Is your New Hire Sales Training Overkill? - 3 Areas to Focus on to Make It Worthwhile
Recently I was talking to a friend about a sales training program that she was a part of and I found that she was frustrated with it. And as is customary in my blog, I thought it would be nice to share my thoughts on some of the strategies that I find useful in these training programs and probably some pointers for you to consider if you’re organizing one. The new hire sales training is a form of introduction to the company, its culture, products, marketplace, and methodologies. It’s a great place to share details about sales tools and marketing collateral, along with expectations and a framework for putting it all together. A hands-on review of systems and processes with the right documentation should give the new sales person everything they need to get started right away. In short, it should be an orientation that brings new hires into the fold of the organization.
There are many different ways to design your training program and for the most part I feel that this company had its heart in the right place. The company my friend works for is a global manufacturer of tools and has over 25,000 employees. They weren’t doing anything wrong intentionally but I'll let you decide and let’s see if you agree with me and think it was an overkill or should you indeed cram as much training into your sales people's brains as you possibly can without them having a nervous breakdown. Let's dive into it.
Duration – the clock doth tick
Let's get real for just a second. In my experience, I’ve realized that adults learn by discovering and are most effective when you give them the basics and a framework to work within and let them explore. When you give them permission to make mistakes but encourage them not to repeat them, the response is ideal. In my opinion, sales training should be no longer than 8 hours per day and at max, shouldn’t be longer than a week. Hold them for longer and it’ll burn your people out and make them resent you for keeping them from what they came to do, which is to get busy making money! If there is far too much content to cover in that time frame then create a schedule that loops back to review the initial week’s content while delivering new content using an ongoing training model. Take advantage of the many e-learning technologies and LMS systems that deliver a robust and dynamic experience.
My friend was sentenced to 3 weeks of training, in a city that wasn’t even her workplace, away from her family and the comforts of home for 10-11 hours per day. She was forced to share a room with a roommate whom she had never met. To top it all, there were events that were not mandatory but encouraged. In fact, many participants drank their way through to try and cope with the stress, while others dropped out before the training was over and went home. Does this sound like effective sales training to you? Maybe it was too early to judge the effectiveness but the general consensus by week 3 was that of having made a mistake by coming on board. And that’s exactly the opposite of what is expected from these training programs.
Accountability
I strongly believe in holding people accountable during training. Quizzes, presentations, mock call scoring, or homework are all effective ways to bestow accountability on the participants. It allows them to focus on the positive outcomes of the training, the impact it will have on their salaries and their career, and not just the negative consequences such as not being able to retain the stuff discussed or finding the presentations too rigorous.
This friend of mine experienced what to me, sounded like some sort of hazing where on a daily basis, the class was reminded that if they didn't achieve a passing score on quizzes, they would be sent home. They were, in a way, being threatened to be attentive and accountable. In addition to the 10-11 hours of in-class instructor-led training they were also given homework in the evenings and were asked to turn it in the next day with the threat of reporting noncompliance to managers looming over them if there wasn't sufficient participation.
The condescension was thick and evident from the trainers and they almost reveled in making these announcements. They justified the sentiment because after all, they went through the same thing. What a way to kickstart your career at a company!
Customization
I can’t stress this enough. Training should be customized to suit the audience. No matter how much of your company and its products are the same over the years, if the participants don't receive training that is built specifically for them and their role, the training can fail miserably.
Consider the skill level of your participants. Are they entry-level or more senior-level reps? Consider location, cultural differences, languages and sales methodologies. Try to make sure that every person in that room feels comfortable. Although a one-size-fits-all training is very tempting and less cumbersome for you, rest assured that you will lose people along the way as they’ll start to resent you for wasting their time if you don’t customize it for them.
My friend went through this exact same stage of resentment when, as a 10-year veteran sales rep, she was given pointers such as being told to bring a pen with her when she’d go to see a customer. Are you kidding me? I'm having trouble trying to rationalize if this instruction would be helpful even for an entry-level rep. Wouldn’t that be questioning the common sense of the participants?
There are many different areas to focus on when building a sales training and chances are you aren't going to get it right the first time. But that’s beside the point. Review and revise your content and delivery after every single program. Survey your students before and after the training to gauge their learning styles and to solicit feedback on your format, instructors, and content. Through this process of trial and error over time you will develop an exceptional training program that reduces ramp-up time and enables you to see an ROI on your sales resource investment quickly.
And the bottom line is to value the time of your new hires as much as you value your own time. What do you think? Is that how you’d want to run a sales training? Be sure to check out my post on what I call the ‘Power Hour’ and how it’s a secret tool to optimizing your prospecting strategy.