Do You Waste Sales Training Investments?

Here’s the good news: A study by Southern New Hampshire University found that effective business sales training can have a return on investment of up to 353%. A study by the Sales Management Association found “teams that invest in sales training and development are 57% more effective than teams that don’t.”  But the bad news is that most companies waste sales training investments.

How to NOT Waste Sales Training Investments

Our sales training measurement research found that stand alone solution selling training only changes the sales behavior and sales performance of 1-in-5 training participants.  To truly change sales behavior and performance to not waste sales training investments you need to:

1. Have a clear sales strategy.
   Our organizational alignment research found that strategic sales clarity accounts for 31% of the difference between high and low performing sales teams.  Too many sales managers focus almost exclusively on seeing that their team follows sales best practices. Don’t get us wrong, sales best practices can certainly play an important role in creating a high performing sales team. But your sales strategy must ne clear enough, believable enough, and implementable enough in your unique culture for any investment in sales training to pay off.  If your unique value proposition or ideal target client profile is not where it needs to be, don’t waste your time investing in sales training that will not move the needle.
2. Keep tuned in to your customers.
   Make it part of your weekly routine to ask customers and team members what is working and not working. Then share the knowledge and incorporate it into your marketing, selling, and designing of solutions. When you have trusting client relationships, you will hear about any concerns before they erupt into unmanageable problems. Keep your ear to the ground and make adjustments as necessary – especially in your major sales accounts.  The more you can focus on your customers (and your customers’ custom) the more you will get form your sales training.
3. Reward desired behaviors AND results.
   Be sure your sales compensation program encourages the desired behaviors you know work for your unique sales strategy and sales culture. For example, if you have team-based selling, make sure that you  foster cooperation among sales and service team members. If you value winning new clients over growing existing accounts, reward the outcomes proportionately.  The clearer you can make and reward the behaviors and outcome that you expect, the easier it will be to reinforce sales training objectives.
4. Be fully aware of the effects of your strategy.
   If, for example as part of your sales strategy, you have chosen to focus more on gross margin than revenue, recognize that overall revenue may fall as gross margins rise. Know the overall business implications and risks of your approach.  Do not operate in a vacuum. Be sure you have buy-in from leadership for the sales strategies, and their impact, before you embark on sales training that may not be aligned with where you want to go.
5. Invest in sales reinforcement.
   Unsupported sales training does not change sales behaviors or performance.  Before investing the time and money to design and deliver sales training, make sure that you are prepared to reinforce the espoused skills and behaviors by ensuring consistent sales coaching, following a proven sales methodology, having sales leaders model the way, and providing sales enablement tools to support the new ways of selling.

The Bottom Line

High performing sales teams invest in the sales skills and attitudes required to execute their sales strategy.   But they wait until they are prepared to invest in the conditions required to not waste sales training investments.

To learn more about how to get the most from your sales training investments, download The 6 Top Reasons Business Sales Training Initiatives Fail