Most companies do a superb job in training their new sales representatives in the technical aspects of the products they sell. Companies have management, scientific and engineering personnel who “know” their products. For this reason, they can easily overtrain sales people in the area of product knowledge.
Salespeople should understand the products they sell well enough to be able to converse intelligently about them with their customers. They should be able to answer routine questions and know how to get the answers to complex ones. In other words, sales trainees should acquire a thorough knowledge of their products, but not at the expense of sales skills. The salesperson’s technical knowledge need not be at the expert level. Continue reading