SaaS (Software as a Service) sales training is a highly competitive field in which a business’s success largely depends on the efficiency and expertise of its sales team.

As a sales leader, you understand that developing a training program to meet the market’s dynamic demands can be challenging. Traditional training methods, such as classroom sessions and workshops, are often ineffective and time-consuming. 

This is where video-based training comes in as a powerful tool that offers a flexible, cost-effective, and engaging way to train sales teams.

Utilizing video to create a robust SaaS sales training program improves learning outcomes, encourages employee engagement, and improves win rate across your team.

In this training guide, you will learn:

• Why is SaaS Sales Training Important?
  • What are the challenges of SaaS sales training?
• How to Effectively Train SaaS Sales Team Members
  • 7 ways to motivate and train SaaS sales teams
  • How video can be used for SaaS sales staff training
• What Are the Benefits of Using Video for SaaS Sales Training?
  • How can I use video to improve SaaS sales outcomes?
  • Best practices for training SaaS sales teams using video
• The Future of SaaS Sales Training

Why is SaaS sales training important?

A well-trained sales team can mean the difference between meeting sales targets and falling short, closing deals, and losing prospects. Effective training for your sales team can equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to navigate a constantly changing market, understand complex products and services, and engage with customers in a meaningful way. It can also help to boost team morale, build confidence, and foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement. 

With so much at stake, sales team leaders must prioritize training as a key investment in their team’s success.

What are the challenges of SaaS sales training?

There can often be obstacles involved in training SaaS sales employees. These include:

1. Cost pressures

Generating revenue is the top priority in the highly competitive SaaS sales market, and any expenses must be justified with measurable results and a positive ROI. This means that when it comes to training tools and programs, it’s important to optimize resources while still providing teams with the training and support they need to succeed.

2. Time pressures

With increasing sales targets and a never-ending list of to-dos, SaaS sales leaders often find themselves with limited time to evaluate current training programs or implement new training processes. Furthermore, sellers may not have enough time for training, especially given growing sales targets and workload. It’s necessary to prioritize time by identifying what is most critical and focusing on high-impact activities that drive results.

3. Varied workforce needs

With an increasingly remote and distributed workforce, all global sellers must be able to easily adopt and engage with new technology. By taking a flexible and adaptive approach to training, sales team leaders can ensure that all team members are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed, regardless of their location or background.

4. Actionable learning

Sales leaders need to ensure that their teams have access to up-to-date information that they can use to make informed decisions and close deals. Learning should be actionable, accessible, and searchable, enabling sellers to quickly find the information they need whenever they need it and apply their new skills in real-world scenarios.

The great news is that solutions are available to help combat the challenges of SaaS sales training. By focusing on accessible, consistent communication, you can improve your team’s training into an engaging, impactful program.

How to effectively train SaaS sales team members

Effectively training a SaaS sales team requires a thoughtful and strategic approach. Sales leaders must take into consideration the unique challenges of their industry and account for the diverse needs of their team members.

To be effective, training programs must be designed to be engaging, accessible, and actionable, providing sales team members with the tools and information they need to succeed in their roles. By prioritizing training and investing in a comprehensive and flexible program, sales leaders can ensure their teams have access to the information they need and achieve long-term success in the competitive SaaS industry.

7 ways to motivate and train SaaS sales teams with video

1. Provide comprehensive product knowledge

In order to effectively communicate what they are selling, your SaaS sales team needs to have a comprehensive understanding of the product. This can include information on features, pricing, use cases, benefits, and your product’s unique value proposition. Ensure that they can communicate this information clearly and concisely.

2. Understand your target market

How can your team sell if they don’t know who they are selling to? Offer insight into the target market to help sellers tailor their approach and messaging to the potential customers they are interacting with.

3. Teach effective communication skills

While speaking clearly and concisely is important in communication, listening is just as important. Teach effective communication skills like active listening, asking the right questions, and offering direct responses to help close deals. 

4. Roleplay scenarios

Create scenarios for your sales team to practice their sales pitches, handling objections, and closing deals. Roleplay allows sellers to experience different scenarios and gain confidence in their abilities.

5. Provide ongoing training

Continuous education programs and regular selling technique workshops help your sales team stay ahead of the curve and keep skills up-to-date.

6. Reward top performers

Healthy competition is important, and offering rewards encourages your sales team to work hard and achieve their targets. This can be anything from recognition in weekly meetings to bonuses, incentives, or promotions. 

7. Foster a positive team culture

Teamwork is vital in a SaaS sales environment, and a positive team culture encourages this. Build a positive team culture where collaboration, support, and constructive feedback are encouraged. Celebrate successes and acknowledge when things don’t go according to plan.

How video can be used for SaaS sales staff training

There are a number of ways in which video can be used to train sales teams. These include:

• Onboarding: Increasingly, companies are turning to video for its ability to deliver more information to new hires in less time, at lower cost, and in a more consistent way than traditional onboarding.
• Social learning: Organizations that enable employees to record and share their expertise often find they build vast and valuable internal video libraries, with answers ready for just about any quick question that may come up.
• Role-playing: Videos can simulate conversations between sales teams and potential customers, allowing employees to practice their skills in a low-pressure environment.
• Product knowledge: Videos can be used to educate SaaS sales teams about the products they are selling, their features, and how they can be used or demonstrated to prospects.
• Company/team updates: In an increasingly distributed world, especially for the SaaS industry, video offers sales leaders the opportunity to reach all members of their team easily and effectively through video.

