Drive Behavioral Change and Revenue Growth:

Business Case to Build Your Own Sales University

An Educational White Paper for CEOs and Sales Leaders

by William L. MacDonald, President & CEO

PleinAire Strategies, LLC

Summer 2017

hen I speak with CEOs, sales leaders and managers about sales training, they ask

consistently, “What ROI can we expect from a sales training program?”

It is not easy for a sales organization to measure the effectiveness of sales training nor

define success metrics. Competition, economic and market conditions heavily influence outcomes.

To begin to answer the ROI value question on sales training, we reviewed a research report by CSO

Insights, The Business Case for Sales Training, based on input received from more than 2,000

companies as part of its 2015 Sales Performance Optimization Study. Results were startling.

The report laid out how high-quality sales training programs produce significant benefits for a sales

organization; and how sales managers positively impact sales performance when they receive sales

coaching training.

CSO Insights asked sales organizations to rate the quality of their sales skills training programs. Data

analysis found that 9.6 percent of programs “exceeded expectations”; 33 percent “met

expectations”; and, most revealing, the largest category was “needed improvement” at 53.6

percent. The study also found that 3.9 percent did not know how effective their programs were.

Sales Command? Do we have a problem?

Let’s jump right into solutions because every sales organization can benefit from improvement. And

it is worth putting the right effort into your sales training. Take a moment to study these five ways a

well-designed sales training program can dramatically improve the performance of a sales

organization, according to CSO Insights:

W

1. More Reps Meet Quota

The results from companies with sales training programs that "exceeded expectations"

showed a three-percent increase in sales reps achieving quota compared to companies

whose sales training programs simply met expectations, and an eight-percent increase in

sales reps achieving quota compared to companies whose training programs “needed

improvement.”

2. Achieve Higher Win Rates

Companies whose sales skills’ training programs exceeded expectations had significantly

higher win rates (52.6%) than companies where training programs met expectations (48%) or

needed improvement (40.5%).

3. Better Align Solutions to Customer Needs

The ability to identify customer needs and then align solutions to those needs arises as a

foundational selling skill directly correlated to sales success. CSO Insights found that

companies with sales training programs exceeding expectations performed better than

companies with training programs merely meeting expectations (84.9% vs. 79.1%). These

same companies performed significantly better than companies with training programs that

needed improvement (79.1% vs. 44.9%).

4. Reduce Salesforce Turnover

Lower salesforce turnover rates rank as another positive factor of an investment in sales

training. Given the ramp up time required for new salespeople to become fully productive,

high salesforce turnover can have a seriously detrimental effect on sales productivity. CSO

Insights found companies with sales training programs exceeding expectations had the

lowest annual sales rep turnover (11.9%); while companies with sales training programs

meeting expectations had slightly higher turnover rates (13.9%); and, finally, companies with

sales training programs needing improvement had significantly higher turnover rates (19.5%).

5. Improve Sales Coaching

Frontline sales managers drive reinforcement of sales skills training. It is not surprising then

that exceed expectations companies with training programs on sales coaching skills

produced a far higher overall revenue plan attainment than companies whose coaching skills

only met expectations (94.8% vs. 89.3%) or need improvement (89.3% vs. 84.5%).

While many factors influence the overall effectiveness of any sales training program, the CSO

Insights’ report demonstrates the importance of sales training alone to impact sales performance.

The Flip Side of Sales Training

Sales training is a multibillion-dollar business: U.S. companies spend $20 billion on sales training each

year, according to the Association for Talent Development. Yet expert Dave Stein in Sales Training:

The 120-Day Curse (ES Research Group) emphasizes between 85 and 90 percent of sales training fails,

and demonstrates no lasting impact after 120 days. If we do the math, that amounts to somewhere

north of $17 billion of unproductive training. A staggering loss to American business.

When I work with clients, I encounter two issues why sales training fails. First, management is not

committed. While management team members attend sales training programs, once back in their

offices, they turn to other pressing business. No one continues to carry the banner to support the

major investment made in training.

Second, once the company undergoes several days of training, no reinforcement occurs. No one

takes charge to coordinate the new sales process with the CRM system. No coaching initiatives take

place. No follow-on training scheduled. Management mistakenly believes after the three days of

sales training; a magical transformation should materialize. We all know that is unrealistic.

