5 reasons why your sales training failed (or will)

Putting aside the negativity of that title for one minute, not all sales training does fail. If you were pulled in by the click bait title, chances are you want to make sure that yours doesn’t too. It is a worrying statistic however that according to ES Research, over 85% of sales training fails to deliver improved productivity and lasting impact after 120 days. In the U.S alone over $70 billion is spent annually on training salespeople, with an average of $1,459 per salesperson. Just take a pause and think about those numbers for a minute.

Whilst I am sure every sales training company can ‘smoke and mirrors’ the above to suit their unique proposition and why they are different, I’m taking a slightly different tact with this article – focusing instead on my 25 years’ experience in sales, the clients I have worked with and experiences on how learning is best embedded. I’ll throw in a few industry stats for good measure.

There are of course a wide variety of reasons as to why any kind of training fails to deliver the expected ROI. Some of this is generic, based on good learning practice, some very specific to the unique needs of our sellers. Think of the following as starter guidance to some of the core elements, that if considered, will help better ensure the success of your investment.

So, without further ado, here are my top 5 reasons why your sales training failed (or will):

1.??????You didn’t align your methodology to your sales process

No amount of sales methodology training will work if you do not align it to the process that your sellers undertake day in and day out. Sellers will just be left struggling with understanding how it fits. It sounded great in the classroom, but the reality is very different when sellers start using it alongside their day-to-day activity.

Whilst Sales process and Sales methodology are often used side by side or interchangeably, they are very different. A sales process covers the entire sales cycle, whereas a sales methodology intertwines and supports the process at various stages. Another way of putting it is that the sales process provides the ‘what’ of selling, and different organizations often have different sales processes based on industry, sales journey, target audience etc.; the sales methodology however defines the ‘how’ of selling, and whilst good methodologies have formal guidelines, they are also dynamic and can be changed based on each selling situation.

Irrespective of which methodology you choose (and see reason 5 for more on this), it’s vitally important that sellers can see how the methodology fits with their sales process universe. If it doesn’t fit, sellers will stop using it and resort to old ways of doing things faster than you can say “I wasted 2K per head on sales training that no one uses”.

2.??????You didn’t pair your methodology with your sales technology

More than likely, you are using a whole range of tech to support your sellers achieve their targets. At a fundamental level, your CRM is the place where you want your sellers to capture all their client data, prospects, opportunities, notes, and planning. Worryingly, just 27% of sales organizations state that they are highly confident in their CRM data vs. 83% of World-Class organizations. Why is this?

The problem often lies in a mismatch of sales methodology, process, and technology. If you are to invest in sales methodology training and think not about how that integrates with your CRM, then the chances of successful adoption of your methodology (and indeed your CRM) are limited. If you want sellers to live and breathe the methodology, then it needs to be practical and tied into the tech you are also asking them to use. Sellers need a structured way of capturing data in the CRM that provides value to them and helps them navigate the selling process. For example, writing notes on decision makers, buying influences and authority is an unusable text field, on an email or in an Excel document will not help the seller to see immediately where they need to focus more time to advance the sell.

Furthermore, pairing your sales methodology with your CRM has other advantages. Sales Managers can quickly analyze data on opportunities or pursuits, understanding where there are gaps and ultimately helping them to both coach sellers and sanity check the pipeline. Sales leaders and sales ops have access to historical data on opportunities which will show them trends in how sales progress and the likelihood of them closing. Pairing the sales methodology with the CRM has incremental adoption benefits. More than this, combining a formal/dynamic sales methodology with sufficient adoption of deployed sales technologies results in 16.3% higher win rates and 9.2% higher quota attainment. (2021 World-Class Sales Practices Study).

3.??????Your sales leadership / sales managers didn’t buy in

Change is a difficult thing to embed because most people feel far more comfortable doing what they have always done and don’t yet see the value in changing. This rings true for individual contributors, sales managers, and sales leaders. If you’ve taken the time to identify what needs to change and how you will change it, you need to follow through in supporting it from the top.

Implementing new sales methodologies may feel uncomfortable for a while as sellers get to grips with applying these new skills. What’s important is that everyone commits to supporting it. Leaders should announce and get behind the ‘why’ and sales managers should embed, guide and coach on the ‘how’. Without this top-down drive, we can’t expect the sales methodology to be adopted.

