How Not to Learn

Many of you, especially aspiring golfers, will recognize the cartoon below illustrating appropriate “swing thoughts.” In fact, anyone who has attempted to learn the fundamentals of golf at some point in life will no doubt quickly relate and probably laugh out loud. Conceptually, golf involves a pretty simple idea. Your goal is to strike a stationary ball with a flat-surfaced club and advance it to the green and into the hole – in as few stokes as possible.  

That’s where the simplicity stops. Because anyone who has tried the game quickly gains an appreciation for how difficult it is to hit that stationary object with any degree of control.  Having been around for a few years (the first documented mention of golf in Scotland appears in 1457) there has been ample time for literally hundreds of ideas and theories to develop on the best way to master the golf swing. In fact, if you Google “golf training” more than 500,000 results return. The joke here is obvious, and so are the parallels to sales training. Like selling, golf is a complex discipline – and there is no shortage of ideas on the best way to succeed at both. There are tapes, books, boot camps, classes, DVD’s, Internet programs … sound familiar? 

The golfer in our cartoon has the best intentions – he’s just trying to apply every piece of good advice he’s heard about a perfect golf swing. While none of the ideas are necessarily bad, the probability of remembering and applying even a small subset of them is highly unlikely. No realistic golf school would try to teach this much content in a short period of time. In addition, it’s not considered unacceptable if mastery takes more than a few months. But a lot of sales training still reminds us of the cartoon. We want to infuse as much knowledge into our salespeople as possible in the shortest period of time. Maybe that’s why only 15% of companies seem able to get to “world-class” levels of sales process and methodology adherence.

But like golf (or any complex discipline), a more realistic approach would entail a “staged” learning process that begins with basic concepts, and then involves ongoing practice and application – followed by more advanced learning, practice, and reinforcement. And many golf (and tennis) schools work this way. Even the top tour golfers still retain swing coaches, and are constantly seeking refinement of their craft through continual learning. Their livelihoods depend on it. We think sales training can work better this way too.

On Wednesday, January 19 we’ll be cosponsoring a webinar with TrainingIndustry.com called Re-Thinking Sales Training – 2011 and Beyond. We’ll be exploring key barriers to sales training success and provide a new model for sales training to incorporate into your 2011 plans. This webinar will change your perspectives on how your company invests in sales training, and provide insights into taking a new, sustainable approach to performance improvement.

To Register, CLICK HERE>>>

Sales Kickoffs - How to Keep them Motivated All Year

We all hope our 2010 Kickoffs will get our team motivated and provide them with new information to help them increase sales for the New Year ahead. The problem is that more often than not that excitement doesn’t last.  According to Keith Eades, Founder and CEO of Sales Performance International (SPI), “Sales people are typically enthusiastic training participants, but once they’re back at their sales organization old patterns and pressures are imposed, they’ve got to close deals and meet their quotas, so the new learning is often lost.”  

This is a problem that all sales managers deal with, not only with Sales Kickoffs for the New Year, but for sales training events in general. In fact, studies have shown that 86% of knowledge retention is lost within 90 days of sales training events without specific reinforcement vehicles and integration with business practices. And yet, thousands of companies continue to take a train and hope mindset, with little consideration for legitimate success criteria.

So, how do we keep this from happening? Here at SPI we believe that you should take a Continual Learning approach to sales training. It is not about one big event, it is important that you are continually providing and reinforcing knowledge to your sales people throughout the year. In the image below you can see some of the key elements involved in creating a continual learning environment. All of these elements are critical in attaining World Class Sales Training and Continual Learning status.

The Solution Selling Continual Learning Framework

By attaining this status you can achieve up to:

• 9% higher quota attainment
• 7% higher win rates of forecasted deals
• 5% less turnover

In the study previously mentioned, SPI Senior Consultant Bob McGarrah said, “What emerged from our study is a growing recognition not only of the pressing need for post-training reinforcement, but also the necessity to do more than periodic refresher training. Instead, the reinforcement has to be integrated with the sales organization’s day-to-day work and there should be more of a common methodology among all those on the team, what’s sometimes called a sales process. At a minimum, this means a shared perspective, language, skills and tools, so that as the team functions the learning continues and gradually takes hold.”

Although it is important to get your team motivated for the New Year, if you don’t continue to reinforce and integrate best practices in your sales process throughout the year you will not reach your potential.