This is a guest article from Value Based
That's a long title, but here's our case for certifying sales professionals:
First, certification implies that a level of performance or competency has been attained. A certified sales professional has been observed and measured while performing acknowledged best practices and processes for his/her industry and target market(s). Anyone who has been in sales for any length of time knows that selling software as a service (SaaS) is radically different from selling pharmaceuticals or copiers or whatever.
>> We believe it's time to certify sales teams to ensure the outcome.
Second, certification translates to a level of trust and confidence in the minds of prospective and existing clients. Research says that over 80% of purchases occur because of the trust and confidence that prospects have in their sales representative.
>> We believe it's time to certify sales teams to build necessary trust and confidence.
Consider this statistic from CSO Insights ¹: 57% of sales reps are expected to miss quota this year. The recent succession of national and global recessions, natural disasters, and an economy-crippling pandemic has left many small and mid-size companies with depleted sales and marketing budgets that allow little room to fund important revenue-producing initiatives. Our third reason to consider certification is that history has proven that an investment in sales and marketing during difficult times can sustain a company and often catapult them over weaker competitors to capture some of the available market share.
>> We believe it's time to certify sales teams to restore company sales vitality.
Fourth, one of the greatest challenges for many companies is to consistently meet or beat their revenue and sales goals year after year. While there can be several reasons for this, the two most common are 1) lack of a proven and predictable sales process and 2) less than effective sales practice performance levels among their sales team. Certification provides a remedy for these two deficiencies by creating consistent sales improvement initiatives within the organization.
>> We believe it's time to certify sales teams to create consistent sales improvement initiatives within the organization.
Fifth, the typical approach to addressing these problems is for a company to conduct a 2 or 3 day "shot-in-arm" sales training event every year or so. The practice of conducting a training event produces, at best, a temporary spike in sales, but rarely produces sustained and universal sales increases.
What’s missing from these short-term initiatives is retention and utilization of the new training content/processes.
Experience shows that any form of reinforcement, such as refreshers or one-on-one coaching sessions, will more than double the retention and adoption of newly learned sales practices/processes. Our Value Based Selling certification program is administered by highly skilled former sales executives with “been there, done that” track records. We are able to engage sales professionals of all experience levels in a challenging, fun and stimulating adult-learning experience. Best of all, both the company and the sales representatives that invest in our sales certification program have the potential to see measurable and sustained results beyond their previous experience.
>> We believe it's time to certify sales teams create sustained results.
Summary: Certification programs are a part of many professions where certain skills and competencies are required for practitioners to be effective and successful. For example, real estate and financial services as well as healthcare and technology sectors offer—and often require—particular levels of expertise from their practitioners in order to validate their competency.
Download our e-book to explore the concept of certifying sales professionals as a means of:
- Improving sales performance
- Providing an organization assurance that their sales team represents them with a high degree of professionalism and ethics
- Most importantly, greatly enhancing the prospect and customer experience
So, is it time to certify sales professionals? We say yes.
[1] Stats From "State of Sales" Salesforce Sales Research 2020
