Four Reasons Most Sales Training Fails

Have you ever observed a sales representative during a call and thought, “How can this be the same person who did so well during training? Why aren’t they doing what they were taught?”

While organizations around the world are spending billions of dollars on training, most of that investment is being wasted. Here’s what you can do to make sure your sales training initiatives add up to long-term results.

The fact is, this situation is more often the rule than the exception. Data collected by the consulting firm ES Research has shown that 85 to 90 percent of sales training fails to translate into a lasting improvement in productivity.

So what’s keeping the training from moving sales professionals from knowing to doing? Here are 4 of the most common reasons most sales training fails.

1 : LACK OF STRUCTURED FOLLOW-UP

Training is often treated as an event instead of a process. We assume that if we teach skills in a workshop, sales representatives will remember and practice them. But study after study tells us that, without reinforcement, most people forget nearly all of what they’ve heard and quickly go back to old habits.

When participants leave training, there must be a structured follow-up process that ensures:

Accountability for real world application

Repetition

Feedback on progress

Positive reinforcement and supportive coaching

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Don’t fall into the trap of assuming that online videos or modules are sufficient. Salespeople typically view these as an afterthought and treat them as such. Regularly scheduled sessions with accountability for application are critical.

2 : LACK OF INTEGRATION INTO THE BUSINESS CULTURE

Even if there are follow-up activities to support the training, that doesn’t mean the concepts will become part of a salesperson’s day-to-day business behavior. For the training and skills to turn into a way of doing business, they have to be hard-wired into the culture.

This starts with clear direction and expectation from senior leadership. Why are you doing the training? Why now? What does “success” look like? What role will managers play?

These are important questions that should be addressed prior to the first session. Participants must know what to do (expectations) and how to do it (application) and receive feedback on their application (coaching).

3 : FAILURE TO ADDRESS THE IMPORTANCE OF ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS

Most managers agree: Attitudes and beliefs separate high achievers from the rest, particularly when it comes to sales.

In fact, 84% of sales leaders we studied believe these factors matter as much if not more than selling skills and product knowledge. But only 26% said they were effective at developing these critical factors in their salespeople–a significant gap between what organizations say is important and how they’re training their people to succeed.1

Yet these critical success factors are rarely acknowledged or addressed in most sales training.

Product knowledge and selling skills are both important, but beliefs, values and a genuine desire to create value for customers are often the biggest influencers of sales success.

The bottom line? Alignment results in people selling more!

If you find yourself asking the question, “They know what to do, so why won’t they do it?” look for clues in congruence. Salespeople who don’t apply selling skills often feel they are being asked to

do something that is inconsistent with their values and beliefs. That’s why an essential goal of training should be to bring the five dimensions into congruence.

4 : LACK OF MANAGERIAL ROLE-MODELING AND COACHING

“Forget about that. Let me tell you how it’s done in the real world.”

Just like that, your managers can undo everything. Too many managers are sabotaging the training efforts because they don’t fully understand, believe in, model and coach the skills.

Managers have to know the concepts, believe their people will benefit and provide supportive coaching. In high-performing sales cultures, managers participate in the training and assume a leadership role in the follow-up process described above.