Every sales manager would love to recruit the next proven RockStar sales producer. But what happens when that option is not available? You still have budgets, quotas, and sales goals you’re responsible for delivering. So what do you do? It’s simple. You have to Level Up, stop making excuses and blaming the recruiters. Its time to roll up your sleeves and start developing your current sales roster!
Back in the 60″ s Berry Gordy created Motown Records, a 24-hour hit-making and artist development machine, nurturing the artistic talent of the singers, writers, producers, as well as corporate executives. He created a place where a kid off the street could walk in one door, an unknown, go through a process, and come out another door, a star.” Artist development was a major part of Motown’s success.
In the mid-nineties, my group, the Quad City DJs, had major success, scoring two of the country’s biggest hits, “Come on and Ride the Train” and “Space Jam.” We performed at sold-out venues, made appearances on television, including the Oprah Winfrey show, along with performing halftime at major sporting events. But none of this success came as a surprise, even though we were very grateful. We put in countless hours practicing, rehearsing, and shaping our sound as well as our stage performance. Simply put, we were developed.
In a way, sales presentations are like live performances; you hardly ever get a second chance with the same audience or prospect. To ensure that you’re prepared, you rehearse over and over until it comes as natural as breathing. This is all a part of the development process.
It’s very important to remember that the level of your sales talent can make or break your organization and that leaders are ultimately responsible for growing and nurturing that talent. If you’re not willing to water and fertilize the flower, then don’t plant the seed!
Here are some of the top ways to start developing Sales Rockstars:
Create an Organized Training Program
Unstructured and unorganized training programs are not effective, and they’re counterproductive. They work against your sales efforts. Make sure you have a learning agenda, and that you have clearly defined outcomes and expectations. Also, implement a follow-up process to support as well as give and receive feedback.
Play to Strengths and Train to Opportunities
Find out what people are good at and play to those strengths to create immediate impact. People need to have wins. It motivates and encourages them to push harder, get stronger, and do better! Without victories, people experience frustration, which inhibits learning.
Create a Duplicatable and Proven Process
“Perfect Practice yields Perfect Results.” So practice, drill, and rehearse over and over. The process should be easy, fun, and enjoyable. When you love the process, learning is natural and feels as though it’s not even work.
Time Management
Create a schedule and hold yourself as well as your trainees accountable to it. Nothing is more deflating to learners than having a training opportunity canceled. You must have structured training.
To summarize…
Commit to a culture of Training and Development, attract and find raw talent, and then cultivate that talent. You’ll be on your way to creating a Talent development factory that produces Sales Rockstars!
Contact Jay The EnterTrainer for insights, tools, and tips to enhance performance, increase sales and more!