Sales Leadership Insight

Sales Confidence: How to Build it During Onboarding

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How to Build Sales Confidence During Onboarding

I’ve heard from many sales leaders lately that it’s tough getting the next generation of sellers to pick up the phone.

We all know that no one wants to make cold calls, but the endless email and InMail touches and cadences that your reps are using aren’t working.

And, with the new Gmail and Yahoo email restrictions that kicked in this year, it’s more important than ever to go back to basics and get new sellers to pick up the phone.

At Factor 8, we’re focused on teaching reps tactical phone sales skills to help them build sales confidence (so they’ll pick up the phone AND feel great about it!)

Today, I’m talking about new sales hire onboarding.

When you’re bringing on someone new – especially when they’re remote – one of the most important things you can do in new hire onboarding is use call recordings.

READ: Tips for Virtually Onboarding New Sales Reps

The game has changed over the past few years. When sellers are remote, they can’t just sit next to their peers,  hear what’s happening, and learn the good, bad, and ugly.

If your company doesn’t record calls, or you’re worried about not having a specific rep’s call recordings, toss that – it doesn’t matter. You can learn so much from any call recording.

In fact, at Factor 8 in our Sales Bar, our online sales training platform, we have thousands of user-submitted recorded sales calls from all different industries, organized by skill (i.e. call intro, overcoming objections, call bridging, closing, etc.)

READ: 7 Hacks to Improve New Sales Rep Onboarding

During onboarding, break down the call and let reps listen to what it sounds like, even if it’s not a good call, because what we’re scared of is what the customer is going to say to us (and the inability to think on our feet to respond to them intelligently).

When reps hear different scenarios on sales calls 20 or 30 times, they begin to feel comfortable and that fear starts to go away and the confidence rises.

And that’s the name of the game, folks: confidence. You’ve got to have it to succeed in sales, and building it begins at onboarding.

Need help building sales confidence in your sales reps? Email me at LB@factor8.com. I’m happy to help!

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Sales Enablement Secrets: Actionable Sales Training Tips, Trends, and Advice [Webinar Recording]

Sales Enablement Secrets: Actionable Sales Training Tips, Trends, and Advice

[Video Recording]

TOP SALES TRAINING TIPS FOR ENABLEMENT LEADERS

Partnering with Sales Leaders to onboard and upskill digital (and often remote) sellers may well be the hardest job in the enablement department – and certainly the one with the least thanks!  

Join 25-year sales enablement veteran LB to hear tips on:

  • The fastest way to reduce new rep ramp time
  • Tiny skills that make a BIG difference (we get 2-3x results of past new hire classes)
  • How to engage managers to support training
  • Why videos don’t work (and how to teach sales leaders this)
  • Where AI can (and can’t) help
  • What we have to do now for remote sellers
  • Implementation guides that ensure new skills get used
  • Skills every seller and sales manager needs in 2024

Who should watch this session?

  • Veteran trainers/training leaders that want to better partner with sales
  • Sales leaders who onboard their own teams
  • New sales enablement/trainers that want trends and best practices
  • Sales managers keen to build learning cultures

This webinar was made possible thanks to our sponsor, Uniphore.

Meet “Q for Sales“, an AI-powered Sales Assistant from Uniphore to help you eliminate busy work, coach smarter, and close faster. Learn more here.

Watch the video replay!

TOP SALES TRAINING TIPS FOR ENABLEMENT LEADERS

Partnering with Sales Leaders to onboard and upskill digital (and often remote) sellers may well be the hardest job in the enablement department – and certainly the one with the least thanks!  

Join 25-year sales enablement veteran LB to hear tips on:

  • The fastest way to reduce new rep ramp time
  • Tiny skills that make a BIG difference (we get 2-3x results of past new hire classes)
  • How to engage managers to support training
  • Why videos don’t work (and how to teach sales leaders this)
  • Where AI can (and can’t) help
  • What we have to do now for remote sellers
  • Implementation guides that ensure new skills get used
  • Skills every seller and sales manager needs in 2024

Who should watch this session?

  • Veteran trainers/training leaders that want to better partner with sales
  • Sales leaders who onboard their own teams
  • New sales enablement/trainers that want trends and best practices
  • Sales managers keen to build learning cultures

This webinar was made possible thanks to our sponsor, Uniphore.

