In order to be the best, salespeople need ongoing training and support in how to be the best. For this reason, sales training has become an extremely important consideration for any large company. However, it can be difficult to persuade salespeople to give up their valuable time to attend training and even harder to encourage them to actually change their selling techniques from what they are familiar with. However, a number of virtual sales training courses have been developed, hoping to resolve these issues.
The most important points of any training course are that they are relevant, applicable, and reinforced. Salespeople need to understand the value of what is being told to them. They need to understand how to apply it to their day to day job. They need ongoing support in order to ensure they continue developing. It has been suggested that virtual sales training courses could be the answer.
Virtual sales training has a high level of customisation, using a range of different technology. Training could take place over Skype or through Google+ hangouts, allowing salespeople to ask questions or practice scenarios. Trainers can record and upload videos, showing how to deal with a wide range of different topics. Salespeople can record their presentation, share them with trainers and watch them multiple times to learn where to improve. Virtual training removes the barrier of distance, meaning salespeople can access the training they need more quickly. It can put the salesperson in charge of their learning, allowing them to focus on their own weaknesses on an ongoing basis. Some research has suggested that this has resulted in more effective training and therefore an increase in sales.
Do you think virtual sales training is more effective than a classroom setting?


An increasing number of companies are providing their sales team with iPads and similar tablets in order to help them carry out their job. They can be pre-loaded with a range of apps, including price information, presentation creation, email, customer records and inventory checks, allowing easy access to a range of information that could be useful to salespeople.
There are a number of benefits to providing a sales team with tablets. The iPad turns on instantly, unlike laptops, allowing almost instant access to information as and when required. This means it is perfect for quickly checking information before walking into a meeting, while on the train, or during a meeting. 3G iPads also have the advantage of being constantly connected from the moment they turn on, further ensuring this information is always available. The number of apps available and the ability to programme further apps means that it can be customised and adapted to ensure that they are fully supporting salespeople.
However, there are still reservations from some people. The ability to present on an iPad while ensuring that conversation still flows, especially if there is a need to cover for a slow loading time or lack of connectivity in a low-reception area, is an acquired skill and some salespeople find it more a hindrance than a help. Others find that for some tasks, such as data entry or producing text-heavy documents, the interface is still much slower than typing on a laptop. While the benefits to tablets are clear, there are some areas where they may still need work and some areas where they cannot replace laptops.
Has your company considered investing in iPads or similar technology? Would they make your job easier?


Chris Loveridge, Specialist in Manufacturing and Industrial Sales at Hays, shares his thoughts on the current situation in the UK renewable energy market. An expert in all aspects of the manufacturing and industrial sales markets, he would be happy to hear from anyone interested in this post by email or on LinkedIn
There has been a lot of good news in the renewable energy market in the last few weeks, across the wind, tidal and solar sectors. Across the industry there is an increase in demand and a reduction in cost. It is estimated that by 2050, the global renewable energy market could be worth up to £340 billion, with the UK accounting for 20% of this. However, there still remains a slight concern over whether there will be sufficient initial investment to capitalise on this opportunity.
February saw the opening of the world’s biggest offshore windfarm, the £1.2 billion Walney scheme, which has more than 100 turbines, generating enough power for 320,000 homes. The windfarm was a landmark achievement in a number of ways. It was the quickest-built of its kind, with all turbines and cables installed within less than six months, and it achieved considerable cost reductions. It was also supported by foreign pension funds, showing that there is international interest in investing in UK renewable energy. The success of this scheme suggests that UK wind power could be extremely valuable in future.
A recent report by the Energy and Climate Committee suggests that the UK could also be a leading exporter of wave and tidal power equipment and expertise, if there is sufficient investment in the area. The UK is currently the world leader in wave and tidal energy technologies, owning seven of the eight full-scale prototype devices in the world. The concern is that government proposals for marine and tidal only extend to 2017, meaning that without further investment, the UK could lose their initial lead in this area.
Similarly with solar power, there is a lot of potential but concern that this will not be realised due to lack of government subsidises. It has recently been claimed that 4 million homes will be solar-powered by 2020, a dramatic increase in ambition for the industry. There have been a number of recent developments that have helped to improve the technology and to reduce the cost, meaning that the cost of solar panels has dropped by 45% since 2009. However, the government has also greatly reduced the original incentives offered to households who installed the solar panels, leading to a recent decline in interest.
Do you think the recent growth in the UK renewable energy market is sustainable? Do you think there will be sufficient investment from the government or from private companies to ensure that growth continues?


Jonathan Davies, Specialist in Telecommunications and Outsourcing Sales at Hays, shares his thoughts on how cloud computing has affected BPO services. An expert in all aspects of the telecommunications and outsourcing sales markets, he would be happy to hear from anyone interested in this post by email or on LinkedIn
There has been a lot of talk over the potential convergence of cloud computing and BPO over the last few years. For BPO service providers, cloud computing provides a potential to offer higher quality at a lower price. It is also more convenient for BPO clients, allowing them greater flexibility and freeing up in-house resources. However, there are still a number of concerns about cloud computing in relation to BPO services.
BPOs that can integrate a cloud offering to provide a full solution for clients would appear to have the best of both worlds. Whereas companies that offer cloud-only solutions can often be focused on the delivery of IT solutions rather than the impact this will have on the customers, BPOs will already be familiar with ensuring a high quality customer experience. BPOs that also offer cloud computing can use this to ensure that their clients receive its benefits while also optimising cost reduction within their own models. Cloud computing offers a number of benefits to BPO clients such as scalability, easy implementation and the ability to access the service from anywhere at any time.
However, there are still a number of concerns over the integration of cloud computing into BPO services. The main concerns continue to persist around areas of security, which is an area that any cloud provider must work extremely hard to resolve. There are also questions raised around who owns the data and legal issues about how these can be solved, although these issues are already familiar to outsourcing providers. Many companies are also concerned over whether by investing heavily in cloud computing now, they will limit their ability to utilise future technological developments. This could be a concern both for BPO providers and particularly for their clients, who may have concerns about being locked in to the cloud and unable to easily change to another supplier in future.
Despite these concerns, there still seems to be a rise in the number of companies considering providing both cloud computing and BPO services, along with a rise in demand from clients for them to do so. Do you think that cloud computing and BPO will merge? Have they already started to do so?


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