Over the next three Fridays we will be blogging about data found in
last year's ASTD's State of Sales Training research study. This
three part series will drill down deeper each week as we analyze
and discuss trends found in this insightful research. Part 1 will
focus on the importance of aligning sales training with other
corporate training as well as corporate goals and initiatives, part
2 will focus on the "who, what, and how" of sales training, and
part 3 will focus on the "what and how" of selling skills.
We're really hoping to get some good discussion going. So whether
you're a grizzled veteran or someone new to sales training, head
down to the comments section and let us know what you think!
Integrating Sales Training with the Learning
Function
As one participant in the study said, "Training cannot be in a
vacuum it must be integrated to be relevant."
This rings true when looking at the data. An analysis
correlating the integration of various components of sales training
with improved sales performance found that all five components
(found in the far left column of the figure below) had a
significant positive correlation between integration with corporate
learning and higher sales performance (see column at the far right
of the figure below).
What effect can this have?
Of the 5 components, the data shows that sales performance and
revenue increase was most positively correlated with these 3:
delivery of learning, the personnel/training staff, and how the
learning is designed. This suggests that integration of sales
training with overall corporate training means more sales.
Conclusion
For most organizations though, sales training decisions tend to
reside within the sales function and thus ends up isolated from the
corporate learning function. The companies that do integrate their
sales training organization into the broader corporate function are
most likely to integrate content strategy and the delivery of
training.
Unfortunately, learning design, staff training, and budgeting areas
of sales training are typically not integrated at all, or only to a
small extent. This makes the sales training function one of the
last major training areas to remain somewhat separate from the
organization's other learning and development professionals.
What are your experiences? How does your company or organization
position sales training? What ideas do you that can improve the
situation?