How well is your sales training working?

If your sales training is not delivering results for you, you could start by considering these six questions:

Do your sellers need more skills or more motivation?
If your sellers are motivated and just need skills to become more effective, then sales training can be a good place to start. If they are not motivated, then any amount of sales training will be a waste of your money, and their time.

Is your sales training relevant?
If your sales training is not tailored to your business sector, your product or service, then it may not pass the relevance test. If the lessons being taught do not give practical skills that can be immediately used, then is it surprising if your sellers have difficulty using them?

Is your sales training fun?
This is not a frivolous question. If your sellers are not enjoying the training experience, it is unlikely that they will be fully engaged.

Are your participants personally committed to using the training?
Unless individuals are tied in to using the lessons learned from the training in their own sales activity, then you could be just giving everyone a day off.

Is your sales management committed to the training initiative?
Line management need to be involved in the design of the training, and in the utilisation of the skills delivered.

Will your sellers be able to immediately use their training in a sales context?
Unless your sellers can put their new learning to immediate use, what are the chances it’ll ever be used?

We often start conversations with sellers by asking “what are you doing to stay on top of your sales game?” We believe that professional sellers have a responsibility to keep their technical sales skills up to date. Once your sellers understand this concept, then all you need to do is support their learning process, which is a highly rewarding activity for everyone involved.