Meet “Q for Sales“, an AI-powered Sales Assistant from Uniphore to help you eliminate busy work, coach smarter, and close faster. Learn more here.

Watch the video replay!

sales coaching

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How to Increase Sales Coaching Frequency

In all my years of sales leadership, there has never been a sales coaching emergency. You? Ever gotten a call after hours along the lines of:

“Panic! They don’t know how to…!! Help!?”

Exactly. And this is actually why, despite all our good intentions, there are precious few true coaching cultures in sales organizations. Even though we know the benefits – coaching skills that exceed expectations result in 94.8% of reps meeting quota and a top demand from the Millennials and Gen Zs you’re trying to hire (source: like every study published in the past five years).

Since there ARE sales emergencies, customer emergencies, product emergencies, and political emergencies every single day (and the non-emergent intentions), it’s no surprise that meetings get pushed to the bottom.

Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of partnering with many organizations to establish or turn around their development cultures and we have lots of resources to help you after you finish this blog. Check out our top 20 actions download to help increase coaching frequency, our recent webinar on establishing a coaching culture, as well this fun quiz to determine whether or not your organization has a coaching culture.

If you’re a sales leader, the most important place you can start is by assessing your current culture of development and sales coaching importance. Here are a few questions to get you started:

  1. How often are my managers scheduled to call coach? How often do they really?
  2. What is coaching more important than? ($1M deal?) What is it not? (reporting request?)
  3. How eager are reps and managers for coaching sessions?
  4. Are we hiding or celebrating fails?
  5. Are reps getting built up or brought down?

The goal here is to determine if you have enough coaching, the right kind of coaching, and the kind of culture that supports it.

Starting with question 1, you may be surprised to learn that nearly 50% of reps disagree that they’re getting as much coaching as their managers state. Some of this is due to canceled or pushed coaching when fires happen (and let’s be honest, they happen daily in sales). I think the root of the problem here is how we define coaching. Most managers believe they’re coaching during a 1:1 meeting, a “how’s it going” chat, or a pipeline/deal conversation. Sorry…

“That’s NOT coaching!”

Our definition of best-in-class coaching is:

  1. Sales meeting is present (ride-along, recorded call, live video meeting)
  2. Manager asks questions about the reps’ skill
  3. Rep receives custom feedback on their execution
  4. Rep leaves feeling more confident than when they walked in

Sadly, this means that if you’re playing a call at a team meeting (great job by the way), this is sales training, not sales coaching. At most, you can provide custom feedback on a rep’s skills for about 3 people and 3 short call recordings in an hour. Yes, it also means that giving someone a laundry list of what to improve also doesn’t count as coaching. That’s just bullying. Inspect some sessions. You’ll be surprised – and you’ll be showing coaching’s importance with your presence. 

Sales Executive Council also tells us that call coaching (aka skill coaching) is sales managers’ #1 worst skill. I’ve been hiring and training sales managers for 20 years and I wholeheartedly agree. And the hardest skill to shift is the laundry list of improvement items. It’s so easy for us to hear the challenges, and so hard for us to resist giving just one more idea for improvement. 90% of sessions during role plays come off negative at first, and it takes us at LEAST three training and practice sessions to start to even this out. 

Like most leaders who came up through sales, I’m 100% guilty of the coaching bully myself. In fact, as we train sales managers how to coach at Factor 8, I modeled the curriculum after all my own personal atrocities. “Be like me…I do all the talking…Debbie Downer…” You get the picture. If you relate to this, you’ve probably also taken over a call or two you were meant to be silently observing. 

That’s why I only coach recordings now. I just can’t be trusted during a live call. It’s also led to my #1 tip for antsy sales coaches:

“Coach the rep, not the deal.”

When we approach coaching with the intent of building confidence and skill vs. saving the deal, everything changes. Imagine the deal already lost. Resist the temptation to even ask about the outcome. Focus instead on engaging this seller, and helping them love their job, love their company, love their manager, and love sales.

It changes everything.

