According to PBR, an astonishing 85% of sales training falls short of delivering on its ROI. Approximately 80% of new skills are lost within one week of training and about 87% of skills are lost within a month.
Sales managers often check–the-box when it comes to sales training, hiring the same trainer year after year. Sometimes the organization sees a bump in sales for about a month and declare the sellers trained. Only for the sellers to return to status quo within a month. This return to status quo frustrates sellers, managers, and executives. These organizations continue to hire expensive sales trainers that average from $5,000 to $50,000 per day. I refer to this as Lady Gaga sales training. They come in and do a one-day “rah rah” session and leave. The one-day annual sales training increases the expectations on numbers and productivity for the next 11 months.
Most sales managers know the existing training model is not working, but the responsibility for sales managers has grown immensely over the last few years, shifting away from sales into administrative functions. Constant sales forecasting and executive meetings are not useful if it only predicts the exact date the organization goes out of business. With more constraints on sales managers time, scheduling one-day training is more convenient than developing the sales team.
Given the complexity of the problem, how can an organization make a sales training program work? There is not a one size fits all, but I provided some guidelines below to help develop a proper sales training with long-lasting improvements in sales performance.
1. Tailor your program: I do not believe in the one-size-fits-all approach to sales training. Instead, I prefer to create a foundation of essential sales’ concepts, working on core skill sets that make an authenticate change in sales acumen. Then the training will build from the base skills needed in sales by educating the sellers from concept-to-market. This makes your sales training actionable, not theoretical.
2. Run interactive sessions: A good trainer will engage both top sellers and new sellers, tapping into and expanding current organizational knowledge while focusing on a specific skill. Hands-on, interactive training allows the trainer to demonstrate necessary skills while working with the experienced team members to fine-tune and expand on those same skills.
3. Mix It Up: Change is good for training. Do activities, bring in guest speakers, provide some entertainment. Even the most successful sales trainers tell their clients they should cycle in new trainers.
4. Plan for accountability: This program should hold sales management, the sales team and the sales trainer accountable for reinforcing goals and improving performance. A triangle of accountability keeps sales reps from falling back into old habits, sales managers from becoming complacent and forces the sales trainer to prove their method. Habitual reinforcement and continual accountability are necessary components of sales training required to get the best ROI.
