Sales Marketing Training is a growing industry. With more companies outsourcing to countries like India or China, sales people are now seeing sales managers from these countries as role models. These people have been through proper training and have risen to the challenge of leading sales teams. There are some challenges that these seasoned sales people will be facing, but if you take the time to look into each of them, you will find that they are not the typical challenges you face as a sales person. Most people view the sales person as being pushy. I think that this is an outdated way of thinking. When you are in the sales industry as a sales person, you need to demonstrate your confidence to your customer. When they see that you are not pushy or afraid of asking for help, this will give them the confidence to open up to you and provide you with the product that you want them to buy. It is also important to remember that your sales strategy should not be dependent on the selling abilities of your sales person. Having a good understanding of the product and the market will help you to come up with a good selling strategy. If you are working with a new sales person, you may be tempted to try to train them the traditional way. The problem with this is that most sales people learn better by doing things on their own. They will not be best prepared to learn by being put under pressure in a classroom setting. If a session does work, you will most likely come to the conclusion that the sales person has increased their selling skill. However, what happens after they leave the classroom setting? The best training should always include hands on applications. If the sales person is left on their own to implement the training, they are unlikely to understand the importance of having a network. They will probably forget that they are supposed to be building their network. If you do not involve your sales team in the training sessions, they will likely not feel motivated to participate. If you want to use real world examples, consider using the local basketball team as your example. There are many examples of how teams of people to build business relationships. Sales professionals have teams, project managers have teams, and marketers have teams. Think about all of the ways that you can apply this concept to your own business. When you are training new team members, you must keep in mind that you are not expecting them to begin working as a team right away. As they become more experienced, they will be able to bring other people into the fold. In order to really make a difference with training, you need to go beyond the typical classroom environment. You need to get the sales person involved in the process. Ask them to be an active part of the decision making as well. The sales person needs to see that their opinion counts. You cannot expect them to know everything, but if they are informed enough, they will at least know that they have a stake in the company's future. Another way to get the sales team involved is to make sure that each member knows that they are valuable. You should encourage them to tell their true stories. Tell them what it was like when they first started. Give them encouragement when they have success. At the same time, you need to be harsh when someone makes a mistake. At the same time, you need to praise them when they have done a good job. All of these techniques will help you build trust and rapport with your sales team. Once they feel like they are a valuable part of a large company, they will be willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that you get the most out of your budget. This will ensure that you don't waste money on useless members. While you may think that the training and development budget are huge right now, you need to stop and think about the long term goals for your company.