Bob Molluro ⋅ Wilmington, DE Benchmark Consulting Services ltd. ⋅ 30 years experience

I have worked with over 850 sales teams. These are my experiences.
The quality of the person who is being trained is the key. Does this person take responsibility for the results they produce? When I interview someone I always get into a discussion about a situation where they can define the outcome. If they failed how did they deal with the results. If they explain what they did and what they would do differently you may have a winner. If they blame the results on others or the situation you have a loser. Cut them loose.
A good sales program will have the new person being mentored by an experienced person. When I joined IBM my mentor was the number four sales person in IBM. I was wildly excited and felt I would spend lots of time with this person over the next year. Nothing was further from the truth.
I probably spent less than twenty hours in total with this person. However some of the lessons he taught me have lasted for over forty years. Here are a couple:
1) He constantly threw me into the deep end of the pool. He gave me challenging assignments and watched. When I tried to review what I had done he would just say "these are your first assignments -don't screw them up". This forced me to consult with others in the office to get the benefit of others experiences.
He explained why understanding a clients strategy and important problems always comes first rather than worrying about the products you are trying to sell. He emphasized we are selling solutions to business problems not products. I could go on and on. The short version is that within four years I became one of the Top 12 producers in IBM out of 8,000. I credit my mentor for getting me off to the best start possible.
A program that mentors people for mutual benefit (The mentor must gain something as well as the mentee) is one of the keys to success.

Douglas Lavelle ⋅ Chatham, NJ Financial Services ⋅ 24 years experience

Guy,
I have 30 years in sales and business development experience as manager and individual producer. I would be glad to share my experiences. Please reach out. Thank you for your service.
Doug

William Munroe ⋅ Dunstable, MA Nominet, CyGlass ⋅ 20 years experience

Hello Guy,
I have run many BDR/SDR teams. I am happy to share what I know and connect you to other successful SDRs I have worked with. You can connect with me via will.munroe63@gmail.com.

Thank you for your service.
Bill