The 5 Strategic Elements of Sales Training That Can Actually Change Behaviors and Drive Business Growth
Are your launch and Sales training programs starting to feel like show-and-tell presentations? Is there slow to no adoption to show for critical product launches or important initiatives? Do you ever hear the sales team express frustration with your training talk tracks (“It’s just fluff. I can’t use this.”)?
If this sounds familiar, it’s probably not your product, or your sales team’s ability to sell (it’s easy to point a finger in those directions, but finger pointing doesn’t happen among teams that know exactly which tools, actions and methods will support behavior changes beyond the training).
The critical question to ask in these moments is: is our Sales training approach holding up its part of the bargain?
The truth is, day-long training programs and lunch-and-learns about how to use a product (and all of its features, benefits, specifications and use cases) just don’t cut it.
Why not? Because effective product training isn’t about the need to simply present information, it’s about driving adoption in meaningful ways. For example, which behaviors does marketing need sales to adopt in order to persuade customers that the product is superior? And what authentic and tangible tools does the sales team need to encourage consumer trials, purchases and beyond?
Smart leaders know that successful implementation training often comes down to one thing: whether you’re leveraging a learning plan or a learning strategy.
In other words, the difference between your average training plan and a program that actually moves the needle is the element of strategy and its ability to motivate, inspire, empower and drive growth.
Here’s what that looks like on paper.
How to Identify an Average Launch Training Plan:
Has an “If you build it, they will come” mentality that falsely believes telling people about the product/initiative and why it’s so awesome is enough to change behaviors (spoiler alert: it’s not).
Is reactive, relying on “random acts of training” that lack consistency and cohesion.
Content isn’t specialized to the learner’s needs, and a one-size-fits-all approach to sharing information guarantees that a lot of learners are falling through the cracks.
Spends a lot of time introducing content that doesn’t encourage the behaviors, attitudes or POVs that need to change in order for the adoption to take hold.
Is a company-centric story that lacks the ability to get inside the customer’s mind and doesn’t anticipate the new pain points that are inevitably created when customers are asked to do something new.
Relies on the content, not the learning experience, to have an impact. Assumes that all customers/learners receive and understand information in the same way (another spoiler alert: they don’t).
Is tactical and insular in nature. It does the job and fulfills the requirements, but misses the opportunity to achieve broader cross-departmental objectives or business goals.
How to Build a Great Training Program:
Capture what key constituents care about most (customers, sales reps, etc.), and consider how each of them like to learn new information, what triggers excitement, their points of contention, and proactively take on potential obstacles to success.
Focus on the jobs to be done and barriers to change, then translate them into messages, activities, exercises and learning experiences that get ahead of customer hesitations and concerns. Great training creates “aha” moments that accelerate buy-in.
Delight Learners! Use a buyer-centric and learner-centric mindset – at all times, the learner is the focal point for whom all information and content is created.
Include a curriculum and learning path, a short and long-term action plan to create content and implement strategy, and measures that demonstrate that the strategy is working.
Make an impact beyond the launch/initiative by supporting goals across the company, and solidify the program as a critical part of the organization's growth strategy.
Do all of these things and I promise you’re on your way to building a strategic program that drives adoption and growth, delights your learners, and has a meaningful impact on business objectives.
But before you run and task your L&D team with this work, here’s another hard truth: building impactful training programs usually requires resources that most L&D teams simply don’t have. Training teams – bogged down with backlogs and the tactical, analytical parts of the job – often don’t have time to address the impactful aspects of the kind of great training program I described.
Without these aspects, training plans lack the strategic ability to move the needle.
Want to Design with a Strategic Impact?
Start baking these strategic aspects into current L&D roles. Teach the team to work more strategically!
Dedicate a role on the team to handle the reconnaissance and strategic work exclusively while other team members focus on execution and the creation of content.
Make sure your launch budget includes investment in an outside consultant to manage the strategic part of the process, from discovery to recommendations. (I recently wrote about what this engagement looks like, here.)
Want a different outcome? Then ditch immaterial presentations and “show-and-tell” meetings in favor of a strategic approach to training built with adoption, learners and business goals in mind.
Don’t just build a training plan, build a strategy.