In a tutorial published to the SellingBrew Playbook entitled, “How to Deliver Sales Training That Sticks,” the author outlines a step-by-step process for making your sales training program an integral part of your ongoing sales operation.
In the tutorial, the author makes a point that I think most of us, from our own experiences, can recognize as truth:
Companies often struggle to realize the benefits of sales training when they think of it as a tactical deliverable, rather than a strategic process. As a tactical deliverable, sales training becomes just another fleeting “booster shot” of motivation. But as a strategic process, the right steps are taken, in the right order, to make the training truly operational and ensure effective utilization over time.
Of course, the author then goes on to explain each of the recommended steps, from figuring out exactly what type of training will be most relevant and effective in your situation to infusing the principles and practices into your sales operation.
But because I haven’t had enough coffee and I’m grumpy, I will go a step further…
I think it’s being very generous to say that companies treat sales training as a tactical deliverable because they simply don’t know any better. In my experience, people and companies very often fail to do the right thing simply because the wrong thing just seems to be so much easier.
Instead of thinking hard about which type of sales training is really best to overcome your specific market and customer challenges, it’s much easier to just jump on the latest bandwagon and do what everyone else is doing.
Rather than developing a thoughtful training program plan that effectively delivers and reinforces the principles and practices over time, it’s much easier to just tack an hour onto the annual sales meeting.
And instead of looking at sales training as an integral part of your sales operation—an ongoing, strategic process that’s always being improved and never really “done”—it’s much easier to just cross it off the to-do list once the deliverable has been delivered.
Tactics are easy. But then again, so is failure.