Sales training must be viewed as a strategic business asset that merits ongoing development and

investment. That means formalized goal-setting, strategic platforms, tactical programs, and

monitoring and measurement of results.

“Training isn't just a nice thing to do anymore," says Laurie Bassi, vice-president of research at the

American Society for Training and Development, in Alexandria, Va. "Companies are now thinking of

training as a strategic imperative."

Training as a Strategic Business Asset

The business world of today took a sharp right turn from its past when customers began taking

control of the sale. We know that statistic: 57 percent of the purchase decision is complete before a

customer even calls a supplier.” (CEB) While some industry experts disagree with this statement,

there’s no dispute that the changing nature of the buyer’s journey, that process for making a

purchase decision, has been forever altered in the digital age.

As a consequence, high-performing sales organizations have adapted their sales processes and go-

to-market strategies to the new ways prospects buy on their buyers’ journey. From a training

perspective, these high-performers strive to uncover new concepts to open sales opportunities that

fit well with the nature of their market and buyer behaviors. They also bolt tools onto their CRM

systems to boost efficiency, like digital meeting planners. What’s more, they benchmark their best

salespeople to replicate best practices. And they always modify their sales approach to different

classes of prospects, markets, and economic conditions.

Part of my work as a revenue growth consultant includes performing formal evaluations on client

sales processes. In my travels to various clients, I often discover hodgepodge sales processes made

up of Rube Goldberg-like formulas that somehow the client believes work. They may use a form of

SPIN Selling with its unique questioning process. They may use the research insight of my five-stage

sales process, MERGE, to prepare for meetings. They may follow the path of The Challenger Sale.

Many clients push deeper into their sales process and develop buyer personas. With all these

different sales approaches, how do you create a cost-effective sales training program that’s regularly

reinforced and stays aligned with your corporate strategy?

You build it internally.

An Economist article May 16, 2015, points out that General Electric opened the first corporate

university in 1956. “A survey by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that the number of formal

corporate universities in America doubled between 1997 and 2007, to around 2,000. Since then, it

reckons, they have continued to spread, and now more than 4,000 companies around the world

have them.”

Corporate universities run the gamut from McDonald’s Hamburger University to Apple’s corporate

university, run by the former dean of Yale business school. Caterpillar, Unilever, and Walt Disney are

a few of the stellar brands benefitting from corporate universities.

However, historically companies have mistakenly thought sales universities work only for large

companies. Donna Fenn, a contributing editor at Inc.com, says:

“Corporate universities are no longer just a big-company phenomenon. Small

companies can use in-house training programs to improve recruitment, increase

revenues, and reduce turnover. In-house training is helping companies attract and

retain people, but it also helps employees keep up with the information onslaught.”

Businesses of every imaginable stripe are launching their own "universities,” enhancing employee

skills as a solution to reduce turnover, replace expensive tuition programs, and to prevail over fickle

economic cycles. CoreTech Consulting, in King of Prussia, PA, launched CoreTech University some

twenty years ago as a differentiator to improve recruitment; it has become so successful, it is now a

requirement. Unitel, a call-center

company in McLean, VA University, cut

its turnover in half, from 12 percent

down to six, because of the success of

Unitel University training programs.

This accomplishment is key because

Millennial turnover alone costs the U.S.

economy $30.5 billion annually, cites

Gallup.

That is general skills training. Let’s zero in on the real need for sales training universities.

Where Did All the Salespeople Go?

A salesforce consulting group, Chally Group, analyzed more than 100,000 business decision makers

and learned that “39 percent of B2B buyers select a vendor according to the skills of the

salesperson rather than price, quality or service features,” as reported in Harvard Business Review.

Read that statement again.

The authors of the article quite naturally reason then that business schools must invest a lot to teach

sales skills. Right? Hang on. What’s more, they claim “in regions desperate for jobs, good sales

positions go unfilled for lack of qualified applicants.” The staffing giant ManpowerGroup identified

the position of sales representative as the third most difficult position to fill out of the top 10 in its

eleventh annual 2016 Talent Shortage Survey. Forty percent of employers in all industries are

experiencing this challenge. Let’s spend a minute on the reality of this talent shortage.

The U. S. Department of Labor claims companies were on track to lose 40 percent of their senior

talent by the end of 2016. Without new data, we cannot prove this occurred. However, we do know

this: As boomers continue to retire and leave their senior sales positions, the dearth of qualified

salespeople worsens, and it is unlikely Generation X will fill the gap.

