11 Ways to Make Sales Training Stick

9. INVEST IN TECHNOLOGIES, BUT DON’T OVERDO IT

“Some of our latest research shows that companies can hit a point when they’re putting too much technology in front of salespeople, and it can slow them down,” Toman says.

According to Grodnitzky, organizations should beware of placing too many planning solutions into the hands of salespeople. “We’ve seen organizations put in...an account plan, an opportunity plan, a relationship map, a value map, [and more]. And typically that’s because management is looking for information, and some people resent it.”

She recommends instead that companies determine what tools are absolutely necessary, and stick with those. “If you put in only the tools that are going to help them either make their life easier or resonate with their customers, those are the things that they’re going to use and will get better uptake.”

10. INVEST IN SUSTAINING BEHAVIORS, AND BE PERSISTENT

People, simply put, need repetition to learn and not revert to old behaviors. In an interview, Michael Vickers recently told CRM magazine that a notable trait separating great sales reps from average ones is that, under pressure, average reps tend to revert to old behaviors and bad habits.

This gets at an important difference between how high-performing companies and laggards invest in their organization, Grodnitzky says, pointing to research from Training Industry, Inc. “High performers spend typically about 20 percent of their budget on sustainment activities, versus laggards, who spend only 13 percent.”

It can’t just be the delivery of training that’s given weight, but the planning, evaluation, and sustaining as well.

11. INCENTIVIZE THE DESIRED BEHAVIORS

According to Dickie, incentives and commissions must be placed on behavioral changes if they are to be adopted. For instance, a rep who does not go through all the steps necessary should not earn a commission. “If, all of a sudden, the deal is in the [CRM system] and I don’t know what happened in the sales process, I’m not going to pay the commission,” Dickie says. “Guess what, they’ll put the deals in the system and follow the process, because their wallet is telling them to do that.”

Fortunately, good training is in itself an incentive, Dickie points out. An overlooked benefit of providing salespeople with effective training is that employees of the company are much more likely to feel cared for, which will also give the company an edge over competing sales organizations in attracting and retaining talent.

“One thing salespeople value is the kind of support [they’re] getting from the company,” Dickie says. “If I think that company A is going to support me better than company B, I’ll go to them.”

Associate Editor Oren Smilansky can be reached at osmilansky@infotoday.com.

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