COMMON SALES TRAINING MISTAKES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM DAY 5 : "TRAIN OR FAIL SERIES" Sales training isn’t a magic bullet. It’s an ongoing process. But if you make the wrong moves, your training will fall flat. Let’s look at some of the most common mistakes—and how to avoid them. 1. OVERLOADING YOUR TEAM WITH INFORMATION It's tempting to throw everything at your team in one go—product knowledge, market trends, objection-handling techniques, closing strategies. But this leads to information overload. Mistake: Trying to teach everything at once. Solution: Focus on one core topic at a time. Give your team enough to practice and apply before moving on. For example, spend a week on handling objections, then the next week on qualifying leads. Gradually build up their skills without overwhelming them. Why: Sales is learned through repetition, not a crash course. 2. SKIPPING THE BASICS Sometimes, sales training focuses too much on advanced techniques and misses the fundamentals. Mistake: Ignoring the basics. Solution: Start with the fundamentals—things like effective questioning, active listening, and understanding the buyer’s needs. Without these, even the most advanced techniques won’t work. Why: Salespeople need a strong foundation to build upon. You can’t teach closing techniques if they don’t know how to build rapport first. 3. FOCUSING ONLY ON PRODUCT FEATURES It’s easy to get caught up in product features. After all, you believe in your product, and you want your team to know it inside and out. But the reality is that buyers don’t care about features unless they understand how it solves their problem. Mistake: Focusing too much on product features. Solution: Train your team to focus on benefits, not just features. They should be able to explain how the product improves the buyer’s situation. Build your sales training around value-based selling. Why: People don’t buy products; they buy solutions to their problems. 4. TREATING SALES TRAINING LIKE AN EVENT Sales training should never be treated as a one-off event. It needs to be consistent, just like any other skill development. Mistake: Thinking sales training is a one-time event. Solution: Make training ongoing. Have short weekly sessions, monthly skill refreshers, and quarterly performance reviews. Embed training into your team’s routine, so they don’t forget and can continually improve. Why: Sales techniques need constant reinforcement to stick. Skills must be honed over time, not just memorized once. 5. NOT MEASURING IMPACT How do you know your training is working? If you’re not measuring the impact, you don’t. Mistake: Not tracking the results of sales training. Solution: Set clear KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and track them regularly. Whether it’s the number of qualified leads, conversion rates, or deal size, tie these metrics to your training efforts. Why: Without tracking, it’s impossible to know if your training is improving sales performance. QUICK RECAP OF THE MOST COMMON MISTAKES: 1. Overloading with information – Stick to one key topic at a time. 2. Skipping the basics – Start with core skills like questioning and listening. 3. Focusing on product features – Teach value-based selling. 4. Treating training as an event – Make it ongoing. 5. Not measuring impact – Track KPIs tied to training outcomes. What You Should Do Now Look at your current sales training. Are you making any of these mistakes? If so, it’s time to adjust. Training isn’t a quick fix—it’s a long-term investment. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about how to make sales training more engaging and fun, so your team stays motivated and learns faster. Don’t read through this series alone, invite your business owners, sales managers and salespeople. The time to grow your sells and to sell more is now. Regards, Sir. E. Nkala Global Business Titans +263 771 425 334 WhatsApp Channel Link : https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaXurQQF1YlNWCHGRD1g