No Time for Practice: Why Sales Training Fails (part 2)

In part 1 of this article, I explored the reason why practice is integral in successfully adopting the skills and methodologies taught in sales training, and why the excuses I have heard from some executives who “don’t have time for practice” are just plain silly.  If the comments in part 1 are any indication, there are many differing opinions on how to make sales training effective.  In part 2, I’d like to highlight the main themes I saw from everyone’s comments on the blog and LinkedIn, and then delve into the ways that practice can help your firm amplify the effectiveness of  your sales training.

Part 1 of this article received 25 comments on this site, and another 20-30 on LinkedIn; all of you shared many great insights, and I’d like to cover some of the main themes.

1. Attitude: Both sales management and the sales force must need/want to get better through training.  Often times sales training is sought because management sees the need, yet salespeople fail to adopt the training because they don’t. People will never adopt a significant change unless they truly want to (think dieting, smoking, and Jamarcus Russel).
2. The Right People Must Be On The Bus: Sales training will amplify the skills of your employees who are already producing at average to high levels of performance, not compensate for those who aren’t meant to be salespeople.   Train the people you know you want “on the bus”, and move the people who aren’t meant to be in sales to a job they like.
3. Behavior Modification: In the end, sales training is meant to change behaviors.  This was a “wow” moment for me, because there is a ton of work by brilliant psychologists on behavior modification, that can be applied to your sales training implementation plan.
4. Training is a strategic transformation: Sales leadership needs to think of comprehensive sales training as a strategic initiative, because it requires a large commitment from a broad array of resources, both human and monetary.

All these points have enough depth to them to be written about extensively, but the scope of this article is “practice”, so I am going to stick to that piece. As a participant in multiple sales trainings myself, I have realized that there are two steps to training.  The first is to understand the concepts……that can be done in the classroom and refreshers.  The second step is applying the training in front of customers that can be unpredictable, and that must be done through practice.  Here are some tips on effective methods of practicing to get the maximum return out of your sales training investment.

1. Set KPIs: Clearly in any sales training initiative, there must be an evaluation mechanism to determine the progress towards adopting the new sales training.  These KPIs should be constantly measured and serve as a dashboard for the sales training’s executive sponsor, giving them insight into strengths, weaknesses, and bottlenecks in the sales force’s adoption; adjustments can then be made to address the current state, and get the program to the desired future state.  The KPIs should be worked into each salesperson and sales manager’s compensation scheme in a way that doesn’t allow for gaming of the system.
2. Carve Out Time for Practice: Soon after training, salespeople will enter back into a sales world that is filled with distractions.  For the first three to four weeks, management needs to carve out significant amounts of time to devote to practice: role play (preferably videotaped) with testy customers, video presentations of actual salespeople or trainers using the new methodologies on customers, and tests.  Remember that you are taking time away from each salesperson’s effort to hit quota….it is a good idea to suspend quotas for this first month in place of some adoption goals. At the end of this period, salespeople should be able to complete the new sales methodology with minimal resistance (common objections).
3. Take it To the Field!:  Let’s face it, role plays aren’t a very good simulation…..there’s no substitute for a live customer.  For the next three to four weeks, managers (or trainers if managers are uncomfortable) need to day-ride with each salesperson to 3-6 calls.  For the first 1-2, the manager will lead the sales call using the new sales training. For the next 1-2 calls, the salesperson will lead the calls with assistance from the manager who can step in to get a call back on track.  For the next 1-2 calls, the salesperson is on their own, and the manager will be an observer.  Managers need to give feedback after each call, have the salesperson practice any major hiccups in the calls (use techniques in #2),  evaluate how much of the training the salesperson has adopted, and surmise whether each salesperson can run a sales call on their own using the new sales training.  For each salesperson, stay on #3 until they can independently run a sales call.
4. Get Together to Talk: Based on the major categories of the sales training methodology, form social networking groups to discuss challenges, successes, role play, and share tips to mastering each category of the training.  These groups should be actively moderated by your sales training company and salespeople who have become “stars” at each category.  Social networking is a powerful technology, and utilizing it within your company (or partnering with other companies who have used the same training) can be transformative.
5. Keep Practicing: Tiger Woods, Joe Montana, Derik Jeter, Kobe Bryant…..all these people are great masters of their profession, and all of these people still practice.  Keep your salespeople practicing by repeating #3 once a month to touch base, evaluate, and find areas to improve upon.  Your quota is going up next year, and the skill sets of your sales force must also.

**A big thanks to everyone that was willing to share their opinion on par 1, as all of you have substantially added to the part 2 content.**