When your company invests in sales training, what is the expected outcome? Is it a change in how your salespeople perform their daily activities - in other words, a change in behavior?Unfortunately, most companies drastically underestimate the amount of time and effort that must be invested to accomplish behavioral change. Sitting in a class for a couple of hours or days is a good way to expose salespeople to new skills and techniques. However, new skills and techniques often feel strange and uncomfortable. Many salespeople worry that attempting to use the new skills and techniques with real, live prospects or customers will cost them sales and hard-won credibility. So, they abandon the new skills and techniques and continue to rely on "old" behaviors that are comfortable for them. Here is a real-life example of a sales training program failure: Executive management at a company I worked for invested more than $600,000 to teach the entire sales team (100+ salespeople) a new sales approach. However, at every turn they looked for ways to reduce training costs and time out of the field. As a result, the sales manager training session was cut from a full day to half a day, and the sales team training was cut from three days to a day and a half. Plus, post-training conference calls (intended to reinforce key concepts) were rescheduled multiple times and eventually cancelled. What was the return on the company's $600,000 investment? Only 10% to 20% of the salespeople ever applied the new sales approach in the field. The training project was considered a failure. If you want your sales training investments to produce changes in your salespeople's behavior, your company's entire management team, from top executives to individual sales managers, needs to make a different level of commitment to sales training. The skills and techniques that are taught during training sessions must be repeated and reinforced on a regular and consistent basis. Plus, you should provide your salespeople with a non-threatening environment where they can practice new skills and techniques until they become second nature. To further demonstrate the level of management commitment that is required to accomplish behavioral change, consider the following two scenarios. Scenario #1 A top executive mentions the importance of a new sales approach in a company meeting or conference call. They mention it again occasionally (once a month or once a quarter). The sales manager also mentions the new approach in a few sales meetings before or after the training session(s). However, the focus soon returns to "business as usual". Scenario #2 A top executive explains the importance of a new sales approach in a company meeting or conference call. From that point on, they repeat the message in any conversation they have with any member of the sales or sales management team. The new sales approach becomes part of the executive's daily dialogue, and they mention it multiple times a day. Sales managers invest the time required to become proficient in using the new sales approach. They also explain to their salespeople that each salesperson will be held accountable for using the new approach effectively in the field. They help their salespeople become comfortable using the new approach by conducting repeated role plays in individual and group meetings. They also inspect for use of the new approach in a consistent and predictable fashion. This level of management commitment causes the salespeople to recognize that the new approach is not "the flavor of the month", and it will NOT go away if they ignore it. As a result, the new approach eventually becomes part of the company's sales culture. Do you see the difference in the level of commitment described by the two scenarios? Do you see why the second scenario is much more likely to produce lasting behavioral change? In summary, if you want to change your salespeople's behavior, your company's entire management team needs to demonstrate a different level of commitment to sales training. Here are the recommended steps for this process:
Any significant new sales approach becomes part of top executives' daily dialogue.
Sales managers learn how to execute the new approach.
Salespeople are trained in the new approach.
Sales managers hold salespeople accountable for using the new approach.
Sales managers increase their salespeople's comfort with the new approach by conducting repeated role plays in a non-threatening environment.
Sales managers consistently and repeatedly inspect salesperson activity to confirm they are using the new approach.
When new skills and techniques become second nature to your salespeople, they are more likely to apply them effectively in the field. Designing training curriculums to produce behavioral change is the best way to ensure that your company receives its desired return on sales training investments!Copyright 2005 -- Alan Rigg Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don't Perform and What to Do About It. To learn more about his book and sign up for more FREE sales and sales management tips, visit http://www.8020performance.com.
Inexpensive Shopping on Sales Training:
Ebooks & Digital Products On Sales Training:
Live Sales Training Auctions On Ebay Now:
Brand Name Deals & Coupons On Sales Training:
Ezine Articles & Information On Sales Training: Half.com deals on Sales Training: mashups On tag sales training @ amazon:
|
 |
RELATED ARTICLES
Essential Training Skills for Managers
Today's manager lives in a world where change has attained Mach speeds. What holds good when you go home may not apply when you return in the morning to work place.