A note on culture. Spend a minute Googling the concept of a “growth mindset.” It’s our ultimate goal for sales coaching cultures. It’s a magical land where everyone cares more about improvement than winning. Did you just laugh out loud, my sales leader friend? Before you dismiss it, realize it’s the calling card of nearly every great athlete, and imagine if all your “A” players just kept getting better. How do you get here? A few ideas:

  1. Weed out your problem leaders. Yeah, the person you pictured is exactly who I’m talking about. They probably have veteran reps and accounts and are a fixture in your org – like a barnacle on the underside of the boat, they aren’t uplifters. Just note: culture is formed not by your intent! It’s defined by the worst behavior you’re willing to tolerate. His name was Brian at my first sales management job, and his attitude led the whole division to a culture of hazing and sink or swim. NOT the coaching culture the new workforce is craving!
  2. Share your failures and encourage your managers to do the same. A coaching culture is one where we’re not afraid to fail. We willingly share bad calls. We welcome feedback and input. Sorry, but humans aren’t built to be vulnerable and they will need a lot of role modeling here until your people feel safe to do so.
  3. Reward improvement. If you want a growth mindset culture, you can’t just reward the winners. Find ways every month to celebrate improvement. Could be a metrics jump, a KPI improvement, skill gains, CSAT ratings…you get it.

A final word of advice: over-correct. My first Sales Director job came on the heels of me launching a training department. There was no other sales leader as dedicated to developing people as I was. It still took me 6 months in the new gig to start talking about and prioritizing training. So I get how hard it is and how busy everyone is and how many emergencies keep coaching at the bottom of the to-do list. So, if it’s your goal, you’ll need to triple down to shift the pendulum. Dedicate six months to overdoing it. Talk about it in every team meeting and all-hands. Drop into coaching sessions and coach the coaches. Reward top coaches and rep improvements. Add it to contests. Ask your manager for skill trends in every meeting. Spend money on sales manager training. Be sure it is OVER represented in your calendar, your budget, and your voice for long enough that your team knows it isn’t a flavor of the month.

Got a tip? Drop me a line and let me know what’s worked for you! lb@factor8.com.

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How To Develop Sales Managers

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How to Develop New Sales Managers

Working with newly-promoted sales managers may be my very favorite thing. Maybe that’s because the pain I remember in their position is still a bit fresh (albeit over 20 years old…)

READ: 5 Quick Tips for New Sales Managers

The transition from rep to manager is tough. It’s also risky for both the company and the new manager. Companies lose top-performing reps and serial high-achievers sign on to feel NOT successful for a good six months. I’ve seen some sad stories of new managers flailing, flat-lining growth, or simply quitting in their first year. It’s sad for the manager and it’s a double loss for the company. They lose a manager AND top performer.

So how do we support and develop new sales managers to help them feel more successful sooner? 

1. Talk in detail about the expectations of the new job.

Top reps are competitive, self-centered, and aggressive (said with love, folks). Margaret Arakawa said it best in a panel once. I paraphrase, “Moving from top rep to manager is like leaving the role of the lead actress on stage to become an executive producer.”

Exactly. 

Successful managers focus on:

    • Developing their team

    • Solving problems

    • Creating atmospheres for motivation

    • Prioritizing work

    • Managing admin to clear selling time for reps

READ: Tips for Mastering Call Coaching

What they don’t do is:

    • Close sales

    • Maintain customer relationships

    • Win contests

    • Count on themselves alone to get the job done

    • Sit in the spotlight

2. Be frank that disappointment is OK

Most new managers talk to me about their utter disappointment in their first year. Not with the job (exclusively) but with their team. They aren’t used to relating to reps who aren’t as dedicated and passionate as they were. Help them see that this is normal and talk about strategies for dealing with the frustration. 

Ultimately the buck stops with them and their success is getting the most consistent and high-level performance from these people. Set some expectations! For example, talk about how a sales manager’s success is judged not just by the number but also by:

    • Reduced time for new hires to hit quota 

    • Percent of the entire team to quota – not just overall percent

    • Reduced attrition

    • Rep promotions

Each of these requires a focus on the people, their success, and their development. Sure we want managers focused on the “W,” but it needs to be a Team W, not their personal commission check. Hearing this advice from a leader they respect can help them focus on the right things early and find new ways to get daily wins.

