Four Ways Social Learning Enables Knowledge Sharing For Sales Teams

Salespeople thrive on competition — it drives them to succeed. But for sales organizations, the competitive nature of their reps can undermine attempts by leaders to build more cohesive teams.

Many reps are reluctant to share knowledge and skills with colleagues. Some are too busy to offer assistance or find ways to collaborate. And because business-to-business selling typically requires salespeople to spend a lot of time alone on the road, there may simply be little opportunity to communicate or work closely with other reps. Many sales organizations let their collective knowledge slip away by either losing track of, or not making available to their sales teams, materials such as presentations, training lessons, comments feeds and videos. Another challenge is that seasoned team members take institutional knowledge with them when they leave the organization.

To overcome these challenges and find ways to close more and bigger deals, sales leaders are turning to social learning to foster a teamwork culture that drives sales and knowledge across the organization. Social learning tools allow far-flung teams to engage with one another and accelerate learning, both through real-time and recorded interactions.

Social learning can help sales leaders in four basic ways:

1. Retain and share the sales organization’s collective knowledge.

When planning sales strategies, reps need to know what has worked in the past, what hasn’t and why. It is also essential for them to have access to the most up-to-date information on products, the company and the competition to ensure accuracy when educating customers, and to quickly and thoroughly address any questions or concerns they may encounter.

By collecting valuable learning materials and the personal expertise of salespeople into a centralized system, and allowing reps to access that content wherever and whenever they need it — and more importantly, communicate with each other in real time about it — sales organizations can unify their teams and enhance their effectiveness in the field.

2. Use metrics to monitor performance and lead more effectively.