A question we hear regularly is how long should our company sales training be.
The answer is 18 months… but why?
Let’s pretend you buy 6 months of training. The material and delivery are perfect! But when the training company tries to extend the contract, you tell them, “No, thank you.” You tell them, “We love you and the material but are not seeing any improvement in revenue or performance.” When your network of CEOs, Owners, Sales VPs, or Private Equity partners asks how the training went, you tell them it didn’t work. Even though the company delivered “great training,” we did see a slight improvement in results.
I attended the Sales Transformation Summit last March. A sales training company said it takes 12-18 months to bring lasting results. A coaching software company said it takes 12-18 months to bring lasting results. A learning management platform company said it takes 12-18 months to bring lasting results. When all 3 were pressed for a more specific answer, they all agreed it was 18 months. In 30 years of training and consulting, that has been my experience too.
Accomplishing Lasting Change
Let’s take weight loss as an example. We can all go on a diet and lose some weight, but how many of us keep it off long-term? According to the National Institute of Health, only 20% of dieters keep the weight off long term. So, what issues do people need to address in their journey to keep the weight off? Some issues are attitude towards diet, metabolism setpoint, exercise program, food choices, food preparation, reading labels, tracking calories, portion size, lifestyle, breaking bad habits, unsupportive routines, environment, support systems, goals, and commitment to success. So, if they don’t address the whole weight loss ecosystem, they become part of the 80% that regain weight.
Accomplishing lasting change in a sales organization is similar to permanent weight loss. You can provide “sales training,” but that’s the equivalent of just dieting. To bring about lasting change, sales transformation, or improvement in results takes 18 months because you have to address the ecosystem. That means the commitment to success in sales, the beliefs that support or sabotage their ability to execute, tactical skills, sales process, culture, systems, accountability, coaching, and support by other departments and upper management, to name a few.
Introduce a Sales MRI® to Your Company Sales Training
How many salespeople and sales managers resist change? How many managers succumb to pressure from their reps? Is the CEO genuinely committed to change, or will they give up when the sales reps present excuses for why this doesn’t fit our world? The beauty of a Sales MRI® is that it’s an invaluable tool for identifying the real issues and setting expectations. It’s vital to bring about lasting change by identifying the critical and hidden elements in the sales ecosystem.
Consider the repercussions of not conducting a Sales MRI® or not addressing the entire ecosystem. First, fixing a problem is hard without identifying the root cause. Second, your program will underperform everyone’s expectations. Third, the company will leave revenue and profits on the table.
It’s a potent reminder of the importance of a comprehensive Sales MRI® before designing a sales or sales management training program.
What do you get in a Sales MRI®? You get an analysis of your entire sales ecosystem, a list of issues that need to be resolved in order of priority, how long it will take to resolve those issues, and your expected ROI.
If you’d like a Sales MRI® on your sales team, please click here or contact amiller@BigSwiftKick.com.
To see a measurable shift in your team’s year-over-year revenue, generic workshops aren’t enough. Our corporate sales training is custom-built to help middle-market companies shorten sales cycles and close more complex deals.