Why You Should Reskill Your Sales Team: What Leaders Need To Know

No business was fully prepared for the changes that the past few years would bring to the corporate world. Thankfully, organizations are learning how to adjust and help their employees learn new ways of serving customers and clients. Here, we'll take a look at how reskilling and upskilling your employees can help you and your team adapt and thrive in a constantly changing environment.

What is Reskilling?

Over the past few years, many industries have had to make a fast pivot to virtual sales and events. Whether a company's new normal is fully online sales and events or a hybrid model, it's important for employees to gain the skills that they need to succeed in today's ever-changing world. Thankfully, there's no need to bring on a new sales team in order to meet the needs of today's virtual environment. Reskilling—the process of teaching employees new skills required to continue achieving in their current role—can help your team continue to thrive, despite industry changes.

Reskilling can look different from industry to industry. For example, an events company may retrain customer service employees to help clients create engaging virtual meetings that offer interactive content, comparable to what attendees would get in a face-to-face setting. A sales company may train its staff to develop a sales kickoff agenda that offers exciting launch promotions for both in-person and virtual customers. A mortgage lending company may need to shift from in-person meetings to video conferencing, while also learning how to help customers virtually sign documents and securely send sensitive financial information online. 

The Benefits of Reskilling (and Upskilling) Your Sales Team and Other Employees

Nowadays, reskilling and upskilling have become major strategies that help organizations remain competitive. These practices benefit not only the customers and clients but also make it possible for employees to adapt to new challenges. Below, we explore the benefits of reskilling and upskilling, highlighting how both approaches help organizations retain talent, foster a growth-oriented culture, and prepare for the future.

Reskilling: Adapting Employees to Changing Needs

Reskilling deals with updating the working skills of employees to the demands of current market conditions. It enables organizations to adapt to rapid technological changes, shifting industry structures, and new business models.

Benefits of Reskilling:

• Retention of Valued Employees: The employees, after being reskilled, continue with the organization for continuity and stability.
• Maintenance of Organizational Culture: The reskilled employees already share the company's values, reducing the risk of turnover.
• Improvement in Job Satisfaction: Reskilling opportunities uplift the engagement level of employees because they feel valued and taken care of for growth.
• Competitive Advantage: With a reskilled workforce, companies can easily meet the demands of the labor market and adapt to changes with flexibility.

Upskilling: Equipping Employees for Better Opportunities

Upskilling focuses on the development of higher-order skills that are likely to be in demand in the future. It is a proactive approach aimed at equipping employees with the roles and responsibilities that will face industries in the time to come.

Benefits of Upskilling:

• Market Trend Awareness: Upskilled employees are prepared for the future, hence placing the organization at a strategic advantage in the fast-evolving market.
• Knowledge Gaps Filled: Upskilling lets employees acquire special knowledge that will be needed in the future due to changing business needs or new technologies.
• Employee Confidence Boost: Upskilling helps build employee confidence in their ability to succeed in an uncertain work environment.
• Innovation: Employees who are highly skilled are in a better position to contribute more ideas and innovations to the organization.

Balancing Reskilling and Upskilling for Maximum Impact

While both reskilling and upskilling are important, one needs to find a balance in order for employees to be prepared both for current and future challenges.

Combining Reskilling and Upskilling:

• Reskilling for Immediate Needs: Help employees adapt to changes currently happening in the job market by teaching them new competencies aligned with their existing role.
• Upskilling for Future Demands: Invest in preparing employees for future shifts in the industry, such as new technologies or emerging business models.
• Minimizing Risks: While upskilling is valuable, it does carry some uncertainty since predicted trends may not fully materialize. Combining it with reskilling helps ensure that employees are ready for both immediate and future changes.

The Importance of Employee Retention and Agility

Organizations that invest in reskilling and upskilling develop not only their workforce's capabilities but also their ability to adapt quickly to industry disruptions, such as technological advancements or global challenges.

Key Benefits:

• Retention of Top Talent: Employees are more likely to stay with an organization that invests in their growth, reducing turnover and recruitment costs.
• Agility in Organization: The adaptability of a skilled workforce facilitates quick adjustments to any sudden changes in the marketplace.
• Growth and Innovation: Continuous learning and skill development breed an atmosphere of innovation within an organization where employees can offer top-quality solutions to customers more confidently.

Reskilling and upskilling are two of the key strategies that will help organizations stay competitive and build a workforce capable of thriving today and in the future. By reskilling employees for current demands and upskilling them for anticipated changes, organizations develop not just internal capabilities but also create a culture of continuous growth and improvement. Investing in the development of employees ensures that they remain confident, adaptable, and ready to meet the challenges ahead—ultimately contributing to long-term success and organizational resilience.

How You Can Reskill Your Employees

Real-time reskilling looks different from industry to industry, and the process of reskilling employees can change with industry needs. How you reskill your sales team depends on the skills your employees currently have, as well as how your industry is adapting to using technology to take over formerly in-person activities. 

Examples of reskilling employees to help them adapt to recent industry changes may include: 

• • Training sales employees to engage in sales kickoffs hosted on a virtual event platform like 6Connex, and leveraging the platform to extend the life of your sales kickoff.
  • Brainstorm with employees about how to incorporate new and different virtual event ideas that will help to create a similar feel to in-person events for your clients.
  • Train sales teams on how to develop strong connections with clients, despite the inability to meet in person.
  • Reskill employees on how to set up meetings virtually, and onboarding clients to new, post-COVID systems.

The Bottom Line: Reasons to Reskill

If you're thinking about reskilling your employees, you're making moves in the right direction for both your team and your company. Reskilling can take some time, and it's important to be clear with employees about why this step is necessary for the growth of the company. Many employees appreciate being given the decision of whether to stay with the company and reskill, or search for a new position more in line with their current work.

Reskilling offers many benefits to organizations, including: 

• • Allowing team members to stay on board, despite the need for a new skill set in a changing market
  • Providing employees with the help that they need to thrive in a new environment
  • Saving organizations the time and money required to train a new team
  • Preserving company culture by keeping valued employees on board
  • Boosting employee morale by showing that company employees are valued—not disposable

Ready to Reskill? We're Here To Help

We’ve created an Ultimate Sales Kickoff Playbook to help you get the head start you need in reskilling your sales team, in which you can download below. Providing your employees with the sales kickoff they need for motivation, sharing new strategies, celebrating last year's wins, developing and executing successful product launches, and so much more.  At 6Connex, we're here to work with you to customize your virtual events, fundraising efforts, demand generation, sales launches, and other services for your company and your clients. Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can support you and help you meet your business goals.

Additional Resources:

Virtual Sales Kickoff Ideas and Themes

Successful Sales Kickoff: Tips for In-person, Hybrid, and Virtual SKOs