Organisations of all sizes spend a small (and often not-so-small) fortune on sales training each year to assess, develop and accredit the skills of their people. But if you ask most sales directors whether the sales training they invested in actually worked, you’d probably hear, “It worked for a while but didn’t last for as long as we intended.” But why does sales training fail to stick?
It may be because the sales training they bought wasn’t the correct solution. But more often it is because the sales leaders themselves didn’t put enough time, effort or thought into following up the sales training to ensure that it was adequately applied and reinforced.
Here I will describe a simple three-step formula for making sure that sales training sticks in any size of organisation to ensure a sustained difference in your sales force’s motivation, behaviours and results.
A challenging new world of selling
Many organisations are facing huge difficulties in today’s tough environment. Clients across multiple industries are holding back on all but the most critical of projects and are making buying decisions either:
• On a spot basis to get the lowest price for commodity purchases; or
• At a much more senior level, keeping a keen eye on their ‘return on investment’ for ‘strategic purposes’.
This polarisation of buying decisions means that many firms are seeing their sales opportunities slip and their deals get squeezed in terms of margins, getting cancelled, or being rolled up into bigger deals that are won by larger competitors.
Consequently, selling organisations that want to win deals with respectable margins need their people to develop selling skills to proactively sell value-added solutions at senior decision-making levels. They must open, develop and close sales using a consultative selling methodology at this level – efficiently, repeatedly and reliably.
Most sales leaders get this, but they know they cannot simply replace their existing traditional product salespeople overnight. They therefore have to get involved in almost every significant deal to ensure their success.
Meanwhile, many invest in two- or three-day sales training events to sharpen and update the selling skills of their people in the hope that some step up to the plate. Six months later, however, they wonder why the sales training failed in terms of its objectives. At best, it made an initial difference but it didn’t last or, worse, it took their people off the road and introduced complicated new ideas that prolonged their sales process and reduced their win-rate.
The fact is that if sales training is to be worth investing in, it requires commitment and effort from you, as a sales leader, to make a real and sustainable difference – and, ultimately, to make your life easier.
Making your sales training stick
As with any change initiative, sustained success requires leaders to take the following three steps:
Step 1: Be Strategic and Committed
The sales training should be chosen, planned, tailored, communicated and implemented as part of a clear strategy for shifting the selling skills, behaviours and (often) attitudes of the sales team. This must come from you, the sales leader, to ensure that the skills, methodologies, accreditation and language used throughout the sales training aligns with your organisation’s objectives.
The sales training must also be communicated as a ‘critical success factor’ to make the strategy succeed. Your salespeople need to see, hear and feel the commitment of their sales leaders to the sales training initiative and making a lasting change.
Step 2: Win Hearts and Minds
To win over your salespeople, the sales tools and techniques you purchase must be:
• Motivational, simple, practical and clearly beneficial. After all, sales training must be provided for their development – not inflicted upon them;
• Clearly aligned with the opening, qualifying, development and closure of deals;
• Promoted by communicating early successes (via case studies, sharing forums and recognition schemes), providing an incentive for successful application; and
• Planned with, and championed by, high-performing sales-people and managers within the organisation.
Winning the hearts and minds of those enrolled in sales training is crucial. But it’s not just about making people happy. This brings us on to our third step...
Step 3: Insist on Application and Drive Momentum
Once your people are on board, do not let up. The new selling skills and behaviours must be applied in practice to deliver real outcomes – and this must be done on an ongoing basis. You need to insist that they adopt the newly learned sales techniques and behaviours, while you must drive the momentum which is created by energetic sales training and early successes. For the final push, you need to:
• Embed the tools and techniques in day-to-day sales planning and review processes at all levels;
• Make any assessment and accreditation relate to the application of the tools and sales techniques and to the results - not just to demonstrate the selling skills in a role-play exercise;
• Enable ongoing sales coaching and support from (and for) first-line sales managers. Be smart and get sales managers to support and coach one another while sharing ideas; and
• Hold regular ‘deal surgeries’ and refresher sessions using the tools and techniques learned during the sales training. This can even be delivered through online sales training and can be very cost-effective.
And finally...
As a sales leader you should ensure that your sales training provider:
• Can tailor a solution specifically to the needs of you, your organisation and your target sectors;
• Provides sales tools and techniques that can be modified and applied to your industry and the industries of your target sectors;
• Uses exercises that apply to real life situations in your industry; and
• Will help you plan and implement a strategic way that enables you to win the hearts and minds of your people and will drive real application and momentum in terms of results.
But remember...
Sales training events by themselves are not a panacea or a ‘magic bullet’. But if you use (and apply) these three steps you will, with the help of your sales training partner, be assured of success – a real and lasting shift in performance.
To make this work will require commitment and effort. But you will soon stop having to do all the high-margin selling yourself and will be able to concentrate on leading your organisation forward. Your salespeople will do all the high-margin selling for you and their sales forecasts and targets will become more credible. Now isn’t that worth a bit of effort...?
| Steve Eungblut - |
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Steve Eungblut is a highly experienced sales and business leader and is the founder and Managing Director of Sterling Chase Associates. Sterling Chase delivers transformational sales trainingand business development solutions for organizations of all sizes in the UK and around the globe.
Visit Steve’s sales blog for regular sales tips, techniques and articles. Read More >> |
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