There are a lot of sales Training companies on the market. With all the noise, we’re always grateful when people come to our little corner of the internet and ask more about how we are different at Factor 8. Hey, we all try to categorize vendors and do apple to apple comparisons (Before starting Factor 8, I evaluated vendors as a Sales Leader too!)

So please, allow me to explain Factor 8. Unlike most training companies, we were built by people who get sales. And we try really hard to not be apples. In fact, let’s call this the apples to . . .um. . .beer…comparison.

Here’s why you should drink beer with us instead of buying apples from them (this is getting better and better!):

1. THIS ISN’T YOUR DAD’S SALES TRAINING: We teach digital sales / phone sales / inside sales / telesales / voice to voice sales…however you and your company phrase it. If you run a team that doesn’t primarily sell by knocking on doors, setting up face-to-face meetings, or giving live PPT presentations, we’re your vendor. Not sure the difference? Go ask any inside rep who’s been forced to attend the field’s training. We hear horror stories about this about once a month. We’ve all tried it. It. Doesn’t. Work. And in addition to wasting precious selling time, it makes your inside reps feel insignificant. Instead, teach them strategies to get people to call them back, start a call, navigate phone trees…you get it.
2. GET ON THE PHONES: Don’t want sales down time? Sick of skills not getting applied? We got you covered baby. In every Factor 8 class we teach a skill, practice the skill, and then go back out on to the floor and get on the phones to try that skill! No kidding. Nobody else does this. Here’s why you should care:
   1. you may get better sales results during a training day than a regular sales day. Yes, that happens a lot.
   2. you may pay for the sales training before training is over. Again, really common.
   3. if you’re paying for new skills, why not make sure your people can actually do them before your trainers leave?
   4. when reps try the skill, see it works, and get results, “training fall-off” is really a non-starter. In the wise words of a recent rep who came back to class over fifteen minutes late, “This Factor 8 shit really works!” He was asking the prospect questions and just couldn’t get him to stop talking to get back to class in time! High-class problem, right?
3. CUSTOMIZED TRAINING: This is a really big deal. Even if you don’t consider using us, ask vendors to show some specific examples of their materials customization. If your reps have to “translate” the generic sales theory in their heads to figure out how to use it, well, they’re not going to use it. I think this is the number one reason we see fall off from training application. They can spit back a “right answer” right after training because it’s in their short-term memory. But they don’t know how to use it and aren’t using it post-training so no wonder they can’t remember it a month later. Our workbooks include messaging examples, references to your product, your customer’s top objections, and even recorded calls from YOUR reps. Seriously, we’ve never taught the same class twice. Don’t practice selling a widget. Get experts to help you practice selling your services to your customers in your industry. THEN it sticks.

Quick aside: you guys, this is why most of you haven’t heard of Factor 8. It’s really HARD to customize each Class. It’s not uber PROFITABLE to customize each class. It certainly isn’t SCALABLE to customize each class. This is why the big dogs don’t do it. They’re in the business of selling workbooks. Pre-printed, mass-produced workbooks. That’s why their idea of customization is a one-page role play at the end of a chapter. Not bad, but not good. Kind of like comparing apples and beer. By the way, it IS super EFFECTIVE to customize each class. That’s why most of you came to us by a referral.

4. EXPERT COACHING: Here’s my last thought. Every Factor 8 Advisor has made the calls, coached the calls, and probably even run the team. My facilitators are ex reps, ex managers, ex Directors and ex VP’s. ALL from Inside Sales. And in every class, we coach live calls and recorded calls. Don’t let an adjunct professor or HR employee teach your people how to sell! Anyone can read a facilitator’s guide, how many can add value to messaging and delivery right on the spot?

Bottom line: Your sales training should get immediate results. By providing the right training with customized materials with live practice and expert coaching, we regular get SPIKES in performance. Account managers uncover millions in pipeline. Hundreds of new buying contacts are added to the database. Triple the voicemails get returned. Close percentages double. These are pretty standard Factor 8 results. Check out the case studies!

Thanks you guys. This has been a lot of fun. When I’m talking to prospects on the phone, it isn’t polite to throw-up values and differentiators! It certainly isn’t helpful to LIST them all! (We teach your reps to never “stack” values, we teach them to ask questions and then pick the differentiator and value that best matches!). But man it’s fun when you just get to brag.

We’ve built something amazing over here. We’re not trying to be the biggest, just the best. That’s why each year over 50% of our business is from referrals. I hope you’ll use these differentiators to demand more from your own providers. And if they can’t deliver…we’ll be right here waiting for you. With a beer!

LB

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