What are the benefits of using video for SaaS sales training?

Video enhances training and communication for SaaS sales teams, improving performance and driving success with benefits that include:

• Consistency: With a list of the same training videos for every new employee who joins the company and a searchable resource with every answer to a sales rep’s question, video allows an accessible, comprehensive database that every person can utilize.  
• Accessibility: Captions, video speed, pause/play features, searchability, and translations are just a few of the accessibility features that a video training program offers. 
• Retention: Video caters to both visual and auditory learning, increasing retention and helping employees understand the learnings more effectively.
• Cost-effectiveness: In-person training can be expensive – video eliminates these costs to save time and money. 
• Scalability: No matter the organization’s needs, video makes training easy to scale. Video also allows you to train as many sellers as you may need at one time.
• Interactivity: Embedded quizzes and comment sections throughout the video increase employee engagement in their training sessions. 
• Flexibility: With anywhere, anytime learning, seller can find the information they need exactly when they need it and watch training sessions on their own time.

How can I use video to improve SaaS sales outcomes?

Video training provides a unique opportunity for employees to learn about company products and selling techniques in an accessible way that improves retention and win rates. 

Here are some ways to use video to improve SaaS sales team operations: 

1. Create and curate easily

A video management system offers sales leaders the opportunity to create training videos and video playlists based on their training programs. Easy-to-use software allows for quick content creation and saves time, plus integrations allow sellers to find information in the systems they’re already using. Even better – sellers themselves can create short, informational videos, allowing social learning to become even more integrated into your training program. 

2. Ensure training consistency

Using video training enables standardized delivery of training material uniformly at any time and anywhere, guaranteeing that all employees receive consistent training. This approach can promote consistency and enhance operational efficiency within the sales team.

3. Drive employee engagement 

Video training programs allow SaaS sales leaders to meet employees where they are and encourage higher employee engagement. Plus, features such as quizzes, searchability, and time-stamped comments within videos increase employee engagement and encourage teams to personalize their training.

4. Boost employee productivity

Video enables learning at the speed of need, offering a quick and easy way for sellers to find the information they need and quickly return to the task at hand. With searchability features and the opportunity for reps to quickly make learning videos themselves, any question will have an answer easily found within the repository of information you create. 

5. Measure outcomes

Sales leaders can view detailed engagement reports and comprehensive viewing behavior insights for all videos in your library. These reports help to inform the effectiveness of the training program and may highlight potential opportunities to improve learning outcomes.

“We see huge potential to use Panopto to facilitate collaborative and social learning. We think that it’s only a matter of time before video-based knowledge sharing becomes mainstream with our staff. We expect this will offer many benefits to the organization and improve our productivity and our ability to adapt to rapidly shifting markets.”

Sales Enablement Team, Global Consulting Firm

Best practices for training SaaS sales teams using video

Using video for SaaS sales training programs improves productivity and win rate, but the first step as a sales leader is to build your video learning library. Here’s how to do it effectively.

1. Keep Videos Short and Engaging

Between meeting with prospects and daily internal calls, sellers are busy and may not have the time or attention span to sit through long videos. To ensure engagement, keep videos short and focused, with a clear purpose and message.

2. Use Relatable Examples

Sellers need to understand the context and relevance of the information they present to prospects, which is why including relatable examples helps increase understanding and retention. For example, a video recording of a practice pitch to a potential customer is a real-world scenario that can help them connect the training to their daily work. Plus, video training for sales allows team members to pay attention not only to the example pitch itself but also to facial expressions and tone throughout the presentation.

3. Incorporate Interactivity

Interactive elements such as quizzes, polls, and surveys can help to keep the audience engaged and reinforce learning. Using interactive features also helps to check for understanding of the learning material and encourages employee participation.

4. Provide Opportunities for Practice and Feedback

We’ve heard it before – practice makes perfect, and this is especially true in SaaS sales. Practice is essential for developing new skills and techniques, and video makes practice that much easier. Incorporating role-playing and simulation exercises provides sellers with opportunities to apply what they have learned, and sales leaders can easily rewatch these videos to offer feedback.

5. Offer Ongoing Support and Reinforcement

Training shouldn’t be a one-time event – training your sales team is a constant priority. Provide ongoing support and reinforcement through follow-up sessions, coaching, and additional video learning resources to help sellers reinforce and apply what they have learned.

6. Use Analytics to Measure Success

Use analytics and metrics to measure the success of training initiatives and determine what training videos are the most effective for your team. This can also help to identify areas for improvement and track progress over time.

By incorporating these key practices, SaaS sales leaders can provide effective and engaging training that helps seller improve their skills and increase win rates.

The future of SaaS sales employee training

Shift to data-driven, personalized SaaS sales training with video. This approach enhances employee performance and benefits the overall customer experience. 

How can you make this happen for your SaaS sales team? The answer is simple – Panopto.

Panopto is an easy-to-use video management system that can transform your company’s training by allowing employees to learn at their own pace and on their own schedule, resulting in a more effective learning experience. 

Discover how Panopto can help improve seller productivity and win rate today.