Effective Sales Training Should Deliver Ongoing Results
Do you need sales training, but are fearful of not getting ongoing results? Your fears are justified and rightly so given what educational research suggests. Yet, you can reverse that trend through these simple suggestions in your continual business building strategies.
The main reason that sales training or any corporate educational training and development fails to deliver ongoing results is that ignores the best way to secure long term cognitive retention. If you want effective sales training, you need to avoid the one day, two day or three day sales seminars or workshops.
Why, you might ask? That is a good question and let me ask you How much is 10 times 10. Your immediate thought is 100 and maybe you added you fool at the end of that thought. Now can you answer just as quickly what 25 times 24 is? No, and why couldn’t you? The answer is what was called rote memorization or more accurately spaced repetition.
You practiced 10×10 over many months in many different scenarios. That answer became ingrained in your cognitive memory. However, you might have multiplied 25 times 24 at least once, maybe several times during the course of your lifetime. Yet, because is was not a regularly scheduled and practice, you were not able to instantaneously know it.
There are hundreds of other examples from childhood poems to advertising musical jingles. In some cases, we actively learned from while in others, we just heard them hundreds of times and now they, too, are committed to our long term memories.
Another reason why sales training fails to deliver sustainable results is the actual time of the learning engagement. My belief is that the brain only absorbs what the butt will endure. After about 2 hours, minds start going numb because the butt is numb. Also, the minds start returning to everything that needs to be done back at the office.
The third reason is the outcome of the first two reasons. When you have the one shot learning coupled with the long learning sessions, there are very limited opportunities for practice. Some sessions do include role playing which is excellent, but the knowledge from the sales training must be put into practice. Additionally, there needs to be opportunities for feedback and course corrections regarding specific sales skills.
Reason number four is that no goals have been established as to the expected outcomes from the sales training. When established goals have been set using either national statistical averages or goals based upon the strategic plan, it is much easier to determine if you are achieving the ongoing results.
For example, car salesmen or car saleswomen should sell monthly 10 units based on national statistical averages. If your current average for selling cars is 8 units per person, then you would know your sales training is sustainable when your people deliver 10 units per month during and after the sales training.
Reason number four leads to reason number five is that the sales training must be internalized. To do this, requires that the sales training must also look to attitudes and habits and not just be focused on knowledge or selling skills. For the question is not Whether I know it, but rather do I want to do it?
If you want your sales training to delivery, sustainable, ongoing results, then look at these five reasons and see if they make sense to you.
Would you like to increase your sales? Then, you may find Simply Speaking, Increase Sales By a combination e book
Please feel free to contact me, Leanne Hoagland-Smith, Your Chief People Officer and Business Coach for individuals and organizations that are TIRED of not being where they want to be and truly want to reach that next level of success. 219.759.5601
Tags: Business building, business coach, professional, sales training, self leadership skill, strategic plan