Whether you are a corporate sales executive needing to increase company revenues, a sales manager wanting to improve your team's results, or a sales professional looking to invest in your own self improvement, you need to evaluate any sales or sales management training course properly before buying it.
All courses are not created equal and a high price tag does not necessarily guarantee results.
How You Should Evaluate Sales Training Programs To achieve the desired results from sales or sales management training, you must look for programs that take into account how people learn.
As summarized from Sullivan et al, there are eight principals required for effective adult learning: 1.
The student should be ready to learn.
2.
The program should build on what the student already knows or has experienced.
3.
Students should be aware of what they need to learn.
4.
A variety of training methods and techniques works best.
5.
Opportunities to practice skills are essential for skill acquisition and competency.
6.
Repetition is necessary to become competent or proficient in a skill.
7.
The more realistic the learning situation, the more effective the learning.
8.
Feedback should be immediate, positive and nonjudgmental.
The keys to success are ensuring that each participant has the opportunity to actually practice their newly learned skills (as opposed to just being lectured to), and that each new skill introduced builds on a previous one learned.
It is also critical that the participants have access to their trainer/coach after the training course is complete for ongoing feedback and support.
Unfortunately, most lecture based sales training programs do not provide any of this, and therefore ultimately fail to provide the desired results.
In addition to the need for practical exercises and ongoing coaching support discussed above, other questions to consider when evaluating sales and sales management training programs include: • Do the techniques and materials being taught actually produce measurable results? Are the training programs guaranteed? Its one thing for a training company to say they have great programs, but it quite another for them to stand behind them with a guarantee.
• Are you learning from a qualified trainer? Anyone can attempt to provide sales training by reading a book and delivering a seminar.
To be successful, your trainer should be experienced, knowledgeable, and have a proven track record of success.
• Are the programs customizable for you and your products? You don't just want to talk about theories about how to sell any product, you want to be able to put those theories into practice so that you start to sell your product.
• Is there a mechanism like testing or accreditation exams in place to ensure that the participants are learning the materials? If you don't keep score, how do you know you are winning? • Are the training programs broken into sessions over a period of time or are they a one shot deal? Sales is a process that can be repeated, but no one is going to learn that process in one afternoon.
• Are the programs available in different formats, like self study programs, online interactive webinars, as well as just the traditional onsite programs? You must consider travel time and expenses when evaluating your training options, and today's e-learning alternatives may be a better fit to your budget.
There is no question that investing in yourself or your team is the right way to go to point you down the road to achieving your sales potential.
However, if you want to improve your sales or sales management training results, then you have to change the way you deliver your sales training! For a free copy of the B2B Sales Connections Training Program Decision Matrix to help you choose a training program that is right for you, send me an email and I will send you a copy immediately.
Whatever program you choose, we wish you nothing but success in your future.
Aim Higher! Susan A.
Enns, B2B Sales Connections