Sales training rarely creates lasting success to our people without ongoing support. That is from both our management and our salespeople. Effective sales training must follow up on the learnings with reinforcement and activity.
Why Effective Sales Training?
Your sales team may undergo a boot-camp style training program that is tailored to your business and people. But it will not be successful if you do not apply the strategy and tactics the you have learned. Effective sales training will challenge the status quo of your team. New knowledge, skills, and experiences must be mastered. Ultimately, learning must continuously be reinforced for a salesforce to be able to stay on top.
That said, providing reinforcement is the most crucial part of effective sales training. That is because it is where your team must reach outside their comfort zones to try something different. They then need to be shown HOW to apply it until it becomes a new routine. Subsequently, it is also the phase where they will need some live coaching. That is because they need to have their questions and challenges answered. Especially as they use the new-found skills for the first time.
Reinforcement: Ensuring Your Sales Training Count
According to studies, most people in sales training forget half of what is taught to them within five weeks. This means that all the money, time, and effort invested in the training is wasted. Consequently, this is not only disadvantageous to the business. But could render your salesforce more unproductive than before they undergo the training.
In this day and age most people have low recall and poor knowledge retention. It is therefore important to provide our salespeople with the right program to equip them with relevant skills and knowledge. But more so, to also help them retain those gains in the long-run. In fact, a study from Ventana Research is revealing. It states that ROI in training, quadruples from 22% to 88% when supported by in-field coaching and reinforcement.
Value of Coaching During Reinforcement Training
In separate research from Centre for Management and Organisational Effectiveness revealed further points. It showed that a combination of training plus coaching could lead to an 88% increase in productivity. That is, compared to 23% from training alone.
It is therefore important to involve the right people when providing the salesforce with reinforcement. That is, to ensure that the right information is conveyed to them. Consequently, that is why managers should also be educated and trained first. Crucially, before they can coach their employees on the importance of training. In fact, 46% of sales professional rate “coaching by the sales manager” as the most effective way for reinforcing new skills.
SUMMARY
Overall, reinforcement is the key to achieve long-term success in any effective sales training program. As the adage goes, “Learning never stops”. So providing a solid support plan that span months to years should be your top priority. And as a result, you will create long-term change and build a top-notch sales team for your business.
Contact us to learn more about our Sales Training and Management program. Call Healthy Business Builder today 1300 833 574 or email us at info@healthybusinessbuilder.com
