Manufacturing sales is a challenging industry, but the current environment takes difficulty to a new level. That’s why sales leadership needs to challenge their team to level-up their skillsets. Manufacturing sales training can help ensure that your sales reps are ready when business picks back up and can remain competitive in an even more challenging market.
When leadership makes learning a priority, your sales team can give training the focus it needs to be effective. You can give yourself and your sales teams an edge over the competition by choosing the best online program for your company and gaining more knowledge and insights.
We’ve put together a list of the best online sales programs that work for your goals, size, and budget.
FranklinCovey
Used in over 150 countries and translated into 30 languages, FranklinCovey’s Sales Performance Solutions is available in a wide variety of formats. The organization was founded by the acclaimed author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey, and bases much of their learning off of his principles.
The training courses can be conducted live online to help capture the live in-person experience. Plus, they offer an all-access pass to get the complete collection of content, which includes tools, assessments, videos, and digital learning modules that come in addition to the course.
Pros:
- Well-established training system used worldwide.
- Live online courses to capture the spirit of a live class.
- Offers all-access pass to complete collection of content.
Brian Tracy International
21st Century Sales Training for Elite Performance offers sales training by the famed business guru Brian Tracy. The in-depth course does more than offer positive affirmations and time management tips: they provide the science behind sales to give actionable advice to help drive sales. They provide tips from other top performers for useful insights into what separates the top performers from everyone else. The in-depth training includes 24 video training modules so that your team can gain comprehensive knowledge.
Pros:
- Training program of guru Brian Tracy.
- Science-based training system.
- Advice from high-performs.
Sales Readiness Group
Sales Presentation Training Program is ideal for sales teams that already have a solid sales strategy but would like to take it to a higher level and identify how they can continue their growth. Their method includes an in-depth pre-training consultation to identify ways in which you like to grow and answer your unique challenges. They also seek to help develop sustainable selling skills that reps will continue to use long after the sessions have ended.
Pros:
- Ideal for companies with an established sales strategy.
- Unique training based on your business.
GoSkills
An online course taught by David Brownlee, it is used by Fortune 500 companies because of the easy-to-retain, bite-size classes. They are mobile-friendly and can be taken from anywhere in a flexible, self-paced course, which is perfect for team members who work on different schedules. The courses are also personalized to focus on what matters most to you and your team. There are skills tests to identify strengths and weaknesses that can help you pinpoint what kind of training your team needs.
Pros:
- Short videos that can be watched on-the-go.
- Self-paced course.
- Skills test identifies ideal training courses for you.
GP Strategies
With over 50 years of experience bringing sales training to manufacturing, GP Strategies provides industry-specific training for both manufacturers and automotive manufacturing sales. They understand the struggles that are specific to the manufacturing industry and seek to bring useful insights into issues such as regulatory compliance and process safety management.
Pros:
- Industry-specific for manufacturing sales.
- Well-experienced in sales training.
The Brooks Group
The Brooks Group Manufacturing Sales Training Program is effective because of the amount of pre-training research that goes into making a personalized course. They look at KPIs, audit the sales process, interview customers, salespeople, managers, and executives to develop a customized program. It is an in-depth process that takes 3-12 weeks to complete and create specific training that will help your sales team succeed. It can be completed online, in-person, or a combination of both, depending on your needs.
Pros:
- Personalization based on your needs.
- Can be taken in-person or online.
JBarrows Sales Training
John Barrow’s online courses are perfect sales teams that want to target a course for their specific needs, as opposed to a general sales strategy. You can choose which courses are right for you, such as sales funnels, closing advice, etc. It is used by Fortune 500 because of the quality of training. It is also hosted in the cloud so you can access it anywhere.
Pros:
- Targeted courses.
- Can be accessed on any device.
- Used by Fortune 500 companies.
HubSpot
HubSpot offers free courses for everyone on the critical aspects of running a business. Inbound Sales covers all the new tactics that attract and turn prospects into customers. Upon completion of the course, you can earn a badge that you can put on your website, email signature, or LinkedIn.
Pros:
- Free course.
- Earn a badge to show expertise.
- Newest tactics for sales.
RAIN Group
RAIN Group understands how competitive and fast-paced manufacturing sales is. They have online courses specific to the industry to empower sales with the best tips and insights for manufacturing. From prospecting and consulting to negotiating and closing, they discuss all of the challenges that sales reps might face. Their goals are to help your sales team build the skills required to find and win new business.
Pros:
- Addresses issues specific to manufacturing.
- Discusses each stage of sales.
BTS
BTS emphasizes that people are what drive both sales and business. According to BTS, they “focus on the people side of strategy” and provide a people-focused program. With over 30 years of experience leading sales training programs, they have now made their course 100% virtual in response to the virus. They help with successful strategy execution and help with retention through business simulations, gamification, and assessment.
Pros:
- People-focused program.
- Use of gamification and business simulations to encourage participation.
- Assessment at the end to make sure training was successful.
