Perhaps you have tried sales training programs before, but nothing has changed. Sales training programs can fail to work due to many reasons. Sales training failure is a common frustration, and most companies rarely go back to it once their first attempt fails. These are three main reasons why your sales training isn’t working and things you can do to improve it.
Ambiguous Objectives
Measuring the impact of a training program is nearly impossible without the desired outcome or specific objective. For example, the goal of your sales training program might be to make your salespeople work harder or to close more lucrative deals than before. Though everyone would want to achieve those results, planning and implementing a training program around unclear goals such as these can be incredibly difficult. The more specific the objectives of a training program are, the better the results.
You want highly focused objectives that you can craft a sales training program around. An easy way to ensure you’re starting out with good training objectives is by following SMART goals. Make your desired outcomes specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
Not Involving the Managers
No one can spend a few hours or days in a language class and become a fluent speaker. You require regular practice and immersion to become a fluent speaker even if you already had familiarity with a foreign language. The same rule applies to sales.
Companies often view sales training as a process of injecting best practices and concepts that their salespersons should embrace and implement immediately. However, unless a training program comes with a guided application on sales, those sessions may not have an impact. Companies need their front-line managers to be involved in motivating their sales team to practice all concepts and best practices that they learned during the training session.
Managers can set the right expectations and monitor the progress of their salespeople. However, you are less likely to win their full commitment if their managers come in at the end of the program. You should view managers as partners and involve them in the selection of curriculum and training vendor, picking date and venue, and reviewing the proposed agenda.
Lack of Individual Sales Style
Sales training is a great way to introduce a common language for talking about your products or services. All of your salespeople should have a learned set of tools or strategies that they can refer back to when pitching to a potential new client. However, this helpful training technique can quickly turn into a downfall if you start to push your salespeople toward a one-size-fits-all selling style.
One reason that sales training isn’t working for many companies is due to the idea of a cookie-cutter sales style. You want your team to use the same language when talking to customers, but not so much so that they lose authenticity and creativity in their work. Your team will be more fulfilled in their work if they are able to find their own authentic voice and a style of communication that synergizes with your trained set of tools and strategies.
Don’t give up on sales training if your first attempt isn’t as successful as you hoped. Learning about common mistakes as to why sales training isn’t working will help you grow your sales team in the right direction.
