This is Why ALL Sales Training Is Doomed To Fail!

Every single lecture or any general training may be a waste of company resources

Sascha Kronberg
Jul 25, 2017 · 6 min read

Most of the sales training I attended had been doomed to fail. It did not matter if the topic had been around solution selling, inside sales, cold calling techniques, or some smart-buzzword-sales training. No matter how relevant or entertaining it has been, they all failed. Alternatively, the other way around: I failed them! I even failed them, before actually attending!

Oh!? Really? Yes, indeed! Don’t believe my words, just remember back to the last training you attended. As a result of the training, how many great new ideas have you applied in your daily sales life? How many of those great ideas have stuck? Yes — sticking with something you have learned is the key result and goal of all kinds of training. It happened to many of us; you have probably forgotten about it. Great weekend, BBQ with the buddies, or a family weekend with the kids being happily crazy, kept us on our toes. We arrived at the office on Monday, ran through emails, read those important ones we needed to focus on for the day. Before we even start in the day, already the valuable content of the training began to fade away.

Look, it is not all our fault. Let’s say the trainer and presenter had been entertaining, he had those little funny jokes and moments, he was provoking and what he said was spot-on. All of the delivered content was to the point. In fact, the trainer offered many wonderful recommendations; you had difficulties to decide on the three things you wanted to implement, first. So here lies one of the problems — on which three things out of tens or twenty different ideas of advice should you focus on putting into practice? How much are those things tailored to your potential? Can you identify the little actions, which carry the biggest potential to enhance your results?

Let’s assume we are sitting in a workshop and discuss how we could live a healthier life (I know that I am the wrong guy for that, the only six-pack I carry is the occasional six-pack of some brand of cola zero). I think we all agree on the following recommendations: Quit smoking, skip alcoholic beverages, keep a healthy diet, control those empty carbs like sugar, drink more water, do more exercise, run the stairs, don’t take the elevator and so on. It is safe to assume that all of those tips you and I already know. We are just not doing them. If we had to pick the one tip of advice to put it into practice, which one would we choose? The typical „an apple a day, keeps the doctor away“-, or the „30-minute exercise in the morning“ advice? Alternatively, should I start with quit smoking? Let’s decide over the weekend. So here it starts fading away.

When I am giving sales training to a younger audience, sitting in class to become the next generation of sales superstars, I often find them open minded and interested. The group is super charged and is soaking up every piece of advice. As a trainer, there is nothing better. However, it also bears the problem to lose structure and motivation, when applying everything simultaneously.

Always choose actions which carry the greatest potential, having the biggest impact on the result and your motivation.

Being a sales trainer is like being a Monday Morning Quarterback. I am booked by the hour or by the day. I come in — I deliver the greatest pieces of content and motivation — and I leave. There is no way I can observe and see your progress, and I certainly can not give you any further advice when you start implementing new actions. As I can not control the outcome, how can I or my lecture be judged to be beneficial, or to be a waste of company resources?

Every lecture or training is a waste of company resources if the trainees are not acting on the content.

The dilemma is that if I do not know you enough, I can not tailor the content towards the actions carrying the biggest impact on your sales performance. Instead of giving a full sales training with much content, I would need to break it up into pieces and let you apply those actions over time when ever you are ready tackling the next challenge. Of course, this is more complicated, and a much harder sell than the sale of a one-time sales training or lecture.

Sales training are failing, as given circumstances dominate format and content.

When standing in front of my class, I am judged by two things: How unique is the content I am delivering, and how much entertaining am I? As most sales people have a good understanding of sales, they may have already heard some variation of any content I am just about to present. Also, there are also conflicting set of beliefs — e.g. cold calling does not work opposing to cold calling does work. So what is left? All that is left is Entertainment. A good show helps to keep you awake and contributes to being perceived relevant at the same time. That is why most sales trainers are trying to be entertaining, next of being relevant. If you follow the one or the other sales mentor around, you notice certain attitude or pattern in their lectures, to be perceived relevant, inspiring, to be a leading example, while being entertaining at the same time. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with that. It sells. That is all that matters. At least to the sales trainer, coach or mentor.

Next time you are sitting in a sales training, make notes of the great content you hear and apply things which carry the biggest potential having an impact on your motivation and result. Transform those little actions into practice, before moving on. Give the guy or gal running the training a chance of being relevant. Not everything you hear will be important for you. The only judge in the room for relevancy is you. Only you know how appropriate things are for yourself.

We now know that a training session boils down to the perception of delivered content and the selection of actions and advice you select to implement in your daily life. Therefore I will not offer a general, stand-alone training any longer, without prior consultation and assessment of your team’s skills and circumstances. It may be more expensive first, but if not done otherwise it will be a waste of resources — yours and mine. If you want your people to benefit from getting new ideas, make sure the appropriate actions, the ones carrying the biggest potential on the result, are selected first. Let’s help your team by forming new habits — getting them repeated and followed up during regular office hours, to become second nature. Then we are tackling the next challenge and optimize your contributors further. Step by step — and I promise we will make it entertaining as well.

Sascha Kronberg

Written by

Sales Marshal. Based in Berlin, active across Europe. Helping businesses to increase sales. Get Training and Advisory NOW, at www.ignitemysales.com

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