3. Go beyond HR 

If you’re lucky, managers have access to some generic management skills about communicating with others, approving timecards, giving feedback, etc. Helpful stuff. Not job training. Get them sales management skills like:

    • The management cadence: what meetings they need on their calendar and how often.

    • Time management for sales managers: Which is first? The line at your desk? The upset customer? The request for a report from the boss or the deal discount to close a sale? This skill will make or break a new leader. Prevent burnout before it happens!

    • Translating sales goals and driving sales performance: New managers struggle to get beyond managing activity. Help them learn to translate strategy and the big number into monthly, weekly, and daily activities for reps. 

    • Performance 1:1 meetings: Help managers communicate the goal, the performance to date, motivate reps to succeed, and build relationships with their teams during this meeting.

    • Call coaching: Call coaching isn’t natural behavior for high-achievers. It takes an extreme amount of patience, customer focus, and a set process to be successful. Without skill training on coaching, they’ll either skip it or maybe even demotivate their team. Help teach them to do it right before they wind up a statistic. 

    • Find them a mentor: A mentor becomes a safe space to vent, ask questions they’re afraid to ask their Director, and frankly a lifeline. And if you’ve promoted a woman, work to find her a female mentor. Yes, it does make a difference. #GirlsClub can help here if you’re lacking female sales leadership talent.

DOWNLOAD: Critical New Sales Manager Skills to Master

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The Truth About ChatGPT: 10 Things Sales & Enablement Leaders Need To Know & Try [Webinar Recording]

The Truth About ChatGPT: 10 Things Sales & Enablement Leaders Need To Know & Try

[Webinar Recording]

CHATGPT TIPS FOR SALES ENABLEMENT LEADERS

Everyone is talking about it, but studies show more than half of leaders aren’t actually using tools like ChatGPT regularly – but your teams likely are.

This means exposure to some risks you need to understand – quickly.

It also means you could be saving some serious time (and possibly budget?). It’s time to get your arms around how you and your team will use AI tools next year and your policies about them.

If you don’t have a task force, team training, or a roadmap yet, this session is for you. Buzzwords and hype will be broken down into simple terms, suggested use cases, and tactical suggestions you can try immediately (without feeling like the only person who isn’t getting it).

Special focus on things that work (and things that don’t) for busy sales leaders and enablement teams for prospecting, new hire training, and team management.

No theory. No hype. Just road-tested suggestions for the sales and enablement audience from a sales enablement tactician and moderate ChatGPT user.

Watch the video replay!

CHATGPT TIPS FOR SALES ENABLEMENT LEADERS

Everyone is talking about it, but studies show more than half of leaders aren’t actually using tools like ChatGPT regularly – but your teams likely are.

This means exposure to some risks you need to understand – quickly.

It also means you could be saving some serious time (and possibly budget?). It’s time to get your arms around how you and your team will use AI tools next year and your policies about them.

If you don’t have a task force, team training, or a roadmap yet, this session is for you. Buzzwords and hype will be broken down into simple terms, suggested use cases, and tactical suggestions you can try immediately (without feeling like the only person who isn’t getting it).

Special focus on things that work (and things that don’t) for busy sales leaders and enablement teams for prospecting, new hire training, and team management.

No theory. No hype. Just road-tested suggestions for the sales and enablement audience from a sales enablement tactician and moderate ChatGPT user.

Watch the video replay!

8+ Critical Things Sales and Enablement Leaders Need to Know About AI [Webinar Recording]

8+ Critical Things Sales And Enablement Leaders Need To Know About AI

[Video Recording]

GET YOUR SALES TEAM STARTED WITH AI (SAFELY!)

Ready to level up your sales team with the power of AI? Dive into this action-packed 30-minute session tailored for sales, enablement, and IT leaders. Discover everything you need to know about getting your sales team started with artificial intelligence. You’ll learn the top 3 areas to implement AI in sales onboarding to enhance your team’s prospecting skills, 3 critical questions every leader should be asking their IT department to ensure seamless AI integration and safety, and the 3 most common mistakes sales teams make with AI and how to avoid them.

