Benjamin Franklin once said “an investment in knowledge pays the best interest”, and we think Mr. Franklin got it spot on. Training and coaching aren’t just something that are ‘nice’ to have in an organization. They should be a vital part of a company’s long-term investment and growth strategy.

This might sound like a simple point and I’m sure that most organizations would agree with this. But the reality is that a majority of the organizations do not provide enough training to their employees.

To prove this point of ours, we have brought to you some statistics which demonstrate why a continuous coaching/ training program is vital to achieving revenue objectives.

Statistics that prove that continuous training and coaching are vital to achieving the revenue goals of a business

1. Many sales leaders used to believe that 20% of their sales force generate 80% of their revenue.

In today’s world where there is heavy competition in every field, it’s impractical for sales leaders to rely on just a few top sales representatives and expect them to do the heavy lifting for the entire team. Because this essentially means 4 out of every 5 sellers wouldn’t be used to their full potential. And this causes a very serious impact on the bottom line sales results.

Sales leaders need to realize that

• Every employee is unique
• Every employee has got unique strengths and weaknesses
• And every employee can bring their unique value to the table

By developing a customized sales coaching plan, sales leaders can unlock the true potential of each individual in their sales team. To do this, sales leaders need to quantify every aspect of a representative like,

• The recent sales performance of a rep
• Percentage of business goals that the rep has attainment
• The training/ coaching modules that the rep has completed in the past
• And the number of new skills the rep has acquired recently

Then judging by these metrics, you can provide customized and continuous training/ coaching which empowers each individual in your team to reach their potential.

2. Of the sales teams who hit 100% of their sales goals, 32% of them have a dedicated sales enablement program.

According to our study, only 14.7% of sales teams achieve 100% of their sales targets. This is not a huge number when we consider the huge amount of investments that most organizations put into their sales training programs. But if we closely study the sales teams that are crushing their targets, we notice that there is one thing that is common in all of them. It is that all of those sales teams had a dedicated sales enablement program. This shows how important it is for organizations to have a dedicated sales enablement program that consistently prepares their sales teams to succeed in their sales endeavors.

3. 78.6% of organizations having an effective training program are able to meet 100% of their sales targets.

When organizations invest their time, efforts, and money into an effective and continuous sales training program, everybody wins. Our study suggests that nearly 80% of companies that have a powerful sales training program in place, are more successful in meeting their quota.

So your goal here should be to implement a powerful training program which extends training and coaching for your reps beyond their onboarding period. And ensure that you place the emphasis of your training efforts on knowledge retention rather than just delivering information.

4. Out of the sales reps who achieved 75% of their quota, 90% of them indulged in sales coaching every month.

This statistic shows how important it is to coach your sales reps consistently and regularly in order to get them to succeed in their sales endeavours. So sales managers should make it a point to coach each one of the reps in their team at least once every month.

It might be difficult to have performance-related discussions with your reps, especially when a rep is not performing well. But when you leverage performance-related data of your reps, it becomes easy for you to provide feedback to them which they can use to improve themselves.

5. As many as 1 in 3 people leave their organization within the first year, either voluntarily or involuntarily. An incredible 22% of staff turnover happens within the first 6 weeks of employment.

What can we learn from this? We need to take measures to engage workers in their work through consistent learning opportunities and gamification of their work activities. Especially now that many are working remotely you need to make sure that your employees are engaged in their work. This helps in ensuring higher retention rates and less labor turnover which are crucial for the success of your business.

6. Within just one week after the training, people forget 75% of the information that they have learned.

From this we learn that reinforcement of knowledge is as crucial as gaining the right knowledge itself. There’s a formula named “Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve” according to which humans

• Fail to remember 50% of new information within an hour
• Forget 70% of it within 24 hours
• And lose 90% of it after 30 days

Spaced reinforcement of knowledge helps in overcoming this forgetting curve. You can implement this spaced reinforcement for their sales team by

• Creating microlearning modules combined with spaced repetition
• Conducting gamified quizzed on a regular basis
• And providing personalized coaching to each rep based on their strengths and weaknesses.

7. 8 out of 10 teams who have effective training methods achieve greater than 75% of sales quotas.

Better and effective training methods will help your team to win more deals and achieve greater sales results. In fact, a continuous training program is essential for your sales team to succeed. When done right, training can provide the insights and opportunities for your reps to prepare themselves for every buyer interaction. Like, they will be able to,

• Understand what went wrong
• Uncover bottlenecks
• And also understand what is necessary to ensure future success

8. One out of every three employees say that uninspiring content is a barrier to their learning.

This essentially means you need to develop training programs and training content that effectively engages, entertains at the same time informs your reps. Some fun training methods include,

• Gamified quizzes
• Gamified role-play scenarios
• Crisp microlearning content delivered to the trainees on their mobile
• Gamified video coaching etc

This gamified training is not only enjoyable for your reps but it’s also effective in saving your money spent on retraining.

Conclusion: An Effective and Continuous Sales Training Program Is A Great Investment and need of the Hour

As a sales leader, you always look forward to achieving your business’s revenue objective. And your sellers, at the end of the day, also aspire to do their best and achieve their sales quota.

The above statistics and a lot of other studies suggest that investing in an effective and continuous training program is worth the investment. So, you shouldn’t ignore these facts and focus on empowering your sellers to produce great sales outcomes through a continuous, customized, and effective training program.

Want to learn about the new training trend called on-the-spot training? Read the below articles:

On-the-spot training part-1: How to plan and organize on-the-spot training?

On-the-spot training part-2: The Framework of On-the-spot Training

On-the-spot training part-3: Benefits of adopting the on-the-spot training

Learn about how a sales rep goes from being a beginner in sales to a sales expert

The Learner’s Journey: Making of a Sales Expert

Learn how knowledge reinforcements help in increasing the knowledge proficiency

Improve Knowledge Proficiency by 21% through Knowledge Reinforcement

Learn about the best practices to carry out video coaching

Best Practices to Drive Video Coaching