4 Reasons Why the Sale is Not Made
When sales are down, a salesperson must begin to take stock of why that is happening. Most sales people start by blaming the company's policies.
How to Boost Your Sales Letter Conversion Rate
Emotion and reason mix very well together to make excellent sales techniques. Expert copywriters, while
writing their sales copy in a systematic and methodological way, use emotions and emotional triggers all the
time.
Seven Keys To Closing More Sales During The Second Half Of 2006
It's not too early to start planning for the sales results you want at the end of 2005. Here are seven things you can do to make sure you're in the Winner's Circle at your Next National Sales Meeting.
One Simple Persuasion Secret That Will Blow The Roof Off Your Sales
The next time you're shopping for clothes in a department store, take a closer look at the price tags. You'll probably notice that each price tag starts with one price, but then counters with another.
You CAN Be a Great Salesperson!
When you are in sales, you have the choice to be successful or unsuccessful. The only one to set limits on your income and success is you! A career in sales is a challenge.
Why Salespeople Dont Take Risks
Proponents of traditional sales training simply teach the material, sometimes in a very entertaining format, but they place the responsibility for using the material on the salesperson.So what happens? The salesperson sits at home, stuck with personal flaws related to identity, and he can't perform.
Making Sales is Easy When You Learn How to Make Friends
Friends buy from friends. Why? Because people trust that their friends
will go above and beyond the duties of a typical salesperson.
Effective Account Management
Congratulations! You successfully sold one or more of your company's products or services to a business unit, department, or division of a large organization. Now your manager has tasked you with "account management".
Why Sales People Are Creating Their Own Objections
I'm about to reveal the biggest secret to growing any small business rapidly. This secret will also increase virtually all sales people's results almost instantly when you learn it and live by it.
3 Basic Secrets That Will Explode Your Sales This Year
In this article, I would like to talk about the three "well-known but often ignored" secrets for creating a successful product.These secrets are still valid in real world as they are online.
Turning Sales Techniques Into Sales Success!
The goal of all sales training is not just to teach solid selling principles and techniques, but to actually help participants increase the number of new accounts (products and/or services) they sell and improve their multiple sales ratios. Unfortunately, many sales and service industry professionals gain an intellectual awareness of the methods of selling from the sales training they receive, yet fail to improve their bottom line sales results by systematically using the concepts in their daily transactions.
Curiosity and How It Effects Your Business Proposition
The first 15 seconds of your approach are the most important seconds of your entire sales presentation. You must instill curiosity in the mind of your prospect.
How to Achieve Sales Goals by Focusing on Activities
When I broke into sales in 1986, I read several books that talked about how important it was to set goals if you wanted to achieve success. I bought into the idea completely and started writing down extensive lists of goals that I expected to achieve, along with due dates for each goal.
How Business Coaches Avoid the Yearly Training Feeding Frenzy
What is it with appraisals? In September and October there were no training needs, and then suddenly in November and December everyone in the company has a personal development plan. How did that happen? How come six weeks ago I didn't have any training needs and now I have a shed-load of them?It's called the year-end appraisal.
Selling - Always Go for Top Money
If you've ever flown economy class on an international
flight then you've probably noticed that the airline makes
you walk through Business or First Class to get to your
economy seat. You become very much aware of the wider isles,
the more spacious, comfortable seats and the greater leg
room.
What You Can Learn From The Movie Business
Maybe everything you need to know you can learn from the movies. A friend of mine is a screenwriter in Los Angeles.
Humanize the Sales Process
Q & AQ. Sometimes when I'm presenting to clients, I sense that the customer tunes out.
7 Sales Techniques To Differentiate You From The Competition
You have a choice. You can stand out or blend in with your competitive landscape.
Increase Sales By Flying Under Your Prospects Radar Defenses
How do you persuade someone to do what you want them to do?A whole world of marketing exists around us trying to do that every minute of the day. Do you even notice it anymore or, like your prospects, have you subconsciously set up a system of "radar defenses" against the daily bombardment of marketing messages? Take a minute and count up the advertising methods which fight, for your attention (and money) every day.
|
