This is the 2,015th year of the Common Era... the 15th year of the third millennium... and the "year of the sheep," if you're inclined to consult the Chinese Zodiac.

It's also the year that sales training became more personal.

If 2015 has taught businesses anything, it's that consumers have changed. They're becoming more sophisticated, doing more of their own research, and they don't want to be tricked into buying anything. Today's consumers want to work with sales people who empathize with their problems, offer personalized solutions, and treat them like business partners rather than marks.

This means sales training needs to be more personal. Here's a look at the five most successful sales training techniques that helped companies personalize their efforts.

1. Soft skills are hard to ignore
   Prospective customers aren't impressed by old-school, high-pressure sales techniques. Today's customers want to work with salespeople who can solve their problems.
   
   That means you need to train your sales team to recognize the real problems customers have – and then empathize. Your sales people need to learn to listen closely, identify customers' specific problems, and be nimble enough to deliver personalized solutions.
   
   
2. Sales, meet marketing
   Sales and marketing may never be fast friends, but they definitely need to get along. Think it can never happen? Feast your eyes on this: According to research conducted by CEB and Google, the average customer is already about 60 percent through the sales process by the time they finally meet a member of your sales team.
   
   Customers are interacting with marketing materials long before they ever see a salesperson. So yes, marketing matters – and your sales training needs to make sure that it is integrated into your sales strategy.
   
   
3. Practice makes perfect
   One of the most surprising successful training techniques of 2015 is role play. In the past, companies brought in a consultant for a one-and-done training. These days, the companies with sales teams that are performing the best conduct weekly role-playing sessions that allow teams to test techniques in situations that simulate real-world situations – with all the curve balls, personalities, and pressure built into the scenarios.
   
   
4. Whole brain thinking takes hold
   Savvy companies are no longer simply trying to change the way their teams sell. These days they are also working to change the way their team members think. Companies are analyzing their employees to understand how they process information. It's called whole brain thinking, and it helps companies tailor their sales training to ensure that it truly connects with employees in a way that results in meaningful behavior change – and better prepares the sales team to show empathy with customers. It's a process that involves training people to use their whole brains, hence the name "whole brain thinking."
   
   
5. Sales people become storytellers
   Content marketing is king, and your website and social media outlets need to be populated with engaging information. That means you need a whole lot of stories. The best stories clearly identify a problem, a proposed solution, and then offer some color. Color, in this case, is the personal touch, the humanizing factor, the thing that grabs the reader's heartstrings and doesn't let go until they want to take action.
   
   The best stories come from your sales staff. They're in the day-to-day grind with the customers. Train your team how to identify and document engaging stories and you'll improve your content marketing.

Call this year whatever you want; just don't make the mistake of ignoring your sales training. Learn from 2015. Personalize it. And make 2016 the year of exceptional sales training.