5 Reasons Why Sales Training Will Not Work
- The leader is not engaged and/or trained
- Change is hard
- Personal goals are not tied to organizational goals
- One and done mentality
- No culture of accountability
Obviously, I am biased here. I believe in sales training (done right). However, there are lots of reasons that sales training will not work. Let me share FIVE that come to mind. Can you relate to any of these?
Leaders Must be Involved
It is interesting to me how leadership will often invest in sales training for their team but not invest themselves in the process. It is never enough to train your folks and just expect them to perform, especially when you as the leader are not involved in the new learning.
“A leader is one who knows the way to go, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John C Maxwell
Training for the sake of training is not enough. This new learning needs to be reinforced daily. This new learning must be supported by leadership through consistent coaching. Note! Coaching, not telling.
“A genuine leader is not a search for consensus, but a molder of consensus.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
If you, as the leader are not willing to be involved in sales training alongside of your team, save your money and do not have your team trained. I am pretty sure that they will eventually figure it out, eventually, right? Right?
Change – Yuck!
No one really likes change. Change is hard. Changes makes us get out of our comfort zones. Change is inevitable. You can embrace change by grabbing ahold of it and making it work for you, or you can wake up one day and discover that you have become a victim of change. Change happens!
“Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” – John C Maxwell
Training salespeople is about change. It’s about taking something that doesn’t work and improving it. It’s also about taking what does work and making it more consistent and predictable. Some of your folks need a little and some need a lot. Either way, you can expect some sort of pushback. Why? Because change is hard.
“In any given moment we have two options; to step forward into growth or to step back into safety” – Abraham Maslow
What Are Their Goals?
How does training help your people achieve their personal goals? Great question. But why does it even matter? Easy, when you help them see how their personal goals are tied to the company’s goals, they will buy in. Truth – People will work harder to achieve their own personal goals than they will to help you achieve your company goals. (This includes full engagement in sales training).
“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one who gets the people to do the greatest things.” – Ronald Reagan
Can your senior leaders name the personal goals of each person reporting to them? You cannot assume that your team knows or even cares about the corporate goals when you do not know about, or care about theirs.
Naturally, your organization must have goals and those goals are important. If you understand that it takes people to achieve these goals, wouldn’t it make sense to know the goals of your people and endeavor to help achieve them. Help them know why the company goals are perfectly aligned with their goals and they will be infinitely more engaged.
One and Done Doesn’t Work!
David Sandler wrote a terrific book called “You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike in a Seminar.” The point here is that lasting and meaningful change (or learning) does not happen overnight. Can you grab a nugget or two at a “One and Done” event? Maybe, but they won’t stick.
“It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.” – Tony Robbins
There are lots of great sales seminars and short-term opportunities out there. They’re long on “sizzle,” but short on “steak.” It takes constant reinforcement to exact substantive change. If you are not committed to consistent training and learning as part of your culture, save your money. You’ll likely need it.
No Culture of Accountability
Have you ever spent any time around “idea of the week” types? It seems like they come up with a great new idea every week. If the current one does not work, do not worry, there’s a new one right around the corner. How do you create a culture of accountability with all of that going on? You do not!
“Accountability is the glue that. Ties commitment to the results.” – Bob Procter
If you’re not getting the results, you want out of your sales team, take a hard look at your commitment to the system, to your process. Do your people know exactly what is required, when it is required and what the repercussions will be if there are shortfalls? Are the shortfalls a result of a technical or a conceptual gap? Are you committed to fix it, once and for all this time? If you are not prepared to “go there”, save your money.
It’s Time
It’s time to take the bull by the horns and determine your commitment to growing and developing your sales team.
If any of these 5 issues are present in your organization, and you're not totally committed to fixing them... just say no to training.
BUT... none of these are irreversible. It's time to fix them. Now let’s go Sell Something!
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