The use of an online sales training platform can have multiple benefits within any sales organization. Due to time pressure, cost and changing learning preferences, classroom-based or day long sales training is becoming obsolete. Today, many sales leaders and trainers see the use of an online sales training platform as the best solution to improve sales performance, no matter the size of the sales team.   Due to advances in video, technology and bandwidth, giving access to salespeople to improve their sales skills with online sales training is not the big decision it once was. Typically, an online sales training platform will have a number of sales training programs that covers a multitude of topics from sales prospecting, cold calling, business development, digital selling, presentation skills etc, so a sales training program could be implemented relatively quickly.     Let us look at some of the reasons why sales training is moving away from live classroom or on-site classes. Apart from the fact that online sales training courses eliminates the need for salespeople to gather in one place, the modern, young, social media engaged salesperson prefers video and bite sized chunks of training.   Benefits of sales training The purpose of continuous sales training is so the business can educate their sales staff on how to improve their ability to sell more effectively. The output of any sales team training program should result in salespeople sharpening their sales skills, developing communication skills for better customer engagement and improve the rate at which deals get closed. To reduce costs and speed up the delivery of sales training, a business does not have to invest in developing their own custom sales training program. While the online sales training platform can help the sales team to reach their full selling potential with courses on all the core sales skills training, the business can focus on rolling out product and company specific training. The end result of combining internal and external sales training is a sales teams armed with the knowledge to understand the products value proposition and the sales skills to communicate this to customers so they motivated to buy. Online Sales Training Platform Can Improve: Communication: Every salesperson must be able to communicate the companies “why us” when talking to a client or prospect. Conversations: Salespeople can open up sales conversations with the use of great discovery questions and business acumen Commitments: The salesperson understands how to gain commitments from the customer or prospect to progress the relationship or sale. Active Listening: The ability of a salesperson to know when to talk and when to listen. Active listening skills to really uncover challenges, problems and solutions. Research and Preparation: Customers and prospects are now more selective on whom they talk to, salespeople need to be able to answer “why are you contacting me”. This obstacle is overcome by research and preparation using social media, news, insights and data. Salespeople need to be able to convey why the client should listen to them using information and market intelligence.   The role of sales enablement in sales training When we talk about sales training, we are referring to the specific process of education on selling skills, while sales enablement usually encompasses the entire training journey from beginning to end. The sales enablement plan would include such areas as salesperson on boarding, ongoing product, company and sales training. It would also include a framework or sales playbook to get the salespeople from the point of a first contact, steps in pre-sales prospect engagement and sales process communication guides. Better sales begin with sales training. But bigger, better and more consistent sales only happen as part of a continuous sales training strategy.   The importance of continuous sales training to a company The shift in the buyer’s journey, the influence of social media and increased competition requires sales strategies that work. So, the importance of ongoing sales training as a driver of growth can’t be ignored. Access to sales materials, videos and content within a sales training program is a proven way support salespeople, enable them to exceed quotas, and outperform the competition. Sales effectiveness improves One of the key benefits of sales training is that salespeople become equipped with the necessary tools and skills to increase the win rate they achieve relative to the amount of leads generated. Sales staff turnover decreases Where an investment has been made to properly train salespeople, they are less likely to leave the business. This improves knowledge retention, grows the experience bank, lowers turnover which also lowers all associated recruitment or on boarding costs. Sales productivity increases Another valuable benefit of continuous sales training is that all the salespeople will become better equipped and more adept at winning over customers. Any sales team that has achieved a good level of mastery of the sales process can align the product and the customer needs in a mutually beneficial way. Cultivates a winning sales mindset Sales training helps to create a winning mindset, it teaches salespeople to be comfortable with the uncomfortable (such as cold calling), how to overcome rejection and how to build a winning sales habit loop, leading to a more sales-focused mindset to bring in more revenue. How do Online Platforms Benefit Sales Training? An online sales training platform is a benefit due to the evolution of video, bandwidth and learning technology. The use of an online sales training platform can enable a modernized approach to training that matches the expectations of today’s sales force. A platform that boosts and empowers salespeople to learn new skills, establish themselves as subject-matter expert and to lower the overall cost of sales training.   Here’s a few tips on how to use an online sales training platform: Use short, bite-sized easy to digest learning content in a variety of formats that’s related directly to identified sales skills (prospecting, etc.) Combine on the job training linked to the online training courses being completed Set clear timescales and objectives that need toOnline Sales Training Platform