{"id":4515,"date":"2021-04-13T12:42:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-13T16:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.orchestratesales.com\/?p=4515"},"modified":"2024-04-16T18:41:49","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T22:41:49","slug":"improve-sales-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orchestratesales.com\/orchestrators\/improve-sales-training\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Ways to Improve Sales Training"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Helping salespeople in your organization improve their performance is challenging. For sales trainers, the job probably isn’t easy. But they’re not alone. Every role in your company is likely changing.
Information technology is moving to the cloud; marketing is becoming more data-driven; sales conversations are evolving, and operations are becoming more efficient. With all this change, people need help to be successful in their role.
Our team at Growth Matters works with many trainers and learning professionals. we hear over and over again, “it’s hard to show business impact.” With course developers and training facilitators, it’s hard to show the direct line between the work they do and the business impact they are trying to achieve.
For example, how does a course design translate to sales results with the sales team? How does classroom training create lasting and sustained behavior change with managers? These are the right questions.
And they’re questions that should keep you up at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Achieving business impact as a training professional is easier said than done. There are many moving parts to driving behavior change, and there are many factors out of your control. But there are many things you CAN do. We would start by asking some simple questions and reflect on your approach. To us, business impact always comes down to the problem you (and your function) is addressing. If that problem isn’t understood and scoped correctly, the training design and delivery will fail to achieve results. So the first question to any designer or trainer is simple; To begin creating a plan to increase your relevance, you have to engage stakeholders with what matters to them. Think “outside-in” and start with your organization’s customers, markets, and industry. Answering these questions may seem difficult at first. However, the answers to these questions, and your ability to dig in, and work hard to figure out the answers, will help you improve teaming with internal learning audiences, their managers, and their leaders. More importantly, shifting your approach allows you to become more consultative and business-centric, which then will enable you to engage in more impactful work — work that exists on the fringe of your organization, where innovation and agility occur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Helping salespeople in your organization improve their performance is challenging. For sales trainers, the job probably isn’t easy. But they’re not alone. Every role in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":10204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,74,129],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orchestratesales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4515"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orchestratesales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orchestratesales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orchestratesales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orchestratesales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.orchestratesales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10896,"href":"https:\/\/www.orchestratesales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4515\/revisions\/10896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orchestratesales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orchestratesales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orchestratesales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orchestratesales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
It’s critical to clarify your objective and then get real about any disconnect that may exist between your day-to-day work and the outputs you’re are trying to create. Don’t put your head in the sand. If you feel like you’re missing the mark — you probably are.
If you’re like many trainers we talk to, you probably know the link between what your team is doing and why they are doing it might not always show up in their final output.
If you feel like your outputs are lacking something, you’re probably right.
If that’s the case, stop designing and building. Stop digging yourself into a hole<\/em>. Do something about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat problem are you solving?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
“What problem are you trying to solve?” The typical responses are: “I need to get this done before the deadline.”I need to figure out how to create an activity that people like.”I need to get the training event slimmed down, so it fits into the 20 min slot we’ve allotted.”I need to be less busy because I’m slammed.”
PAUSE…Take a look at the list above, and ask yourself if that’s REALLY the problem you’re solving.
Are you sure?
Where’s the business impact?
Because if you ask a sales leader<\/a>, or a business unit manager what problem they think you’re SUPPOSED to be solving, none of this stuff would be on their list.
It wouldn’t even be close.
In fact, they would probably roll their eyes.
So, please stop and reflect. Let’s face it.
For you to be successful, you have to do meaningful work. Not just meaningful to you, but useful to the business. To be more relevant, you have to focus on your audience and focus on achieving the results that business leaders are looking to gain.
So, if your audience is salespeople, what problem do you need to solve for salespeople? And, if your audience is the technology team, what problem do you need to address for them?
Answering these questions may be easier said than done. Too many trainers and developers have a difficult time answering this question. If that’s the case, it’s vital to search for more clarity and understanding. Don’t back off.
Get outside your comfort zone.
Get passionate about figuring out what problem your audience needs help solving. Start there.
Don’t start with what needs to be “gamified<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Professional relevance requires business acumen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
To help, here are some questions to help other trainers and developers increase their business impact.
As you read each question, think about what conversations you need to have, with whom.
The questions are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n