All sales training is not created equal. Like any investment, you'll want to consider various factors before choosing the right one for your team. Can you customize it to different learning styles? Does it have a combination of on-demand and live remote training? Does it provide tools and impart techniques that streamline your sales process?
One of the most significant considerations is whether the learning and development program is specific to your industry. Particularly in the BevAlc industry, training that focuses on the particular challenges of your business sector can accelerate the development and productivity of your sales team. A productive team is more engaged and results in greater customer satisfaction. Industry-specific learning and development provide significant ROI, ultimately boosting your bottom line.
Employee retention is of significant interest to many industries, particularly now. Turnover takes a negative toll on employee morale, company culture, the ability to recruit new talent, and customer satisfaction. Replacing an employee is also very costly. One source estimates the cost to replace one salesperson is $115,000.
Training and coaching are vital for job satisfaction with the younger workforce. 86% of millennials say they would not consider leaving their current job if their employer-provided training and development opportunities. Employers that invest in learning for their teams have up to a 50% increase in retention. A continuous learning and development culture pays dividends that go far beyond immediate productivity and morale benefits.
So, how will you ensure continuous learning and development in your sales organization? It begins with skill assessments. They provide a baseline upon which you can start to customize a learning and coaching plan that will optimize the strength of your new hire and shore up any skills gaps. Once you've identified the areas of focus, it is critical that you provide training that can be adapted to different working schedules and learning styles so that new information is absorbed and knowledge is reinforced with real-world examples.
When searching for sales training solutions, there are many options that are industry-agnostic. But what the most successful companies have figured out is that they need industry-specific coaching and learning opportunities to gain the most from their investment. In fact, 73% of organizations in the country use industry-specific training to build skills and increase productivity in their employees. Companies that foster a continuous learning culture experience 26% higher revenue per employee.
Why is continuous learning so powerful? It has to do with the way our brains work. The Forgetting Curve is a result of research on memory by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus. It shows that newly learned knowledge fades rapidly if not revisited and reinforced. A study performed by Xerox validated Ebbinghaus's findings: sales professionals lose 87% of what they learned in sales training in just 30 days when presented only once.
The good news is that the Forgetting Curve illustrates that steep memory decline is reduced with each iteration of learning. In other words, while the rate of loss is dramatic with only one review, it slows each time the training topics are revisited. The curve begins to flatten after a third review. Continuous learning provides the reinforcement that learners need to retain and use new skills.
A high-performing workforce is one of the secret weapons that the most successful companies in the world recognize. Your employees are ambassadors for your company. They reflect your company values and culture. Your sales team's engagement, skills, drive, and efficacy can spell the difference between being an industry leader and missing your revenue goals completely.
So, what differentiates companies with the best and brightest teams from others? One of the most significant factors is industry-specific training delivered in an environment of continuous learning. Continuous learning can mitigate the loss of most of the training content by consistently reinforcing new ideas, as the Forgetting Curve demonstrates. When the training, coaching, tools, and techniques are industry-specific, it allows your team to put the skills to practical use with real-world scenarios, peer-to-peer interaction, and real-time question and answer sessions with the trainers.
The key to successfully implementing a continuous learning and development environment in your sales organization is blended learning. Learning styles vary from person to person, so offering various learning and coaching opportunities lets each salesperson work at the pace, schedule, and method that results in the best chances of success from them. By leveraging a combination of live training and online learning reinforced with industry-specific coaching, you can help sales teams accelerate learning and enhance productivity.