Colly Graham of salesxcellence is a world class sales trainer, business mentor, radio broadcaster and coach. Colly brings thirty-five years of practical experience of selling and his ability to empathize with sales people and establish immediate rapport and credibility as a trainer, (the accolade Colly receives from most sales people is “that he has carried the bag”).

Why Train Your Sales Team

December 11, 2009

In 3-5 years, half of what the person knows about selling is obsolete.
Sales technology is advancing at a radical pace. After the first 90 days, the enthusiasm of a new job wears off and reality sets in. Without skill development, 80% of “new to sales” people will leave within the year.

Experience alone will not be enough to keep up with the changing market.

What would you do if the doctor said, “I haven’t read a book or been to a
seminar in medicine since I graduated from medical school 20 years ago.”

Sales technology is helping professionals keep their skill state of the art.

Why do the very best of every profession spend so much time in training?
Top sales producers spend approximately two weeks per year in training.

“The success of current business strategies and the development of innovations frequently hinge on the skills of the sales force. Customer Service strategies are impossible unless the sales force is well-trained in this arena.”- ASTD, Annual Research Report.

A new salesperson’s enthusiasm will carry them for the first 90 days, then
selling skills must be in place or a dramatic drop (or total failure) in productivity will occur. Without skill reinforcement, in 12 to 18 months another drop (approximately 20%) will occur and 70% of first year sales people develop fears of selling and fail because they lack the basic skills of selling.

Past experience and formal education have no correlation to success in selling. Make your sales calls count.

“Companies with less than ten salespeople report an average sales call cost of $336.00.”- McGraw-Hill Research

“Sales people completing a selling skills intensive training program show
increases in productivity ranging from 35% to 1665%. Yet, an estimated 70% of companies provide no selling skills development at all.”- ASTD, Annual Research Report.

Companies often lump product knowledge, motivational “rah rah” sessions
and technical skills development under the heading of “sales training.”
Yet none of these actually help the person sell skilfully.

“We see training as insurance on our biggest asset – human resources.
Find me a company without that insurance, that has stopped training its sales people, and I’ll target that market and that company and have its business by year’s end” David Barcusee of Bergen-Brunswig.-

Sales & Marketing Management Magazine, January 1990.

“95% of the training that’s done on the job is done so poorly that the job suffers measurably. And both the trainer and the trainee agree that it’s the trainee’s fault, but it isn’t.”- Training Magazine June 1993

“Great salespeople have an edge because they are able to let go of obsolete ideas…” - Donald Trump – Personal Selling Power, September, 1993

After one year on the job, it costs approximately £60,000 to replace a Sales Professional.