Sales skills training doesn't work for most salespeople

For many salespeople, sales skills training gets them nowhere

I often hear from sales leaders that their salespeople need to improve their sales skills. They tell me they'd like to put all their people on a sales skills training course, except that last time they tried this it didn't really work. What's going on here?

The most common complaint I hear about sales training is that it's not relevant enough – it's too generic to have much impact on the way salespeople sell every day.

The majority of salespeople can’t apply what they learn well
It's rare that sales trainers know enough about the industry that their trainees are working in to offer relevant and tailored training. There are lots of great sales training providers out there, but what’s missing is someone to create the link between the sales methodologies they teach and how to apply them in the real world. This missing link means that in reality much sales skills training is wasted. Here’s why.

Usually, about 10% of your sales team are consistent under-performers. The reason they under-perform has little to do with lack of training. There’s something else going on. You can train these people all day long and it will make no difference unless you address the underlying issues. Perhaps they don’t have the right personality for sales and need help to identify where their strengths really lie. Perhaps they’re having personal problems. Whatever it is, a good sales manager will find out and address the problem with sensitive coaching and the right support if they can.

At the other end of the bell curve, about 10% of your sales team are consistent over-performers. Again, the reason they are over-performers has little to do with training. These people are natural high flyers who can sell effectively in almost any situation. If they don’t have the right knowledge, they find it. If they make a mistake, they learn from it. They probably have a good attitude to learning and enjoy going on sales courses. But you won’t see much improvement in their sales performance after they attend training – these people are already pushing the boundaries of what is possible in their role. The only problem with these people is that if you can’t support their meteoric career trajectory, they will leave you (the subject of another blog I think).

The main beneficiaries of sales training can and should be the people in the middle of the bell curve. These are your consistent performers. They might never set the world on fire, but they often hit their targets and may even exceed them from time to time. Or perhaps they hover just below their target, at around 70% or 80%. In any case, you’d probably like to see them do better, but they don’t cause trouble and they make money for you year in year out. These are the people who can really make an impact on your bottom line if they raise their game and start to consistently over-achieve their targets. This is where the opportunity lies.

So you put them on a sales training course. And nothing happens. Why? These people don’t know what to do with sales training. It’s too abstract. They need help, guidance and long-term coaching to help them to apply a new sales methodology and change the way they sell. The training doesn't give this to them. And if your organisation is like most others, nor do you.

It’s important to offer training that helps salespeople to adapt their skills to selling in their industry. You must take them from the beginning to the end of the sales cycle, role playing every step to make sure they understand exactly what works and what doesn't. Then you need to let them loose on customers and coach them, every week, until you get the sales performance you’re looking for. Then you need to coach them some more to keep them there.

The trouble is, most sales training providers don’t offer this kind of tailored approach – they offer a generic sales methodology that works well but needs to be adapted to make it work in a given industry. The majority of salespeople struggle to do this.

We need sales skills training providers with industry expertise who can help salespeople to apply great sales methodologies in their roles, and sales managers who understand that they must coach their people relentlessly if they really want to see them raise their game.

What do you think of the sales skills training you've had? Post your comments below...

Picture: visualdensity, Flickr