CRM Insights Blog

CRM Training for Sales

How does CRM training relate to golf? I have been playing golf for along time and to be blunt, I am not very good at it. A couple of years ago, I made a conscious effort to try to get better at the game. I had an old set of clubs. I thought the best place to start would be to purchased a custom set of clubs. I went to see a golf pro, got measured, and a few weeks later, a beautiful set of new clubs showed up at my house. I took my new clubs, ran off to a local golf course and played a round of golf. Guess what - I still am a terrible golfer!  What I forgot in my effort to improve my game is to get the appropriate training. I would have been better of keeping my old clubs and taking golf lessons instead.

So, how does a set of new golf clubs relate to CRM? You can have an excellent CRM software deployed in your organization. You went through the appropriate selection process, had a well thought out and executed implementation plan, and trained your end-users on how to use the system. Essentially, you have a great set of golf clubs. 

But unless your sales team is properly trained in a sales methodology and adhere to that methodology, you are not going to take full advantage of your CRM software. Similar to my golf analogy, CRM training is just as important, maybe even more important than the CRM software itself. 

There are soft skills that are neccessary for your salespeople to be successful. Your sales team needs to know how to qualify or disqualify an opportunity, manage the sales process, present the appropriate solution to address the needs of their prospect,  manage expectations, provide a well written and professional proposal, and have the ability to close the opportunity. They also need to manage their own internal team including sales engineers and sales management. 

Over the years, we have worked with a variety of local, regional, and national sales training organizations. Harvest Soltuions can provide your organization with an introduction to a firm that will address your specific needs and requirements.