The other day I was on a call with a prospect who had been approached by another sales trainer.

They did not go ahead with them.

Why?

The answer is simple. The trainer could not sell.

The trainer called them but did not qualify them. Instead they emailed a book over on sales methodologies.

A meeting was arranged where the trainer went on to ask minimal discovery questions. They then spent the hour speaking at the prospect about said methodologies. It was a classic case of "Look at how much I know" rather than "Let me understand your problem."

They then proceeded to send a proposal to the prospect quoting well over $30k.

They are now chasing the prospect for an answer.

Here is a hint. No answer is a no.

The Irony of Bad Sales Training

It is shocking how many people selling sales training in Sydney cannot actually sell.

They rely on theory. They rely on books. They rely on complex methodologies that look good on a whiteboard but fail on the phone.

If you are considering bringing a trainer into your business they must be able to sell themselves.

If they act like your current underperforming sales team why would you hire them to fix your team?

What to Look For

Companies can have sales problems for a huge number of reasons. But if you are teaching sales you should know the basics.

Here is the litmus test I use.

1. Can they make a cold call?
If a trainer cannot pick up the phone and book a meeting with you properly how are they going to teach your team to do it? We prove this works every day in our SDR Sales Training.

2. Can they keep control of the process?
The trainer in my story lost control immediately. They sent a book. They rambled in the meeting. They lost the deal. You need a trainer who can command a room and a process.

3. Do they send proposals?
Sending a document and hoping for a signature is amateur hour. As we discussed in The Death of the Sales Proposal, if you are writing proposals you are wasting time. The deal should be agreed upon verbally before any paperwork is sent.

4. Do they chase?
Chasing is begging. If a trainer is chasing you for an answer it means they did not get a clear next step in the meeting. We teach how to avoid this desperation in Stop Begging for Meetings.

Practice What You Preach

When you are looking for sales coaching, look at the behavior of the person selling to you.

Are they asking deep questions?
Are they challenging your thinking?
Are they uncovering pain?

Or are they just pitching?

If they are pitching you methodologies and sending you PDFs, run away.

They should be able to sell themselves.

Not act like your current sales team.