Every industry has training programs. Some trainings are held in a college lecture hall, some are held in auditoriums and some are held in offices around the country. When it comes to sales, there seem to be an unlimited variety of sales trainings to choose from. From those that preach that sales has not changed in 100 years to those who teach that to be successful in sales, you need an entirely new set of tips, tricks and skills.

While there is no one sales training program that is best for every company or sales professional, there are several items that need to be considered when choosing your sales training program.

For sales teams or organizations that have a long history of continued success, on the job training usually is an effective and inexpensive sales training program. However, on the job training only will work if you have the right people doing the training. Successful sales professionals do not necessarily make good sales trainers. Nor should you rely entirely on your sales managers. There is a tremendous difference between sales managers and sales trainers and realizing the differences can make or break your training program.

Many companies hire sales trainers who are responsible for training recently hired sales professionals. More forward thinking companies not only make sure their new hires are sufficiently trained but that sales training continues throughout a sales professional's career.

Is on the job sales training right for you? Take inventory of your team and identify who has the interest and basic skill set to be a trainer. If you can't single out 1 or more, then think about making sales training a job function of everyone of your employees. The more exposure to different styles, ideas, thought processes and experience is a wonderful way to handle sales training. More

Next time you have a few hours to kill, do an Internet search for "sales training." You will get plenty of results, each of which will claim to be the "best sales training for you and your organization." While it is not only impossible for more than one training to be the "best," no one should ever even claim to be number 1.

What makes one sales training good for one person or company does not mean that it is good for everyone or every company. Spin Sales Training has been one of the most popular sales training programs for many years, but does not work well in several sales industries like Financial Services.

When filtering through the hundreds of options available, you need to keep your employees and your customers in mind. Request as much information about the sales training programs that interest you most, and give due diligence before choosing one over the others. It is also important to choose a training program that is easily implemented, easy to learn and will provide both short-term and long-term benefits. Many sales professionals enjoy an increase in results within the first 60 days after going through a sales training program but find their sales settle back down to their average soon after. Results like this seldom yield enough increased income to pay for the training itself.

Think to yourself, "What are my realistic expectations of this training program and will this new method of sales stand the test of time?"

There are book clubs in practically every city and town across America. One thing that they all have in common is that the members read the same book, then share their thoughts on a chapter or section of the book. Applying this approach to your sales training may be an effective and inexpensive solution to long term training.

There are thousands of sales books on the market and most all of them have at least one good strategy within their pages. The more books read, the more exposure to potential life changing or life enhancing ideas and concepts you will have. And this applies to a sales team as well.

While not everyone enjoys reading, most will if their company expects them to do so. And even more will read if they know they will have to deliver a presentation on a specific chapter of a book.

Setting up weekly sales training meetings can help ensure that you and your sales professionals get a steady stream of sales training. Some of these meetings will be horrible and some will be wonderful. The better the book (CD, video, etc.,)the better the meeting will be.

Having your team select what book they want to read and discuss is a great way to increase participation and to keep your commitment to on-going training fresh and well attended.

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