There are plenty of reasons why you would want to hire a sales consultant or trainer for your company. Perhaps you have a new product line coming out and want to enter the market with a big splash? Or your sales force has not been meeting their quota? Or you want to improve your sales team's cold calling techniques? Or the closing ratio of your salespeople could use some improvement? Whatever the reason, you must hire the right sales trainer. There are certain things you must look for when making the decision on hiring a sales trainer:
What can the sales trainer do for your organization? Ask for specifics. What exactly will he do? Ask him to be specific about numbers. Ask for specifics on what percentage he will be able to increase sales by. Does he guarantee his work? What will he do if sales numbers don’t increase as promised?
Interview the sales consultant just as you would interview any new employee: One of the best questions to ask a sales training candidate is to ask him how will he go about his job. This is important. You must hire someone that is likeable. In particular, how will he interact with the sales force? This is a slippery slope because your sales team may think that they are being punished if they don’t like the new trainer; he must be able to make a great first impression, empathetic, and likeable. He should be able to demonstrate having these traits in the interview.
Ask for references: You need to speak with past clients. Ask them if they had received the same promises that you are receiving. And, did the trainer come through as promised? Or was he short on the results? Don't ever hire someone that does not offer references. He should not have anything to hide.
Scrutinize his resume: The trainer that you hire should have a spectacular resume. It should include stints in sales jobs, even better if it was for Fortune 500 companies. Do not hire a sales consultant that has not had a great sales career. He cannot teach people unless he has, himself, done the job. And, check that his claims are true. Call his prior employers to see whether he was, in fact, a great salesman. Only a real sales pro can teach other salespeople.
Author's Bio
Tino Buntic's TradePals provides free B2B and B2C sales leads without cold calling to business professionals such as tax accountants, securities underwriters, patent & trademark lawyers, chemical engineers, auto insurance brokers, recruiters, human resources consultants, commercial office cleaners, research & development professionals, realtors, architects, videographers, tool & die makers, and industrial supllies sales reps. Visit http://www.trade-pals.com to create a free professional profile.
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This definition is part of a series that covers the topic of Sales Training. The Official Guide to Sales Training is Tom Hopkins.
Tom Hopkins is an authority on the subject of selling. He is known as the nation's #1 sales trainer and developed many successful selling techniques from his own experiences in sales. Yet Tom is quick to admit that his early sales career was not successful. In fact, he failed miserably during his first six months of selling. He learned that the secret to high level productivity is combining a desire to sincerely help others make decisions that are good for them with "how to" training.
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