The following is an excerpt from a featured article in Workforce. The empirical research done by Aberdeen (excerpt below) supports our belief that cutting edge and on-going sales training is the elixir for a world-class sales organization. Too many sales people and managers are hesitant to train and develop transparently, yet research clearly shows; training is the difference between best-in-class and laggards. 87 percent of Best-in-Class sales reps achieved quota in the last year, compared with 49 percent among Industry Average and 4 percent among Laggard companies. 96 percent of Best-in-Class organizations indicate that on-going sales training is a “must-have”, and the majority of Best-in-Class (58%) use sales training as a strategy to “Create more meaningful sales conversations that address buyer’s overall business needs.”
If becoming a world-class, industry leading, sales force is truly the goal, how can we ignore the facts and the opportunity PEPPER provides? In today’s world, we can’t just say it, we must prove it.
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According to research done by the Aberdeen Group, despite the recent economic downturn, sales training has emerged as an imperative expense for companies seeking to be competitive. Since 2009, Aberdeen’s studies have found an increased focus on regular sales training. In a survey of 970 organizations published this year, Aberdeen discovered that 707 utilize sales training. Of those, 91 percent rely on instructor-led training as their primary modality and 85 percent have defined competencies for each sales role.
Training Builds Teamwork
Gorman agrees that training is a crucial part of building an elite sales team. His company takes it a step further than instructor-led training classes, employing instead a continuous training model. Gorman’s company has developed a smartphone training app called PEPPER, which stands for professional excellence, peak performance, elite results.
The app generates problems or obstacles that might be encountered in the field. Every morning employees receive a new problem and they are required to solve it on the spot. Their responses are shared with the entire company via an internal site, which serves double duty as both a collaborative sales communication tool and a ranking review system. The software, according to Gorman, both allows individuals to improve their sales skills and creates a collaborative environment in which salespeople can learn from one another’s successes and failures.
“We are of the firm belief that practice makes perfect,” Gorman said. “We believe that the deliberate practice of sales—just like in golf or any other skill—is the key to a strong sales team. We treat sales like a serious skill that needs to be honed,” Gorman said. “The biggest mistake I see in sales teams is not training on a regular basis. They are too confident in their ability to communicate and charm and therefore shoot from the hip.”
Aberdeen’s research supports this idea. Its recent report shows a clear connection between the use of sales training and a company’s quota attainment, both for sales teams and for individual salespeople. Those companies that incorporate training into their sales strategy consistently outperformed those that didn’t.
“While we have seen companies continue to express doubt in the economic recovery, they continue to enhance their spend on sales training regardless of budget cuts or travel restrictions,” Peter Ostrow, research director of sales effectiveness for Aberdeen, writes in his report Sales Training 2011.
A major difference between high-performing companies and other firms has to do with training investments, according to the report. While the “best-in-class” firms employ 25 percent fewer sales reps than other firms, they spend a lot more on sales training: $408,000 per year compared with $302,000 and $294,000, respectively, for “average” and “laggard” companies.
In addition, according to Ostrow’s research, the top performers allocate 38 percent of their entire corporate training budget to the sales team vs. 30 percent at average performers and 22 percent at laggards.
“The ‘Best-in-Class’ learned to put their money where their talent is,” Ostrow wrote, “and are clearly showcasing peak performance results as a reward for their sales training.”
Full article is here:
http://www.workforce.com/article/20111024/NEWS02/111029987/building-a-sales-team-starts-with-the-first-impression