Here you are in sales training. You're not in the field, and you won't be able to step out and do business as usual. Hopefully, someone else is picking up your calls and handling any crises that present themselves with your customers today.
Despite your experience and your stellar performance, you've been asked – no, told – that you will attend sales training. Perhaps you don't feel that you need it. Or perhaps you'd like to attend sales training but the timing just isn't right. You're busy, and you'd much rather be working toward your goal at this moment. After all, if you don't sell something, you won't make money.
What this means is it's practically impossible for you to get the most out of the sales training. You're distracted. You’re a little resentful. You're not open to learning. You've thought of this as a waste of time and, by virtue of that thought alone, you're making it a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Nevertheless, here you are. So you might as well make the most of it.
Here are five ways you can shift into gear and get something valuable out of the sales training despite all those other things you'd rather be doing.
1. Consider the possibility that something new or something you haven't thought of in a while will be introduced here. After all, the sales profession has changed. Buyers are more empowered than ever. Maybe, just maybe, there are some skills you could hone or some new techniques you could learn.
2. Use this time to sharpen your saw. Even though you are really good at what you do, we all have weak spots. We get complacent, we over rely on certain skills, and we lose pieces of what we've learned along the way. When we take time to sharpen our saw we can become more effective. Since you're here, why not use the time to sharpen your saw so you won't have to take more time doing that later?
3. Build your confidence. Most people shy away from sales training because they experience a fear of exposure. Unlike most professions, sales professionals seem to think they are required to know everything about selling right from day one in their position. There may be some truth to this, at least in some organizations. I've heard sales manager say that they only hire people who already know how to sell. The problem this creates is that you don't really know everything, so you pretend to know and won’t admit what you'd like to know. So here's your chance, an opportunity to learn and ask questions in a neutral setting. Take advantage of it. Sales training may not come around all that often.
4. Enjoy the opportunity to get to know your coworkers a little better. Here’s a chance to observe their strengths and weaknesses. Some of these will come to light in the sales training session. This means you can identify resources within the group. You can see places where you might be able to help others. You can show leadership, and you can show humility as you teach and learn from others.
5. Go ahead and show off a little bit. You told your sales manager that you already knew how to do all this stuff. You positioned your expertise when you made a case not to attend the training. So go ahead and show what you know. Use your expertise to help others learn and grow. Just be sure that what you're demonstrating is in fact aligned with what's being trained.
Whatever you do, don't be that one individual who sits in the corner of the room sulking and resisting everything the trainer says. You aren't making yourself look like a team player, and you aren't supporting what your sales manager has asked everyone on the team to be a part of. What's more, good sales trainers can spot people like you a mile away. They know exactly how to handle someone who is positioning themselves as above the training. Your attempt at passively aggressively expressing your dissatisfaction about being in training won't help you at all. It won't help the other people in the room. And it won't earn you any bonus points in the grand scheme of things. So why not be a good sport instead?
At the end of the training session, capture what you've learned and how you learned it. This way, if you object to participating in a future training session, you’ll actually have something more to work with. You will have some ammunition for that conversation with your sales manager. Negativity and a lack of learning won't keep you out of training. Learning, demonstrating application of what you've learned and being able to pull forward after training is what's likely to keep you from needing more of the same.
But, for now, here you are in sales training. Invest in yourself and make the most of this opportunity.
