Students of the Sales Training Institute will learn to:

• Generate increased top line sales training revenue through sales skills development
• Learn to close more sales in a sales consultative approach by becoming business consultants
• Create better margins for sales training efforts while learning effective probing, supporting and closing skills
• Lower sales operating costs by increasing effective sales interviewing skills by quickly following up on sales leads
• Develop stronger telephone and face to face selling skills through high impact sales training seminars based on extensive in class practice
• Strengthen company’s identification of their strategic sales opportunities
• Design and optimize sales strategies for selling and winning business
• Become more productive at their sales jobs through pre-call planning and better handling
• Implement more effective sales communication skills through effective and efficient time usage in our sales training seminars
• Generate and practice more powerful customer sales presentations training
• Increase sales force training skills and become immediately more productive on their sales jobs
• Be more effective in their sales communications with their internal and external customers
• Apply the skills learned in our sales training seminars while energizing their fellow sales force members  

Here’s a list of my top 7 ideas:

We all know the sales team is coin operated to some extent.  You might consider putting in place “summer incentive accelerators” that apply only for the summer months.

Summer can be a great time for outings with customers.  Think about the possibility of running an outdoor activity with customers.  It can create excitement on the sales team as well as being good for business.  Golf, tennis, baseball games, scavenger hunts, local theme park, beach outings, etc. are all low cost, high-impact activities.

Nothing gets sales teams excited like special customer promotions.  Consider testing several product or service promotions during the summer months.  This is also a great time to test promotions for a roll-out in the fall.

Summer is a great time for strategic planning.  You might want to conduct a two day offsite for your sales team at a local vacation hot spot.  It’s a great time to mix business with pleasure and is a sure fire way to get the sales team excited.  A 50/50 mix of business vs. pleasure is the right mix.  It’s a great way to bond with the team as well.

In many cases, employees value time off more than money … particularly in the summer. Consider a sales contest where the top performers get an extra day or more off if they hit the sales goal.  It’s low-cost … and can have major impact.

Have a weekly office barbeque behind your office and invite your local customers.   I’ve done this several times.  Its fun and a great bonding exercise with the sales team and customers.  Just don’t burn the hot dogs!

Create a fun competition among your sales staff.  If your group is large enough, create teams (red team, blue team, green team, etc.); if your staff is smaller, each “team” can be an individual.  Build momentum over the course of the summer with weekly prizes.  Each month, have a group lunch to present awards.  At the end of the summer, have a larger outing to crown a winner.

Oh yes, I almost forgot.  Here’s number eight.  Show up late in the afternoon one day with a box of Dove ice cream bars.  Those calories are sure to get them excited! Have a great summer!

Related: Sales Seminars

More sales training tips...