Knowledge of your products and how they work are crucial for your sales staff to seal the deal. It is not always possible to hire employees that have extensive knowledge of all your products. For those that don’t, they’ll just have to learn it. If you commission your sales staff or even incentivize them for sales, it becomes even easier. After showing them how knowledge can close the sale boosting their income and yours, they have more incentive to learn.
It is easy to dislike dealing with salespeople who don’t know the product they are selling. Them saying “I don’t know” is not the answer you want to hear when asking how many rounds a particular new pistol holds. They aren’t expected to know every nuance of each gun but they should be expected to know the basics.
When things are slow in your shop one way for your salesforce to increase their product knowledge is to have them get out the manuals for new products and read them over. You are paying them to learn which will, in turn, help both of you. It is a wise investment. You are paying them anyway so they might as well learn something that can help their sales skills and enhance your profits.
Here is a short article for you that you can even share with your employees to help them see the benefits of product knowledge: Product Knowledge is the Key to Increased Sales