Improve Sales Training, Increase Sales Effectiveness

Does your organization have a structured sales training program in place? If not, consider allocating more time and budget towards training – as it has proven to be one of the most valuable long-term initiatives for achieving sales excellence.

The truth is that 26% of reps feel that their training is ineffective. This comes as no surprise, as organizations often take a random or informal approach to sales coaching, with no real method for daily, weekly, or monthly coaching or one-on-one sessions with managers. Additionally, 27% of companies do not offer formal sales onboarding programs.

For sales training to be effective, managers must continue to reinforce the principles taught at onboarding sessions on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis – or reps will naturally forget a large percentage of the information.

If you are considering allocating a portion of your 2021 budget towards coaching and training initiatives, here are three statistics that demonstrate why having effective sales training should be a priority:

Increase sales effectiveness by improving sales training.

1 – The top sales teams have strong training structures in place.

High-performing sales organizations are twice as likely to provide ongoing training programs. This seems rather self-explanatory, as reinforcement of training principles can only benefit reps – yet most sales teams still lack the training structure needed to excel.

Consistent sales training is the most effective way to ensure consistent, top-tier performance by your sales reps. After all, a rep that does not retain training principles brings no value to your team.

To make your team most effective, make sure to set performance expectations upfront, and reinforce these expectations with weekly and monthly meetings, as well as one-on-ones. Reps should clearly understand the number of appointments they need set per week, how many calls they should be making, and so on, so that they have a fair chance to succeed.

2 – Sales coaching improves win rates.

Effective sales coaching can improve win rates and performance metrics like contact effectiveness. When reps are on top of their game on a daily basis, there is less room for error or diversion from best practices.

By analyzing call activity data and identifying which behaviors are generating desired outcomes, managers can replicate the behaviors of top performers and elevate the performance of their entire team with coaching. Utilizing a sales tool with call recording can enhance training as struggling reps can listen in on the calls of more successful reps, and listen-in capabilities can help managers provide targeted coaching to reps in real-time.

3 – Effective sales training generates valuable ROI.

For every dollar a company invests in training, it receives about $4.53 in return – which is equivalent to a 353% ROI. So, budget should not be a deterrent to implementing a proper training program for your sales team.

However, a consistent, recurring coaching program is necessary for both tenured and new employees; it is only natural that reps will return to old habits weeks after training if they lack reinforcement. Successful training should be built on accurate data to ensure that managers know where their reps stand, and reps know where they can improve.

Why You Should Invest in Training

If reps at your organization are struggling to perform to a standard, it is time to be introspective and evaluate your training and coaching initiatives. After all, it is the job of a sales manager to properly prepare reps with the skills and tools they need to be successful.

If you lack insight into rep activity, consider implementing a sales acceleration tool. This type of tool allows management to identify problem areas with 100% accuracy and empowers sales managers to spend their time and budget more wisely on coaching and training initiatives.

Invest in a sales tool to boost training effectiveness at your organization.