Plus, get insights on the dos and don’ts of using AI in sales training, how to speed up the onboarding process, and tips for IT leaders to keep your company protected from AI mishaps. Stay till the end for real-life examples showcasing the best and worst of AI in action.

Special guest Aaron Sandeen, VP of Technology Services at Crayon, joined LB for this 30-minute, live Sales Shot.

Watch the video replay!

GET YOUR SALES TEAM STARTED WITH AI (SAFELY!)

Ready to level up your sales team with the power of AI? Dive into this action-packed 30-minute session tailored for sales, enablement, and IT leaders. Discover everything you need to know about getting your sales team started with artificial intelligence. You’ll learn the top 3 areas to implement AI in sales onboarding to enhance your team’s prospecting skills, 3 critical questions every leader should be asking their IT department to ensure seamless AI integration and safety, and the 3 most common mistakes sales teams make with AI and how to avoid them.

Plus, get insights on the dos and don’ts of using AI in sales training, how to speed up the onboarding process, and tips for IT leaders to keep your company protected from AI mishaps. Stay till the end for real-life examples showcasing the best and worst of AI in action.

Special guest Aaron Sandeen, VP of Technology Services at Crayon, joined LB for this 30-minute, live Sales Shot.

Watch the video replay!

training for sales managers

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Why You Need Training for Sales Managers

Sales is an ever-evolving landscape, with tools, techniques, and targets shifting regularly. Yet, while we often focus on training our frontline sales reps, there’s a critical group that’s frequently overlooked: sales managers. 

In fact, 60% of new managers fail within the first 24 months in their role. Why? Lack of training and development. Oftentimes, companies will promote reps into management without providing critical leadership skills to prepare them for their new role.

DOWNLOAD: Critical New Manager Skills to Master

Let’s dive into why training for sales managers is paramount and the benefits that come with it.

Why Do We Neglect Sales Manager Training?

Often, organizations operate under the assumption that a stellar sales rep will naturally transition into a stellar sales manager. However, the skills required for each role differ significantly. Managing a team, strategizing, forecasting and coaching demand a unique skill set that isn’t always innate.

The Case for On-the-Job Training for Sales Managers
  • Different Roles, Different Skills: A top-performing sales rep doesn’t automatically make a top-performing sales manager. Management requires understanding team dynamics, effective communication, and the ability to inspire and lead. On-the-job training equips new managers with these essential skills.
  • Rapid Adaptation to Change: The sales environment is dynamic. According to a report by CSO Insights, organizations with a dynamic sales process, which includes regular training, reported a win rate of 49% for forecasted deals, compared to those with a random or informal process. 
  • Consistency in Approach: With proper training, sales managers can ensure consistency in sales strategies, team communication, and performance reviews, leading to a more cohesive and effective sales team.

DOWNLOAD: Leader Activities to Start & Stop Doing

Benefits of Training Sales Managers
Short-Term Benefits 

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Long-Term Benefits 
  • Consistent Growth: A well-trained sales management team can be a game-changer for revenue growth. According to research by the Sales Executive Council, sales teams led by supportive managers are 67% more effective at closing deals than those with managers who exert high levels of pressure. This shows that the right training can significantly influence managerial styles and, by extension, team performance.
  • Increased Profitability: The Harvard Business Review highlighted that companies that invest in training see a 24% higher profit margin than those that spend less on training. While this encompasses all forms of training, the impact of upskilling managers – those responsible for driving and guiding the sales strategy – cannot be underestimated.
  • Stronger Leadership Pipeline: On-the-job training prepares sales managers for higher leadership roles, ensuring a robust succession plan. This is crucial for organizational stability; a study by the Gartner for HR (formerly the Corporate Leadership Council) found that organizations with proper leadership training realized a 32% increase in leadership strength, which is directly tied to financial performance.
  • Cultural Cohesiveness: Trained managers foster a positive, consistent culture, enhancing team collaboration and overall company morale. According to a Gallup study, companies with highly engaged teams report 20% higher sales and 21% higher profitability.

On-the-job training for sales managers isn’t just a “nice-to-have”; it’s a necessity. By investing in our sales leaders, we’re not only boosting current performance but setting the stage for sustained success in the future. It’s high time we prioritize sales manager training for those at the helm, guiding our sales teams to victory.

