Sales training programs fail due to not understanding the pitfalls in selling to today’s connected buyer and the solutions they expect, which go way beyond the product. Read on to why many sales training programs fail and why.
Sales training programs are critical to a business seeking to acquire new customers and deepen relationships with existing customers. They say the stated aim of any business is to acquire, develop, and maintain customers at a profit. So how do sales organizations do this in a highly competitive and noisy market?
How do sales coaches and sales trainers stimulate new ways of thinking and provide salespeople with new ways of operating in a data-driven sales environment to increasingly savvy customers?
For many organizations, even the agile ones, ongoing sales training can be expensive with hard-to-quantify impacts on sales performance. Understanding why sales programs fail is a learning journey in itself and can lead to more effective and affordable sales training.
Lack of Training Content
Sales organizations of all sizes have new levels of requirements to compete successfully for customers attention or time. They need salespeople to acquire sales skills at speed and have an agile approach to quickly grasp revenue opportunities. One of the reasons sales training programs fail is the lack of relevant (and updated) content. Developing sales training content can be expensive and hard to customize, and hiring outside sales training companies can be cost prohibitive. Salespeople need access to a constant library of sales skills that addresses every step in the sales process, from prospecting, sales negotiation, and objection handling to soft sales skills and closing the deals. Without constant access to sales training, many salespeople will struggle to identify what techniques to apply in specific customer conversations.
Lack of Sales Training Reinforcement
Sustained behavior change should be the outcome of sales training programs being delivered, and then applying the newly learned behaviors (sales skills, etc.) will improve the overall or individual sales performance. As such, sales leaders should create a list of which skills or parts of the sales process they are looking to improve, since this directly affects the skills salespeople should train on.
Classroom-based sales training sessions can often provide a boost in sales knowledge and motivation, but the effects can quickly fade if there is no follow-up or continued reinforcement. Sales training has to be an ongoing process, where the salesperson has regular access to videos, lessons, and updates to keep them engaged and informed. This continued reinforcement of sales skills can come in many forms, such as follow-up sessions, online sales training, individual coaching, and regular performance reviews. Continued learning helps the salesperson to quickly use the selling techniques they have learned in their daily activities. This makes sales training programs more efficient and cost-effective as the return on investment is quicker.
Inadequate Training Time or Timing
Many sales training programs are still exclusively delivered in classrooms, resulting in a piecemeal approach or tight timeframes used to deliver the training. Much of the workplace sales training is ineffective, according to various reports. One of the main reasons among salespeople was lack of time during the day to develop new sales skills, and much of the training content that’s offered isn’t relevant to their needs.
Having a strong training plan is essential for recruitment and retention. Research shows that over 80% of salespeople would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development. Salespeople at all levels of experience require opportunities to upskill as customers’ expectations and the selling environment evolve. Without proper training opportunities, sales organizations may struggle with higher sales force turnover along with higher levels of missed revenue opportunities.
Why Change
If selling is getting customers to undertake a “change management project,” then sales training can be said to be getting salespeople to undertake change. The reality is too many sales training programs are just repurposed old materials. Salespeople sit through topic-heavy sessions, sometimes forced to practice in role plays, and then return to their sales role and get on with it. The credibility of the sales training has been diminished, and they see no reason to change or try new tactics, as no new tactics have been presented to them. It’s just rehash after rehash
Effective training programs must cover a wide range of sales skills that the salesperson can relate to and provide a stream of new, proven ideas and insights. Sales training that is easy to digest, bite-sized microlearning with sales training videos that can be put into practice, and where salespeople can pick and choose the topics (and time to learn) best suited to their challenges, not the sales trainers.
Too Focused On Closing Over Conversations
Sales training can become overly focused on closing, how to close, closing techniques, trial closes, always be closing, win rates, etc. However, today, selling is about real, genuine conversations that build trust and establish rapport long before the closing crescendo. The reality is the modern buyer is in control, so in order to get their attention, quick offers or deals just don’t cut it; they can research those online. Salespeople who make an impact can open and hold real conversations.
