Your Sales Training Is Probably Lackluster. Here's How to Fix It

Frank V. Cespedes; Yuchun  Lee

Article | Harvard Business Review (website)

Your Sales Training Is Probably Lackluster. Here's How to Fix It

Abstract

U.S. companies spend over $70 billion annually on training and an average of $1,459 per salesperson—almost 20% more than they spend on workers in all other functions. Yet, when it comes to equipping sales teams with relevant knowledge and skills, the ROI of sales training is disappointing. Studies indicate that participants in traditional curriculum-based training forget more than 80% of the information they were taught within 90 days. To increase retention and effectiveness, companies should offer reps additional training at times of need, provide them with access to supplemental material that reinforces what they’ve already been taught, and allow them opportunities to practice their skills in time frames connected to actual buying processes. They can do so by using the same technologies that are “disrupting” their customer-contact activities: videos and mobile apps that reps can view on their devices before, during, and after training initiatives. In addition to providing reps with easier and timelier access to information, videos and apps improve comprehension—when someone hears information, they remember about 10% of it three days later, but, when a picture is added, retention increases to 65%.

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Training;

Format: Electronic

Citation:

Cespedes, Frank V., and Yuchun Lee. "Your Sales Training Is Probably Lackluster. Here's How to Fix It." Harvard Business Review (website) (June 12, 2017).

Sales methodologies play an important role. A common approach in a sales force allows for consistency, dissemination of best practices, acceleration of learning, and it helps the firm to scale because management then has common metrics to monitor and evaluate. However, it’s rare that the same methodology is relevant across the buying situations encountered by salespeople in a market. This article discusses and provides examples of variables relevant to analyzing sales tasks and evaluating the relevance of a selling methodology: differences within an industry, within a category, and when target buyers change.

Common advice in sales is to provide insights to customers during sales calls. But this advice generally stays at the level of “tell people something they don’t already know” and results in sales conversations littered with many irrelevant factoids. This article provides examples of how salespeople develop and deliver resonant insights in customer conversations and why the framing of insights depends upon to whom they are talking and when in the sales cycle.

Most research and training in sales focus on acquiring new customers. But winning back previous customers is increasingly important: mergers, choice in supply chains, and uncertainty about trade wars mean that B2B customers are constantly re-evaluating relationships with suppliers and making changes. Meanwhile, large buyers account, on average, for over 25% of revenues at publicly traded firms, up from 10% in the 1980s. This article discusses how and why the process for reacquiring lost customers requires a different approach than acquiring new ones and illustrates the process and its implications via a case example.

Faculty & Research

Your Sales Training Is Probably Lackluster. Here's How to Fix It

Abstract

Citation:

About the Author

More from the Author