What would it take to make (sales) training REALLY work?

Have you attended any sales training recently? Or perhaps organized one for your sales team?

One point that keeps troubling me when it comes to sales training (or any soft skills training for that matter) is that I can’t help getting the impression that it’s a waste of time and money for the participants and the organization funding it.

The sales management (often including HR or L&D) spends significant efforts in selecting a vendor, designing with them a program, arranging for venue & catering and not to forget the fees for the vendor.

What is the outcome? Hard to tell. Are the participants happy with the program? Often yes. How much did the participants really apply? In my experience much less than expected. Was it ultimately a good Return on Investment (ROI)? Who knows...

What is missing?

I have attended a number of sales and leadership trainings myself and while I enjoyed most of these trainings, I’d say they were not worth the time and money invested if I look at my actual behavioral change resulting from these trainings. Analyzing why the change didn’t happen, I can see three reasons:

• No clear commitment to any specific (!) changes at the end of the seminar
• No support during the implementation of any changes – when something doesn’t work immediately, one easily gives up and returns to previous behavior
• No framework that reminds me of keep trying new behaviors that lead ultimately to more success

To achieve significant behavioral change that leads to better results, we came up with a number of cost-effective strategies how to overcome these short comings. Contact us to find out how. 

Let’s keep progressing!

Charlie Lang
Executive Progress Expert and Founder of Progress-U Ltd.

Author of the E-Book Stop Selling! Accelerate Your Business in Asia

Author of The Groupness Factor and the upcoming "A New Map for a New Age"

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