Overcome the biggest roadblocks to sales training in your organization today!

1. The Top 5 Sales Training
Issues
and Recommended Solutions
http://www.salestrainingdrivers.org

2. Brian Lambert
• Joined ASTD in 2007 to lead sales training
– Fifteen years of sales/sales training experience (Government, IT,
services & Large and small companies)
• 50,000 people in 19 countries
• Founder of the United Professional Sales Association
• Author of two books on sales performance
• Recognized as one of most influential people in selling*
• Education:
– Bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Florida
– Master’s of science degree in Administration and Human Resource
Management from Central Michigan University,
– Ph.D. candidate at Capella University
* by Sales & Marketing Management Magazine, 2006

3. Issue One:
Sales Training Apathy
• The elephant in the room
• Trainers too quick to take credit ‐ usually
• Salespeople don’t give credit ‐ usually
• Assuming what salespeople need
• Going for entertainment value
• Wrong executive buy‐in
• Assuming that if salespeople make plan, there are no gaps in
knowledge or skill

4. Issue One: Sales Training
Apathy
Leadership
Support
Change
Management
Competency- Issue One
Based
Approach
Solutions
Personal
Leadership
Systems
View

5. Issue Two:
Wrong Sales Training Mix
• Do you talk “what” or “how”?
• What’s your definition of sales training?
– Product Training
– Company‐specific Training
– Industry Training
– Skills Training
• What’s your sales process?
• What roles does coaching play?
• Who’s designing content? Making decisions?
• How do your customers make a purchase decision?

6. “48% OF SALESPEOPLE
LEARN BY TRIAL AND ERROR
TO A HIGH OR VERY HIGH
DEGREE”
ASTD/I4CP Research Fall 2008

7. Get the Right Sales Training Mix
Delivery is
Critical
Manage
Knowledge
You Drive Issue Two
The
Content
Solutions
Instill
Know How Real Coaching
Your
Buyer’s Buy

8. Issue Three:
Lack of Sales Development
System
• Knee jerk reactions are common
• Needs analysis is sometimes spotty
• Sales career paths rarely often don’t lead anywhere
• Are you helping the sales team answer the fundamental sales
questions at all times?
– For example: “Where am I, and what should I do?”
• Reactive approach to developing content based on sales team
wants, not needs

9. Treat Selling as a System
Learning
&
Performance
Approach Competency
Based
Approach
Sales
Training
Issue Three
Strategic Solutions
Plan
Identify
Real
Develop a Knowledge
Coaching Gaps
Program

10. Issue Four:
Poor Measurement Techniques
• Poor follow‐up after each training event
• No real definition of success
• Assuming that training will yield a business outcome
• Little/no emphasis on measuring coaching interactions
• Lack of documentation: If people believe it, it’s true

11. Better Measurement Techniques
Measure
Leading
Outputs Measure
Lagging
Outputs
Issue Four
Split Sample
Solutions
Measure
Behavioral
Measure Change
Knowledge
Transfer

12. Issue Five:
The Wrong Content
• Prescription before diagnosis
• Customized vs. standardized?
• Outsourced vs. in‐house?
• Training delivers more knowledge and skill, not talent or
wisdom
• Not understanding the organizational maturity of your sales
team
• Re‐inventing the wheel

13. Train the Right Content
Don’t Buy
Into
“Flavor of
Month” Know When
To
Customize
Centralize
Issue Five
Training Solutions
Select Vendors
On Objective
Understand Measures
Competencies

14. In Summary:
• Sales Training is not a one‐time event
• Work to bring sales training to a holistic process
• Choose the right content for the right time and deliver it in
the right way
• Measure the right outputs
• Don’t take the easy way out

15. The Sales Profession
Competency Model
The definition of world‐class
selling
http://www.salestrainingdrivers.org

16. Sales Competency Model
Advisory Panel Representation
16

17. Administrator
Analyst
Consultant
Developer
Manager
Strategist
Sales Roles
Creating and Closing Opportunities
Protecting Accounts
Defining and Positioning Solutions
Supporting Indirect Selling
Setting Sales Strategy
Managing within the Sales Ecosystem
Developing Sales Force Capability
Delivering Sales Training
Coaching for Sales Results
Building Sales Infrastructure
Designing Compensation
Maintaining Accounts
Recruiting Sales Talent Sales Areas of Expertise
Partnering Insight Solution Effectiveness
• Spanning Boundaries • Analyzing Organizational Capacity • Facilitating Change • Building Business Skills
• Communicating Effectively • Understanding Business Context • Formalizing Agreements • Solving Problems
• Aligning to Customers • Evaluating Customer Experiences • Resolving Issues • Embracing Diversity
• Setting Expectations • Gathering Intelligence • Managing Projects • Making Ethical Decisions
• Negotiating Positions • Prioritizing Stakeholder Needs • Leveraging Success • Managing Knowledge
• Building Relationships • Identifying Options • Articulating Value • Using Technology
• Building a Business Case • Accelerating Learning
•Executing Plans
• Maximizing Personal Time
• Aligning to the Sales Process
Foundation Competencies

19. Thank You!
Brian Lambert
Director, ASTD Sales Training
and Sales Training Driver
O: 703‐683‐8100
F: 703‐894‐2784
E: blambert@astd.org
http://www.salestrainingdrivers.org