If the sales training is not giving the salespeople the skills to build customer relationships, then they aren’t building trust. Only through trust and being credible can salespeople deliver recommendations to customers and make them feel confident about buying.
This is why it is important that as part of building the conversation, the salesperson should have instant access to content to help open a two-way dialogue and ask the type of intelligent questions to engage the customer. Many sales training programs exclude how to tell stories and the skill of real conversations (not a series of interrogating discovery questions) and instead focus on teaching salespeople how to close.
Poor Sales Training Program Design
We live in the video and multimedia era; salespeople want to learn the way they live. The design and delivery channel of the training program can be a significant factor in its success or failure. Sales training programs that are too text-heavy, lack engagement, are long-winded, or overly complex can cause salespeople to tune out. Sales training should be engaging, delivered in short bursts, easy to grasp topics, reflect today’s selling challenges, and can be accessed as needed to support their daily selling tasks.
A lot of the more traditional sales training teaches salespeople the hard-selling skills that the company wants to push. They don’t educate on the more highly sought-after soft sales skills and what motivates a buyer to buy. Because the modern buyer wants salespeople to bring them something new in exchange for their valuable time. The ability to provide insights and hold intelligent sales conversations that put the customer’s challenges first and selling second.
Lack of Support
Support in terms of time, access, and even finances (to undertake self-learning) are all crucial for the success of any sales training program. If the organization fails to provide the necessary resources and space, the learning and output are likely to fall flat. Real sales training is about providing ongoing support to the sales teams to learn and upskill. By showing commitment to their personal development, the business can inspire the same level of dedication in their sales force.
Failure to Address Individual Needs
The most successful sales training teaches large ideas in small doses to address the individual needs of salespeople. Who wants to be stuck in a classroom, competing with many voices, opinions, and content that may not be relevant to everyone sitting there? In fact, when new sales content is presented in small bursts with no distractions, understanding and recall of that content or topic are significantly improved. Effective training programs should offer personalized learning topics or content that cater to the strengths and weaknesses of each salesperson. Each topic presents a focused view of a technique or skill. The individual sessions are specifically designed to be performed in a short time frame. Learner confidence is increased as they move more quickly through each topic. This might include videos, cheat sheets, exercises, and downloadable sales materials.
Training Expectations Not Met
By training expectations, we mean the content, experience, and knowledge that salespeople expect to receive from training. This can apply both to the way the training is provided and to the salespeople who participate in it. Due to changes in the selling environment, including remote working, salespeople’s training expectations are now higher than ever. The sales training being delivered needs to be available 24/7 regardless of location, as well as keep up with the latest trends in business or markets.
Research shows that salespeople want sales training that equips them with the tools, knowledge, and sales skills that allow them to improve their performance. Training that is adapted to the demands of their current and future sales role and doesn’t take up too much time. Also, training that adapts to their needs and learning style so that it does not take too much effort to learn and complete the training successfully.
What Sales Training Programs Needs to Get Right
The sales training should always be customer challenges focused because if salespeople don’t understand the market and don’t know how to bring insights, they’ll never get to diagnose a buyer’s problems. They will default to pitching and closing. Sales training that covers the hard sales skills but also how to negotiate, overcome objections, communicate, empathize, display genuine interest, and be seen as an expert.
Plus, it must be ongoing and continuous. Annual or quarterly sales training sessions covering a narrow range of topics won’t move the revenue needle. Like any profession, salespeople need continuous skill development to maximize their return on sales effort, or ROSE.
Conclusion
Sales training programs fail to deliver for a variety of reasons. Avoiding the pitfalls of rehashed content, long-winded sessions, out-of-date sales training materials, and one-off access to the training content can help companies design more effective training. By allowing the training to fit around the specific needs and preferences of a salesperson, it will serve to reinforce learning. Investing in cost-effective yet comprehensive sales training can be a key to unlocking sales growth, customer acquisition, and growing the talent of the sales team.
