All sales training stakeholders ask themselves the fateful question: “What ROI can we expect from a sales training program?”. The challenge of measuring the performance of sales training programs is exacerbated by the difficulty of defining the metrics of success. In fact, “pure” sales performance is not always a relevant metric because it is inevitably clouded by exogenous data such as competitive conditions, economic context and… good fortune!
More than half of sales managers are unhappy with their sales training program
In an attempt to answer the issue of the profitability of sales training programs, CSO Insights conducted an interesting survey of more than 2,000 sales executives, summarized in “The Business Case for Sales Training” report. This study also looked at the ROI of coaching courses for sales managers and their impact on sales teams:
- Only 9.6% of the surveyed sales departments say they are “very satisfied” with their sales training programs ;
- One-third of sales organizations say their training ” barely meets expectations” ;
- The majority of sales organizations (53.6%) feel that their training programs need improvement.
5 key statistics that support the need for state-of-the-art sales training
The CSO Insights study examined the performance of sales organizations based on their level of satisfaction with their training programs.
- Achieving sales quotas. Companies with training programs that “exceeded expectations” reported an 8% increase in the number of salespeople who consistently met their goals ;
- Win Rates. Companies whose sales training programs “exceeded expectations” had Win Rates 12% higher than companies whose training programs “needed improvement” ;
- Alignment between prospect needs and the suggested solution. Companies whose training programs “exceed expectations” are more likely to favorably meet prospects’ expectations in meetings (85% vs. 45%) ;
- Sales force turnover. Companies whose training programs “exceeded expectations” showed a turnover of sales staff twice as low as that of companies whose training programs did not (11.9% vs. 20%). This finding is all the more interesting when you consider that sales resources are scarce and expensive, especially in France. According to the recruitment firm Michael Page, there is a shortage of approximately 200,000 sales professionals in France. Training plays a key part in the retention of sales people, and saves companies recurring expenses on recruitment, onboarding, etc.
- Sales coaching. Companies whose sales managers are on the front line with a dense and proactive coaching force have a 95% revenue growth plan achievement rate, compared to 84.5% for others.
Touch & Sell: personal development to enhance sales performance
Touch & Sell’s Growth Enablement platform enables you to drive continuous improvement and systematic skills development. By focusing on human capital, you aim for excellence in training and coaching to drive hypergrowth.
- Only 38% of salespeople say their managers help them develop the skills they need;
- The majority of salespeople (60%) want to learn and develop their skills;
- 87% of what salespeople learn is lost within a month of training if there is no follow-up;
- Sales managers only spend 9% of their time helping their teams develop their skills.
Our “Personal Development” module empowers managers and salespeople to excel:
- Managers can coach effectively to reduce onboarding time, quickly identify and address employee weaknesses, build customized training and coaching paths to meet specific needs, track team progress with native KPIs, boost the adoption and completion rate of training courses provided through the platform.
- Salespeople can learn at their own pace with fun courses adapted to their profile, share and exchange best practices with fellow salespeople, visualize progress to monitor development and keep motivation high.
