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specialists in enhancement and management of human performance |
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Despite training company claims to the contrary, the sad fact is that very little of a training's sales techniques show up in their participants' day to day account interactions. Most salespeople remember the SPIN class, the Xerox PSSS, or even Dale Carnegie, but observe them during a sales call and you won't find one technique competently employed. There are three specific causes of sales training failure: (1) lack of practice, (2) poor feedback and coaching, and (3) the basic psychological stress of sales interactions. Lack of Practice Growing up, every day Michael Jordan shot 400 baskets. Steffi Graf practices 1000 back hands, daily. In the off season, Jerry Rice works out six hours, six days a week. How often do sale personnel practice their craft? Never. You may argue that they are on sales calls almost every day--that is not practice. One of the key qualities of practice is that nothing is at stake. You can experiment and afford to make mistakes. During practice you can repeat a technique over and over -- making it habitual and automatic. Even in sales courses which boast practice sessions and role plays, not enough time is dedicated to acting out concepts and techniques. In the average course, less than two hours is available for each participant to assimilate and rehearse a number of complex listening, observing and speaking techniques. Poor Feedback and Coaching You make a mistake in edging on skis, the mountain will let you know. Hit a wrong key on a computer, the feedback is immediate. Not so in sales. A client will not interrupt a salesperson during an interaction and say, "Excuse me, but that investigation question was not really the right one to ask me at this point." Granted, each meeting has a result, but that feedback comes at the end of a complex process. All in all, such feedback is woefully inadequate. Also, good sales coaching is scarce. Course leaders do not stick around to drill and groom their trainees. Coaching usually delegates to sales managers who don't even attend the sales course or are just as novice at the new techniques as any other trainee. Most managers rarely have the time and training to prepare useful practice sessions and mistake sales meetings where new products, sales results and quotas are discussed as adequate "coaching" sessions. Psychological Stress of Sales Interactions Selling isn't easy and much of it isn't fun. A sales interaction usually involves the meeting of two strangers who must assume trust with very little evidence of trustworthiness of the other. Under such stress, both would like to control the interaction. Psychological studies on stress have shown that when people are in unfamiliar situations and sense they are losing control, they tend to rely on old behaviors rather than experimenting with new behaviors. Using new, untried and unrehearsed selling techniques always seems very risky in the moment of the real life sale. Consequently, the sales interaction itself argues in favor of old behaviors rather than attempting new ones. A vicious circle occurs that results in most sales training being quickly forgotten at worst, or remembered but never really developed at best. Making Sales Training Successful Given the factors stacked against sales instruction, how do you conduct a successful training campaign? First, make sure the training covers the areas that need improving because no sales training addresses all aspects of the sales process. Second, avoid training companies that claim customizing training to your company and student notebook materials will provide adequate reinforcement after the seminars are over. Third, plan and provide company time and supervised sessions for practicing techniques. Fourth, retain professional sales coaches familiar with your industry to work with salespeople after their initial training, and accompany them on some account calls. Such coaches can also lead less formal sessions acting as sounding boards and resources for sales folk and their managers. No company ever just needs a "sales training" course to address low production numbers or emerging market opportunities. What is really needed is a commitment to develop and implement a viable sales process with courses, professional coaching and meaningful practice. (NOTE: Allies Consulting Services offers the Sales Performance Escalation program and the Prodigy Sales Program, a sales development program that will meet or exceed your expectations; it is designed to deliver real results. It also leverages our other programs, magnifying your ROI!)
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POBox 9635