Sales Training Doesn't Work - And What To Do About It

For some time now I’ve known that sales training doesn’t work for most organizations long-term. While
sales training can help some salespeople temporarily, senior sales leaders and senior executives must
recognize that behavioral change - not sales training - is the key to superior, sustainable sales performance.

While thousands of training companies offer sales training programs for cold-calling, prospecting, planning
account strategies, sales call planning, presenting to clients and negotiating, there isn’t one sales training
program I'm aware of that will, by itself, change a salesperson's behavior. And if you don't change a
salesperson's behavior, what is learned from sales training won't last long-term.

So, what is it that changes selling behaviors? The academic answer may be complex, but for us regular
folks it’s pretty simple – salespeople, like anyone, will change their behavior when they perceive that
there is something substantial in it for them to make a change.

Changing behavior is a process, and like all processes it must be managed. Behavior isn’t changed in the
same way you flip on a light switch. Salespeople almost never raise their hands to request sales training
from their managers, and it’s difficult to convince most salespeople that they need to change their selling
behaviors. After all, their “natural” sales talent has gotten them this far!

An effective prescription for changing selling behaviors will include a consensus among senior managers
of the relevance of the sales training to the most important strategic objectives of the business. Senior
managers are much more likely to encourage and support a sales training initiative that promises to positively impact critical strategic objectives than sales training that delivers entertainment, and little else, to the sales
team.

The next step, and this one is absolutely critical, is to communicate to the sales managers and the sales team
the direct connection between the sales training and the strategic objectives of the business. Now, perhaps
for the first time, the sales team can see the potential impact of their activities on important business objectives, instead of seeing only their effect on the quarter’s top line number and in their commission checks.

Once the sales team understands their role in helping the company achieve strategic business objectives,
they must clearly see how changing their selling behaviors will help them directly impact those objectives and
how they will personally benefit from the change. Money is always an important factor, but so is personal development and growth.

The failure of sales training costs companies billions of dollars annually and wastes everyone’s time. It
doesn’t have to be that way. When sales training is an integral part of a well thought out plan for changing behaviors to meet strategic objectives, the sales training can deliver desired results. Positive behavioral
change benefits the company, customers, managers and sales professionals.

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Copyright © 2009 Selling Up™.  All Rights Reserved.

About the author: Steve Chriest is the founder of Selling Up™ (www.selling-up.com), a sales consulting
firm specializing in revenue and sales improvement for organizations of all types and sizes in a variety of
industries. He is also the author of Selling The E-Suite, The Proven System For Reaching and Selling
Senior Executives and Profits and Cash – The Game of Business.   You can reach Steve at
schriest@selling-up.com.