{"id":173,"date":"2019-11-07T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T14:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/?p=173"},"modified":"2022-09-16T15:09:26","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T19:09:26","slug":"how-to-operationalize-your-sales-training-to-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/how-to-operationalize-your-sales-training-to-win\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Operationalize Your Sales Training to Win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Monopoly is a board game over 100 years old, and it represents how many tend to think of sales. You circle the board once. Get your $200 by \u201cpassing Go,\u201d and then go around the board negotiating and buying properties. But it can be difficult to \u201cpass Go\u201d and win the game by becoming the last one standing (or vendor of choice). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound familiar?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the \u201c2019 State of Sales Training\u201d report, published by the Association for Talent Development (ATD), we spend an average of $2,326 on sales training annually, per salesperson. What is worrisome is that 58 percent of those surveyed did not believe that training issuccessful. Yikes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, 58 percent of you don\u2019t get to \u201cpass Go,\u201d and don\u2019t collect (or get a return on) your money! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why would this be the case? If we are giving our salespeople the skills they need to be successful via sales training, then why are we not seeing a corresponding increase in sales performance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post we will look at why sales training so often fails, and what you can do to ensure that, if you invest in sales training, you see an increase in performance from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is the Real Value of Skills Training? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We often see skills training delivered internally as part of an onboarding process, product update training, or new corporate messaging. You will learn how to position your product or service and \u2013 if the training is comprehensive \u2013 you\u2019ll learn about the value, line-of-business positioning, and competitive strengths, and be able to practice in a safe environment. These are tools that will help you \u201cpass Go\u201d in positioning your solution, but will not take you from 0 to 100 overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter sales methodology training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of today\u2019s sales methodology training is generic. It teaches skills such as prospecting, objection handling, and closing techniques, to name a few. And your salespeople definitely need these base skills to succeed in their role. The problem is, generic sales training has no understanding of your product, how you sell it, or how your customers buy from you. It\u2019s simply a set of sales skills your salespeople may use at some point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge here is that most of these focus on only part of the sales cycle \u2013 typically once a sales opportunity has been identified. So it is a piecemeal approach that often ends up with sales reps using a subset of the method. Part of a part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you see how this creates holes in the sales reps\u2019 experience and understanding and can result in a lack of traction? Low traction equals low success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are still not passing Go. (And you do not collect your $200!) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sales Training Needs to Address Mindset <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once you have learned new skills, you need to have the mindset to use them and know how they can be used to help you in specific situations. Without this, there is no change in behavior!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that, unfortunately, leads us to another \u201cdo not pass Go\u201d situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many salespeople are hesitant to try out their new selling skills. Having a safe space where they can practice their art is all-important. Only then can they see themselves succeeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mindset is not just a salesperson issue, either; it also applies to buyers. Put your team\u2019s focus on understanding the mindset of your customers. Matching your training with the impact on your buyers\u2019 mindset is the key to successful implementation. Recognizing the situations on when and how your prospects will respond to your new-found learnings is critical to success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, think about any sales training you took recently. Does it address the mindset of your buyers and how their mindset changes?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If no, you guessed it: You\u2019re still not getting past \u201cGo\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use Technology to Measure the Impact of Sales Training <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The use of technology to monitor the sales process is nothing new. What\u2019s new is our ability to monitor and analyze the interactions between you and your prospects at many more touchpoints. Not just in sales, either! You can measure performance across your entire customer lifecycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you can learn from both your successes and failures and incorporate the lessons into future outreach, then you will be able to refine your approach for constant improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A word of warning, though. Remember to capture key metrics with context. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Context is essential to understanding the real impact of your data points on your customer \u2013 and therefore essential to duplicating that success with others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No context. No point. And another \u201cdo not pass Go\u201d situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where Sales Training Magic Happens<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you have been following me to this point, you\u2019ll have noticed that I talked about three essential parts to operationalizing your sales training. Now here\u2019s your \u201cget out of jail free\u201d card! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s you, the sales leader. You are the coach who can mentor<\/a> your salespeople in the skills, mindset, and tools we\u2019ve talked about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sales training is in no way the futile exercise the numbers might suggest. Operationalizing<\/em> the sales training, however, is the missing step of success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sales leaders and salespeople alike must have the mindset to internalize the skills that have been taught and apply them as is appropriate to the customer situation<\/a>. To help us in this process, we can use both existing and new technologies to enhance our learnings and take our sales to the next level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only then will you \u201cpass Go\u201d and collect your $200!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Headshot<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Chris Fletcher is one of the founders of Huerdo Inc.<\/a> She is an International Master Coach, and previously was the general manager and SVP of sales for Europe, Middle East, and Africa at SAS Institute. In her current role, Chris is responsible for developing and leading The Revenue Engine Sales Method team that helps Huerdo\u2019s clients get out of first gear.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s how to get an increase in sales performance after investing in sales training.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":809,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions\/809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}