Strategy + Planning

When I became the Global Head of Enablement at SAP, I was given one monumental task: launch outbound virtual sales training FAST.

I had no team.
No curriculum.
And a deadline that did not care.

In four weeks, 37 reps were scheduled to sit in a classroom in Barcelona. And I had nothing. No content. No internal resources. No time to build it all from scratch.

So I did what most enablement leaders in that situation do. I started shopping for sales training.

What I found was the same thing you still see everywhere today. A standard two day workshop. One version for Sales 101. One for Sales 201. One for managers. One for leaders. A little pre-work, maybe a little post-work, but essentially a one-size-fits all experience that was not designed for our motion or our customers.

When I asked vendors for customized sales training, I paid an extra ten thousand dollars and got two role plays printed on paper and shoved into the back of the workbook.

That was the “customization.”

It was not just frustrating. It was unusable. I did not want a vendor. I needed a partner. I needed content that actually fit our inside sales training reality and that my team could reuse, adapt, and build on, not a one time event.

That experience stuck with me. It shaped how I think about sales training, and it is a big reason I am on a mission to make customizable sales training the norm instead of the exception.

DOWNLOAD: Sales Training Vendor Partner Checklist

Why One Size Fits All Sales Training Fails

If you have ever sat through generic sales training, you already know why it fails.

Most programs are built for delivery efficiency, not real world application. They are designed so a trainer can fly in, deliver the same deck to a different audience, and fly out again.

On paper, it looks like this:

• One standard curriculum
• One format, often a two day workshop
• One path, regardless of role or segment
• One moment in time, then it is over

In reality, this creates three big problems.

#1 Engagement

Reps and managers are busy and overloaded. The human brain is always scanning for reasons not to change. The second they hear an example that does not match their buyers or their sales cycle, they check out.

“This is for field sellers.”
“Our buyers are nothing like that.”
“This feels like theory, not inside sales training.”

#2 Application

Even great ideas die if the rep has to translate them alone. When training is generic, you are asking each seller to figure out how to apply it to their role, their accounts, and their conversations. A few high performers will do it. Most will not.

#3 Retention and ROI

We know from learning science that people forget the majority of what they hear in class within days if they are not actively recalling and using it. If there are no real calls, no role specific activities, and no coaching built around the new skills, the investment evaporates fast.

That is why truly customizable sales training matters. Not because it sounds fancy, but because relevance is what keeps reps engaged long enough to try something new, and trying is the first step toward results.

The Real Build vs. Buy Dilemma For Enablement Leaders

If you run enablement or revenue, you are caught in a familiar trap.

Option 1: Build your own sales training

• You control the message and the motion
• You align to your process, customers, and tech stack
• You can design role specific paths for BDRs, AEs, AMs, and managers

But you also run into the reality:

• It takes months, sometimes years
• Your team already has a full time job
• Internal credibility can be uneven
• Content gets outdated faster than you can update it

Option 2: Buy external sales training

• You get outside expertise
• You get something faster
• You get a facilitator with instant credibility
• You get structure you did not have to build

But the tradeoffs are real:

• Content is often generic and one size fits all
• It is hard to plug into onboarding and ongoing development
• You often do not own the materials
• Two years later the playbook and slides are still sitting where you left them

Enablement leaders live in that tension. You want the speed and quality that comes from buying, but you also need the control and customization that comes from building.

Revenue leaders feel it from a different angle. They see the price tag and ask if this sales training will move pipeline, conversion, and quota attainment. The answer depends almost entirely on whether the content feels relevant enough to use and simple enough to apply quickly.

That is the heart of the build vs. buy dilemma. It’s not about training for training’s sake. It’s about behavior change, time to impact, and whether the organization will actually adopt what you invest in.

Why Customizable Sales Training Matters For Both Enablement And Revenue

This is where customized sales training and modular sales training become a strategic lever, not a “nice to have.”

For enablement leaders, customizable sales training means:

• You can align content to your stages, roles, and motions
• You can plug modules into onboarding, everboarding, and refreshers
• You can keep building on the same foundation instead of starting from zero every year
• You get a shared language for managers to coach to

For revenue leaders, inside sales training that is truly customized means:

• Faster ramp and shorter time to first meeting and first deal
• Higher adoption because reps recognize themselves in the examples
• Less rework and less “shadow curriculum” created by individual teams
• Better visibility into what “good” looks like on actual calls

At its best, sales training is not a one time event. It is a system that combines short, tactical learning, manager coaching, live call practice, and reinforcement activities over time.

Generic content cannot support that system. Customizable sales training can.

DOWNLOAD: What Best-in-Class Sales Training Looks Like Checklist

What Customized Sales Training Actually Looks Like At Factor 8

This is exactly the gap we’re filling at Factor 8.

Instead of a single, fixed workshop, our inside sales training is built from more than 40 mini modules that we mix and match based on real data about your team. We start with an assessment. We listen to calls, review metrics, talk with leaders and reps, and identify where deals stall and where confidence breaks down.

From there, we design a custom enablement plan that often includes different paths for different roles. A BDR, an AE, and a manager should not all sit through the same day and hope to extract what they need. Each role gets the skills and scenarios that match their reality.

Customization shows up in the delivery too. The decks do not talk about “selling ice to Eskimos.” They use your buyers, your stories, your competitive landscape. Activities, role plays, and even customer logos are built around your sales motion. Reps often bring real calls into the room. We give feedback on actual conversations, not hypotheticals.

We also use a blended learning model that puts application at the center. Reps take short eLearning first to learn the core concepts. Then they complete customized homework that applies those concepts to their world, for example writing their own intros or value statements. When they come to the live workshop, they are already working from their own talk tracks and we coach them up from there.

After class, we keep going. Reps and managers come back together for accountability sessions where we review recorded calls, give next level feedback, and layer in more advanced tips. Managers then meet with us separately so we can calibrate what “good” sounds like and make sure they are reinforcing the skills in one on ones, huddles, and team meetings.

That is customized sales training in practice. It is inside sales training that is specific to your world, built to be used, and supported by your managers, not just a trainer.

Now here is where the model really shifts for enablement.

We heard the same thing from leaders again and again. They loved the training. They loved the outcomes. And they wanted more control. They wanted to keep building on the content with their own voice, their own products, and their own expertise.

So we created the All Access Sales Training License.

With All Access, you still get the full Factor 8 experience, including the assessment, the modular curriculum, and our trainers. But you also get the editable soft copies of our workshops and materials, along with train-the-trainer support and LMS ready files.

That means:

• You can license customizable sales training content that already works
• You can brand it, adapt it, and plug it into your own LMS or run it in ours
• You can build role-based paths for reps and managers without starting from scratch
• You can keep content evergreen by updating it as your motion evolves

In plain terms, we help you solve the build vs. buy dilemma.

You get the speed, expertise, and credibility of buying outside sales training. You get the control, flexibility, and ownership of building your own. And your reps get inside sales training that finally feels like it was made for them.

If you are tired of choosing between generic workshops and year long build outs, this is the middle ground. Customized sales training that is modular, practical, and actually yours to keep.