Apply these helpful tips to train your next generation of salespeople.
Sales has come a long way. Gone are the days of door-to-door and the other tired sales methods. And salespeople? They’ve evolved, too.
Training a sales team can be hard—especially when it comes to building a new workforce. You know, those employees whose only door-to-door experience consists of trick-or-treating. Yep, we’re talking about Millennials.
Smartphones, social media, and a lifetime of tech-aided instant responses have shaped the way Millennials interact, and influenced how they process information. You know you need to revamp your training to hook these individuals, but how? Well, we’ve got three tips to train your Millennial workforce that’ll ensure your new leaders are ready to take on any situation:
- Present things from the customer’s point of view.
Help Millennials connect by training them to adopt a different point of view—the customer’s. Explain why customers of varying demographics may think a certain way or prefer a specific tactic so your new salespeople understand the need to vary their methods. That said, encourage engagement by staying open to suggestions about techniques they’ve seen work before.
- Speak their language.
Lectures may have worked in the past, but that doesn’t mean they’ll work now. Millennials are tech savvy; everyone knows that. Speak their language by integrating technology into training. Tools like immediate response systems and game play technology make learning more immediate, interactive, and fun, and can ultimately help your news salespeople better retain information.
- Keep it short.
Cut down training time to up retention. Sound counterproductive? Recent research found that the average person now has a shorter attention span than a goldfish—a measly eight seconds. If you limit yourself to only a few points during each training session, you’ll cut down the risk of losing your sales team’s attention.
How have you adapted your training to the next generation of salespeople? Tweet your favorite methods to @Fortegra!
