Product knowledge training is one of the most valuable learning opportunities you can give your sales representatives. An effective product knowledge training program can equip your sales team with essential skills, improve your organization’s reputation, boost customer satisfaction and increase sales.
Product knowledge training helps your employees answer even the most complicated questions with ease and confidence. This greatly improves customer experiences and can improve your sales team’s abilities on many levels.
In this article, we are going to share with you why product knowledge training can be a game-changer for your business.
Equip Employees with Essential Knowledge
Why does product knowledge training have such a huge impact on the success of your business?
Product training ensures that your employees are experts on your organization’s offerings. Today’s customers already have access to general information regarding your products and services and they expect that your sales team will know more than the basics. Your customers are looking to your employees to answer complex questions they couldn’t figure out by doing a quick search online.
One of the top customer service complaints consumers have is that the sales representative they spoke with didn’t know enough information to assist them. 79% of respondents in a recent consumer survey reported that a knowledgeable sales associate is very important.(1) Providing product knowledge training will help your employees understand not just what your business’s products and services are but how each offering resonates with different customer needs. This is just one of the benefits this training method provides.
Provide Opportunities to Practice
One of the major advantages of implementing a product knowledge training program is that it promotes learning through experience and practice it, which is one of the most effective ways to improve your sales team’s abilities.
Employees who practice what they learn are more likely to apply those skills in real-life situations. In a recent study, it was found that employees who practiced new skills were 39% more likely to remember them two weeks later than those who only studied written materials.(2)
The most effective product training programs usually include an online training component using a learning management system that enables employees to practice their new skills through bite-sized simulations. This not only helps employees build confidence in their own abilities but also increases both knowledge retention and application.
Up-selling and Cross-selling opportunities
Product training ensures that your employees are familiar enough with your organization’s offerings to know which features and benefits will provide the most value to your customers. They will be able to determine which additional features, products or special deals your customers would appreciate the most and the best way to deliver that message.
Effective product training focuses on how your company’s products fill customer needs. Product knowledge training gives your employees the tools they need to identify the best opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell.
Builds Trust with Customers
When salespeople have conversations with customers with the right ability to answer questions promptly with confidence, it helps customers build trust during the process. This is another one of the many reasons product knowledge training has such a positive impact on your business.
If a potential customer is provided with the wrong information or not able to get an answer quickly, such interaction can significantly damage their trust in employee and the organization. Product training gives your employees the knowledge base necessary to confidently assist customers in a way that builds trust.
Conclusion
Providing product knowledge training to your staff will boost their confidence and enhance your customer’s experiences which leads to an increase in revenue. It is believed that satisfied consumers become loyal customers which in turn engage for recurring business. Product knowledge training is an invisible yet powerful tool which establishes your brand as a differentiator, that educates customer about your products and services to take informed decisions.
It gets important for organizations to identify the need and impact of educating their workforce about products and services. Along with this, L&D teams need to track and opt for various training methodologies to endure that learners are engaged, and maximum returns can be reaped from the investments made. Learn more about why you should invest in product knowledge training to empower your employees with the knowledge and tools to contribute as a game-changer for business.
