Is Sales a Science or an Art?

Is Sales Science or Art?

The debate over whether sales is an art or a science has been discussed amongst the sales community for many years but in 2022 can we now put a finger on it?

Sales in the current environment is no longer a system of “sink or swim.” There is now a calling for the tech-enabled practice of revenue engineering to develop a repeatable and productive sales process. The new tech-based process includes training to help sales teams reach their revenue goals.

Evidence suggests that having a well-trained sales team is key to revenue, with research by The Association for Talent Development showing that companies that offer comprehensive training programs have 218% higher income per employee than companies without formalized training. Therefore, it is important that businesses adopt the new innovations in technology and training to take a scientific approach to developing a successful sales process.

But what does this look like in practice? How can companies align sales teams’ behaviors with a scientific approach to create a successful sales program?

Implement Training and Team Development

Arguably, the most critical and often overlooked element of a successful sales process is ongoing investment in training and team development. Considering the fact that replacing a sales representative costs organizations an average of £26,139, it’s evident that the industry standard ‘sink or swim’ approach is extremely financially unproductive.

The sales training industry faces difficulties as companies refuse to properly invest in systematic and ongoing professional development programs. Businesses need to have programs that take entry level employees and continually invest in their growth. The best sales teams are built by combining natural talent with training and development over an initial period of five years, or the equivalent of 10,000 working hours, according to Malcom Gladwell.

Here are proven best practices that will help businesses to build an effective sales training and development program:

Align Training with Organization Objectives – Sales training needs to be in line with, and measured against, the business’s KPIs and financial outcomes that are important to the top management of the company. SalesWorks live by the mantra, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”

Develop Training That’s Personalized – Develop a training program that is agnostic to the current management structure of the firm. Ninety percent of sales and marketing within an organization can be made into a template, regardless of the product, services, or industry. Every company should own their own sales development program to generate a long-term piece of business equity that will last beyond the current management structure. The reality that 44% of millennial salespersons say they plan to leave their job within two years as demand for skilled talent rises shows that a formalized training structure is necessary.

Encourage a Long-Term Learning Environment – One-off training sessions should be avoided as they are unproductive. Short-term and brief training will not foster an environment for development. Creating a long-term training strategy beyond offering onboarding training is the best way to ensure that training is effective.

Invest in Technology and Infrastructure

Sales teams are only as productive as a business’s tech stack allows them to be. To develop a repeatable, scalable sales program, sales technology platforms are essential to engineer a productive revenue operation.

There is a wide range of tech-enabled tools at sales teams’ disposal, but companies must ensure they are making the right choices for their business. This includes:

  1. Choosing the right platforms – Sales enablement platforms and CRMs can offer a wide range of benefits: increased efficiency in outreach, better audience segmentation, visibility into sales cycles, and more. But it is important to evaluate the sales process and conduct research to select the right tools for the business.
  2. Getting the most out of the business’s existing sales tech stacks – After selecting the right tools that meet the company’s needs, teams must ensure they are maximizing the available functionality of the often complex platforms.
  3. Incorporating sales enablement platforms into training programs – Sales training effectiveness improved by 29% for companies with a dedicated sales enablement function. Teams need to be able to use all the tools at their disposal, therefore, platform training and evaluation must be a core part of sales representative onboarding and training.

As companies develop their sales programs, they must take a scientific approach to develop an effective and repeatable process. The ‘sink or swim’ approach will ultimately fail to create a scalable sales program and should be replaced by ongoing investment into development programs and sales technology platforms.

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