Sales Performance International
Solution Selling is a platform by Sales Performance International that provides a data-driven approach for continual improvement. They also offer specific, actionable advice that is personalized to adapt to the challenges and opportunities in your particular business. Their SPI-1 provides all of their resources online, including digital assessment, learning, and enablement tools. They have helped more than 1.5 million sales representatives across 50 countries and in more than 14 languages with their method.
Pros:
- Provides enablement tools to help boost sales.
- Data-driven approach.
- Available in over 14 languages.
Kurlan and Associates
Live Sales Online training is based on David Kurlan’s best-selling book, Baseline Selling- How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. Kurland and Associates strive to create a curriculum around short, memorable, and recognizable processes to provide useful and relevant content that sales can continue to utilize years from now. They believe that long steps and confusing acronyms are too complicated and easy to forget. They also provide practice and ongoing support through live role-playing, problem-solving, and strategy.
Pros:
- Easy-to-understand course.
- Practical and relevant.
- Ongoing support to help retention.
LinkedIn Learning
Another free resource, LinkedIn has impressive sales videos that cover a wide range of sales topics, including everything from phone conversations and empathy to sales presentations and social selling. With over 1200 tutorials, you can find something relevant to teaching your team or augmenting another course. They provide help from the fundamental aspects of selling to more advanced techniques and strategies. LinkedIn allows you to pick classes specific to your individual sales rep with his experience, strengths, and weakness, rather than having to choose one course for your entire group.
Pros:
- Free.
- Over 1200 tutorials.
- For all experience levels.
The Art of Sales: Mastering the Sales Process
This is a free, 5-week course offered by Northwestern University through Coursera. It is a self-guided training course that helps even your newest employees become high-impact sellers. It focuses on one topic a week so that reps can get an in-depth understanding, such as sales pitching and toolkits for the sales process. It might be a little too basic for your more advanced team members, but the course can be valuable for new sales reps who need help mastering the basics of sales.
Pros:
- Self-guided.
- Great for beginners.
- In-depth look at one topic a week.
Richardson
Adjusting to the needs of the current environment, Richardson offers their Sales Training for Manufacturing and Industrial Companies in a virtual course. Using some of the largest industrial and manufacturing corporations, Richards helps companies with different sales teams come up with a unifying message to the buyer across the organization. They understand the pressure that manufacturing companies are under to compete with lower-priced competitors without making it a “race to the bottom.” Richardson provides a unified process that they have documented to bring growth to the company.
Pros:
- Specific to manufacturing sales.
- Helps unify company message across sales teams.
Dale Carnegie
Long ago, Dale Carnegie wrote a little book that had a profound impact on the future of sales, called How to Win Friends and Influence People. Now, the Dale Carnegie company offers a wide range of live online classes that can help you pinpoint and overcome weaknesses in your sales team. They offer courses ranging from goal setting to cold calling to “How to Win Friends and Influence Business People.” Their courses provide flexibility to grow your skillset however you feel best.
Pros:
- Variety of courses based on your needs.
- Well-established company.
- Flexibility.
Hoffeld Group
Their Virtual Sales Training Program provides in-depth training from your laptop, smartphone, or tablet. It also includes a full library with access to articles, whitepapers, and web events to help advance your learning. Real-world simulations help your sales reps practice what they are learning in the classroom and get useful feedback before using in their actual sales conversations.
Pros:
- Accessible across all devices.
- Real-world simulations.
- Full library of resources after course.
Imparta
With over 20 years of experience teaching sales teams in the manufacturing industry, Imparta’s i-Coach sales learning platform allows users to take their full curriculum on the go so they can learn from anywhere. Their ecards, for example, provide a convenient way for sales reps to quiz themselves on the concepts they learn in a course, leading to higher adoption and greater retention of the principles.
Pros:
- Learn from anywhere.
- Ecards for greater retention on-the-go.
MTD Sales Training
MTD’s Bespoke Online course provides flexibility and clarity in short, engaging videos. They can be customized for your industry, company size, and specific needs. It includes quizzes, interactive role-play, and assessment to help find the best videos and improve retention. Because videos are short and easy to digest, they can complement other training programs or as a standalone.
Pros:
- Bite-size classes for fast learning.
- Can be used alongside other programs or alone.
- Interactive role-play.
Sandler Training
Sandler Training has over 50 years of experience teaching proven methods for Manufacturing and Logistics. They offer a wide range of online courses to work with manufacturing sales reps to help them meet and exceed their sales goals. They also provide additional technology to help sales teams get access to the tools they need to succeed.
Pros:
- 50 years experience.
- Program for Manufacturing and Logistics.
- Wide range of sales tools.
Sales Training to Improve Your Manufacturing Sales Team
While the environment might be tough for manufacturing and sales, with the right mindset and training, your team can come back stronger than ever and excited to implement new sales techniques to take your business to a whole new level.
Tell us, how are you using this time to sharpen your sales skills? Tell us below!
