When companies invest in sales training, the expected outcome is often a change in their salespeople’s behavior. Unfortunately, most companies drastically underestimate the amount of time and effort that must be invested to accomplish behavioral change.
Sitting in a class for a couple of hours or days is a good way to expose salespeople to new concepts. However, new concepts feel strange and uncomfortable, and most salespeople lack confidence in their ability to execute them correctly. Plus, they worry that attempting to use the new concepts with real, live prospects or customers will cost them sales and hard-won credibility. So, most salespeople abandon the new concepts and continue to rely on the behaviors that are comfortable for them.
If companies want to change their salespeople’s behavior, the management team (from top executives to individual sales managers) must make a different level of commitment to training. The concepts taught during a training class must be repeated and reinforced on a regular, consistent basis. The salespeople must also be provided with a non-threatening environment where they can repeatedly practice the new concepts until they become second nature.
If a company is willing to invest in “train-the-trainer” training for its sales managers, the sales managers may be able to conduct effective reinforcement training. However, there are some challenges with this approach. First, not every sales manager has the attributes required for success as a trainer. Second, learning the new concepts well enough to teach them effectively may require a larger investment of time and effort than the sales managers feel they can afford to make. Third, because of their busy schedules, it may be difficult for the sales managers to deliver reinforcement training with the frequency and consistency necessary to accomplish behavioral change. If any of these conditions exist, the company should consider contracting with an outside service to provide reinforcement training.