The Importance of Training Your Sales Team | Avast

In today’s competitive business environment, gaining (and maintaining) a competitive advantage providing managed IT and security services is challenging. Commoditization continues and margins are smaller than ever before. Competitors are constantly seeking new ways to innovate and streamline the cybersecurity buying experience, customer demands and preferences continue to shift, and the dynamics of the cyber landscape keep everyone on their toes.

The battle can be won — by tapping the power of your sales team. A solid sales team is the lifeblood of your company and the bridge to your customers. One of the ways you can utilize them to grow your managed services practice is by ensuring they are properly trained. Arm them with the skills to anticipate market changes and customer needs, and they will seize the opportunities. The better your salespeople are trained, the stronger your business is going to be.

Here are the top reasons why you should invest in a good training program (and your people): 

Trained salespeople = more sales

More sales means a bigger bottom line. Yet, more than 60% of salespeople say selling is harder or much harder today than it was five years ago. 

That’s where training plays a critical role, especially in the business of cybersecurity. A well-trained salesperson will be able to better influence potential and current customers, by knowing how to best approach them, discuss their needs, and offer just the right solution(s). Simply put, they will perform better. They’ll also have more confidence in their sales tactics and strategies, and provide the kind of results needed to gain loyal customers — and results. 

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You’ll attract more talent

People want to work for companies that have innovative, dedicated employees. And in an industry where cyber skills are in high demand, attracting the right talent matters. In fact, 54% of employers provide additional training and development specifically to overcome talent shortages.

When you provide consistent, foundational training for your sales team, you’ll attract top-tier talent when seeking new hires, as those are the people who not only seek progressive employers, but also look for opportunities to continuously develop themselves when they join an organization. 

Fostering forward-thinking strategies

Expert sales coaching helps you decrease the cost of reactive services and provide the kind of results that keep your clients coming back for more. You will not only continually improve the skills and techniques of your team, but your sales process and selling environment.  When clients welcome additional, proactive services, you’re not only able to better guide their IT and security posture, but you’re also able to command higher prices for your solutions. In this way, you build a reputation for quality service, which positively impacts your potential for IT leads and managed security sales.  Another advantage? You will be continually improving the skills of your team – your sales process and techniques.

Empowered employees are happier employees

Providing opportunities to train and learn new skills is a smart way to motivate, engage, and empower your team. It shows you’re invested in their success as professionals, as well as valued team members, with the potential to regularly contribute to the success of your company.  

While more than 70% of executives believe employee engagement is the key to organizational success, seven in 10 employees rank empowerment as an important element of their engagement.

In fact, a University of Michigan study found five traits that empowered employees demonstrate — traits that any business owner or manager would want to foster:

• A high-level of job satisfaction 
• Greater sense of organizational commitment
• Improved performance
• Increased motivation
• Lower turnover

You’ll improve the customer experience

Will opportunities for sales training actually improve interactions with customers, build better client relationships, and have a more positive impact on customer service?

We believe you will see a dramatic difference. 

If you look at the characteristics of elite salespeople — those who perform in the top 20% of their field — 39% are challengers. Challengers tend to focus on educating and challenging their customers — and in the fast-changing world of cybersecurity, ensuring customers stay current on trends and technologies and improve their own education is critical to their security postures and your bottom line.

Sales training provides a way to improve skill sets and learn new strategies and technologies — and all of this can be passed along to your customer base. Training can enable your team to become trusted security advisors to your customers — and that may deliver the ultimate customer experiences.

You’ll add value to your company

Sales training is one of the most important competitive advantages you can have. Investing in ongoing training will ensure your sales team can shine as confident skilled professionals who close deals — and help them to build key customer relationships that grow awareness for your brand, lead to customer retention, and drive recurring revenues. 

In fact, one study revealed that the caliber of a B2B salesperson is the most important factor influencing a prospect’s decision to buy.

And training is an investment that will pay off — data shows that for every dollar a company invests in training, it receives about $4.53 in return – that’s a 353% ROI.

Investing in sales training helps you stay competitive, empowers your team, provides better support customers, and wins business — it can produce strong salespeople that will continue to deliver ongoing value for your business and grow your client base. It will deliver value that differentiates you in the market and elevates your MSP or MSSP business.

Put the power of sales training to work for your business

Sales training delivers multiple advantages. It’s a driver in producing talented team members that will close sales and also enables you to continue to recruit new talent. It shows employees you’re invested in their success and gives them opportunities to grow professionally and financially — outperforming sales metrics, selling new services, driving recurring revenues, and more. The ROI behind sales training will continue to deliver ongoing value for your business. 

Ready to get started? Put sales training to work for your MSP or MSSP business today with an exclusive offer from Avast Business. For a limited time, you can receive FREE B2B sales training modules (a $700 value per user) to help your team train and develop new sales skills and strategies, improve close rates, and drive revenue.  Specifically designed for MSPs and MSSPs, your team will benefit from the actionable insights, specific sales examples, and smart ways to build a higher-revenue business.