great way to motivate and train your salespeople is to tell them success stories. For example, explain to them that you were also nervous when you first started the job. Then tell them how you made your first sale and how your confidence increased. Real success stories are always the best. Instead of using accounts from celebrities or other people, they might not know, tell your own stories to increase confidence in your employees.
Incentives are another tool to train your sales team. One of the best things you can do is permanently or temporarily remove commission caps to encourage people to make more sales. Commission caps can hinder people’s work ethic. Once they have reached the cap, they might not see the point of continuing to try hard and make sales.
One of the other great things you can do for all your sales reps is make one-on-one meetings for them. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, so you can’t expect all team members to be the same. One-on-one meetings can allow you to address the concerns you have with each of the team members individually, which is also more professional than calling someone out in front of a whole group.
The last best way to train a sales team is to integrate the sales departments with other departments in the company. Think about which departments you need to join for integration and teamwork. Where are there breakdowns within the company? Do two departments need to communicate better?
What Makes A Good Enterprise Sales Rep?
If you want to be a good enterprise sales rep, you should be able to do or have all the following personality traits:
- Problem-solving
- Empathy
- Active listening
- Confidence
- Ability to listen and then guide the customer on something that might help them
If you are good at everything above, you already have a good start on being the best sales rep you can be.
With enterprise sales, you also need to be as committed as possible. This is because these types of sales processes usually last for much longer. You need to be committed to negotiating for months at a time.
You also need to be willing to talk to other people in your company about sales. This is because, in enterprise sales, everyone works together. The client will also discuss with many people within the company, so ensure everyone is communicating and on the same page.
To be an enterprise sales rep, you need to be good at working as a team. Without a team, you will never be able to make the sale.
How Do I Get Good At Enterprise Sales?
Whether you’re a new salesperson or have worked in sales for years, you might be curious about how you get better at enterprise sales. Of course, it won’t happen overnight, but if you put in the hard work, you can improve at enterprise sales.
The first thing you need to do as an enterprise salesperson is to define your goals. What is your approach to making sales? How do you plan to work with clients or customers to address their needs that your product can fulfill?
Next, consider why your customers are struggling and why they need a new product to help them. What issue are they trying to solve?
When making sales, make sure you customize the offering. Some people are different, so they need special offers that make more sense for their company. You can also add items to the sale that you think will make a difference in their business. Always try only to sell them things they need, though. If you end up overselling items to them and they get a bunch of products or services they don’t need, they will be less likely to buy in the future.
The last thing you can do to ensure you are a good enterprise salesperson is to make sure you are using ROI metrics. This will show you your performance metrics so you can get a feeling for what you need to improve.
What Are The Stages Of Enterprise Sales?
Before getting into enterprise sales, you need to know the correct steps to take to make successful sales. The first step is finding the prospects. As the manager, you will need to find the leads and prospects for your employees. If you are a sales rep, the manager will usually give you the leads, and then you will be in charge of contacting them.
Make sure all the prospects are qualified leads, or you risk wasting your time on the phone with people who do not want your products.
Next, you will contact the lead for the first time. This is when you will start building customer rapport. You can engage with customers and clients in a number of different ways. First, you need to call them. You can then follow up with emails or messages. You will also need to contact them on social media if you know what their handles are.
Keep in mind that forming a relationship with a customer and making a sale is not always linear. Usually, you will not make one call, and they agree to buy. Instead, there will be several follow-up messages, questions that need to be answered, other departments they need to talk to, and many other things.
You also want to ensure that your departments and team members communicate with one another. You don’t want clients to get the same email and information from multiple people.
After you have the sales pitches under control, you will need to make the sales strategies, which will be covered in your sales training. Of course, you can redefine your sales pitches and how you want to go about making the sale, but the training will be the thing that ensures you are on the right track.
Consider using enterprise sales software. Many companies will use this in their training. Ensure you know how to use the software and how it can help you.
What Type Of Sales Training Programs Are There?
Not all sales training programs are created equal. You will need training covering inside sales, service sales, field sales, and sales management. These things are key when someone is getting into sales for the first time.
The best sales training also depends on your business and your employees. For example, new hires might need more in-depth training than employees you have had in the company for decades. Good sales training will also need to cover negotiations and closing deals.
Ensure your employees know that you are open to questions and willing to take suggestions on how the training can change.
What Certifications Are Good For Sales?
You can get a few certifications to make you more marketable for sales jobs. They should also make it easier for you to work in sales.
Here are a few to look into:
- Certified Professional Sales Person
- Certified Inside Sales Professional
- Certified Professional Sales Leader
- SPIN selling
- Certified Sales Executive
- RISE Up
- Challenger Trainer and Consultant Programs
Conclusion
If you are looking to start enterprise selling, there is some additional training you need to undergo. Enterprise selling differs from regular selling because the deals are often more complex, take longer, and earn the company more money overall.
For all your training needs and details about enterprise selling, contact The Brooks Group. You’ll get all the programs and advice you need to make your whole sales team better at enterprise selling.
