As a previous sales trainer for NCR and in my current work as a trainer for Sage SalesLogix, I am interested in the kind of sales training programs companies are teaching.   I am amazed to find many of them make large investments in sales training programs and then never build them into the fabric of their operations.  Sales training programs that teach sales methodology, sales process, and even sales strategy can be put to immediate use within your CRM tool to execute and reinforce what was taught.

Begin with some simple steps to Walk The Talk and develop more practical practices for executing sales training through your CRM.  Using Sage SalesLogix and SageCRM,  we recommend starting with some of the following practices:

1. Categorize Accounts such as with Type and SubType fields to reflect where they fall in your sales process.  What terms do you use…. Lead, Suspect, Prospect, Client and what do they mean within your organization?

2. Define the activities needed to move Accounts and Opportunities to the next level.  Again using Type and Subtype for Accounts,  further define what sales activities should take place to move a Suspect to a Prospect Type, If using Subtype like A,B,C, what makes an A – Prospect?  In Sage SalesLogix and Sage CRM you can define Opportunity pipeline stages and build them to match the sales process that was taught in your sales training. 

3. Develop Marketing Campaigns that drive Accounts to the next level in your sales process.  Sales training often addresses the buying process, so does your marketing messages match the buying stage?  If you know your Suspects are very early in the buying process and your goal is to move them from ambivalence to awareness then a Marketing Campaign designed to educate Suspects on cost of inaction for your solution would be very timely.  In Sage SalesLogix, you can measure the effectiveness of separate marketing messages through Marketing Campaigns. 

4. Design sales reporting and sales meetings to reinforce the language and sales skills taught in your training program.  If your sales program taught the importance of identifying “warning signs” in deals then during sales meetings make it a key topic when reviewing Opportunities.  Add a place to capture “warning signs” in CRM.  If you want your salespeople to report the number and quality of face to face meetings on your “A” prospects then plan the ability to capture that information quickly and generate the report automatically. 

5. Finally, and my biggest pet peeve (this one will warrant an article of its own),  make sure you don’t circumvent the CRM system.  I have seen it time and time again; still using excel spreadsheets to capture additional sales information like sales activity reporting instead of capturing it in CRM and generating a report or displaying on a dashboard.  You want to know how to get your salespeople to use CRM; expect it, don’t give them any other options, and don’t ask them to do things in multiple ways.  Remember, your Lead and Client data is your most important asset and requiring it be preserved in CRM should be best practice at your organization!