Who’s Training Tomorrow’s Salespeople?

On the previous page, we offered proof that nearly 40 percent of buyers make buy decisions based

on their salesperson. Given, its importance to the sale, you would think sales training at business

schools would be booming.

With more than 4,000 colleges in this country, fewer than 100 offer programs or courses in sales. Out

of more than 170,000 students who earn MBAs each year, “only a tiny fraction learn anything about

sales.” Half of all U.S. college graduates, regardless of major, are likely to work in sales at some point

in their career, claims hrb.org.

If academia isn’t training tomorrow’s salesforce; if the private-sector sales training industry rates

poorly on training results [remember 85 and 90 percent of sales training fails, demonstrating no

lasting impact after 120 days]; and if buyers select vendors on the skills of the salesperson, we have a

serious problem looking for a practical solution.

Build Your Own Sales University

A well-structured, corporate sales university holds the potential to turn your random sales training

events into a life-changing university education for eager-to-learn salespeople. If you want to grow

your team into world-class performance, do what world-class companies do─build their own sales

universities.

The graph below from the Rain Group shows how building your own sales university differs from

typical sales training, arguably, a less effective approach.

Category Typical Sales

Training

Sales University

Approach to sales training Flavor of the month, jumbled Focused, organized, logical, long-term view

Staying power Learning forgotten, not applied Learned, internalized, applied

New hire ramp-up Time-consuming, ineffective Efficient, repeatable, effective

Delivery method and components

Limited Live & online, blended learning, multiple modalities, testing & certification

Customization If done, lots of effort, little use Maximum use for sales enablement

Sales approach (method) Aging, limited, jumbled mix Research-based, current, field-tested, comprehensive

Ramp-up Slow, inefficient process to get new hires to full capacity

Fast, effective, well-planned ramp-up

Effectiveness Not remembered, not connected to daily work

Internalized, integrated with sales performance environment, behaviors applied on the job

Source: Rain Group

Developing your own corporate sales university will not happen overnight. However, the journey is

worth the effort, both on a qualitative and quantitative basis. According to data from a recent

Aberdeen Group study, companies that deploy formal sales training initiatives lead non-adopters in:

▪ overall team attainment of sales quota (78% vs. 63%)

▪ customer retention (71% vs. 66%)

▪ percentage of sales reps achieving quota (64% vs. 42%)

Selecting a Sales Training Approach

You can expect lively debate from sales leaders or training professional on the right way to deliver

sales training programs. Some advocate traditional instructor-led classroom training (ILT); others

prefer the benefit of virtual instructor-led training (VILT), and still, others champion the value of self-

paced e-learning (e-learning).

In my opinion, you need to start by understanding how your sales team prefers to learn. About half

of all people are visual learners; they need eye-candy to stimulate neural pathways. They process

incoming information by what they see. An ILT approach may zone them out unless the instructor

presents interesting visuals. Another 25 percent of people are auditories; they prefer to learn by

what they hear. ILT may work quite well for them, supplemented with podcasts or audio recordings

of the course. The remaining 25 percent of people are kinesthetic; they must get a “sense” of things,

pulling from what they see, hear and touch. For them, blended learning may work best, whereby you

provide interactive materials, playbooks, and role-playing.

How do you know who is a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic? You can ask each student in a pre-course

survey how they prefer to process information. Or, you can learn the fascinating technique of

reading eye patterns through neuro-linguistic programming and use it in pre-interviews with your

participants. To teach effectively, you must understand how your “students” prefer to learn.

Truthfully, all three delivery methods, ILT, VILT, and e-learning, in combination, will help train

participants to understand, apply, and adopt new selling skills. Begin with crystal-clear objectives,

management commitment, sales process relevancy, and a plan for reinforcement. Whatever you do,

your curriculum will be more successful with a longer shelf life if it is designed to exceed goals and fit

budgets.

Creating Content for Your Curriculum

Deciding what to teach, what content to use, depends on the current skill set of your salesforce, and

the composition of skills you seek in new recruits. Have you done a thorough evaluation? Have you

identified strengths and weaknesses, areas for improvement?

