Does Your Sales Training Program Address Your Sales Performance Issues? Part 1

If you're like most sales leaders, your sales department could use a boost. Of course, you know that actual revenue increases depend on more than just the sales force. There are many other components of the organization and its practices that contribute to a company's success or failures at driving results and winning new business.

But before we dive into those other parts of the equation...let's take a deep dive into your own training program to make sure you've got it covered.

In Part 1, we'll discuss how you can use our diagnostics tool to assess whether your training program is addressing all of the critical topics outlined in our research report: The Business Impact of Sales Performance Issues (available for download below).

In Part 2, we'll discuss how to address those issues--whatever they are--so that your team can hit the ground running and avoid costly turnover.

(Note: If you haven't taken our Sales Performance Diagnostics Quiz yet, download it here.)

What's the Problem?

Sales training programs are as unique as companies themselves. They range from formal classroom conferences that take place over several days, to casual lunch-and-learns that last around 90 minutes. Some companies have no formal sales training program at all; instead, their reps are expected to pick up everything they know about selling through on-the-job experience or by directly asking their managers for advice.

Whatever the format, it's clear that sales training programs vary widely in terms of effectiveness. One company we surveyed for our report on sales performance issues found that their training program was "85 percent effective." Another reported that it was only "60 percent effective." This wide disparity shows why many companies struggle to achieve an acceptable level of consistency and results from their sales force.

In addition to differences in company policy, there are also significant differences in the length and types of meetings salespeople attend at different companies. At one company, all reps attend a one-day conference where they learn about each other's career paths, roles, and responsibilities. At another company, the annual sales meeting is a full week-long event complete with courses, contests, and guest speakers from within the industry.

And remember: just because salespeople attend training does not mean they're learning anything. At one of our client companies, 15 percent of their sales reps said that they learned nothing at their last sales meeting . . . and 54 percent said it was difficult to say whether or not they'd learned anything at all!

In our study on the business impact of sales performance issues we conducted with over 400 businesses worldwide, we ran into this problem all the time. Of the companies we surveyed, 73 percent said their sales force "rarely or never" performed up to expectations. Here are a few other issues that can arise because of poor training:

Many companies believe they can improve their salespeople's performance on their own. However, this approach frequently backfires. They end up end up with a bunch of ineffective salespeople who are "sales one day, terminated the next." At some companies, poor training is to blame for 47 percent of their turnover across the board.

Many sales initiatives fail at establishing relationships with customers. As mentioned above, salespeople who are trained properly are more likely to develop strong customer relationships--and as a result, you're much more likely to win new business.

Salespeople who aren't given proper training often don't make an effort to learn about their customers' needs. This makes it very difficult for them to make any kind of positive impression on potential buyers. For example, one of our clients recently spent an entire year trying to sell a product that didn't even fit the industry's needs--all because the company's sales team didn't do its homework before trying to close deals.

What Can You Do?

The best way to assess whether or not your sales training program is effective is to use our Sales Performance Diagnostics Quiz. It's a five-minute survey with 19 questions that will help you diagnose whether you're addressing the critical topics outlined in our research report. (It's easy to complete--just answer "yes" or "no" to each of the questions and provide some additional context and insight if you'd like.)

Here are a few other tips for creating an effective training program:

Talk with your salespeople about what they learned at their last meeting. If no one seems to know what was covered, try to find out why. If there's no real need to improve the information they're receiving, let them know that they can stay on track by simply reviewing the meeting notes that you've posted online and referring them to our Sales Practice Guide .

Know what kinds of training your sales team needs. Maybe your salespeople need to learn about social media or new generation product offerings. Maybe they should get more training on how to use a CRM system. They may also need more specific training, like inservice learning for an upcoming promotion or vendor rush training for their regional directors. Whatever it is, make sure you're providing those pieces of training--and only those pieces of training--so that your reps can focus their energies where they're most needed.

Make sure your salespeople are receiving training on the customer side as well. You may need to increase the frequency of meetings or have a new set of general meetings that focus on customer needs, such as company profiles and referrals.

Review your reps' notes from their last sales meeting. This can help identify problems, such as when no one in the meeting mentioned anything about referrals or a particular deal that was being discussed--which means you'll need to schedule an additional meeting with your sales team to discuss what is really important in business today.

If you need more help creating an effective training program, we'd be happy to start a conversation with you.

About The Author: Eric Opiela is Vice President of Sales Performance at Sales Gravy. He has worked with some of the world's largest companies, helping them develop custom systems to improve sales performance and increase revenue. His work has been featured on Inc., Forbes, and other top publications. If you'd like to learn more about Sales Gravy or have any questions for Eric, he can be reached at eopiela@salessgravy.com or at 818-872-7773.

This article was republished with permission from Sales Gravy, Inc..

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Conclusion Understanding of Sales Performance

Once you've gotten a better handle on your sales team's performance, the next thing to improve is the skill of understanding what you're doing. This is especially important because it's likely to be one of the most subjective skills your salespeople will have. For example, if you've been selling for a few years, it will be hard for you to objectively determine whether or not your salespeople are performing as well as they should be.