Are you looking for training for sales managers?

Contact us today to learn about our customizable virtual sales training programs
available for reps and managers.


sales confidence

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Sales Is A Confidence Sport

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably made an outbound sales call. You’ve probably made thousands. Stop and think for a second just how many things about this take guts – it takes sales confidence. Calling a stranger not expecting your call and essentially asking them for money. Betting a chunk of your family’s income on your abilities. Try to pretend you’ve never done it before. Can you remember your initial hesitance? The questions you had? The doubts and fears?

This is how our new hires and yet-to-be-hired people feel. We forget that sometimes. This is scary stuff.

It takes confidence in yourself, your ability to connect, to think on your feet, to pull the right phrase, the right answer, the right joke.

Not all of us are born with this kind of confidence – the deep knowing, the foundation, the deep belief in one’s own abilities. And many of those people are in sales.

How do we do it? With another word called bravery. Bravery isn’t the same as confidence.

bravery inside sales

I describe bravery to my kids as feeling scared and doing it anyway. “I know the hallway is dark honey. I know you feel scared. That’s why they call it being brave. It wouldn’t be bravery if you weren’t scared. You’ll be ok.” Bravery is suiting up! Putting on the superhero cape and facing the bad guys.

We know this as “fake it till you make it.”

I grew up in a very unstable home life. We moved so much that every 2 years was a new school for me.

New girl.
New school.
New classroom.
New teacher.
22 pairs of eyes turn and stare at the new girl.
So I guess I know something about bravery.

I think that is why I’m drawn to sales. We push bravery in sales. Bravery is being a little terrified they’ll hang up or say no and doing it anyway. But confidence is being absolutely sure they shouldn’t. Really knowing and believing the value of my product and service, plus the value of me.

Which do you think sounds better on the phone? Confidence or bravery?

Confidence. Sure! Confidence is what sells. It’s what permits the deeper questions, the customer education, and the ability to challenge. It makes the extra dials, keeps customers on the phone, and overcomes objections. Confidence asks for referrals. And then does it again. And again. For years.

Confidence doesn’t burn out after a year and a half. (the average lifespan of an inside sales rep). But bravery sure does. There are only so many days we can put on that cape and that mask and pick up that phone. Suit up. Dial. Ask.

New girl. New school. New classroom. New teacher. 22 pairs of eyes…

Bravery is not a recipe for long-term success. And I assert that our sport of sales can benefit from going beyond bravery…to confidence.

But there’s a step between bravery and confidence and it’s called courage.

Courage isn’t “fake it till you make it”. Courage is the “making it”. And to make it, we have to go through the fear. Not over the fear, not around the fear, through the fear. We have to stand in it.

Quietly.

And it’s terrifying.

courage bravery confidence inside sales

Courage is facing your fears. Naming them and then tackling them with an open mind and heart. It’s being vulnerable, being honest, and being open. It’s considering the rejection, the loss, or the humiliation and being OK with it and being you – a stronger you – on the other side. It’s letting others in to see.

It’s standing in the darkness. Until you are not scared anymore.

Like many, I have buckets of bravery, but not nearly enough confidence. And two things dawned on me recently:

  1. Admitting this out loud and actively learning about confidence and how we get it, how we lose it, how we can grow it is my path. It’s what I do – I find things that are hard to do, where we have a gap in public knowledge or ability, and I figure out a way to teach it. It’s my path to learn this, to share this, to teach this.
  2. I started 10+ years ago and didn’t know it. The reason Factor 8 is the most referred sales training company in the world isn’t just because of our curriculum. It’s our model. When we get on the phones and do what we teach, we’re not just applying skills, we’re growing confidence.

We’re asking a room full of strangers to pick up the phone and try something they learned 20 minutes ago. And we do it, together. And our facilitators stand with them in the dark. We listen, we encourage, we coach. We show everyone in the room that it’s OK to fail, it’s fun to mess up, and they don’t have to be perfect. In fact, we REWARD imperfection and risk-taking and we shine a little light into the dark room of courage. And you’ll never guess what comes out on the other side…

Confidence.