The sales profession requires an intricate tapestry of skills to learn and master. Think how expert

training on the subjects below could help your team improve sales outcomes:

Buyer personas Buyers’ journey Prospecting Cold-calling Lead generation Qualifying leads Buyer research

Needs discovery Lead nurturing Filling the pipeline Landing C-suite meetings Sales messaging 21st-century presentations Art of questioning

Creating buyer vision Selling value Outperforming competitors Penetrating large accounts Growing accounts Higher close ratios Lifetime client engagement

Where do you find the content to use in training these subjects? If you do not already own it in your

sales arsenal, you can find it all around you. For instance:

▪ internet resources (unlimited from Google to YouTube and Slideshare) ▪ content creation platforms ▪ professional sales books and articles ▪ audio/visual presentations; sales playbooks ▪ your company’s sales presentations ▪ your company’s marketing department ▪ competitor presentations ▪ online learning systems ▪ interview sales experts ▪ benchmark content from other sales universities

In developing your sales training content, you may benefit by retaining a curriculum developer, a

sales writer, or a specialty firm in Learning Management Systems. I will make a referral shortly.

Please know that quality sales training content is essential to learner retention. Do not skimp on

content, materials, or delivery methods.

Selecting How to Deliver Your Curriculum

You will find several educational delivery systems on the market capable of accommodating most

types of adult learners. Among the more common are:

Computer-based training (CBT). Computer-based training supplants a live instructor; it is the

instructor. First introduced in 1960, CBT has a long history in business. The technology is more

widespread and easier-to-use than ever before thanks to the 50-year old Moore’s Law which

maintains computer power doubles every 18 months. Computer-based training formats vary from

the simplest text-only programs to highly sophisticated multimedia programs to virtual reality and,

soon enough, to artificial intelligence.

Even so, traditional instructor-led classroom training should remain a centerpiece of sales learning

because people ultimately prefer human interaction. As technology solutions expand, VILT will grow

in prominence as can be seen already in the health field where doctors diagnose patients remotely.

In my opinion, people learn best through human interaction. While new advances in workplace

training will surely emerge, ILT offers the all-important human factor; I think it will remain

E-Learning. In addition to CBT, many companies with sales reps located across the country which

operate under tight schedules rely on self-paced, e-learning technologies to deliver training. In fact,

three-quarters of American companies offer online corporate training to improve the professional

development of their employees.

The global e-learning market size reached USD 165 billion in 2015 and is likely to grow at over 5

percent from 2016 to 2023, exceeding USD 240 billion, cites Global Market Insights. Low-cost

involvement and flexibility in learning will drive industry growth. The U.S. is a major adopter of e-

learning services at 27 billion USD.

Blended Learning. The popularity of the blended-learning approach acknowledges that one size

does not fit all in training. Blended learning uses multiple training methods with consistent success:

▪ A University of Tennessee study verified a blended learning program reduced both time and

the cost of training by more than 50 percent;

▪ The same study showed a 10 percent improved result in learning outcomes, compared with

traditional training;

▪ Learning experts believe a major advantage of blended learning comes from its ability to

replicate how people learn on the job through experience and interaction with co-workers.

The multiple components of blended learning keep trainers and trainees well engaged and permit

trainers to customize training around these considerations:

▪ Subject matter

▪ Audience make-up

▪ Types of learners

▪ Budget considerations

▪ Space constraints

▪ Compliance issues

Your company already may use blended learning without realizing it. For instance, have you ever:

▪ Used a PowerPoint training session, punctuated by written quizzes, small group discussions,

and role plays at various points in the training?

▪ Broken a complex subject into smaller parts and used a different training method to teach

each section or step?

▪ Used a live trainer with hands-on demonstrations for initial training and a CD-ROM or online

course for refresher training?

So, we have ever so briefly touched on training approaches, curriculum, content and delivery

systems. By now, you have begun to identify your training needs. You know where knowledge gaps

hide. You know what you want to achieve. However, for greater clarity, these questions will help you

drill down further:

▪ What are the training conditions?

▪ Do you have a classroom? How many people will it hold?

▪ How many computers do you have access to?

▪ What resources are available?

▪ What are the characteristics of the training content? Is it soft or hard?

▪ Who is your target audience?

▪ What is its demographics?

▪ How many languages do you need to accommodate? Which ones?

▪ How many employees need this training?

▪ How quickly do you need to accomplish this training?

The One Caveat─Training Retention

What comes next is the toughest challenge of all your work. Remember earlier in the text I stated

that 85 and 90 percent of sales training fails, demonstrating no lasting impact after 120 days.

