Why Most Sales Training Is Like a Crash Diet
You have probably been there before… Maybe on New Year’s Eve? You decide on a whim to drop a few pounds. You watch a few YouTube videos, order an exotic juice cleanse, and religiously follow it for a week. One week later, you're back to pizza and late-night ice cream. Why? Because crash diets don’t lead to long-term results. Similarly, episodic sales training is the crash diet of the corporate world. It promises fast results but falls flat in the long run. Let's delve into why…
1. Lack of Continuity:
Just as crash diets lack nutritional balance, one-off sales training fails to build the habits necessary for long-term change. Sales skills, much like muscles, need consistent workouts. Without a sustainable plan and regular reinforcement, these skills never develop.
2. Absence of Measurability:
In dieting, without tracking calories in and out, how do you know what will succeed? In sales, without measurable goals, how can reps understand the actions that lead to success? The inability to course-correct and measure behavior stunts growth.
3. Fading Memory & Motivation:
Ever tried recalling the third diet rule from a regimen you followed months ago? Just as details fade from memory, so does motivation. Without consistent application, knowledge evaporates, leading to repeated mistakes and failure to sustain the change.
4. Misaligned Expectations:
Imagine following a diet plan without understanding your body's specific needs. It’s as ineffective as providing generic training without diagnosing specific skill gaps in sales reps. If you expect to train like an Olympic swimmer, but you haven’t been to a pool in years, you will burn out and give up quickly because the training program is out of your skillset.
5. Missed Opportunities:
Just as the hunger pangs strike hardest between meals, sales reps find themselves stranded between training sessions. This gap leaves them unprepared for real-world challenges. They are most likely to make bad choices when a manager or trainer is not around to ask questions or hold them accountable.
6. Resource Drain:
Constantly hopping between fad diets is not just tough on the body but also the wallet. Similarly, the recurring cycle of planning and executing sales training without strategy is a drain on resources. The sales fad of the month is more expensive than organic food.
7. Lost Insight for Coaches:
Imagine a nutritionist clueless about a client's binge-eating episodes at night. Sales leaders, without insight into training needs and daily sales motions, miss out on timely coaching opportunities. Additionally, not having a coach or not empowering them with the skills they need lead to even worse results.
Before you next training session, ask yourself these questions:
Does each month bring a new training trend, leaving the last one in the dust?
Is your sales training just skimming the surface without addressing the real skills gap?
Do coaching sessions feel disconnected from the reality on the ground?
Are your teams speaking different sales dialects due to inconsistent processes?
Is there a jarring difference in the client experience depending on the rep they interact with?
If any of this sound familiar, it might be time for a change. Swap the crash diet for balanced nutrition. Adopt tactics that reinforce training in real-time, use tech stacks that personalize the training and provide insights, and connect learning directly to performance. With Sandler, you can pinpoint those crucial moments in sales that demand specific skills. Establish a uniform sales process and culture, and frequently revisit and reinforce training through practical exercises.
We believe in long-term sales fitness, not fads. Our training and coaching are designed for sustained impact, embedding our methodology directly into your sales processes and tech. We're your personal sales trainers, ensuring you flex those sales muscles regularly for optimum performance.