Over time, sellers should start to see the benefits of using a new methodology. Sales leaders should identify these ‘champions’, elevate their success stories and leverage off their experiences to help others also achieve success.

Whilst leadership is critical here to embed a new methodology, so is the capability to listen and adapt. If some things are not working, diagnose them and tweak to fit your sales process.

4.??????You thought sales training was a ‘one and done’ experience

And why wouldn’t you? You’ve invested all this money, everyone’s attended the training, and you expect results from it. Unfortunately, there’s more to it than that.

Firstly, consider the learning science. In 1885, a chap called Hermann Ebbinghaus ran a series of experiments focused on the decline of memory over time. This was replicated in experiments in 2015 which confirmed Hermann’s data. To overly simplify it (and not pay it the credit it’s due), the data showed that following learning, people forget stuff quickly if there is no attempt to retain it. By that, you could suppose that if we do not talk about it, write about it, use it, or get reminded about it, we will forget it. In fact, some estimates suggest that we will have forgotten 70% of what we are taught in 24 hours and 90% within 7 days.

That’s a big problem for sales training, and indeed training in general. You can’t simply bombard our sellers’ minds with information on new methodologies and expect it all to stick instantaneously.

Fortunately, there is some light at the end of the tunnel here, providing you understand the problem you are dealing with and plan accordingly. Remember this only applies if ‘there is no attempt to retain it’. Here’s some things that will help it stick:

• Transition from training to reality – during the sales training, get your sellers to work on real opportunities they are dealing with in case studies and examples. This ensures as they transition back to the work environment, they must continue to think about and update these, helping to retain what they have learnt
• Reinforcement – over time, provide contextual micro-nuggets as reinforcement. These could be scheduled as microbursts or delivered just-in-time through an integration with the CRM (i.e., contextually linked at pivotal areas where they must complete specific tasks for refresher purposes)
• Coaching – Frequent coaching by sales managers will drive memory recall. Knowing you must meet with your manager and talk through how you are using the methodology to drive opportunity success will force your sellers to think about it. Thinking about and then talking about it improves memory recall over time.
• Embedding within your tech (see point 2) – having the methodology front and center of your CRM will ensure that it doesn’t get forgotten. Sellers can instantly see what’s expected of them, driving memory recall and adoption of the methodology.

5.??????You chose the wrong methodology for the maturity and needs of your business

There are a wide variety of Sales methodologies in the market and a significant amount of training providers to choose from, each offering their own ‘spin’ (no pun intended) on what’s needed to qualify better, sell more and close faster. Whilst there are often overlaps between these methodologies, there are also significant gaps once you account for the maturity of your business, what you sell, who you sell to, and the complexity of your sales process. Some methodologies give you great door opening skills, some offer ways to frame and analyze clients needs, some to develop key accounts…you get the idea.

The methodology you choose should address the specific challenges you are looking to solve. What is important however is that the methodology is dynamic and allows for you to mold and iterate how it is applied into your business. Interestingly, only 34% of sales organizations report >75% adoption rate of their sales methodology, whereas organizations following a dynamic sales methodology report 91% higher adoption rates. A dynamic sales methodology is a formal methodology that sellers are trained on and expected to use, however, this methodology is consistently measured and modified as needed. Organizations using a dynamic sales methodology have win rates 27% higher and quota attainment 21% higher than those with random or informal methodologies. It also lowers voluntary attrition by around 27% (source: 5th Annual Sales Enablement Study).

Gartner offer a nice report on sales training companies, measuring how they perform on completeness of vision and ability to execute. Both elements are likely critical to the success of your sales training. Completeness of vision will offer alternatives and adaptations of methodologies to align to your needs and ability to execute is the resource and capability of that provider to deliver on the program so that you realize the benefits of your investment.

As with any initiative – a selling methodology, a new IT system, a new company culture or whatever – you are more likely to succeed if you plan for it. Sales training itself does not solve things on its own. It needs to be correctly embedded and supported across the sales organization.

I’d be interested on hearing what others do to ensure their sales training is a success!