Enterprise Sales Training & The Software to Increase Efficiency
Enterprise sales training is a specific kind of sales education that gives salespeople the skills, information, and strategies they need to do well in high-stakes, complicated sales situations.
Enterprise sales training is different from standard sales training because it focuses on longer sales cycles, more stakeholders, and selling solutions instead of products. Let's look at the most important parts of enterprise sales training and how software can make it better.
Enterprise Sales
Enterprise sales are when you sell goods or services to big businesses, usually ones that make more than $1 billion a year. These sales are marked by the following:
- Deals with a lot of money (often $500k or more)
- Long sales periods of six to eighteen months or more
- Many people who can make decisions and have an impact
- Complicated solutions that are made to fit the needs of each business
Example: Enterprise sales would be made by a software company that sells a full enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to a multinational business.
Important Parts of Enterprise Sales Training
1. Developing Business Knowledge
Enterprise salespeople need to know a lot about how businesses work, how money works, and how trends affect their field. What training should cover is:
- Understanding how to read and understand financial information
- Understanding key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Looking at problems and chances that are unique to the industry
Example: A person who sells cybersecurity products should know how data breaches hurt a business's image and bottom line.
2. Techniques for Selling Solutions
It's not so much about selling things in enterprise sales as it is about finding solutions to hard business issues. What should training cover?
- Techniques for figuring out what someone needs and assessing those needs
- Making personalized value offers
- Showing the return on investment (ROI)
Example: A salesperson might not focus on features but instead show a case study of how their solution cut operational costs by 30% for a similar client.
3. Dealing with Stakeholders
Enterprise deals involve a lot of people from different areas making decisions. The training should cover:
- Listing and mapping out important parties
- Getting different groups to agree on something
- Dealing with the politics of a group
Example: A sales rep could make a stakeholder map that shows the CIO as the main decision-maker and the CFO and area heads as important people who can affect the decision.
4. How to Negotiate
Because so much is at stake in enterprise sales, you need to be able to negotiate very well. The training should cover:
- Knowing how to negotiate in different ways
- Dealing with complaints and pushback
- Making situations where everyone wins
Example: Role-playing games help trainees get used to negotiating complicated contracts with lots of moving parts, such as prices, timelines for execution, and service level agreements.
5. Making Plans For and Managing Accounts
When you sell to businesses, you often build long-term ties with key accounts. What should training cover?
- Planning strategically for each customer
- Upselling and cross-selling methods
- Making and keeping connections with executives
Example: Making a three-year account growth plan for a big client and looking for ways to grow in different business units.
Enterprise sales training can be made a lot more successful with modern software solutions, some examples can be found below:
1. Learning Management Systems
LMS systems like Docebo or TalentLMS can:
- Make sure that all global sales teams have access to the same training materials
- Keep track of progress and completion rates
- Give users access to training materials whenever they need them
Example: Product training courses can be accessed on a sales rep's tablet while they wait for a client meeting. This keeps them up to date at all times.
2. Sales Enablement Platforms
Tools like Launchdeck can:
- Organize and send out sales materials
- Give real-time information on how content is being used and how well it's doing
- Let you make custom content for each client
Example: Using pre-approved, industry-specific content blocks, a salesperson can quickly put together a unique presentation for a prospect.
3. Training in virtual reality (VR)
VR systems like Strivr and VirtualSpeech can:
- Make role-playing games that feel real
- Act out scenes with a lot of pressure to sell
- Make sure there are safe places to practice new skills
Example: In a realistic virtual reality (VR) setting, sales reps can practice giving a talk to C-level executives in a boardroom, and get feedback on their body language and delivery.
4. Coaching tools that use AI
AI teaching tools like Gong and Chorus can:
- Listen to sales calls and give you feedback that is tailored to you
- Find the best ways to do things from top performers
- Allow ideas to be made in real-time while talking to customers
Example: After a sales call, the person gets a report from AI that shows them what they can do better, like how to use social proof more effectively or how much they talked compared to how much they listened.
5. Platforms for gamification
Gamification tools, such as LevelEleven or Hoopla, can:
- Get more people to participate in training programs
- Make sales teams compete with each other in a healthy way
- Use tasks and rewards to reinforce important learning goals
Example: When sales reps finish training lessons, they get points and badges, and leaderboards show which reps are the best.
In tough, high-stakes sales situations, it's important to have good business sales training. Companies can give their sales teams the skills they need to close big deals and handle strategic accounts by focusing on key areas like business sense, selling solutions, and managing stakeholders.
These days, using new software makes training better by making it more interesting, specialized, and useful. Technology, like LMS platforms and coaching tools powered by AI, is a big part of making top-level corporate sales professionals.
Companies can build a sales team that can handle the complexities of enterprise deals and bring in a lot of extra money by giving them comprehensive enterprise sales training and the latest technology to back it up.