Like me, you probably remember leaving education very clearly. Having put in all that work, I was a starry-eyed optimist ready to hit the ground running in my first job and make a big impact in my industry. When I actually got that job, it wasn’t quite what I expected! Instead of making a splash, I was sat at a desk in the corner of the office and given a massive training manual to work through. Though I made it, I don’t think I retained that much! If you’ve recently taken on a new sales rep in your green industry business, here are some pointers for giving them a training experience that’s a little more fulfilling.
First of all, assign a mentor to the rep, or organize some formal training. When your sales rep is first getting started in their field, they’ll need someone with more experience who they can talk to about their closing techniques, ideas, messaging and so on. If this is your first and only sales rep, then you’re probably the best person for the job. After all, who knows your business better than you? However, as you take on more and more talent, you’ll need to have a few people you can assign as mentors to help your reps land on their feet. Obviously, they should have some sales experience, but it can often be more important to make sure they have a friendly, approachable personality. Your sales rep needs to be comfortable asking questions without feeling threatened or intimidated. When your business is expanding into new areas, it may also be a good idea to organize some formal training. For example, if you’re going to start selling or maintaining solar panels, look into some global renewable energy training.
Next, make sure you’re taking advantage of all the software which could possibly help you training up new sales reps. If you want to have a good idea of how your sales rep is performing and where they need to improve, then you’ll need a way of tracking them. One of the best ways to do this in 2016 is through good CRM software. This will allow you to track every little opportunity from the prospect through to the sale itself. Information such as the prospective size of the deal, how likely you are to close it, various important dates, service lines and so on can also be tracked. Fail to keep on top of these factors, and it will be extremely hard to form an idea of how your rep is performing.
Finally, set your sales reps clear goals based on their abilities and your overarching business objectives. After all, if your reps don’t know what’s expected of them, you can’t expect them to be a valuable asset to your business. Furthermore, having a goal in mind will make it easier for you and your upper management to track how well they’re doing. In the long run, your reps’ goals should be sales-orientated, but you should always start them off with knowledge-based goals.
