How do you calculate the ROI on Sales Training?
This is a question that haunts many sales enablement departments, especially those that approach training as a one-time occurrence. Behaviour changes take time, reinforcement, and consistent trial and error, so no matter how amazing the workshop, kickoff, or meeting may be, if your sales training is a “one and done” event, you will never see a tangible long-term ROI.
Typically training effectiveness is measured solely by the increase in sales.
This can be a slippery slope, as it has the potential to paint an inaccurate picture on the overall effectiveness of the sales training and whether or not it’s actually providing long lasting behaviour change.
A blip in an increase of sales can be the result of many outside factors: a shift in the market, new pricing, end of month/quarter promotions, winning an RFP, or closing a deal that has been dominating the funnel for months.
This is why training programs should provide opportunities to assess, measure, and coach more than once.
In order to ensure that the training practices are established and perpetual for your team, it is important to have a fundamental system in place that encourages analysis and growth.
Below is a simple 3-step process used by the team at PONO Learning to maximize the ROI of sales training:
1. Outline Your Sales Process
Break down each individual step within the process.
Highlight and identify the key activities / components to ensure the process flows in a circular or flowchart style.
Having the sales process granularly outlined, will help to identify where the growth is happening and what steps need more attention.
2. Business Simulation
Provide role-play scenarios for your team that mimics their target market or ideal customer profile.
Evaluate the participants and score their progress for each step. (Scoring from 1 - 10 will provide a more accurate assessment)
Many sales people are visual learners so find a way to graph their results visually so they can see and understand where they are in their own process.
Record whenever possible. It’s one thing to coach your team member but when they can see it directly for themselves, the feedback will resonate deeper, providing a more impactful learning experience. The videos also become an indisputable coaching tool providing evidence and justification for the coaching and scores, leaving little room for objections.
Simulations are not the same as a real life scenario, however they become essential tools to observe the levels of automaticity for the participant. (Are they actually using the sales process? Is it natural to them? Can you see the transitions between each step or does it flow smoothly?).
3. Rinse and Repeat
Schedule business simulations at regular intervals throughout the year following sales training. (Ex. bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly etc.)
To see true growth, perform a Business Simulation prior to the training to obtain an accurate picture of where the rep currently is. Follow up the training with a Business Simulation to see their progress.
Only add new steps when the rep is solid on the foundation.
If you’re looking for ways to modify and optimize this process for your organization, reach out to PONO Learning to discover how we can help maximize the ROI on your Sales Training.
