But what type of training do they need? And who should I train to obtain the best results? Most sales assessment programs only scratch the surface, and even 360 degree assessments provide limited information regarding your sales executives' actual abilities, skills, and capacity to do the job. The only effective way to determine what type of training is needed and which sales professionals will benefit the most from the training is to do an in-person field assessment of their consultative, strategic, interpersonal, and technical skills. Who do I train? Sales Professionals Generally Can Be Classified Into Four (4) Levels of Competency

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1. Consciously Competent

   These are the type of sales professionals that every sales director would like to have on their team. Unfortunately, they only represent about 10% of the average sales executive population. Consciously competent sales executives value their own professional development and invest their own time in improving their products and services application knowledge, sales skills and effective sales behaviors. They are part of 20% of the sales force that produces 70-80% of the sales because they know what to do, how to do it and when to do it. They display effective interpersonal skills and sales behaviors, and have the ability to explain what they are doing and why they are doing it.

   These folks are a pleasure to work with. You want to get them the latest and the greatest information and targeted advanced sales training.

2. Unconsciously Competent

   These sales professionals are sometimes known as "Naturals." They have a natural instinct for sales and generally do the right thing at the right time. You will also find that most unconsciously competent sales professionals have excellent emotional intelligence. They are not as consistent as the consciously competent; however, they are high-performers and round out the top 20% of the sales professionals who make 70-80% of the sales. While they are effective salespeople, they cannot explain why they are effective.

   You do want to spend some of your time training the unconsciously competent salesperson to help move him or her to the consciously competent phase of development.

3. Consciously Incompetent

   These are the sales executives who are either new to sales or are new to your industry. They may need training on their interpersonal, consultative, technical, and strategic skills as well as their industry knowledge, or they may just need to work on their industry knowledge, product and service applications, and market sales intelligence. While they are not consistently effective, the good news is that they are coach-able and they realize that they need to work on their own professional development. You will probably realize the greatest gain by investing about 70-80% of your training time with this group.

   Each representative will have different improvement opportunities and will require a tailored training plan. You will also want to measure and monitor their progress to see if additional training or corrective measures are required.

4. Unconsciously Incompetent

   These are the type of representatives who usually interview reasonably well, and talk a good game; however, they do not employ effective sales behaviors in the field. The problem is that they think they are great sales professionals; but they generally have very low emotional intelligence and are resistant to change. You will find that they have a "know it all" attitude, very poor listening skills, and are immune to constructive feedback. Unconsciously incompetents tend to get into unproductive interactions with clients, supervisors, support personnel, and colleagues and have no idea why they are experiencing problems. They move from job to job and blame their past employers, supervisors, and colleagues for creating situations that prevented them from being successful.

   These folks are not trainable! As soon as you recognize this behavior pattern, start looking for a replacement.

Once you have completed your sales skills assessment, a sales development professional can help you craft a targeted sales performance curriculum.

While your sales team needs a common sales toolkit and language, your best performing sales executives will need a faster-paced program emphasizing the more advanced sales skills and the sharing of best business practices.

You will realize the greatest improvement in sales performance and revenues by investing about 70- 80% of your training dollars with your new hires; the consciously incompetents. These sales executives have the greatest opportunity for improvement and "Feel the Pain" regarding their existing skill and knowledge gaps. They will require more extensive sales skill training and skill practice simulations in order to move from the skill awareness/knowledge level to the skill applications level. The more advanced sales skills will need to be chunked-down into simpler skills. Once your sales representatives master the simpler skills they can be linked together into more complex and effective selling skills and behaviors.

If you want to improve your sales team's performance and drive sustainable sales results, Sales Focus, Inc. can provide you with the tailored sales assessment and training solutions you need.

Contact us today to schedule a free sales performance review meeting.

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About Sales Focus Inc. Sales Focus Inc. is a consulting, management and outsourcing company that focuses strictly on sales. We help our clients during these difficult times to take business away from the competition. In down economic times, focused companies will not only survive, but also thrive! We offer cost containment and profit enhancement solutions. Profit enhancement is a different mindset than cost cutting. Cost cutting means doing less of something; profit enhancement implies doing more of something that will boost the bottom line. We represent the concept of focused profit enhancement solutions.

Sales Focus is driven towards a single goal: "Generating Immediate Revenue for our Clients!" Whether it's implementing our S.O.L.D. Methodology, Developing Specialized Training Programs or Launching an Outsourced Sales Force, we remain focused on the goal of TACTICALLY GENERATING RAPID REVENUE. Let us help you not only meet, but exceed your sales goals.

For more Information or to see if we are a good fit with your company, contact us directly, 866.840.8305 or 410.442.5600, send us an email at info@SalesFocusInc.com or visit our web site: www.SalesFocusInc.com. Request a free white paper while calling us or visiting our website.

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