Sales training Q&A with Andy Springer, RAIN Group

Andy Springer, RAIN Group

RAIN Group is a global sales training company helping clients improve sales results through training, coaching, and reinforcement. We’ve been named a Top Sales Training Company by Selling Power and Training Industry for many years.

In addition to our sales training programs that span the sales process, we have programs for sales managers and leaders, including RAIN Sales Management, RAIN Sales Coaching, and Coaching for Action & Accountability.

An important leverage point for many companies is their sales managers. They hold the keys to boosting sales success, yet many of them don't have the skills to manage and coach sellers effectively.

According to the Top-Performing Sales Manager research, we know that the best sales managers deliver a regular rhythm, frequency, and type of sales coaching with their teams, play 10 sales management roles exceptionally well (motivation, development, action planning, talent management, forecasting, etc.), and they lead masterful sales management and coaching conversations. Our training ensures that sales managers adopt the skills and behaviors that correlate with top performance.

Finally, in Coaching for Action & Accountability, sales leaders and coaches learn the skills and tools needed to recognize unproductive habits that are holding their team back and change them in themselves and their sellers - for good. This is a core part of our Execution Assurance process to change seller behavior and improve specific sales skills

Andy Springer, RAIN Group

There are four key strategies in sales prospecting that we refer to as WAVE.

WAVE Framework for sales prospecting

• Winner’s Mindset: Your mindset drives your behavior, actions, and interactions. You need to have perseverance and energy to succeed in prospecting.

• Attraction Campaign: This is a sequence of customized messages sent to prospects over a period for the purpose of getting a meeting. In our research, we found it takes an average of eight touches to get a meeting with a buyer. Sellers should leverage social media, email, direct mail, and the phone in their attraction campaign.

• Value: Top performers provide value in every touch. They provide primary research, customized content, and more. When you reach out, think about what value you can provide a buyer when they accept a meeting with you.

• Execution: You can’t just have a plan. You need to execute it, you need to put in the work. Sellers who execute prospecting on a consistent basis generate more pipe.

Andy Springer, RAIN Group

There are many sales technologies out there that help sellers be more productive and effective. I expect to see the sales technology landscape continue to grow with AI solutions, call analytics, AR and VR, CRM and mobile solutions, automation, and more.

The key is to first determine exactly how you and your organization plan to use the technology to increase productivity, accelerate sales, enhance customer engagement, etc. Too many companies turn to a technology solution without fully understanding how they plan to use it and then they don’t get the intended result.

Andy Springer, RAIN Group

While events and in-person meetings are open again in many places around the world, virtual selling isn’t going to disappear. Video is here to stay. Sellers have learned how to leverage tools to collaborate with buyers digitally.

HubSpot reported that 63% of sales leaders believe virtual sales meetings are equally effective or more effective than traditional, in-person meetings.

I believe we will strike a balance where there is some business travel and in-person sales meetings, but not to the level it was pre-2020.

If your sales team still isn’t confident running sales meetings online, the Ultimate Virtual Selling Toolkit offers several free resources to help them succeed.

Andy Springer, RAIN Group

My top two tips, backed by our latest Top-Performing Sales Manager research, are:

• Motivate your sellers for high productivity and performance. According to the research, this is the #1 sales management and coaching skill difference between Top Performers and The Rest. It’s crucial for sellers to have a manager who motivates for productivity, but to do so, sales managers themselves must be highly productive - both to drive their own success and inspire their teams. Increase your attention to motivating your team and helping them be maximally productive.

• Conduct regular coaching. We analyzed the differences between sellers who receive ad hoc or intermittent coaching vs a regular, ongoing rhythm of coaching and found that a regular ongoing schedule of coaching sessions is positively correlated with a higher seller skill rating. We also found that when managers of top-performing teams deliver regular, ongoing coaching, the seller skills ratings are even higher. Get your free sales coaching plan and checklist today for tips on how to excel in this area.