Companies invest massive amounts of money into sales training programs each year, yet research shows that 85-90% of this training has no lasting impact beyond 120 days. Billions of dollars are being flushed down the drain on initiatives that provide little more than a temporary bump in sales performance.
When sales training falls flat, it is typically due to a handful of all-too-common mistakes. By understanding and addressing these pitfalls, organisations can transform their programs from fleeting revenue spikes into sustainable drivers of long-term sales growth.
The 7 Deadly Sins of Failed Sales Training
- Undefined Business & Learning Objectives. Programs are plagued by vague goals, and fuzzy expectations, and so are doomed before they start. It is crucial to have a clear vision of the desired outcomes and what’s required to achieve them. And that a thorough training needs analysis is performed to identify skills gaps. Corporate executives often set training agendas based on a poor understanding of root causes, eg “margins are falling, so negotiation skills are needed”. The reason could be aggressive competitor pricing from a new market entrant or poor opportunity qualification leading to weak value to the customer.
Solution: analyse how the selling processes impact business results to identify relevant learning objectives.
- Knowledge Deficiencies. While techniques like questioning, active listening and objection handling are essential, most training needs are about skills rather than product and industry knowledge. Top sellers are not just smooth talkers – they deeply understand their offerings, the problems they solve and thus business impact, competitors, trends, and more. Most sellers will have skills fade, as all professionals do. Ensuring knowledge and skills are constantly refreshed and tuned by the individual is critical.
Solution: Build individual knowledge learning and reinforcement journeys and measure team engagement.
- Overlooking Personal Attributes. Even a highly capable seller can falter due to their mental makeup and motivations. Training must account for everyone’s unique drivers and detractors that impact their potential for sales success.
Solution: Assess how the individual learns by understanding which learning approach they inhabit. Are they living on the induction island, the synergistic shift, the voluntaristic valley, or scaling to be a scanner? Once you know, design learning that suits their attributes and learning style. One size does not fit all.
- Lacking a Defined Process. Having the skills is one thing, but sellers also require a consistent, replicable methodology for progressing prospects through the pipeline. Ad hoc “winging it” inevitably leads to haphazard results.
Solution: Review your sales process and the platforms facilitating it and understand the enabling factors or barriers to sales engagement and efficiency. Are they supported by an agreed and well-defined common taxonomy?
- Passive, Disengaging Content. Dense PowerPoints and lecture-based sessions put adult learners to sleep. Top training gets participants actively practising applicable scenarios that reinforce the key concepts. Voluntaristic and Scanner sales learners react badly to “firehosing” knowledge in the form of classrooms or PowerPoints and seek social and experiential learning.
Solution: Blend learning and allow individuals to own their learning journey and gain qualifications that communicate capability and competence in knowledge and skill. This will enhance their public image and be positively viewed by buyers and customers.
- No Reinforcement Strategy. One-and-done events are quickly forgotten as sellers revert to old habits. A comprehensive reinforcement plan – refreshers, coaching, etc. is vital for cementing new behaviours until they become ingrained.
Solution: curated self-directed learning digitally delivered and tracked alongside management coaching.
- Inadequate Measurement. If you are not rigorously evaluating the effectiveness of your training impact, you are flying blind. Continuous measurement enables accountability and allows you to identify and improve any lacklustre areas.
Solution: Employ regular impartial self-driven assessments on knowledge, skill capability, and behaviour to measure the improvement of individuals in the team. The development of people’s capabilities is essential for many reasons but allowing people to evidence their increase and rewarding them for it, reinforces the positive learning effect.
By avoiding these training pitfalls, companies can transform their programs from expensive wastes of time and resources into powerful catalysts for sales team success. The upfront investment of thought and planning pays dividends down the line.
To find out how the ISP can inspire your sellers and transform your business, please contact me at: andrew.hough@the-isp.org
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