Better selling produces better performance. It’s intuitive. And sales training is a proven method for improving the selling skills of a sales team, particularly in a challenging economy.
But many sales organizations get low ROIs on their sales training initiatives. Why is this?
Event-Based Training
The short answer is “event-based” training. We have all gone through this type of training before: (1) fly the team in for a national sales meeting, (2) include 1-2 days of training, (3) overload the team with too much content, (4) throw in a “team building” dinner, and, finally (5) repeat next year.
Unfortunately, research has consistently demonstrated that this type event-based sales training is not effective since sales reps routinely forget most of what they learned within 30 days of the training. That’s because improving sales skills is a process, not a one-time event. Sales people need time to learn and apply new knowledge and skills, which then need to be reinforced and coached for sustainability.
Continuous Skills Development
Sales organizations should implement a sales training program designed to drive better sales performance through “Continuous Skills Development”, not quick fixes.
The Continuous Skills Development approach is based on the simple yet powerful insight that sales reps learn, apply and retain new sales skills better when the training is “spaced out” into manageable chunks of content that are delivered over time—e.g., a series of 1-2 weekly training sessions.
This systematic approach to performance improvement also includes periodic post-training reinforcement, on-going skills coaching by the front-line sales managers, and assessment.
Cloud-Based Training: the Game Changer
Up until recently, this Continuous Skills Development approach has been the purview of organizations that could afford to send teams of trainers from location to location on an ongoing basis.
A key game changer has been recent advances in cloud-based training technology. New virtual instructor-led training (i.e., training is delivered online by live facilitators) platforms allow for the delivery of highly engaging sales training that rivals the effectiveness of in-person training but without the associated travel costs. Virtual training also allows sales organizations to space out the sales training sessions and implement cost-effective post training reinforcement sessions to ensure that the training sticks.
At Sales Readiness Group, we now deliver a majority of our training virtually using our state-of-the-art Live Virtual Classroom training platform and innovative instructional design. Our cloud-based sales training programs deliver sustainable results through Continuous Skills Development.
