Executives are demanding measurable sales training results more than ever before, and rightly so.  In today’s competitive environment, it isn’t enough to say that sales people liked the training, or found it to be a good experience.  

Now, more than ever, sales success depends on a skilled salesforce.  And training professionals have the power to provide their salesforces with the skills needed to perform their jobs to the organization’s expectations.

CEP’s approach guarantees that sales people will have the skills to perform to expectations on the first day training ends.  Here are 7 of the steps we take that enable us to offer this unique guarantee of instructional results:

Tip #1:  Define desired job performance

Most managers have an implicit picture in their heads about what desired sales performance looks like, but it is often not as precise or as clear to employees as it should be.  CEP’s first step is to make the implicit explicit, so that there is a clear, behaviorally based target for desired sales performance.

Tip #2:  Identify performance gaps

With an accurate, precise definition of desired performance in hand, we compare actual performance to desired performance.  We interview sales people and sales managers, observe sales people in their work environment, and review other available documentation.

Tip #3:  Determine the causes for performance gaps

Next, we determine the true causes for the gaps.  Gaps may be caused by a lack of skill or knowledge, a problem with motivation, or an operational obstacle including missing information, systems, or other tools and resources.  Training can only solve skill and knowledge deficiencies, so we offer other recommendations for solving motivation and operational obstacles to desired performance.

Tip #4:  Identify tasks and skills

We follow a three-part process:  First, break down the sales job into its major tasks.  Next, break the major tasks down further into the steps and decisions taken to accomplish the task.  Third, we identify the skills sales people need to perform each step and decision.  By identifying skills, we are able to develop instruction that teaches easiest skills first, working up to most complex skills.  This helps us eliminate duplication and reduce training time.

Tip #5:  Write performance objectives

Instructional objectives that are derived from desired sales person performance describe what the employee will be expected to be able to do and how well he or she will need to be able to do it (how quickly, to what degree of accuracy, etc.)  These are different from the more academic learning objectives typical in training, and enable us to ensure that the skills being taught match required job performance. 

Tip #6:  Develop skill checks to evaluate competency

In order to guarantee results, we have to be certain that the sales person’s performance in training meets the criteria and standards we describe in the performance objective.  We build a skill check that requires a demonstration of competency by every participant on every skill before the training ends, so that additional instruction and practice can be provided if needed.

Tip #7:  Plan practice opportunities and feedback to employees in training

Sales people who are learning new skills need ample opportunity to practice and receive feedback on their performance.  Immediate feedback helps prevent employees from practicing the wrong thing, and having sufficient practice enables sales people to leave training with both competence and the confidence in their ability to do what will be required on the job.

If your organization needs to guarantee skills for your sales team, CEP can help.  For more information, contact Fernanda Daniel, Marketing Manager, at 770-458-4080 or by email at fdaniel@cepworldwide.com.