The most successful sales people are those who see themselves as entreprenuerial region managers. In an independent and constant method they profitably exhaust the region potential. In order to do this they need to gain widespread knowledge of their sales region clients and also be able to carry out good PR work.

Are your sales people equipped and in a position to do this? Do not be frightened to sound out the knowledge of your sales people. Use the following checklist to identifying sales training and development needs and give your sales people a copy in order that they can observe themselves for self-improvement purposes. What your sales people should know... The answers to the following questions should be either yes, no.

1.Do they know the size of their sales area?

2.Do they know the percentage of their sales area to the whole of the UK?

3.Do they know the total number of customers (potential and existing) in their sales area?

4.Do they know some of the important sales figures for their sales area (purchasing power, retail trade turnover, industrial turnover)?

5.Are they informed about the financial and investment assistance provided by the government to certain companies in their sales area?

6.Do they know their exact number of clients?

7.Do they know the average client order amount?

8.Do they know the purchasing volumes of their largest clients?

9.Are the future plans of their largest clients know to them?

10.Can they remember the turnover of their largest clients for the last 3 years?

11.Do they know how much business their largest clients do with competitors?

12.Who is their best buyer going to be this year do they have any idea?

13.Do they know the growth companies and branches amongst their clients?

14.Can they access information about their clients at any time?

15.Have they set an annual turnover target for this year?

16.Is overall debit subdivided into important product groups?

17.Are they able to distinguish between small, medium and large buyers?

18.Do they make different numbers

19.When fixing visit frequency do they consider the requirements of the buyer as well as turnover?

20.Do they have an idea of which buyers will play a greater role in future than they do today?

21.Do they know how much a client visit costs, on average?

22.Do they know their average turnover per mile traveled?

23.Before visiting every important client do they make a note of the visit goals?

24.Do they recognise which customers will be the main purchasers of a new product?

25.Do they work out in writing their weekly travel schedule at least eight days in advance?

26.Do they make a note of the arrival and departure times for every location?

27.Do they keep a note of the number of visits they carry out every day?

28.Have they set graduated visiting times for large, medium and small buyers?

29.Do they know the number of hours they work a week?

30.Do they know how much time, on average, they spend every week on the following:

• Travelling       
• Discussions with clients    
• Breaks and waiting      
• Writing reports etc?

31.Do they know which business is profitable for their company and which are not?

32.Do they know how they can increase the number of lucrative business deals?

33.Do they regularly read at least one specialist journal, which their clients also read?

34.Do they know the regional associations, organisations, societies and co-operatives that their clients belong to?

35.Do they know some of the leading personalities of these organisations personally?

36.Do they know, at least by name, opinion-forming personalities (members of parliament, mayors, bank managers) from their sales area?

37.Do they themselves take part in public life (local politics, charitable organisations, Clubs and societies)?

Using this list provides an excellent platform upon which to help identify the sales training needs of you team. It also provides a useful focus for their individual self-development in order to maximise the potential of their area.

Author Richard Stone is a Director for Spearhead Training Limited that runs management and sales training courses that improve business performance. You can view more articles at => http://www.spearhead-training.co.uk