We’re in the business of teaching sales confidence. Our loyal clients and students probably already knew this. It feels like such a big revelation that it’s almost silly it took me ten years to figure it out. But now that I’m here? I’m immensely proud. I’ve always been proud of our model, our results, and the feedback we get that we change lives. But now I see how aligned Factor 8 is with my own path, my personal passions – and fears, and I’ve fallen in love with this little company all over again.

My challenge to you: Ask yourself if you’re pushing bravery at work or instilling confidence. Remember that bravery burns out and confidence is what sells. If you can help your teams grow the confidence, you’ll grow your results, you’ll keep your team longer, and you’ll all grow as humans. And isn’t that what it’s really all about?

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event-based-sales-training

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Why Event-Based Sales Training Falls Short

In the world of sales, the quest for effective training solutions is never-ending. For years, event-based sales training has been the norm, but is it actually effective? 

I’m here to tell you 7 reasons why event-based training won’t cut it, especially for leaders managing large teams.

  1. Lack of Sustained Learning

Concern: Event-based training is like cramming the night before a test. You get a bunch of info all at once, but will you remember it next week? Probably not.

Reality Check: Enablement leaders get that learning isn’t just a one-time thing; it’s an ongoing process. Sales teams require continuous skill development and reinforcement. Event-based training, with its one-off sessions, can’t provide the consistent support needed for long-term success.

  1. Limited Application to Real-World Scenarios

Concern: Event-based sales training can feel like it’s all talk and no action. It’s theory-based and detached from real-world sales situations.

Reality Check: Enablement leaders know that the sales landscape is dynamic and challenging. To thrive, teams need training that is directly applicable to their daily tasks. 

  1. Poor Skill Retention Rates

Concern: Sales reps can struggle to retain the vast amount of information taught in a single training event. (That’s why micro-learning over time is critical to ensuring skills stick!)

Reality Check: Enablement leaders recognize that skill retention is the key to performance improvement. Event-based training can overwhelm participants, leading to lower skill retention. This leads to less effective training that fails to drive tangible results.

  1. No Skill Reinforcement

Concern: Event-based training typically lacks ongoing skill reinforcement.

Reality Check: Just like learning a new language, if you don’t use it, you lose it. Skills deteriorate over time if they’re not regularly practiced and reinforced. Enablement leaders need training that includes coaching, mentoring, and opportunities for reps to apply what they’ve learned to their daily work life – something that’s missing in event-based learning.

  1. High Cost, Limited ROI

Concern: Event-based training can be expensive, and the ROI may not always justify the investment.

Reality Check: Enablement leaders are under pressure to deliver results and prove the value of their initiatives. Event-based training’s high costs and questionable long-term effectiveness can make it a tough sell when trying to show ROI.

  1. Challenging for High Attrition

Concern: High turnover is a common challenge for large sales teams, making it difficult to keep everyone up-to-date through periodic training events.

Reality Check: Enablement leaders understand that training should be agile and accessible. Event-based training struggles to accommodate the rapid onboarding of new hires or the need for ongoing training when turnover rates are high.

  1. Inadaptability to Change

Concern: The sales landscape evolves rapidly, and event-based training can’t keep pace with these changes.

Reality Check: For those at the helm, it’s crucial that our teams are prepped and ready to tackle the ever-shifting industry trends and customer needs. Relying solely on event-based training might not give us the flexibility and swift adaptation we genuinely need.

A More Effective Approach: Continuous, Virtual Training

Event-based sales training has its merits. However, for those leading large teams with a notable churn rate, it might not be the optimal choice. The better route? Ongoing, virtual sales training. It promises consistent, deep learning, techniques that align with real-world challenges, enhanced skill retention, ongoing skill reinforcement, cost efficiency, and the flexibility to adapt to the ever-evolving landscape.

READ: Why You Need a Sales Training and Enablement Budget

Ongoing learning fosters a culture of proactive growth which improves employee retention. This continuous approach ensures that every team member, whether a seasoned sales pro or a new rep, is armed with the most current strategies, insights, and best practices. In a landscape as competitive as sales, staying updated isn’t just recommended—it’s imperative.

Are you looking for virtual sales training?

Contact us today to request information on our customizable virtual sales training programs
available for reps (and managers).


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