What comes to mind when you think about field sales training? Maybe you imagine stuffy conference rooms or outdated video lessons. Good news: it doesn’t have to be that way!
You can design awesome training programs for your sales team. Doing so will improve the performance of your individual reps by an average of 20%! (This is especially true when it comes to sales training for field techs, who need a solid understanding of the basics.)
With that in mind, keep reading to learn what field sales training is, the core elements you need to know about, innovative techniques you can try, and a whole lot more. Let’s get started!
What Is Field Sales Training?
Field sales training is the process of teaching people to close deals in outside sales scenarios.
The majority of people who participate in field sales training are professional sellers. But field techs can also use this kind of training to close deals while they make regular service calls.
One more thing: field sales training can come in many shapes and sizes. Online courses, industry conferences, internal events, and even company mentorship programs all apply.
The Need for Specialized Training for Field Sales
As you probably know, field sales is different from inside sales. Those that succeed in this career have different skill sets than those who sell from the comfort of their office.
That’s why dedicated field sales training is so important.
Once you invest in this kind of training for your field sales team (or the service technicians you hope can close deals for you, too) you’ll be able to overcome a few common challenges:
- Finding Qualified Leads: How do you find people who want what you sell?
- Maintaining Productivity: How can you minimize time spent on admin tasks?
- Handling Sales Objections: How do you push through the “nos” and make sales?
- Optimizing Travel Time: How can you get from point A to Point B in less time?
Core Elements of Field Sales Training
So, what does your field sales training program need to include? The five core elements below are essential to the success of your sales training efforts. Ignore them at your own peril!
Product Knowledge
First, your sales reps and/or field techs need intimate knowledge of the products they sell. How does it work? What makes it great? And how does it compare to the competitions’ offerings? When your team can answer these questions they’ll be able to engage potential customers on a deeper level, address concerns with confidence, and ultimately, close more deals.
Customer Engagement Techniques
How should your sales reps and/or field techs engage with potential customers? The reps on your team might already know how to do this—especially if they’ve held similar positions at other companies. Your field techs, though, might need a lot of coaching in this area. Teach them how to interact with prospects in ways that could lead to a sale. And if possible, get them a field sales engagement software like SPOTIO to make the whole process easier and more effective.
Time Management and Scheduling
What separates top sellers from low performers? A lot of things, actually. But time management is near the top of the list. Once your sales reps and/or field techs learn to schedule their days effectively, they’ll become more productive. When that happens, they’ll make more sales. What’s the key to time management? Preparation and technology. Speaking of which…
Technology and Tools
The right technology will make it easier for your sales reps and/or field techs to close deals. For example, a CRM software will help them organize prospect information. And engagement software will help them interact with prospects in productive ways. Just make sure that your team knows how to use the tools it has access to. This is easy to do with SPOTIO. We offer live training sessions that cater to specific roles, so that everyone can excel with our desktop or mobile app.
Handling Rejections and Objections
If you can’t handle rejection, you won’t last long in sales. And if you can’t handle objections, you won’t close many deals. Coach your reps and/or field techs how to do these things. When it comes to rejection, make sure your team expects it, doesn’t internalize it, and learns from it. Objections on the other hand, should be studied and prepared for, so your team is ready.
Innovative Training Methods for Field Techs
Now that you know what your field sales training program should have, let’s talk about innovative methods you can use to convey this information to your field techs.
Role-Playing Scenarios
Sales training for field techs should include role-playing scenarios.
Why? Because this will allow techs to develop their sales skills in a safe environment. It will also give you, their sales manager, the opportunity to deliver feedback in real-time.
Role-playing can be used to practice different sales techniques, engage different buyer personas, and otherwise experience different challenges. It’s a great way to build confidence in any seller, too, but especially those who aren’t as comfortable pitching products.
Gamification
Want your field techs to embrace sales? Gamify the process!
Gamification is what happens when you apply typical game elements to non-gaming scenarios. Point scoring, competition between reps, leaderboards, and unique rewards all count.
Your field techs will enjoy the sales process more when it’s treated as a game. So give them points for the sales activities they complete. Then, display said points on a department-wide scoreboard. Finally, offer rewards to points leaders at the end of every month, quarter, etc.
Microlearning
Microlearning is a specific teaching technique that breaks down complex information into bite-sized chunks that students can engage with at a time of their choosing.
Studies show that microlearning leads to an 18% jump in knowledge retention. (Other studies put this figure as high as 80%.) Every field sales training program should include this tactic.
When teaching field techs to sell your company’s products and/or services, give them short applicable lessons to consume. This will reduce overwhelm and improve skill sets quickly.
On-Demand Digital Training
Personalized, one-on-one field sales training programs are great. But not every sales team can devote resources to this kind of initiative, which is why on-demand digital training is so popular.
Record videos for your field techs that teach them about specific sales techniques, how to use your department’s sales tools, etc. Then let them watch these videos whenever they want.
(Note: you might not have to create these videos yourself. You can buy courses, for example. Either way, give reps access to on-demand lessons to increase the chances they get watched.)
Field Coaching and Reinforcement
Your field sales training program must include feedback.
Coaching sales reps leads to higher engagement levels, improved productivity, better pipeline management, and greater performance. This is also true when training field techs.
Don’t just ask your techs to engage in role-playing scenarios, or watch a few on-demand videos. Study their actual performance in the field, then give them feedback. What do they do well? What can they improve? Your techs won’t know until you tell them.
Peer Learning and Workshops
Finally, take advantage of peer learning.
If you’re not familiar with the term, peer learning is what happens when students learn with and from each other. In sales, peer learning is often deployed via mentorship programs. In other words, an experienced sales rep lets a new sales rep shadow them during the sales process.
If possible, assign one of your top sellers to each of your field techs. That way said techs can learn to make sales by watching the best in your department go about their business.
Measuring the Success of Field Sales Training
You’ve started to build a sales training for field rep program. Now what? Now you need to track your team’s efforts so you can properly evaluate your efforts in this area.
Follow these three steps to effectively measure your field sales training program:
- Communicate: First, communicate with your sales reps and/or field techs. Let them know that you plan to monitor their progress, and work with them to choose metrics. This will keep all interested parties on the same page and give you targets to aim for.
- Isolate: Second, divide your measurement efforts into three categories: engagement, experience, and effect. Engagement refers to the progress reps make through your training program. Experience refers to the enjoyment reps get from the training material. And effect refers to the outcomes your team achieves because of the training.
- Evaluate: Third, study the data and assess your field sales training program on a regular basis. It’s important to commit to this third step. To help you do that, make the evaluation stage as easy as possible by using tools to collect and visualize data.
Solutions like SPOTIO make it super easy to track performance metrics; then present said metrics in easy-to-understand ways using our platform’s “My Reports” feature.
Engage Your Field Sales Reps With SPOTIO
Field sales training is important—especially when working with field teams who don’t have a background in sales. Fortunately, building an effective training program isn’t rocket science.
Simply follow the advice in this article and ensure your training teaches reps about the products they sell, how to engage potential customers, important time management techniques, how to use the tools in your company’s tech stack, and how to handle various objections.
Then use innovative methods to make sure the information you share sticks. Role-playing scenarios, gamification, microlearning, etc. are perfect for this application.
Finally, consider using SPOTIO if you don’t already. Our platform was specifically designed to help field sales teams succeed. As such, it’s stocked with tons of features related to lead generation, territory management, multi-channel communication, task automation, and more.
Request your free demo of SPOTIO today to see if our tool is right for your sales team!
