Sales Training Is Absolutely Useless

When presenting to a team earlier this week, I was presented with an objection that we hear a lot at our firm.

“Sales training is useless.”

The funny thing about this objection is, the owner of this team could not have been more RIGHT. I could not agree more, and that’s why we need to do sales training for this team.

Typically, sales training is done as a two or three day “boot camp”, where new (and veteran) sales executives sit in a classroom and learn the newest and greatest techniques on what to say to get the appointment, get into the prospects office, and how to close a new ticket sale. After the two or three days, the trainer moves on to the next team, and almost exactly a year later, they call that team back and ask for the opportunity to come back and do it again.

On the team side, the first two or three weeks following the training is fantastic. The team is overly motivated, and they try “some” of the things they were taught and may have a spike in their sales, which is all short term. The excitement wears off, sales people fall back into their old habits and sales go back to the same pace they were before training.

Most sales training companies depend on this. They want you to see the spike and the following decline and when they call for the renewal later — you will gladly give it to them so you can have that experience again.

That’s Where We Come In

The Professional Sports Operatives platform was designed to assist minor league professional sports teams in selling more tickets. Not to get people excited to sell more tickets short term, but actually sell more seats.

The Big Think

The first step in the process begins a week before we come into the market, with what we call “the big think.”

We want to understand everything there is to know about your team, your staff, the management structure, sales goals and activity, and a lot more. This will help us craft our message to your staff once we arrive.

The structure of the program is basically the same, but not every team faces the same challenges, and we want to provide emphasis on the two or three things the club needs to accomplish during our time together. The Big Think helps us craft that message.

Sales Training

The Big Think is followed up by a customized two-day ticket sales training camp. During this intense two day session, we share the habits that help build the best sales people. It’s not all about technique and what they are saying to people on the phone or at the appointment, but it’s how they prepare their days and weeks for success.

Dr. Steven R. Covey shared that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, so why would we come in for two days and hope that it works?

Thinking Big!

Thinking Big is the weekly sales tip that arrives in your in box on Sunday nights and will help jump start your sales meetings each week. It two quick pages, it provides information on techniques or systems, and continues the training that we covered in our two days together — for a year.

52 weeks of Sales Meetings

Sales meetings can be stale and uninspiring. In September, PSO is rolling out the Sales Managers guide to 52 weeks of meetings. This will include a training element for each week, and ongoing training for that week. It will also include systems for success.

The Ticket Sales Report

This is an excel workbook — but it’s already built, and self calculates all of the metrics that you need to manage a successful ticket sales staff. It provides a daily snapshot for everyone in the organization, and most importantly — will help you coach your sales team when they are struggling.

Skype Calls

PSO360’s principal thinker, Cory Howerton, will drop in to your sales meetings once a month for a half hour. His involvement can range from a quick sales training piece, to watching role plays, or simply answering strange objections you received the week before. This is 12 additional half hour sessions.

Building a successful sales program for your team takes more than two days from a sales trainer. It takes the continued involvement and interaction that most professional sales training companies do not provide. We are excited to work with teams across the country in building their programs to the point that they don’t need us on a weekly or monthly basis anymore. Until then, the value that is included in the PSO platform far outweighs any two day course you can get anywhere else.

If you receive two days of sales training — even if it’s free, but doesn’t have the long term results that your team desires, skip it. It’s like getting a car for free, with the guarantee that the wheels will fall off next month.

If you have a ticket sales team that is shutout as a team for days or even weeks — call us. By the way — if you have a team of people that can’t move a single ticket in a week — call us twice.

If you haven’t sold 70% of your inventory before the start of the season — call us.

If you need a refresher on how to get appointments or how to show prospects how to use your tickets to help their business — call us.

If you are a new team that needs to put systems in place, hire people and get them trained — you know what to do — call us.

Give us a shout today at 425.299.1358 or drop me an email at cory@pso360.com, and let’s get some time scheduled with your sales team!