January 24, 2024

11 Training Ideas for Your Next National Sales Meeting

Hey Eyecare Suppliers!  2024 is here and if your organization is like many in the eyecare industry, it’s time for a National Sales Meeting to get the year started.  Set your sales team up for success by considering training on the following topics:

 

1. Plan A Sales Call: Engage your sales team in realistic planning sessions to enhance their ability to handle various sales calls. Teach preparation techniques from business and sales analytics to geographical and competitor research.  Wow clients by being ultra prepared for each visit.

 

2. Product Knowledge Olympics: Turn product training into a fun and competitive event by organizing a knowledge competition. Divide the team into groups and quiz them on your products, features, and benefits. Award prizes to the teams with the highest scores, promoting friendly competition while reinforcing product knowledge.

 

3. Customer Persona Workshop: Foster a deeper understanding of your target audience by conducting a workshop on creating customer personas. Encourage your team to identify key customer demographics, pain points, and motivations, enabling them to tailor their sales approach to better resonate with different buyer types.  A private practice optometry client is completely different from a 10 practice Ophthalmology chain. 

 

4. Interactive Technology Session: Bring in the latest sales enablement technologies and tools for a hands-on experience. Allow your sales team to explore and test new CRM systems, sales automation tools, or virtual presentation platforms, helping them stay updated on the latest industry innovations.  Do a best practices session on how to use your current CRM.

 

5. Market Trends Discussion: Task your marketing team to build a discussion on current market trends. This not only provides valuable insights but also encourages strategic thinking among your sales team as they discuss how to align their efforts with emerging market dynamics.  When they know what’s happening in the industry they are better prepared to help clients.

 

6. Customer Success Stories Workshop: Facilitate a workshop where team members share their success stories and learnings from challenging sales situations. Analyzing real-life cases fosters a culture of continuous improvement, allowing the team to glean valuable lessons from each other's experiences.  I learnt some of my best sales tips by listening to stories from my colleagues.

 

7. Goal Setting and Accountability Session: Dedicate time to collaboratively set individual and team goals for the upcoming sales period. Implement an accountability system where team members share their goals and commit to specific actions, fostering a sense of responsibility and motivation to achieve targets.

 

8. Negotiation Skills Simulation: Develop negotiation skills through realistic simulations. Create scenarios where team members practice negotiating deals with each other, incorporating various buyer personalities and objections. Provide constructive feedback to help them refine their negotiation strategies.

 

9. Customer Feedback Analysis Workshop: Solicit customer feedback through a survey prior to the NSM then analyze the results together as a team to identify common themes and areas for improvement. Discuss strategies to address customer concerns, enhance customer satisfaction, and share best practices for turning feedback into opportunities for growth.

 

10. Role-Playing Scenarios: Engage your sales team in realistic role-playing scenarios to enhance their ability to handle various customer interactions. Create scripts that mimic common challenges they may face, allowing them to practice objection handling and refine their communication skills.

 

11. Digital & Social Selling Techniques.  Give sales reps the advantage of training on new skills like digital cold calling, social networking and connecting and online prospecting.  It’s the new era of sales and your team is behind the eight ball if they do not have a personal brand and presence as well as connecting with their current and prospective clients.

 

 

Bonus Tip:  Bring in a motivational speaker.  Trust me…it’s what I do.  Your sales team needs to hear from you but there is something to be said for an expert and industry professional who walks the same talk as them and is teaching them new ways and new ideas to get in new doors. 

 

Trudi Charest is an eye care industry expert.  She’s the President of Total Focus Consulting and the Co-Founder of Marketing4ECPs, a digital marketing agency for eye care professionals, an Optician, a sought-after international speaker and best-selling author of the book, “The Digital Sales Rep”.   Today, Trudi is working on projects to help suppliers be more effective at sales, marketing, and operations.

 

Need a speaker for your National Sales Meeting?  Trudi has some amazing keynote and workshops ready to bring to your event.  Request a complimentary copy of her best-selling book, The Digital Sales Rep.

 

You can reach Trudi at hello@thedigitalsalesrep.com

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