How do you ensure your time and financial investment in sales training pays off? We often discuss the proven tools that withstand the test of time to increase sales productivity, but let’s explore the common reasons sales training fails. By understanding what these pitfalls are and avoiding them, you'll set the course for successful training initiatives that will result in increased sales performance and long-term revenue growth.

1. How to make
sales training stick.
C O M P L I M E N T A R Y W E B I N A R
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19th November 2015 | David Nisbet

2. Agenda
Background/context
Why sales training fails…
Critical success factors of an
effective sales methodology
The importance of coaching
Measurement and adoption metrics
Closing thoughts
Questions
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3. *Bersin by Deloitte - Corporate Learning Factbook 2014. http://www.bersin.com/corporate-learning-factbook-2014
over $130 Billion worldwide
Companies spent
on corporate training initiatives last year
of that… $70 Billion was USA spend

4. sales training initiatives have no
lasting impact beyond 120 days*
9 out of 10
*Dave Stein, Sales Training: The 120-Day Curse (ES Research Group).
The Forgetting
Curve
Hermann Ebbinghaus

5. What is the worst sales training
experience you can imagine?

6. Why
sales training
fails…
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Theory that can’t be
applied in the real
world
Lack of
management buy-in
and accountability
Poor integration
with existing
processes
(such as CRM
systems)
Little or no
ongoing
reinforcement
No measurement
of indicators of
success
One size
does not fit allFailure to align sales
training with
strategic objectives

7. Poll
In your experience, which of these do you think is the
biggest challenge?
© 2015 ValueSelling Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

8. Sales Methodology Success Factors
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Organizational
focus on the value
of solutions
Comprehensive
implementation
plan
Management
coaching and
reinforcement
Success
Keep it simple
and straightforward
(KISS)

9. Change
management
approach
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Prepare
and Align
Execute
Transfer
Ownership/
Measure

10. Develop a tailored
sales training
program aligned
with sales leadership
Prepare and Align
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Build tailored materials
Identify not only the
content but delivery
models
Integrate and leverage
existing programs, tools
and processes
Align sales leaders and
line to the program

11. Operationalise
the sales training
program
Execute
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eLearning pre-work a key
component of rollout
Sales Leadership
Coaching programme an
integral part of process
Materials highly
customised to reflect real
world situations

12. Change management
and transfer of
ownership to the
Organisation
Transfer Ownership/Measure
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Integration of your
methodology into existing
sales management
process and sales tools
Implementation of
the eValuePrompter®
in CRM system
Measurement of objectives
– leading and lagging
indicators

13. The importance of coaching
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Sales Executive Council
3 hours of coaching
per month perform
15% to 17%
better than their peers.
Combining training
and coaching
improves productivity
by 88%
Improving coaching
programs increases
revenue by 19%

14. 10%
UrgentThe enablement of sales talent
20%
70%
80% of the
sales force
brings in
38% of the
revenue
#ofsalespeople
HighCore
Performance
Low
Source CSO Insights
© 2015 ValueSelling Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
The top 20%
brings in 62%
of the revenue!

15. How can you
effectively measure
return on investment?
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16. How can we tell if it’s working?
• Increased margins
• Less discounting
• Increase in revenue
• Shorter sales cycles
• Increase in strategic account
penetration
• Fewer calls required to close business
• Increased transaction size
• Improvement in % of deals closed
• Increase in number of deals won
• Mutual value articulation
• Increase in follow-up letters
• Increase in proposal presentations
prior to submitting final offer
• Use of appropriate language during
discussions of sales opportunities
• Drop in technical resources
involved until opportunity qualified
• No evals/proposals released until
ALL components uncovered
• Certain sales reps turning around
poor performance
This… …leads to this
16
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17. © 2015 ValueSelling Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Failure is success
if we learn from it.
Malcom Forbes

18. At the end of today’s webinar
Go to valueselling.com > resources > webinars
to download today’s slides
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20. © 2014 ValueSelling Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

21. Thank you!
David Nisbet | Managing Partner, UK
david.nisbet@valueselling.com
+ 44 7816 161 409
uk.linkedin.com/in/davidjnisbet