Well, the picture is a bit grimmer. Source: Learning Solutions Magazine

Knowledge retention must take priority in your

quest to build a sales university. Up to 77

percent of learning is forgotten within six days,

the “dirty little secret of corporate training.”

And you cannot afford to waste any more

training investment.

What do you do?

Follow the Learning Pyramid, developed by the National Training Laboratory. Its research states that learners retain:

90% of what they learn when they teach someone else/use immediately. 75% of what they learn when they practice what they learned. 50% of what they learn when engaged in a group discussion. 30% of what they learn when they see a demonstration. 20% of what they learn from audio-visual. 10% of what they learn when they've learned from reading. 5% of what they learn when they've learned from lecture.

Admittedly, some scholars refute the veracity of the

pyramid because so many variables affect memory

retrieval like the age of learners; delay between

learning and test; prior knowledge of a subject.

While not perfect, the Learning Pyramid heads in the right direction in its attempt to improve

training retention. You can see from the data if you give learners the opportunity to teach what

they’ve learned, adequate practice time, group discussions, and demonstrations, you’re destined to

make progress in cleaning up corporate training’s “dirty little secret.”

Five Steps to the Front Door

You are close now. As few as five steps from the front door of your sales university. You need to

build your plan, backed by solid research. Line up resources and funding. Draw up the curriculum and

make decisions on content and delivery systems.

Begin, though, with the end in mind. Ask yourself:

What will success look like when your sales university is up and running?

I’ll leave you now with five steps to build and implement your own sales university adapted, in part,

from World-Class Sales Training by the Rain Group:

1. Define goals and objectives for your sales training, identify the impact you want on salesforce

results, along with key performance metrics for tracking. Evaluate gaps in performance and areas in

need of improvement. Build your training around a formalized sales process matched to how

prospects buy. Cover curriculum goals for each sales role, including a “new-hire ramp-up program.”

Do not treat the building of your sales university as a new sales initiative; it is a transformation

requiring full commitment from senior management.

2. Develop sales training areas customized to your unique situation. By doing so, you will realize

the best returns in improved sales performance. Custom areas should include sales process, sales

management, and performance support tools such as the use of sales playbooks. Training materials

wield tremendous influence on learning success. Develop yours internally. Or you might consider

using and adapting content from established providers of learning management systems such as

www.digitalchalk.com

DigitalChalk curates a content library of 250 courses, some from leading sales trainers and thought

leaders, from which you can build your own curriculum. As an example, MERGE 2.0, my soon-to-be-

released second book, will also offer fourteen training modules online. You can pick and choose from

any or use the entire course in your eLearning curriculum. DigitalChalk provides you with your own

branded university platform, where you can also store your own content.

“Every day we are impacting thousands of companies. We help them mitigate risks, increase

productivity and manage talent with our online learning system that consistently transforms the

business of training into the value of a knowledge-driven workforce.”

Russ Stinehour, President of DigitalChalk

3. Deliver a blended-sales training program with strong reinforcing elements, easily retained and

enjoyed by participants, who can then apply what they’ve learned immediately to their work. When

you use an eLearning platform, you can employ gamification, custom cases, interaction and live

instruction. You can onboard new sales reps faster. You can rally your team to use your formalized

sales process, standardizing techniques and language. You may even reduce classroom training time

and get salespeople out, in front of prospects, and producing results faster.

4. Enable your sales team to benefit from sales training that translates into the desired behavioral

change. That’s a major step forward─real change to existing behavior. Dedicate one trusted location

where training, collateral, tools, and resources are reliably, easily accessed. Reinforce your training

throughout the year beyond one-off two or three-day training sessions. Sales training must be linked

closely with sales enablement.

5. Measure with consistency the effectiveness of sales training on sales results. Using your

findings, continuously improve the training, along with the performance environment. Your online

sales platform should regularly test sales reps’ knowledge. You will know exactly where you stand,

what’s working and what’s not, and what type of coaching tools will be necessary to upgrade

performance throughout the reps’ sales careers. Finally, give serious consideration to implementing

certification levels on core competencies with incentives to produce new revenue growth.

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If you want to drive behavioral change in your salesforce and generate revenue growth, contact

PleinAire Strategies at 858.759.8637 or 213.598.7400 or bill@pastrategy.com.